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Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 100-104
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Wind and Truth Reread
Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 100-104
Listen up humans, a god is speaking. And making bad choices.
By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey
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Published on September 15, 2025
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Hello, Sanderfans! Welcome back to our reread of Wind and Truth! This week we tackle a whole five chapters, though a couple are quite short. Get ready for some epic Tanavast flashbacks, beginning with his arrival on Roshar along with his bae, Cultivation; a Szeth flashback that takes place six weeks after he discovered the Unmade, as he is readying for war; Navani learning to manipulate and control the awful visions Odium is using to torment her; and Kaladin and Syl speaking with the Wind. It’s a busy week, so let’s get to it, shall we?
(I can’t believe I said “bae.”)
The book has been out long enough that most of you will hopefully have finished, and as such, this series shall now function as a re-read rather than a read-along. That means there will be spoilers for the end of the book (as well as full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content).
Paige’s Commentary: Plot Arcs
Day 9 opens with Chapter 100, “God,” which takes place ten thousand years ago. It’s a soliloquy by Tanavast, the person holding the Shard of Honor. He talks of finding Roshar, a masterwork of Adolnasium, who he’d “slain for his own good.” Sure, pal… keep telling yourself that. Tanavast speaks of being drawn to two other worlds but says he chose to focus on Roshar and its songs. Until Cultivation, Koravellium Avast, arrived. She reminds him that they had planned to find an uninhabited place without people who are remnants of the being they “betrayed.” But they decide to stay on Roshar, where Tanavast will watch over the people, and where the Wind speaks to him and the Night sings to her. And it was good.
UNTIL RAYSE ARRIVED.
Chapter 101, “Steering a Chull,” starts with Venli repeating a mantra in her head.
I am my own. Not his.
She consults with the Five, who have not come to a decision about whether they’ll submit to Odium. One of them admits to being relieved but Thude, good old Thude, says that rejecting Odium is what defines the listeners. Another asked Leshwi what she hears and she replies that she hears sorrow and anger—Odium demands her return. She asks if Venli senses it and she does not, but she understands how Leshwi must feel, and attempts to comfort the Fused. They seem to have reached an impasse, not sure how to proceed.
Then Venli has an idea:
“A desperate, dangerous idea.”
And she requests to speak to the Five.
POV Shift!
Navani is remembering a horrible time from her past, when she visited the city with her father, who was a rancher, to settle their accounts. She was only eleven and not as accomplished as she would eventually become, and struggles with writing a contract while women stand around her and laugh. They asked if her mother could write the contract and Navani tells them that she’d left and divorced them. The women began to insult her, calling her ignorant and incapable. As a young girl she’d fled, crushed—but now she knows all of that was lies and the vision dissolves.
She remembers other painful times in her life, sees other visions of when she was undermined or mocked. And she begins to think more clearly. She tries to find lines of Connection to Gavinor and Dalinar but sees none. Then she notices something different. A pattern. She realizes that the visions are being influenced or directed by something and as she does, she’s pulled into another scene from the past, finding herself in her study shortly after the discovery of the Parshendi.
She explores the books and keepsakes in the study until Gavilar bursts in, angry that she told Elhokar he shouldn’t marry Aesudan. She doesn’t respond to him, just talks about how she knew the vision would show this and then wonders if she was too hard on Elhokar’s soon-to-be wife. When she does address Gavilar, she’s much more confident and more sure of herself than she’d ever been during their marriage. Gavilar acts as though he’ll slap her and Navani states aloud that he never did hit her in reality, so doing so would dissolve the vision. He doesn’t hit her, which makes Navani feel that she’s managed to exert control over the vision.
She ignores Gavilar and, in an effort to find Gavinor, admits that what would really hurt her is seeing what happened to Elhokar at the end. And the vision shifts.
Chapter 102 is a Szeth flashback titled “A Blade in the Night” and it’s once again nine and a half years ago. Szeth arrives at the Elsecaller monastery, Pozen’s monastery, where he’d spent the most time. He’d spent the previous six weeks preparing his monastery for war, though he’d received no response to his letters to Sivi and Moss about joining him in his fight.
