Books Wind and Truth Reread Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 74-76 A death rattle, a surprising encounter with Mishram, and bad news… By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey | Published on June 30, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Welcome to yet another Stormlight Reread Monday, Cosmere Chickens! Paige, Drew, and I invite you to join us on another deep dive into the novel as we experience a crushing loss along with Sigzil, come face to face with an Unmade, take a look back in time to watch a young Szeth beginning his pilgrimage, and witness Adolin receiving some very bad news. Things are looking pretty bleak for our heroes this week, and they’ll get darker still before the end, so let’s discuss… 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 We haven’t seen Sigzil in a while, and it’s hard to witness his anguish in the opening of chapter 74, titled “What He Made Of Us,” as he’s screaming over his dying squire, Deti, who utters a Death Rattle: “It comes! The Night of Sorrows! I stand on the precipice of dawn and watch it advance, consuming all light, all life, all hope. IT COMES!” Ugh, poor squire, Deti. And poor Sig. Raging, he rips into some direform Regals who are surrounding some of his soldiers, wielding Vienta as a dagger and a Heavenly One’s spear, which had drained Deti’s Stormlight. Its sphere is cracked, so as he stabs Regals, their voidlight leaks away into the night. Vienta tries to talk sense into him. He’s the commander; he can’t afford to kill in a rage. He needs to retreat. But he continues to attack until his logical side takes over and finally he retreats, abandoning Narak Four. This was his plan, but he wishes they’d lasted longer—and also that his forces had more Stormlight. It’s in short supply as Dalinar has yet to return, so they have to ration it and they’re getting pummeled by Odium’s forces. Now they have to plan how to get the enemy to focus on Narak Three, the other plateau they can afford to lose. But first Sig informs Leyten and Skar that Moelach is there, based on the fact that Deti spoke a Death Rattle. Leyten states that Moelach doesn’t take part in fighting but Sig warns that there might be another Unmade in the area, as well. And, as a matter of fact, he’s right. He’s seen it, after all, hasn’t he? Sig then asks if they’d seen Moash and Leyten offers the perfect reply: ”The moment he appears, we’ll make sure you know. Then there will be a reckoning.” There won’t be, unfortunately, but it’s nice to hear the guys talking about it. *sigh* POV SHIFT! Back to Shallan, who emerges from the chaos of the Spiritual Realm to the outside of a vision. It’s as if she’s looking through a cloudy glass wall which forms a pillar surrounded by wooden scaffolding. Her spren appear, and then Renarin, Rlain, and their spren appear on another level of the scaffolding. She finds a good spot to peek in and observes a battle taking place on the other side. Dalinar and Navani have been moving through Desolations and they used the pillar in order to watch, seeing the early Knights Radiant but skipping over the days of Nohadon and the founding of the Radiants. There has been no sign of the Ghostbloods they’re hunting, but they continue to follow Dalinar as the Ghostbloods believe that his quest will also lead them to Mishram, so they must be following him somehow, as well. They observe that the weapons and the battle tactics are more modern but that this is still long in the past. Rlain notes that the battles are against his people. “The Fused wouldn’t exist if the humans hadn’t begun to outgrow the land given them. The Heralds wouldn’t exist if the Fused hadn’t been created to stop this incursion.” He’s not wrong, all of the fighting began with the arrival of the humans. They just destroy everything! Stupid humans. Shallan points out that the singers did serve Odium. Rlain states that was because the other gods refused to help them. He asks if the only acceptable answer is that one people or another must be subjugated, as happened to his people. It’s rather an uncomfortable discussion between human and listener, but it’s an important one, because if the Fused and Odium’s forces win, they will subjugate the humans. If, on the other hand, the humans were to win, they would also want to subjugate the singers. Renarin tells him that his father is trying to end the war with peace and that there have to be other answers. Rlain is skeptical that it can end with peace, and I don’t blame him one bit for it. Shallan wants to move to the top of a hill but Renarin says he can’t just zoom them around like with one of her maps. This really cracks me up. I know a lot of people don’t like familiar real-world expressions like “zoom” appearing in these books. They say it pulls them out of the story. It never pulls me out—I personally find it amusing, and I enjoy the way Brandon uses words like “zoom” and “awesome” in the books. What say you, Sanderfans? What are your thoughts on this