Difference between revisions of "Summary:Rhythm of War"

 

Eshonai and the humans try to find ways to communicate with each other, and as they do so, they realize all the ways that they differ: humans are in all forms at all times; they have singers in dullform that she finds "fascinating and disturbing". Eshonai found the humans so much more advanced than the singers and spends as much time possible learning from them. The humans ask to see the plains, and Eshonai escorts them. During the trip, one of the humans, a surgeon's assistant with many rings on her right hand, asks Eshonai questions about the spren that she can see and whether any have talked to her, which Eshonai thinks is a myth. Gavilar and Eshonai talk about the greatshells, and they misinterpret her and assume that the singers worship them. The party decides to take a break, and as she was helping them set up a tent, the woman with the rings asked if she could see Venli's knife. She and Gavilar talk about it and think it must have come from a time around the false desolation. They are interrupted by the sounds of a chasm fiend emerging, and soon after, the group leaves. Venli reveals to Gavilar that the knife was found in the ruins of the city at the center of the Shattered Plains, and Gavilar gets very excited, especially when he realizes that the singers have stories of ancient days that include the Radiants. The humans leave them with a gift of weapons and asks only to be able to hear the singer songs the next time they meet.

{{anchor|Chapter 49}}

 

 

Navani and Kaladin exchange information, and she tells him that they need to figure out how the Fused are making the Oathgates work. Kaladin is going to do what he can, and they say goodbye.

{{anchor|Chapter 50}}

 

=== Chapter 52: A Path Toward Saving ===

[[File: Eshonai and Venli Flashback Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

Venli is with her mother, and it is becoming clear that Jaxlim is suffering from an Alzheimer's-type condition, as she continues to forget the songs that she has never forgotten before. Venli leaves and joins her sister on the scouting tower, and Eshonai says that she is leaving with a scout group to investigate smoke in the distance, that they think might be the humans returning for a second visit.

=== Chapter 57: Child of Odium ===

[[File: Eshonai and Venli Flashback Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

The humans are visiting the Listeners a second time and are going to be leaving soon. Dalinar speaks with Venli and warns her against his brother, indicating that he is showing a dangerous degree of interest in them.

=== Chapter 62: Keeper of Forms ===

[[File: Eshonai and Venli Flashback Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

Venli and Eshonai are meeting with the elders of the Listeners, where Venli is telling them that she can create warform because she has trapped a pain spren in a sphere. Eshonai is there because she has received word that Gavilar has extended an invitation to establish formal relations with the Listeners. Eshonai wants to convince the other elders that they should reach out to the other Listeners to create a unified people. The elders say they will consider her proposal. She leaves and finds her mother, who can't remember where she is. Jaxlim eventually comes to lucidity, and admits that she knows that her life is coming to the end. Venli joins them and tells them that they've been approved to try warform. Venli explains that she wants her mother to try to take on the form because it might heal her, and Eshonai is excited about that, though she is worried that her sister is humming an unusual rhythm.

;Plot Summary

 

 

 

{{anchor|Chapter 65}}

[[File: Navani Chapters.svg|105px|center]]

{{epigraph|As we dig further into this project, I am left questioning the very nature of God. How can a God exist in all things, yet have a substance that can be destroyed?}}

 

{{anchor|Chapter 66}}

 

=== Chapter 66: Bearer of Agonies ===

[[File: Kholin_Crest.svg|125px|center]]

{{epigraph|I am not convinced any of the gods can be destroyed, so perhaps I misspoke. They can change state however, like a spren—or like the various Lights. This is what we seek.}}

 

Dalinar is experimenting with his Bondsmith powers and has learned how to see someone's connections to others. He leaves to talk to Taravangian. Dalinar asks why Taravangian betrayed them, and Taravangian says it is because he knows that they are going to lose and this is the only way he can save any life. He says that Cultivation told him this and granted him the capacity to stop what was coming. Dalinar tells him that he doesn't think that Taravangian could have seen the future perfectly and that he, Dalinar, has to believe that it was possible. Taravangian says that he didn’t trust the Dalinar of that time because Taravangian believed that Dalinar would join Odium. Taravangian says that he believes that monarchs cannot allow themselves to be bound by oaths because they have to engage in the kind of ignoble behavior that he has. Taravangian said that he could die happy if he knew he was wrong, but Dalinar believes that Taravangian just wanted the power. Dalinar leaves, and Szeth speaks up saying that they cannot trust Taravangian.