He remembers how he’d gone back to his father’s camp the day after discovering the Unmade only to find Neturo gone, possibly captured and held hostage. He enters the monastery through a hatch, planning to dispatch Pozen quickly and obtain his Honorblade, which would grant him Soulcasting. He thinks that with Pozen dead, the other Honorbearers might simply fold and he wouldn’t have to fight Sivi or Moss.
He slips into a meditation room, hoping that Pozen will visit in the night. Then he hears Sivi and Pozen talking outside the room. Pozen assures her that Szeth will come back, that it’s only been six weeks, and reminds her that she’d not spoken to him for three months after she herself was “elevated.” Pozen and Sivi argue for a moment, then he withdraws and she enters the meditation chamber beside the one where Szeth lurks. He thinks about killing Sivi first, then obtaining her Blade before killing Pozen.
Yet he hesitates, knowing his father had genuinely loved her and she’d always treated Szeth well. He reminds himself that she serves an Unmade and violates Truth. But he dismisses his Blade and goes to the meditation chamber she’d entered. Sivi is shocked, but greets him and tries to talk to him and he immediately asks how she could serve an Unmade.
“Wait,” Sivi said. “What did you see, Szeth?” She frowned, her eyes distant. “Could I … Could that be right? Could I have been deceived? That’s the form I’d have chosen for a deception… but Szeth, it’s not—”
It’s not an Unmade, then? I honestly don’t remember, so don’t flog me in the comments!
Then Pozen arrives and he chastises Szeth for pouting like a child and embarrassing him. They grapple, and rather than engage Pozen in battle, Szeth says he chooses Truth and retreats. He does not want to murder Pozen, but as he leaves, Szeth warns them that he’s raised the banner of Truth and will fight anyone who doesn’t join him. Even Sivi.
Chapter 103 is titled “Weathered.” We rejoin Kaladin in Shinovar. He makes breakfast for himself and Szeth and after eating, he plays the flute a bit. Syl is wary of Nale leaving early and calls him a creep. I’m inclined to agree with her. The Wind, however, asks them not to speak of him like that, insisting that Nale is just “weathered.” The Wind shows them a vision of the rock on which they sit, how it was once a majestic statue and then rain and wind weathered it and wore it down to just a lump of stone.
She compares Nale to the stone, and says that part of him remembers what he once was. The Wind implores Kaladin to make Nale remember, to help him. Kaladin says his hands are full with Szeth and that he doesn’t know if he has time for another patient. But the Wind pleads with him, insisting that’s why they brought Kaladin there—that the Heralds are a counter for the storm that is coming.
Szeth, done meditating, takes his breakfast on the go and they head toward the next monastery.
POV Shift!
We rejoin Sigzil in the middle of the pouring rain, locked in fierce battle on the Shattered Plains. They’re nearly out of Stormlight and once they’re out, they won’t be able to keep their fortifications from failing. In the meantime, the singers have unlimited Voidlight and Sig still hasn’t been able to think of a way to make his plan work. Then some nasty Fused arrive on top of the wall and Sig attacks, though his spear has no effect on a Magnified One. A Husked One grabs him and says it wants to fight Stormblessed; wondering if Kaladin will come if it kills Sig. Sigzil, of course, knows the name of his killer and tells the Fused that, kicking himself free.
Then Lopen shows up with reinforcements, freshly back from their trip to drop off the Mink in Herdaz. Sig leaves them to hold things together on the battlefront while he goes to consult with the generals. Vienta states that if they use any more Stormlight, they won’t be able to get their army through the Oathgate. Then he’s told that Venli has contacted them with an offer, and an idea clicks into place…
Chapter 104, “Enemy,” is another Tanavast chapter, taking place eight thousand years ago. Tanavast hated Rayse from the get-go, even when they were mortals. While they hadn’t gotten along before, now Rayse was also a god and Tanavast watched as Rayse chose a planet with humans and set himself up as their deity.