topic? Shallan asks Renarin to try to move their location and after some discussion with Glys, he’s able to jump them to a different hilltop. She sees Dalinar and Navani and they remind her of Adolin, which makes her smile. Oh, my heart. *sad face* Then she spies a darkened area and Renarin announces that Glys says it’s an Unmade: specifically, Mishram. Not the NOW Mishram, but it’s her in the historical vision. Shallan takes a moment to be annoyed at the fact that while they’d seen Unmade in other battles, they hadn’t been shown their creation, which remained a mystery even to the spren. Shallan wants to go inside and interact with Mishram; after arguing with Renarin about it, Rlain agrees with Shallan. Promising to signal if something goes wrong, she enters the vision… Chapter 75—ahh, so much for seeing Shallan approach Mishram in the vision, right? Soon, Sanderfans… soon. But this chapter is a Szeth flashback titled “Family” and it takes place sixteen years ago, around the same time as his last vision. It’s the day he’s to leave on his pilgrimage to train with all of the Honorblades (barring Taln’s), and he’s in the monastery’s rock garden, praying to a stone there with a vein of crystal running through its center. He asks for wisdom and touches the stone. And oddly… For a moment he felt… memories. As if… this stone had come from another place, and remembered being carried… with a group of terrified people… This stone, of course, was brought from Ashyn, and it’s interesting that Szeth can feel that memory from the stone. He speaks to it, asks if it’s the spren he follows. And then the Voice pops up again and tells him that it hasn’t been ignoring him and that they will meet once his pilgrimage is complete. It says that it has orchestrated everything that has happened to Szeth and that his meaning is part of its meaning. And Szeth really needed that reminder that his life was not an accident. Poor Szeth, always needing validation from others. Then Elid appears, interrupting his meditation; she tells him that their father is planning to follow him. Szeth feels relief at this; he says he didn’t think that his father would come with him, though he’s not surprised. Elid says Szeth needs to tell Neturo to stay because he’s built something there—he’s the mayor. Szeth says their father will do what he likes, that maybe he has reasons to go to the Willshaper monastery. Elid is shocked that Szeth knows about Sivi and asks if he thinks what they’re doing is wrong. He replies that their mother left him; Elid says she might come back, though she then argues that their father following Szeth every few months would mean the end of him and Sivi. Wishy-washy, that one. They briefly talk about missing their mother and then Elid declares she’s not going on the pilgrimage and again tells Szeth to talk their father out of going. She calls out that she hates him as he leaves. Poor Szeth. And really, poor Elid, too. Her life was dramatically altered because of what Szeth went through, too. Following him from place to place first with her parents, and now just her father. She has never really had her own place, but she’s made this city her home and won’t be following Szeth again. He leaves the monastery with only the clothes on his back and his sword, and is soon joined by his father. He asks his father to stay behind. Neturo asks if Szeth wants that or if he thinks it’s what he should want. Szeth tells him he has a life there with his family and Neturo tells him that going with Szeth is the only way he knows how to help. Szeth thanks him, grateful that his father is going with him despite telling him to stay behind. Chapter 76 is titled “Concessions” and despite sporting an Adolin chapter icon, the chapter opens with Shallan inside the vision, in a dying singer body. She can speak to Pattern in her mind now and asks him to have them pull her out and put her in a different body, but then she sees Mishram approaching. The Unmade took the shape of a black mass of smoke, with hands growing out of it to move. Powerful hands, entirely black, stretching out and gripping the ground to pull her along. That’s not creepy at all. But as the mass reaches another dying singer, the hands and arms disappear and the mass of smoke turns into a female singer with billowing robes and long black hair. She leans over the dying singer and speaks to her, forming extra arms to hold her. Shallan whimpers at the pain in her side and Mishram turns to her… which kind of freaks her out. Mishram leans toward her and whispers for her to live, to heal. Shallan asks why Mishram healed her and she responds that he “does not love us… [so] we must love ourselves.” Shallan follows Mishram to where she’s healing another singer and asks what her plots are. Mishram tells her to live, feel, be. Shallan follows Mishram and lets Radiant take control. The Unmade has found a human, and Radiant asks Mishram if she will heal him. She says she cannot and would not, though she sings to him to make his transition