 

=== Chapter 67: Song of Stones ===

[[File: Venli Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

{{epigraph|Do not mourn for what has happened. This notebook was a dream we shared, which is itself a beautiful thing. Proof of the truth of my intent, even if the project was ultimately doomed.}}

 

Venli is taking the opportunity to practice her radiant powers while Raboniel is visiting Navani. She goes to a section of the tower that is unoccupied, and after checking in Shadesmar that there were no hidden spren, she presses her hand against the stone. She can’t use Stormlight because of the towers defenses, but is able to use Voidlight instead. She communicates with the stone, and the stone finds her rhythm familiar, and she feels like she belongs. The stone reshapes to show her images of her ancient people who had bonded spren. She runs out of Voidlight and finds three other spren like Timbre. Timbre says they would like to bond her squires, but she tells them to wait because of the danger it poses.

 

=== Chapter 68: One Family ===

[[File: Eshonai and Venli Flashback Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

 

Eshonai and her mother go out into the storm to protector while she tries to take on warform, but instead of bonding Jaxlim, it bonds Eshonai. She transforms and joins the other Listeners who did as well, and they revel in their new powerful bodies. They hear battle drums, return to their city, and find another family about to attack. Eshonai, after retrieving the family’s shardbearer, confronts the attacking family. She tells them that they have found warform and that they cannot win against them, but that they should join with them to present a unified attention to the humans. They return to the city.

 

=== Chapter 69: Pure Tones of Roshar ===

[[File: Navani Chapters.svg|105px|center]]

{{epigraph|I leave you now to your own company.}}

 

{{anchor|Chapter 70}}

 

=== Chapter 70: Well ===

[[File: Kaladin's Chapters.svg|165px|center]]

{{epigraph|Opposites. Opposites of sounds. Sound has no opposite. It’s merely overlapped vibration, the same sound, but sound has meaning. This sound does, at least. These sounds. The voices of gods.}}

 

Kaladin wakes from another nightmare to Syl telling him that they couldn't wake him. She tells him they’ve received news that the Fused is corrupting the node and that Dabbid has gone to stop them. Kaladin catches up to him, and Dabbid hands over his spear and says 'Life. Before. Death." Kaladin takes the spear and goes.

Navani tries to stall Raboniel, but the Fused she goes to seems to be expecting this, and Navani believes it’s a deliberate distraction. She has a terrible realization.

 

 

=== Chapter 71: Rider of Storms ===

[[File: Eshonai and Venli Flashback Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

 

Venli is surveying the listener scholars she has organized and is using as a front for the discoveries that Ulim gives her, and we learn that the listener families have united. Ulim complains about the difficulty of bringing in new voidspren, and Ulim mocks Venli for how little she knows about the humans and their capabilities. He also chastises her when she defends her ancestors; if they hadn’t abandoned Ulim’s people, they would have ended up as slaves like the Parshmen. Ulim says that wasn’t their fault; that that they were stuck on Braize, unable to return because of Taln, when the Unmade decided to start a war without them. It was led by Ba-Ado-Mishram, who gave out forms of power to all of the listeners, becoming connected to them. When Ba-Ado-Mishram became captured, the listeners lost part of themselves. Venli returns home and finds her mother upset because she can't remember some of the songs, and Venli comforts her. She decides to do what Ulim says because she believes she must in order to avoid slavery under the humans. They decide to manipulate Gavilar into bringing the listeners to Kholinar which Venli believes will be enough to intimidate them into taking on forms of power.

 

=== Chapter 74: A Symbol ===

 

I used to be good with words. I used to be good at a lot of things.}}

 

Venli and Rlain are headed to Lirin's infirmary. News of Kaladin's fight has spread, and other fights between humans and singers have been breaking out in the tower. They reach the infirmary where the other radiants are being cared for. Venli takes notice of Rlain’s comfort and casualness with the humans. Rlain reveals that he had been able to sneak maps of the tower out of offices before the Fused learned where they were, and Lirin says that he isn’t certain that the risk was worth it. Venli, on the other hand, believes that the tower’s maps will show them a way out of the tower. Venli and Lirin talk, and Venli realizes that Lirin isn't interested in fighting against the occupation. Some human workers enter, and they have shash glyphs on their foreheads in honor of Kaladin. Lirin is disdainful of it, and though Venli defends it by saying it gives them hope, Lirin says that it's just going to cause more deaths.