For a time, Tanavast and Kor tended happily to Roshar. But Tanavast can’t ignore Rayse, who was likely plotting. Against Kor’s wishes, he travels to Rayse’s planet, Alashwa, to find Rayse building an empire. His people were waging war, dominating and conquering other peoples of the planet. Then Rayse notices Tanavast’s presence and they form bodies and face one another. Rayse informs Tanavast that he eliminated Ambition; horrified and disgusted, Tanavast withdraws. Though he still watches, feeling compelled to know what Rayse is up to…
He sees some people leaving the city and listens as a young one speaks with his uncle. This child is Nale, and Tanavast is impressed with their defiance and pride. He appears to them and tells them he will give them the power to resist their common enemy. Shaking my head at you, Tanavast. You’re setting them up for annihilation. *sigh*
Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs
Tanavast
THE ONE I’D ALWAYS LOVED IN SECRET—OUR UNION FORBIDDEN AS MORTALS—EMERGED FROM THE DARKNESS OF THE VOID BETWEEN WORLDS.
We’re getting some fascinating glimpses of Tanavast here; and of his love for Cultivation. Sadly, we know that this love is doomed.
I SHOULD HAVE RETURNED TO KOR TO DISCUSS IT. BUT I WAS A GOD NOW. SHOULD I NOT ALREADY KNOW WHAT WAS RIGHT? WHAT NEED WAS THERE TO DISCUSS?
And this is part of the reason why it’s doomed. Tanavast has allowed his power to overwhelm his humility. His hubris will lead to his downfall.
Venli
She had… …sworn oaths to seek freedom. To help those in bondage. An idea occurred to her. A desperate, dangerous idea. A counterpoint to what she’d done years before.
And so Venli’s character makes the choice to finalize her arc.
Navani
A ridiculous backwater yokel, whose dress was too big for her and whose hem was stained by crem.
And now we begin to understand why Navani is so attuned (ha, get it?) to the common Alethi. She was the common Alethi, not too long ago.
Navani hated coming to the city. Hated feeling ignorant.
And so she became a renowned scholar, never to be told that she was ignorant again.
“This seed was buried deep, wasn’t it?” Navani whispered. “Grew into a weed that snarled and choked me for decades, watered by Gavilar once he recognized it. I’ve pulled that weed. Its power withered as its roots died. Begone.”
This is incredible. Navani is one of the strongest women in the Stormlight Archive, and that’s really saying something, considering the company she’s in. She no longer allows anyone to belittle her; she knows her worth.
Gavilar
“Physical pain would have bolstered me, provoked me to leave and escape his control. What he did was in some ways worse. He undermined my confidence…”
Ah yes. Page 1 in the good old narcissist playbook.
Szeth
He would not be a killer who came in the night. If Szeth murdered Pozen here, he knew he would never recruit Sivi or any of the others.
Even now, after everything, Szeth refuses to kill. This is who he truly is; not the broken, bleeding thing we met at the beginning of The Way of Kings.
Kaladin
It feels strange to have little to say about a Kaladin section, but he’s just so… stable now. He’s still struggling with how to achieve his goal and how to accept Nale, but these struggles feel somehow smaller than those he’s endured up until now.
Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories
I have to imagine that uncounted numbers of Sanderson fans’ hearts did backflips when they read the words “TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO” at the start of Chapter 100.
Thus begins the first of the craziest flashback chapters Brandon has ever written, following Tanavast’s arrival and establishment in the Rosharan system, his dealings with Cultivation and Odium and the peoples of Roshar and Ashyn, and his struggle with the Shard of Honor.
THE ONE I’D ALWAYS LOVED IN SECRET—OUR UNION FORBIDDEN AS MORTALS—EMERGED FROM THE DARKNESS OF THE VOID BETWEEN WORLDS. CULTIVATION, SHE WAS NOW CALLED, THOUGH I KNEW HER AS KORAVELLIUM AVAST—THE BEAUTIFUL DRAGON HERETIC OF YOLEN.
And Brandon really doesn’t hold back, dropping this from the start. Yolen remains shrouded in mystery, as do the dragons (held in reserve until the penultimate Dragonsteel trilogy years from now), but this is evocative nonetheless… especially with the new information we’ve gotten from Isles of the Emberdark.
