Dalinar's Fate After “Wind and Truth"

With Brandon Sanderson finishing Wind and Truth with 491k words (Largest novel yet in the series) I thought this would be appropriate to make predictions on one of my top favorite characters in Stormlight Archive. Dalinar Kholin, the Blackthorn, has undergone one of the most profound transformations in the Stormlight Archive series. From a warlord with a thirst for blood to a repentant leader seeking unity and peace, Dalinar’s journey is both central and pivotal to the overarching narrative of Roshar. As we anticipate the aftermath of Wind and Truth, several potential paths for Dalinar can be envisioned, each influenced by his past, his Oaths, and the looming challenges of Odium.

Potential Outcomes for Dalinar

Artist: Conj

1. Ascension to a Higher Role:

Dalinar’s trajectory towards divinity or a higher state of existence seems plausible. As a Bondsmith, his powers and connection to the Stormfather suggest he may transcend mortal limitations. Dalinar’s struggle with his dual nature—both a builder and a destroyer—could culminate in him embodying the ideals of Honor. This transformation might lead him to take on a role similar to Sazed (and Taravangian), becoming a spiritual guide or even assuming a divine mantle to safeguard Roshar from future threats.

Artist: Pines

2. A Sacrificial Demise:

Given Dalinar’s deep sense of responsibility and guilt, a sacrificial end is a likely possibility. Dalinar might offer his life in exchange for peace or to protect those he loves, fulfilling his oaths to unite and protect. His death could serve as the future despair for Roshar, causing the separation of the delicate united that is being made.

3. Continued Leadership and Reformation:

If Dalinar survive the climactic events of Wind and Truth, his role as a leader will likely evolve. He may focus on rebuilding Alethkar and the wider Rosharan society, fostering unity among the disparate peoples and cultures. Dalinar’s vision for a united world could become a reality, with him leading efforts to bridge gaps between humans and the listeners, and even among different human nations. His experiences and wisdom would be crucial in shaping a new era of cooperation and understanding.

Artist: Unknown

4. A Hermit’s Path:

After the intense conflicts and personal losses, Dalinar might choose a path of solitude, seeking atonement and inner peace. This journey could see him stepping away from the political and military spheres, perhaps taking on a role similar to a wandering sage or a monk. His wisdom and insights would still influence the world, but from a distance, allowing him to focus on personal growth and spiritual fulfillment.

Influences on Dalinar’s Future

His Bond with the Stormfather:

The nature of Dalinar’s bond with the Stormfather is unique and potent. Any changes in this bond, whether through new oaths or mystical revelations, will significantly impact his fate. The Stormfather’s perspective and guidance will continue to shape Dalinar’s decisions and actions.

Relationships and Personal Connections:

Dalinar’s relationships with characters like Navani, Kaladin, and his children will play crucial roles in his decisions. These bonds may either anchor him to his mortal life or propel him towards greater responsibilities and sacrifices.

Artist: Rich Clark

The Battle with Odium:

The outcome of the struggle against Odium and his influence over Roshar will be a defining factor. Whether Dalinar emerges victorious, defeated, or transformed by this conflict will set the stage for his future path.

Conclusion

Dalinar Kholin’s journey is hopefully far from over. Whether he ascends to a higher plane, sacrifices himself for the greater good, continues to lead and reform Roshar, or retreats into a life of contemplation, his actions and legacy will profoundly influence the future of Roshar. Dalinar’s fate will be both impactful and resonant, leaving a lasting imprint on the world he has fought so hard to protect and unite. He is my all time favorite character in Stormlight Archive and I cannot wait to read what happens to him in this novel. Who is your favorite character? And why is it not Moash?

5 Fantasy Book Recommendations

 

A few years ago, I went to a graduation for my spouse’s master’s degree and one of the speakers talked about how after graduation many graduates stop reading. This was one of the motivations for me to get started in reading. I was not much of a reader prior to this experience. Anyways, I have read a lot of books and I have more books to read in the future. For those of you that are starting to read or should read here are five book recommendations that every fantasy reader should read. I will not include Young Adult series in this post because that can be their own post.