 

=== Chapter 75: The Middle Step ===

[[File: Shallan Flashback Chapters Inverted.svg|115px|center]]

{{epigraph|There was a time when others would approach me for help with a problem. A time when I was decisive. Capable. Even authoritative.}}

 

Adolin is accompanied by guards through Lasting Integrity as he climbs to the top of the city wall. There, he can see the deadeyes outside the wall that have been gathering for weeks - a lot more than they have ever seen before. One of the guards say that they must be responding to a connection happening, and he attributes it to the upcoming justice that will be dispensed.

 

Veil and Radiant try to coax Shallan out, but she is still very upset about learning that Pattern has lied to her. They have been trying to find Restares and have only one more human in the city fortress to identify, someone named Sixteen. Pattern finds Shallan/Veil/Radiant, and it is clear that Shallan has been avoiding him. Pattern asks Shallan if he remembers the first time they met on the boat with Jasnah, but Radiant says that what couldn't have been the first time they met because Shallan had spoken oaths before that. Pattern reveals that he had once tried to get Shallan to remember her past, but the pain she experienced in doing so convinced him to play along with it. Pattern says he doesn't remember the events surrounding her mother’s death. Radiant asks why Pattern wanted to bond a Radiant given that he was convinced she would kill him. He responds by saying that knew danger was coming and that those in both the physical and cognitive realms needed to work together to save them. He believed that even if he died, it might be enough to get other cryptics to join. Radiant asks Pattern if he has lied, and he says he has. She asks if he's been spying, and he apologizes saying that he couldn't think of another way. He says that he brought someone to meet Shallan and introduces a deadeye cryptic. Shallan emerges suddenly, locking away Veil and Radiant. She calls Pattern a traitor and a liar and, just then, realizes that Sixteen has emerged from his shelter. Shallan is suddenly convinced she needs to kill Restares, but when she sees what Sixteen looks like, she knows it's not him. She starts to leave, and Pattern asks her what's wrong -- that she's suddenly changed. She said she's finally made a difficult decision.

 

=== Chapter 76: Harmony ===

 

}}

 

Navani continues to try to get the Sibling to speak to her, repeatedly apologizing for her failure to realize that they had been spied on. Raboniel enters, and as they talk, Navani realizes just how old Raboniel is. She is so tired of the war and is dismissive of Navani’s suggestion of peace because their previous attempts have failed. Navani realizes that Raboniel’s desire to combine the lights is related to her desire to end the war. They discuss her research progress, including Navani's realization that Stormlight responds to sound. She learns that Raboniel can hear the tone of light, the same tone that she uses to get the light to transfer spheres. Raboniel explains that there is a rhythm as well as a tone, and that Towerlight has two rhythms that work in harmony. Navani wonders if the rhythms of Stormlight and Voidlight could harmonize, but Raboniel says that Stormlight is too orderly and Voidlight too chaotic. Navani convinces her to try, Raboniel singing the rhythm and tone of Voidlight, and with some effort, Navani doing the same for Stormlight.Their two rhythms eventually come into harmony, and both kinds of light successfully infuse the sphere. Raboniel names the light the Rhythm of War and is shocked that they did not destroy each other. Navani asks about her motivations, and Raboniel suggests that it might allow them to kill a god - like how Honor was killed. Navani realizes that Gavilar had been looking for a way to kill a god. Even more, she realizes that he had discovered the opposite to Voidlight, that that is what had been in the sphere that killed her scholars. Raboniel gets ready to leave, thanking Navani for her assistance and that she has earned her gratitude, but that she was not going to leave Urithiru.