more peaceful. This really challenges our sense of Mishram as some kind of psychotic Unmade. We’ll know why she changed, of course, but it’s so sad to see how compassionate she was before she was betrayed. When Mishram—the present day Mishram—suddenly SEES Shallan, it’s pretty freaking scary, to be perfectly honest. I know that I got the creeps from it, in a major way. They pull Shallan out of the vision and she creates a Lightweaving of herself to remain inside. Mishram rants about all the pain she’ll cause and Shallan asks why Odium is afraid of her, about whether she could replace Odium. Mishram feels taken aback and then Shallan is back in the Spiritual Realm, surrounded by Mishram’s essence. “How do you know?” Mishram demanded. “How do you know?”“I’ve been there,” Shallan whispered. “I killed those who created me as well.” And here we see Shallan’s oft repeated fixation, her guilt and fear that she’s killed or hurt everyone who has helped her, which has made her hesitate to kill Mraize when she’s had the opportunity. Of course, she hasn’t killed all of her mentors and allies—Adolin, Dalinar, and Jasnah are still alive, among others. She really needs to start working through this particular belief and coming to grips with her guilt. Mishram’s essence reaches for Shallan but Rlain steps in front of her. I really love this part: Rlain, tall, in warform but wearing an Alethi uniform, protects her. Then Renarin steps up beside Rlain… and takes the listener’s hand. Mishram pauses and they try to convince her to help them to find her, explaining that it would be far better than their enemies finding her. And of course Mishram vanishes, leaving them no information to help them on their (Shallan’s) quest to locate her prison. Mraize appears in the vision with a dagger as if he’s going to attack Shallan’s Lightweaving and then the vision falls apart. Odium is now searching for them, alerted by the fact that Mishram was seeing and speaking with them. Tumi announces they need to hide and they all disappear, leaving Shallan alone. POV SHIFT! Adolin! Yay! He’s playing towers with Yanagawn after sparring. They discuss the tactics of the game as it stands and Yanagawn makes a game-winning move. Then they discuss their troops and how exhausted they are, but Adolin assures the young emperor that they can win. (He’s wrong, in the sense that they can win the battle against the singers and Fused, but we all know what happens and we’ll get there.) The point is that Adolin never seems to let go of his optimism. His outlook will change once he’s injured, but at this point in the book, he’s still confident that they can hold out against the enemy. They talk of other things, such as war “out there” among other planets. Yanagawn reveals that there are legends about other worlds in their records. Which is surprising, but kind of makes sense, in a way. Of course the Azish would have knowledge of other worlds! It will come up later so I’ll mention that they use aluminum flatware and have candelabras and such that are made of aluminum. Adolin remarks that they might be able to use the metal, so the emperor arranges for some to be taken to the armory. Adolin’s guard switches and none other than Hmask enters the tent. Turns out that Yanagawn can speak Thaylen and Adolin finally learns the reason for Hmask’s loyalty toward him: His son was the child that Adolin rescued during the battle in Thaylen City when the Thunderclast was attacking. I’m not crying, you’re crying! Scribes relay information to Noura. Adolin guesses that the reinforcements aren’t going to make it to Azimir in time. Emul and Tashikk have taken up with Odium and attacked the reinforcements so the Azish and Alethi forces in the city have three and a half days to hold out, alone and exhausted, against the singers and Fused. We know how it will go, but the sad thing about this turn of events is how downtrodden Adolin feels. The betrayal and subsequent loss of hope is hard to take, even for our optimistic Highprince. Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs & Maps Chapter 74 begins with another degraded chapter arch, featuring Chana (who actually makes an appearance in the chapter), Kalak (Herald of the Willshapers) and Palah (Herald of the Truthwatchers) in two positions. Palah’s likely here for Renarin and Rlain, but Kalak’s a bit more of a mystery. We do know that he’s the only Herald who seemed to have a relationship with Mishram, calling her by shortened name… but that’s a hell of a reach. Even his attributes of Resolute/Builder don’t seem to make much sense. I suppose it could be for Sigzil, who’s resolutely holding Narak against the enemy. Chapter 75, a Szeth flashback chapter, features Vedel, Ishar x2, and Taln. Taln’s Blade is mentioned in this chapter, and Ishar often shows up in Szeth’s flashback arches since he’s the Voice guiding Szeth on his journey. But Vedel…? Patron of the Edgedancers? My theory is that she’s symbolic of Szeth’s father, who is (as always) nothing short of