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Of course, the first recommendation for fantasy reads should be the one that inspired the genre, Lord of the Rings. It is a timeless tale of Frodo Baggins and his companions as they embark on a perilous quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron. Set in the richly detailed world of Middle-earth, the story explores themes of friendship, heroism, and the struggle against tyranny. With its intricate mythology, diverse cultures, and stirring battles between good and evil.

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (and later Brandon Sanderson)

This epic journey of Rand al'Thor and his companions as they navigate a world on the brink of destruction. Set in a meticulously crafted universe where the Wheel weaves the pattern of time, the series chronicles the battle between forces of light and shadow, weaving together intricate plots, diverse cultures, and a rich tapestry of magic. Spanning fifteen volumes, it delves into themes of destiny, power, and the cyclical nature of history, offering a gripping saga of prophecy, adventure, and the struggle for survival.

The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson

The Cosmere is a grand interconnected universe encompassing multiple series and standalone novels, each set on different worlds but sharing a common cosmology and magical system. Spanning genres from epic fantasy to science fiction, the Cosmere explores themes of power, redemption, mental health, and the nature of divinity. Through intricate worldbuilding and compelling characters, Sanderson weaves a narrative tapestry that invites readers to explore the depths of his vast and imaginative creation. See my previous post on my opinion on what order to read them in.

Cradle by Will Wight

A series where individuals strive to ascend to higher levels of power through martial arts and cultivation. In a realm governed by sacred arts and mysterious forces, the protagonist, Lindon, embarks on a journey of self-discovery and growth. Filled with exhilarating combat, intricate worldbuilding, and dynamic characters, Wight's series offers a captivating blend of action, intrigue, and exploration of the human spirit's boundless potential. If you are a fan of the anime One Piece then you will like this series.

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

a mesmerizing tale that follows the enigmatic Kvothe as he recounts his journey from a gifted young musician to a legendary figure shrouded in myth and mystery. Set in the richly imagined world of Temerant, the narrative weaves together elements of magic, music, and adventure, exploring themes of love, loss, and the pursuit of knowledge. With its lyrical prose and intricate storytelling, Rothfuss crafts a captivating narrative that immerses readers in a world of wonder and danger.

Volunteering at Dragonsteel 2023

(Guest post by K. David Murdock)

When someone asked me what the Dragonsteel convention was, I answered—honestly—that it was a convention celebrating the release of Brandon Sanderson’s latest novel. However, that was just the dictionary definition. It was that, and so much more.

The first I heard of this Sanderson themed convention was in 2022, with the release of The Lost Metal, the final installation in the Mistborn Era Two series. My friend, who lives in Idaho, had bought extra tickets which she no longer needed, and offered to sell one to me, which encouraged me to come along.

I dressed up as Wax for the release party, and I explored all the convention had to offer. There were authors, exhibits, merchants, panels, Q&A’s, signings, games, and more. I had such a wonderful time that at the end of Dragonsteel 2022 I took the opportunity to get involved as a volunteer for this year’s convention.

Dragonsteel 2023 launched at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City from November 20th to the 21st, 2023, marking the official release of Defiant, the final book in the Skyward series. The official release happened on Monday night, but there was plenty at the convention to keep even the most casual fan of Sanderson’s works engaged. There were panels on writing, art, publication, videogames, and several on Sanderson’s works and the Cosmere he created. The panels included authors, publishers, artists, literary agents, members of Sanderson’s team, podcasters, and even the big man himself. Christopher Paolini (who I met in passing and got to shake his hand) held a book signing for Murtagh, and a few other authors held signings as well.

But for those not content to sit quietly in a florescent-lit room listening to other people talk about Sanderson, there were plenty of other activities. There was an entire room dedicated to crafts, ranging from Doomslug terrariums, to Mistborn metalminds and metal vials, to handmade flight journals, to Soulcasters. “Worldhopper” meetups were organized for fans to get together to discuss the Cosmere and the stories they loved. Cosplay meetups and photoshoots were scheduled as well.