 

=== Chapter 77: The Proper Legality ===

* [[Mayalaran]] (mentioned only)

}}

 

Shallan enters her room, pushing away thoughts of the deadeye cryptic and her feelings about Pattern. She says that she is going to contact Mriaze, and Pattern trails, saying that she feels wrong. While Shallan gets out the communication cube, Pattern tells her that he had used the cube to talk to Wit but that wit had been overheard by spies for the Ghostbloods. Shallan starts to relax as realizes that none of her friends are spies, which allows Veil and Radiant out, and Veil takes control. She realizes that they still don’t know who killed Ialai, and she calls Mriaze on the cube. Veil tells him that Restares is not there and Mriaze finds that troubling. He warns Shallan that Restares is one of the most dangerous beings on the planet and that she should be careful. He asks after Shallan's mental health, and Shallan says that it could be better, but they are interrupted by shouting.

*[[Sigzil]](mentioned only)

}}

 

As Rlain makes his way through the tower, he is greeted with suspicion, hostility, and dislike from humans, singers, and fused. He misses how Bridge Four made him feel - while not perfect, he felt that they could see him more as himself and not a stereotype. He arrives to the radiant infirmary, and eventually finds Lirin. Lirin says that he and Hesina have been seen by stormforms and that they don't know how long they'll be able to remain in hiding. They both are not certain if they can trust Leshwi and Venli. Rlain goes over to Hesina and the maps, and they talk, her attitude towards Kaladin and what is going on is different from Lirin, and they worry over Kaladin, whom the fused are claiming was dead. As Rlain looks at a map of the Shattered Plains, he sees a note and asks Hesina to read it. She does, and it says that a group of people were found way out on the eastern side of the planes. They are interrupted by Lirin who says that he thinks he recognizes one of the workers. Rlain looks and finds Dabbid, who, after he greets him, tells him that Kaladin is asleep and won't wake up.

[[File: Kaladin's Chapters.svg|165px|center]]

{{epigraph|The singers first put Jezrien into a gemstone. They think they are clever, discovering they can trap us in those. It only took them seven thousand years.}}

 

Kaladin is in a nightmare, a violent hateful one. He is tormented by his friends who blame him for everything he was unable to do, for all the ways that he feels he has failed. He sees a warm light in the distance, and he fights to get there. He is saved by the person inside the light - Wit . Wit tells him that he is in a nightmare sent from Odium to torture him, and passes over some of Rock’s stew. Wit tells Kaladin that they’ll only have a short time together, and Kaladin says that he is close to giving up. Kaladin asks Wit for a story, and Wit excitedly obliges.

 

The story telling cannot be summed up in a way that would do it justice. There is a dog who wants to be a dragon and fails to do so, but he becomes so much more, and that he may not be a dragon, he is a hero. There is delicious banter between Kaladin, Wit and Design, his cryptic. And there is Wit, reminding Kaladin that life will get better and then it will get worse, and that this repeats forever - but that he can always count on being warm again. Kaladin, revived and hopeful, pushes back into the storm.

 

=== Chapter 81: Trapped ===

[[File: Eshonai and Venli Flashback Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

 

EshonaiI and the listeners have returned to the Shattered Plains after ordering the assassination of Gavilar. She and other listeners have assumed warform and jump from across the chasms to the west where they can see the Alethi war camps. She and Thood talk about why they had to order Gavilar killed and what their strategy is now that they are trapped on the plains.

 

Venli is with her scholars and the five gemstones full of voidspren. She explains to them how they got there and that they are going to bring more across and persuade the other listeners to adopt those forms. She convinces them that this time, they won't be ruled by their gods, the listeners will rule them instead.

 

=== Chapter 82: Knife ===

[[File: Shallan Flashback Chapters Inverted.svg|115px|center]]

{{epigraph|Oh … Father … Seven thousand years.}}

 

Radiant is yelling at Mriaze through the cube because he hadn't told them who Restares really is. Veil takes over and tells Mriaze that they no longer have an incentive to work with him. Mraize’s hiding of this information suggests that they may not be able to trust what Mriaze has told them. Mriaze has Veil open the cube and pull out a metal dagger with a gemstone that he tells her to use on Kelek to capture his soul. He explains that the leader of the ghostbloods has a similar condition to Kelek and needs to learn more about Kelek in order to avoid his fate. He nearly convinces Veil that Kelek is dangerous and that he must be locked away, and that Shallan can impersonate him in order to rule in their favor. He tells her that if she does this, she would become a full ghostblood.

