Difference between revisions of "Oathbringer"

Brandon wrote a few "exploratory scenes" for Stormlight 3 during the summer of 2014, however, he didn't start in earnest on the book until June 2015.

The original outline called for the flashback sequence to focus on [[Szeth-son-son-Vallano]], however, Brandon later changed his mind. He planned on writing parts of the flashbacks for Szeth as well as [[Eshonai]] and [[Dalinar Kholin]], to help him decide who can best get across the information he needs to.{{bws ref|state-of-the-sanderson-december-2014|State of the Sanderson: December 2014|date=Dec 18th, 2014}}. After working on Dalinar's flashbacks, however, was pleased enough with how they were going that he decided not to go forward with the other two sequences.{{cite}} In late September 2016 he indicated that he would be spending part of October writing Szeth's flashback sequence, in order to solidify certain backstory pieces relevant to other scenes he was writing, and that there was a real but unlikely chance that he would change the book back to focus on Szeth.{{cite}}

On July 16, 2015, Brandon announced that he had finished Dalinar's flashback chapters. There are 15 in total, with a sum word count of around 55,000 words.{{tweet ref|621618209788047360|text=The Flashbacks are done!|date=Jul 16th, 2015}}. On July 22, 2016, Brandon announced that there would also be several flashback scenes from other characters, including 3 from Kaladin. On December 8, 2016, Brandon announced that he had finished his first draft, totaling 461,223 words.{{tweet ref|807118144322080768|text=Stormlight 3 First Draft is Done!|date=Dec 8th, 2016}} As of March 15, 2017, Brandon had completed the third of five planned drafts, which totaled 514,000 words.{{reddit ref|Stormlight_Archive|5zidxz|text=Oathbringer Update 7|date=Mar 15th, 2017}} On June 15, 2017, Brandon announced the completion of his final draft, which he managed to cut to 450,000 words. The book contains 122 chapters, with 14 interludes, plus a prologue, epilogue, and ketek.{{reddit ref|Stormlight_Archive|6hfek7|text=Oathbringer Update 8|date=Jun 15th, 2017}}

"The Highprince of War" was the working title for the fifth book in The Stormlight Archive, which is where Dalinar's flashbacks were originally scheduled to appear.{{qawob ref|689|16|Title for Dalinar-centric book|date=Nov 8th, 201110033}} In February 2013 though, Brandon said it was "almost certain" to change.{{tor ref|the-title-for-brandon-sandersons-second-stormlight-archive-book-has-been-revealed|Words of Radiance press release|date=Feb 28th, 2013}} During the process of writing Stormlight 3, especially after shifting the focus to Dalinar, Brandon began referring to it as "Oathbringer" which eventually became its official title.

On November 14th, 2017, the novel was released.

*The first Dalinar flashback chapter was Brandon's reading during the ''[[Shadows of Self]]'' tour. It was later released on Tor.com on October 23, 2015,.{{tor ref|brandon-sanderson-reveals-a-dalinar-chapter-from-stormlight-archive-book-3|text=Tor.com release of first Dalinar flashback chapter|date=Oct 23rd, 2015}}

*The first four Dalinar flashback chapters were released on December 6, 2016, in the ''Unfettered II'' anthology, edited by Shawn Speakman.{{reddit ref|fantasy|55vwwu|d8eowxw|text=Brandon comments on his submission to ''Unfettered II''.|date=Oct 4, 2016}}