And games. Games galore. The convention game was an immersive hunt across the convention center, part scavenger hunt, part escape room style puzzle solving, themed on Defiant and the Skyward series. There were many other games almost every hour that fans could participate in. D&D one shots, TTRPGs of Mistborn and Stormlight, Witlash (Hoid meets “Quiplash”), rounds of MTG including draft and Commander, KeyForge (is that still a thing?), and Blood on the Clocktower.

In addition to all this, there was a giant hall full of exhibitors, ranging from authors and publishers and booksellers, to artists, content creators, game designers, and merchandise of all varieties (but primarily bookish and nerdy). Dice, jewelry, embroidery, leatherwork, foam Shardblades, a dueling arena with said foam Shardblades, custom coins, a VR room, fights performed by the Salt Lake City Crusaders, custom lightsabers—listing every exhibit would take up this entire post. There was even a “Hoid’s Museum,” showcasing collectibles from across the Cosmere that Hoid (presumably) had collected—and the line was so long I never got the chance to explore it!

I had a particularly fun time talking to all the authors (being an author myself) and bought more books than I probably should have. I procrastinated writing this post by reading The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg. Holmberg, a Utah native, published this extremely well written debut novel almost a decade ago. There is much I could say about it like its unique genre (a cozy fantasy with elements of horror and romance, with a Studio Ghibli feel) or its clever magic system, or how I passed on it a year ago only to snatch it up eagerly last week, but I will content myself with this: it is one of the best novels I have read this year, and one of my new favorites. If you like origami, forbidden magic, Howl’s Moving Castle, turn of the century London, adorable but understated romance, or any combination of the above, I highly encourage you to check out The Paper Magician.

If I had one complaint about this event, it would be that there was too much cool stuff. The Dragonsteel store was vast and full of so much epic merchandise I couldn’t decide on what to get (I eventually settled on a Tress teacup, available on the Dragonsteel merch website while supplies last, #notsponsored). So many panels and games and other events overlapped that I had to be very choosy about what I did. There just wasn’t enough time to do all things I wanted to do. That may, however, be slightly mitigated next year…

The event culminated with Brandon Sanderson getting up on stage before thousands of his fans. He spoke on liminality, and the passage from one season of life into the next. Change can be scary, and hard (isn’t that the understatement of the year?). The Cosmere is on the cusp of great change, with the ending of Mistborn Era Two last year and the end of Stormlight Era One next year. Things are about to shake up, big time.

Dragonsteel itself is changing. Sanderson is bringing more people onto his team, and commissioning authors to help him get stories out that he does not have time for, including Janci Patterson taking the reigns of the next Skyward installation, and Dan Wells taking on an entirely new Cosmere novel. Sanderson also announced a new headquarters for Dragonsteel, “somewhere” in Utah County, where the official offices, bookstore, warehouse, event rooms, etc. will be housed; it will reduce the number of visitors that go to his not-so-secret lair and personal house, as well as be the base of operations for future conventions. Fans are already calling it “Sanderland.” He announced the launch of the leatherbound Words of Radiance, coming soon on BackerKit. And he announced, to the joy of many, that Dragonsteel 2024 will be held on a weekend next year, and span three days instead of two, presumably to accommodate the huge celebration that will surround the release of Stormlight 5.

Dragonsteel 2023 is in the books. The Year of Sanderson is almost at its end. All Secret Projects have been released (have you read them all yet?). I look forward to what the future holds, yet I am also enjoying the anticipation of not knowing what is coming next. After all, Journey Before Destination.

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K. David Murdock is a Utah native who spends his time writing stories, daydreaming stories, reading stories, telling stories, and occasionally eating. His first publication, “The Tower on the Shore,” a short fantasy horror story, will release on November 30th, 2023, in UVU’s speculative fiction magazine, Warp and Weave. You can follow his writing updates and inane ramblings on Instagram @kdavidmurdock.