 

Adolin goes to speak to Kelek and tells him why he is there. Kelek is astounded that they would let him in and thinks that his cause is doomed. Adolin stands by his decision and asks for a trial by witness, and Kelek grants it, saying that it won't matter anyway.

 

=== Chapter 83: The Games of Men and singers ===

[[File: Venli Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

{{epigraph|I remember so few of those centuries. I am a blur. A smear on the page. A gaunt stretch of ink, made all the more insubstantial with each passing day.}}

 

Venli is practicing her powers, communicating with the stones and learning of its history while remembering her own. She realizes how much she has lied to herself and feels guilty for all that she has done. She attunes both Cultivation and Odium in harmony and is able to change the stone.

 

Venli and Rlain Make their way to the cells, and Venli uses her powers to open a path in the back of the cell where Lift is being kept. She frees Lift and sends her with Rlain and Dabbid. She asks Timber if she can say the words yet, but Timber says not yet.

 

=== Chapter 84: Scholar ===

[[File: Navani Chapters.svg|105px|center]]

{{epigraph|Midius once told me … told me we could use Investiture … to enhance our minds, our memories, so we wouldn’t forget so much.}}

 

Navani is fully invested in her research, something she has never been able to do before. She believes that what they find will allow them to kill Odium , and as she works, she makes fabrial weapons that can be left in the hall appearing as junk. She and Raboniel make more warlight for her experiments, and she is also trying to find a way to rejoin split spren. Upon request, Raboniel delivers some of the metal that is used to draw stormlight out of Radiants, which she says is named raysium. After transferring one of the spren halves to a larger gemstone by using the metal, they learn that by putting one half of a spren in a larger gemstone and moving it will cause the other half to move a greater amount. Navani asks Raboniel for a way to measure the strength of stormlight, and she says that she will get her some sand.

 

=== Chapter 85: Dabbid ===

[[File: Bridge Four Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

{{epigraph|Why would I want to remember?}}

 

Dabbid, Rlain, and Lift are making their way to where Kaladin is kept. He thinks about how he has always been different and that he chose not to speak after he was rescued by Kaladin - he didn't want everyone to know that he was different. They reach Kaladin, who is not well at all. Lift heals him with a lot of effort, but he has not yet woken up. Rlain, Dabbid, and Lift talk about why Dabbid hadn't spoken until now. Rlain tells Dabbid that he wishes that he hadn't felt like he needed to be quiet. Dabbid says that the tower told him that he will be fixed after getting a spren. They are interrupted by Teft, who Lift heals while they were talking, and they explain to him what has been going on. And then Kaladin awakes as well.

 

=== Chapter 86: The Song of Mornings ===

[[File: Eshonai and Venli Flashback Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

 

Venli speaks with one of the listener farmers. They were thick in the war with the Alethi, and Venli is increasingly certain that she made the right choice. Venli has the farmer cutting gemstones, presumably so that they can hold more stormlight, but also so that Venli can have pieces to use to capture stormspren. The farmer is hesitant, but she convinces him that this is necessary for them to survive. As she leaves, Ulim comes to her and tells her that the storm is nearly to Narak. They talk about their plans to bring more stormspren over, and she is interrupted by Eshonai. Eshonai takes her to her mother who had been injured; they found her lost and confused out on one of the plateaus. They decide to get her a permanent servant to watch over her and then discuss their past, both as children and the time leading up to the war. Venli tries to talk to Eshonai about possibly bringing back the gods, and Eshonai shuts her down. They sing together a little before Eshonai drifts off to sleep, and Venli goes to hunt stormspren.

 

=== Chapter 87: Trial by Witness ===

[[File:Adolin Chapters.svg|105px|center]]

{{epigraph|Maybe if I remembered my life, I’d be capable of being confident like I once was. Maybe I’d stop vacillating when even the most simple of decisions is presented to me.}}

 

Adolin arrives at his trial where the judge and the spren audience await. They discuss the terms of the trial, and the honorspren calls his witnesses. The first is this spren who watches over and cares for the deadeyes, and she testifies to the travesty that killed them. The second witness is Blended, the inkspren that has been working with Adolin. She not only says that humans should not be trusted, but that they might even consider bonding with the fused because they are the rightful heirs of the land. But she would rather no bonds happen in order to ensure that no spren will be killed. The third witness is Notum. He appears in uniform, and Adolin realizes that Notum has been told that if he will testify against Adolin, they will end his exile. Notum begins to speak, looking at the paper he brought, but then stops and says, “Honor is not dead so long as he lives in the hearts of men.” The crowd erupts, and Notum continues to bellow this phrase as he is dragged from the room. Adolin goes to speak to Kelek and asks what happened. Kelek tells him that the stakes of this trial are much more than he thought because some spren are considering joining the highspren and the fused, and Adolin could tip the scales in the opposite direction.