We know a bit now of dragon culture, and we know of Starling’s exile. “Dragon heretic” is a powerful statement here, and I can’t help but wonder what Koravellium Avast did to deserve the title. The implication here is that this was something from before the Shattering of Adonalsium, and given that Frost, Euridrius, and Medelantorius were also present at the Shattering, it’s not like the dragons were uniformly opposed to it or anything.
No, Koravellium Avast must have done something altogether different, which is fascinating given how apparently bashful she is as the Vessel of Cultivation, preferring to hide in the shadows and vales and work subtly to progress her plans. Even abandoning her place as a dragon god and refusing prayers seems too tame for that title.
THE POWER REBELLED AGAINST ME.
Also from the start, we see that Tanavast did not have a perfect relationship with his Shard. This inside view gives a totally different perspective on the original Sixteen Vessels, and in fact recontextualizes what we have seen with Kelsier, Vin, and Sazed. Perhaps none of the Vessels were ideally suited to their Shards—not even Rayse—and that friction is what is eroding all of their minds over time.
Is it even possible to have a perfect Vessel for a Shard?
IN THE FAR DISTANCE, SOMETHING HAPPENED. GODS… DYING? PAIN? WE BOTH NOTICED IT. SHE HELD TO ME.
From the timeline given here, we know that this refers at least to the conflict involving Odium, Ambition, and Mercy, as well as Odium’s destruction of Devotion and Dominion. Whether or not he found any others of the Sixteen—maybe Virtuosity?—remains to be seen.
WE LOOKED ON THE NINE SO FAR WITH PLEASURE—BUT I COULD FEEL SLIGHT DISAPPOINTMENT FROM KOR.
It makes sense that the Radiant spren were created deliberately by Honor and Cultivation, and that the more natural spren of Roshar were the lingering fragments of Adonalsium given new “flavor” after the Shattering. But the Bondsmith spren always struck me as strange outliers. Given this context, they make sense now.
Wind, Night, and Stone, given new shape but not entirely replaced. The Night is still a giant question mark, and maybe even more so now after Cultivation fled Roshar. What will become of the Nightwatcher?
ALASWHA, IT WAS CALLED.
I’m not sure I really like how on-the-nose the naming of the other planets in this system ended up being. Ashyn as a name, because it’s a planet of ash and fire? Too directly tied to English. Braize, because Rayse? Ehhhh. I do like Alaswha, though, as it carries the taste of something ancient and inscrutable.
IT REMINDED ME OF THE WORST POWERS ON OUR WORLD. THE ABILITY TO SHEAR AXON FROM AXON. MICROKINESIS, IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE GODS.
So yeah, unfettered Surgebinding is definitely scary stuff. Microkinesis is almost certainly going to see a substantial “nerf” in the final, canonical accounting, but its capabilities as seen in Dragonsteel Prime are pretty crazy. Magical nukes, quite literally, are well within reason. I imagine the final version will look more like souped-up Dustbringing/Division—still pretty crazy, but not world-shatteringly powerful at the flick of a wrist.
But who knows? Maybe we’ll actually see some planets get nuked out of existence in the space age war between Scadrial and Roshar.
“YOU KNOW THAT AMBITION WAS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM. WE ALL KNEW IT, RIGHT FROM THE START.”
This has been mentioned twice now, and I itch to get answers. Was it something to do with Ambition as a Shard? Was it something specific to Uli Da, and her own personality? Maybe she was bullheaded or didn’t like the way they went about Shattering Adonalsium. Or maybe it’s because she was a Sho Del, a fain creature. Were they worried that she would spread fainlife throughout the Cosmere via her Shardic influence?
I can’t imagine any of those answers are coming anytime soon. Gotta be relevant to the Dragonsteel trilogy. But I sure wouldn’t complain about some details in, say, another letter to Hoid in book six…
We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who haven’t read the book yet.
See you next Monday with our discussion of Chapters 105 through 108![end-mark]
The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 100-104 appeared first on Reactor.
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