Knights of Wind and Truth Predictions

 

I have just finished reading The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson and I liked how lore heavy this novel was. I knew I was going to write a post about this book, but as I set the book aside, I only thought about what will happen in Stormlight 5. So, unlike my other posts where I reviewed the novel and praised it, this post will be different. In this post I will go over my predictions on what will happen in Stormlight archives book 5. Most likely I will be wrong with my predictions, but I would like to know your thoughts. Also, who else is excited to read the best fight scene that Brandon Sanderson has ever written?

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Warning this post will have spoilers on The Sunlit Man and Stormlight Archives

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Illustrated by Ernanda Souza, Nabetse Zitro, and Kudriaken

Before we get into the predictions let us set the ground works with what we already know. In the Sunlit Man the main protagonist, Nomad, also known as Sigzil, Hoid's apprentice and Kaladin’s friend in Stormlight Archive. In Stormlight Archive Sigzil had an unnamed Honorspen, however in this book his spren, Auxiliary is a Highspren. Nomad mentioned in the book that he has was a knight in two orders: Windrunners from his Honorspren and Skybreakers from Auxiliary, his Highspren. 

Illustrated by Ernanda Souza, Nabetse Zitro, and Kudriaken

 

After the events of Knights of Wind and Truth (Stormlight 5) nomad must have become a Skybreaker. After that Hoid gave him a Dawnshard, giving him the ability to skip to other worlds, and not be able to physically harm others. Which sucks, because since he has a Dawnshard a group called Night Brigade has been after him wanting it. He eventually gives up the Dawnshard to someone else and broke his oaths, almost killing Auxiliary for reasons unknown. Even without the Dawnshard he still was being chased by the Night Brigade and therefore goes on the run for a very long time with his only companion being his nearly dead spren Auxiliary.

Now with the stage set, let's discuss what I predict might happen in Knights of Wind and Truth. From Rhythm of War, we know that book 5 will take place shortly after the events of book 4 since they have a short amount of time before the contest of champions. Since Kaladin chose to retire from fighting and help soldiers with PTSD, I believe that he will not be the champion for Dalinar. However, we know from Sunlit Man that something happens to Kaladin. Nomad talks about him in past tense and when he sees Hoid for the first time he thought he was hallucinating believing he was seeing Kaladin. So, something happened to him, but what. 

Mayalaran illustrated by Nozomi Matsuoka

 

Before I go into my predictions, I wanted to give you one more interpretation I made while reading the book. Nomad feels sorry for breaking his oath with Auxiliary nearly killing his second spren, but he never mentions feeling guilty about his Honorspren, his first spren. So, I believe that his spren never died or Nomad never broke his oaths with it. So, why did he get a new spren and what happened to his honorspren? 

Illustrated by u/Voidlantadd

 

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Knights of Wind and Truth Prediction

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I believe that after the contests of champions and at the end of the book Kaladin will become Honor/Odium, like Sazed becoming Harmony. We already know that Taravangian stabs Odium to take his power and place. No one has taken Honors place, but Honor has already died, so his power is temporary gone. For Kaladin to become Honor and bring “balance” to the Cosmere the honorspren will sacrifice their investiture to become the shard of Honor. That is why Nomad doesn't have any guilt pertaining to his honorspren. His Honorspren left Nomad to save his friend and leader Kaladin. After Kaladin becomes Honor and Odium looses during the contest of champions, Odium will give his power to Kaladin and he will become a different deity. But the question remains why will Kaladin become Honor?

Illustrated by Antti

I believe that Kaladin will start to die and, to prevent his death completely, he will become Honor. Like I stated earlier I don't believe that Kaladin will be in the contest of champions. I believe that will be Szeth since this book will focus on his backstory and it would be a good for his personal arc if he becomes Dalinars chosen fighter. So how will Kaladin die? I think Kaladin will sacrifice himself to protect someone he cares about: probably Dalinar, Adolin, or Szeth before the contest. Kaladin has shown to put the needs of others before his own and I feel like his character would be willing to sacrifice himself to save another. However, as foreshadowed by Moash "Kaladin can't be Killed" and will become the next Honor. and merge with Odium to become something greater.