 

After the trial, Shallan climbs a tree and falls to the bottom, acting more injured than she is. Pattern plays along, and they convince the honorspren to take her to where their storm light is kept because it would heal her. They do so, and she drains an entire sphere and replaces it with a dull one. The honorspren are appalled at how she could consume so much stormlight, and they shuffle her from the room.

 

=== Chapter 88: Falling Star ===

[[File: Eshonai and Venli Flashback Chapters.svg|115px|center]]

 

 

Eshonai is with her mother, and Venli enters with a gemstone and a captured stormspren. They discuss the ramifications of this, and Eshonai walks outside and considers all that has happened. She yells into the storm, saying that everything she has done has been to preserve their freedom. She turns to leave and is greeted by the sight of a giant chasmfiend. A burst of light leaves chasmfiend and follows Eshonai home.

 

=== Chapter 89: Voice of Lights ===

[[File: Navani Chapters.svg|105px|center]]

{{epigraph|Instead I think, if I were to remember my life in detail, I would become even worse. Paralyzed by my terrible actions. I should not like to remember all those I have failed.}}

 

Navani is fully engrossed in her work, completely oblivious to everything except her lab, as she tries to find the opposite of light, what she calls antilight. She uses the sand that Raboniel gave her, which starts black and turns white when exposed to light.

 

Navani and Raboniel discuss where the sand came from and how you have to travel through Shadesmar to get to the other worlds. As they work, Raboniel asks why Navani does not believe herself a true scholar. Raboniel says, “If you are not a scholar, Navani, then I have never met one.” Raboniel gives Navani the title of Voice of Lights, telling her that she is an equal to herself. Navani, on the other hand, is convinced that she has Raboniel fooled. Navani is getting better at interpreting the rhythms, and she can tell that Raboniel does not actually want to kill Odium, and Raboniel admits that she is trying to unmake the Sibling. Navani tries to convince Raboniel to negotiate a treaty with her, but Raboniel refuses. Raboniel leaves Navani to her work, but later returns with Singers and an ancient musical instrument that they play for her to create the Rhythm of War. After Raboniel leaves, Navani tries to speak with the Sibling and finally hears a response. The Sibling says that they are weak and cold and don't want to die, and soon they fade away. Navani looks around her lab and realizes that the music left Patterns in the sand. She then realizes that because music is a vibration, she knows she can find an opposite vibration.

 

=== Chapter 90: One Chance ===

[[File:Adolin Chapters.svg|105px|center]]

{{epigraph|Regardless, I write now. Because I know they are coming for me. They got Jezrien. They’ll inevitably claim me, even here in the honorspren stronghold.}}

 

Adolin arrives for the second day of his trial and takes the stand. As he speaks on his, he is continually interrupted by the honorspren audience, who are doing everything they can to disrupt him with their own accusations (particularly with Dalinar almost killing the Stormfather). The trial devolves into a full fledged argument, and Adolin finally gives up, inviting the honorspren to continue their attack as it is clear that they did not have honorable intentions in this trial. The audience is initially cowed, but their anger reignites when they learn that Adolin knew about the recently deadeyed cryptic he had found in the market.

 

Shallan is with Adolin after the trial, and Adolin is certain that he will be locked away and put on display. Shallan says that she'll break him out with the Stormlight she stole, but Adolin says that leaving him would be the honorable thing to do, and may even convince some of the honorspren to bond more radiants. Shallan reflects on whether to impersonate Kelek to save Adolin, and just as she decides to do it, Veil changes her mind to keep her from doing it. Formless surfaces and takes over, and tells Adolin that he may be surprised by what the high judge does.

 

=== Chapter 91: Worth Saving ===