Summary:Words of Radiance/Chapter 6
| Chapter 6: Terrible Destruction | |
|---|---|
| |
| Words of Radiance Summary | |
| Follows | Chapter 5: Ideals |
| Precedes | Chapter 7: Open Flame |
| Analytics | |
| Viewpoint | Shallan |
| Word Count | 4,424 |
Epigraph
“We had never considered that there might be Parshendi spies hiding among our slaves. This is something else I should have seen. ”
—From the journal of Navani Kholin, Jesesach 1174
Plot Summary
- Tanatakach 1173
Shallan sits on the deck of the Wind's Pleasure, bundled up because of the cold. She's observing and taking notes on the complex geometric spren, who she'd named Pattern. Pattern asks about the concept of food, and replies "Terrible! Destruction!" when Shallan describes eating. Shallan notes that Pattern is connecting increasingly complex thoughts. When she asks him about his first memories, Pattern starts to vibrate and Shallan can hear wind blowing through branches, and the deck starts to turn to a dirt path in front of her. Shallan is horrified and the images vanish. Just then, Yalb comes over and introduces her to "New kid", a six-foot-tall hulk of a man. Yalb tricks New Kid into doing galley duty for him, which Pattern seems to like. Shallan asks him if he likes lies, to which pattern replies that he likes "good lies ... True lies."
Shallan heads below deck to her cabin where gets caught up in her research. Hours go by before she closes her books, and her spheres are getting dim. She feels satisfied, her life seems to finally be coming together. She fishes some newly-restored spheres out of her safepouch to replace those in the goblet, but strangely they are completely dun. When she goes to ask Jasnah for some new spheres, Shallan notices that Jasnah is uncharacteristically disconcerted. She seems exhausted, and her poise has been replaced by worry. They discuss the return of Surgebinding, and Jasnah asks that Shallan focus on learning the Illumination Surge rather than Soulcasting, as the later can be dangerous. Jasnah also reveals that she is worried about the parshmen, who she thinks are secretly the Voidbringers. They worry that because the parshmen are so integrated into Vorin society they could cause utter collapse if they rebelled. Jasnah speaks of how in ages past, the Heralds would return before Desolations and train the Knights Radiant. She reveals that she hopes to find a path to Urithiru, the legendary city of the Knights Radiant, in the Shattered Plains. There she will try to find information that will convince the Alethi leaders to expel the parshmen.
Before Shallan leaves, Jasnah gives her a book that contains information on the Order of Lightweavers. The book is called Words of Radiance. She goes to sleep planing to read the book in the morning.
She is awoken by screams, shouts, and smoke.
Characters
- Present
- Shallan Davar (Point of view)
- Jasnah Kholin
- Pattern
- Yalb
- An unnamed new crew member of the Wind's Pleasure
- Mentioned
Setting
Aboard the Wind's Pleasure.
Notable
- This is the first time we see Pattern talk, and the first time we see his three-dimensional form.
- The titular Words of Radiance is seen here.
Chapter Header
- Shalash wedge