There are countless other possibilities that could happen in Stormlight Archives book 5. What do you think will happen?

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

Out of all the secret projects being released this year Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was the book I looked forward to the most. Last year I read all the teaser chapters and the inspiration Brandon Sanderson had for each novel and this one seemed the most colorful and I loved what inspired him to write it. His inspiration came by the movie Your Name and the video game Final Fantasy X. Your name is a great movie about two teens switching bodies and trying to solve a mystery while Final Fantasy X follows the protagonist as he helps Yuna (Yumi name being based off of her), a summoner, with her other guardians to release captured souls and defeat sin. This book definitely takes inspiration from both. 

By Botanica

When I read the book it took me a while for it to draw me in, but it did end up sketching itself into my memory forever.

 

If I had to rate this book I would give it a 6.0/10 compared to all of Brandon Sanderson's works with 5.0 being his average. In this post I will go over emotional impact, characters, plot, dialogue / prose, and worldbuilding / magic systems and how they averaged to make this book a 6.0/10 for me.

 

Emotional Impact 5.0/10

The emotional impact between the characters was average for a typical Brandon Sanderson novel. Throughout the book we see Yumi and Painter learn to appreciate each other and turn that into love. It is what you expect from a book that takes inspiration from two love stories. However, there was a point in the book that had the potential to be more emotional impact impactful, but then the next chapter removed it. It was something that was foreshadowed throughout the book and when it happened I was emotional, but after reading the following chapter it made what happened meaningless.

 

Characters 6.0/10

Like I said previously, the emphasis of the book is a love story between Yumi and Painter. They are both late teenagers trying to live in each other's worlds. I thought Painter was a more interesting character than Yumi. We understand why he liked to be alone and how he had to overcome his depression and anxieties. While on the other hand, Yumi at first came across as a Mary Sue but as the story progressed she became her own person with flaws. 

For minor characters I thought Design was fun because she brought more lore to the Cosmere. But the other characters were forgettable. They each were distinctive, but I wouldn't be able to name them until I reread the book.

 

Plot 8.0/10

Usually, in a story where people swap bodies they are separated from each other. However, in this book they stay together. One is a spirit as the other inhabits their body. They live in each other world until they fall asleep then they switch to the other world. I appreciate that they see each other as themselves because that removes some awkwardness. The reason they switched bodies because Yumi agrees to help free a spirit and in order to do so the spirit connected her with Painter. They have to solve the mystery on how to free the spirit while learning each other's magic systems.

 

Dialogue/Prose 5.0/10

I think everyone agrees that Brandon Sanderson doesn’t write a story for Dialogue and Prose. His intent is to tell a story which he does so well. So for Brandon Sanderson this book is average for his style of writing. I personally like it. He makes everything clear and easy to read which give me more time to understand the magic systems he creates. 

 

by BotanicaXu 

Worldbuilding/Magic System 6.0/10

I think this world and its laws were most confusing even with Hoid explaining everything at the end. It is definitely something I am planning on rereading. I don’t want to say anything because of spoilers, but talking to others confirmed that I was not the only one that thought this portrait was confusing.

For the magic system. Painter paints to seal nightmares in canvases hence his name and all the art puns in the post, while Yumi stacks rocks very high in her own art form to call upon spirits to bless the citizens. When the body swap occurs Yumi has to teach Painter how to stack correctly while Painter teaches her how to paint bamboo. Making this magic system unique enough to give this category 6.0/10.

 

In conclusion, If you are a fan of Brandon Sanderson, Your Name, or Final Fantasy X, then I would recommend this book. It is colorful and the art in the book is the best I have seen from Dragonsteel.