amazing. Neturo insists on staying with his son and keeping their little family together, which is in line with Vedel’s attributes of “Loving/Healing.” Finally, we have chapter 76’s arch, which features Shalash (I think), Vedel, and the Wild Card. (These Heralds are getting harder and harder to make out!) Shalash is here for Shallan, clearly. I suspect that the Wild Card is due to Yanagawn and Adolin’s discussion about the broader Cosmere. And Vedel is often used for Adolin’s POV chapters, since he’s closely linked to the Edgedancers. In this week’s chapter, we see Sigzil’s forces (in blue) on the Shattered Plains retreating, yielding Narak Four to the enemy (in red). They plan to attempt to lure the enemy towards Narak Three next (circled in yellow below). Art: Dragonsteel Sigzil “You’re not blaming yourself for this, are you?”“Trying my best not to, but you know how it feels.”Leyten nodded. “I wish I didn’t, but I do.” Sigzil’s POV, which starts off chapter 74, centers around the loss of his squire and the guilt of command. He’s doing a great job, but he’s still losing people, and dealing with the emotional aftermath of those losses is no easy feat. Thankfully he’s got Skar and Leyten to help him out. All three of them are gaining a newfound understanding of what drove Kaladin to leave the army. Shallan She forced herself to look back. At a woman with red hair, walking beside Jezrien the king.The implications of this are daunting, Radiant thought.We have to acknowledge them anyway, Veil said. Shallan’s clearly still struggling with her mother’s identity, though she’s at least willing to face it now, though she hasn’t had time to really process this reality. She’s got more pressing matters to deal with before she can begin to dig into those implications. That’s strikingly mature for her, showing just how far she’s come. Our bond has been strengthening. You have said the proper truths. We thought maybe this would start to work. An interesting note here on the bond between Pattern and Shallan. She’s been admitting a lot of hard truths to herself, so it makes sense that their bond is growing stronger. Szeth Your life has purpose, Szeth. Everything that has happened to you, I orchestrated. You have meaning because your meaning is part of my meaning. We can’t blame Szeth for being relieved at this. It must be incredibly validating to be reassured that you’re on the right path, that your life is meaningful. And to hear this from what is basically a deity, to Szeth? A hundred times more validating! “Father is planning to go with you. Again. When you leave on pilgrimage.”Szeth felt a sudden, deep sense of relief. Of course he does. Being sent off alone is a terrifying prospect. The only constant in his life so far has been his father. “Szeth,” Father whispered to the sound of splashing rain, “what happened between your mother and me was not your fault. We were struggling long before you found that stone.”“Really?” Neturo once again angling for that “best dad” award… not like he’s got a ton of competition, though. Dalinar, Elhokar, Lirin… most of the Rosharan daddies have some work to do on their fathering skills. Elid “I used to feel sorry for you,” Elid said. “Used to want to protect you, like Father. But… then she left us…” Both of the siblings have had rough lives, and I definitely feel for Elid here too. Being dragged around after her brother, with no stable home environment, and then to lose her mother as well? It’s no wonder that she’s troubled and angry. “Why he’s always willing to follow you? Why he doesn’t care about me as much as he does you? Why are you his favorite?” Ah, and mix in a little sibling rivalry and lack of self-confidence just for good measure. Neturo “Elid hates me, Szeth.”“What? No! She loves you.”“That’s not what she says,” Neturo said softly. Neturo’s not perfect, of course. In his insistence that he must watch over and protect his son, he’s neglected his daughter, and she feels the loss of their relationship. Mishram “Will you heal him?” she asked.“I cannot,” the Unmade said. “And I would not.” She hesitated. “Yet we should sing for him. That will make his final transition more peaceful.” Oh, fascinating. Mishram does at least have empathy for the enemy, even if she can’t (and won’t) heal them. Adolin He expected other military leaders to put up with the way he led his troops—he should probably try a little harder to appreciate the Azish system. A consistent through-line for Adolin’s character; his insistence on trying to break through his own ingrained prejudices and see other perspectives. What did he believe? Storms, that was a good question. […] One would think that with literal Voidbringers coming down to assault the land, he’d be more devout, not less. Adolin’s faith has certainly taken a major hit. I can’t entirely blame him for heading down Jasnah’s path, considering everything that’s happened. “Thunderclast,” Adolin said. “Yeah. I wasn’t able to beat it. Honestly, I barely inconvenienced it.” He thought back to that whole ordeal with shame at his failure. […] “I think,” Yanagawn said, “you saved his son’s life.” While he may have failed on the grand scale, he still made all the difference in this one family’s life. That’s something that Adolin needed to be reminded of. He’d never expected their allies—those they’d fought to protect—to turn on them. This betrayal cuts Adolin deep, all the more because he knows how many more of his own men he’ll lose because of it. Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories “It comes! […] The Night of Sorrows! I stand on the precipice of dawn and watch it advance, consuming all light, all life, all hope! IT COMES!” Nope, that’s not an epigraph. Chapter 74 kicks off with a bang, dropping a portentous Death Rattle as Sigzil’s squire Deti falls in battle. The Death Rattles have largely been sorted out, at this point, though there are still a few potentially outstanding examples. During a first read of Wind and Truth, this likely feels like one that we know about; so much in the earlier books seemed to equate what we knew as the Everstorm with the Night of Sorrows, so this could be written off as fairly humdrum. But with hindsight, knowing what the real Everstorm is, what the True Desolation and Night of Sorrows actually entail, this is a flashing neon red sign. And when I say that, I have to point out that we really haven’t seen what all those things will look like for Roshar in the long term. We know the landscape has changed, though not how; we’ll probably have to wait for book six to see what the map looks like. We also know that darkness covers all the land but Azimir and Urithiru. But there’s so much more to worry about. Plant growth is a potential issue, of course, requiring the blessing of Retribution via midnight prayers to gain Warlight. The iron grip of Retribution has nearly all the world in hand. El seems primed to be the steward on Roshar while Retribution tries to figure out what the heck to do about all those other pesky Shards… and he’s a loose cannon if we’ve ever seen one. And what of the Unmade? Ba-Ado-Mishram is free now, and doesn’t have any Shards to contend with. It’s very possible we get another version of the False Desolation in the future. This chapter makes mention of Moelach, of course, given the presence of Death Rattles during the battle. But we are reminded of the potential other Unmade, though they don’t show up—and those are also worth keeping in mind for the back five books. What’s going on with Dai-Gonarthis and Ashertmarn? What about Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother? Shallan drove her off, back at the beginning on Oathbringer, but she was by no means neutralized or incapacitated. And her Midnight Essence could be a pure terror in the Night of Sorrows. “Why is Odium afraid of you?” Shallan said. “Could you actually replace him?” So Mishram is still a bit of an enigma, even after all the focus on her in this book. She was freed, but other than being one piece in the puzzle to allow Dalinar’s erstwhile Ascension, she really had very little impact on the plot of Wind and Truth. She was mostly a MacGuffin for Shallan to chase. But one theme kept getting hammered on, over and over, throughout this novel: Odium is afraid of Ba-Ado-Mishram because she could potentially Ascend and replace the current Vessel. But then nothing ever came of that. Dalinar Ascended to Honor, then Taravangian became Retribution, and Mishram just sort of faded into the background after Renarin and Rlain freed her. I have to imagine that this is all part of a long game, and her potential is still to be explored. Maybe she does end up supplanting Taravangian, and becoming not Odium but Retribution—something that sure does seem to fit with what we see of Mishram’s actions in chapter 76 and what we hear of her across the history of the conflict on Roshar. It’s not super satisfying to have essentially nothing happen with Ba-Ado-Mishram in Wind and Truth, but she has been spoken about in such a unique manner and generally built up too much to never get taken down from the proverbial mantel as the story continues. Shallan’s illusions no longer froze when she wasn’t directing them. The one inside, for example, had clasped its hands and was staring thoughtfully, shifting occasionally as a living person might. Shallan keeps having these little moments of magical development. This isn’t as spectacular as her work with substantiation against Abidi back in Day One, but it’s yet another indicator of just how special Shallan’s double bond is. She keeps popping up with these weird or crazy applications of her Surges. And we still have the whole Soulcasting thing yet to unravel with her. Who knows what bonkers things she’s gonna be doing in the last five books… Fan theories via Social Media Lyn: There’s a theory thread over on Reddit which is going a bit more in-depth on my “was the thing that destroyed Ashyn a nuclear explosion” theory from a while ago. Worth a look if you’re intrigued by that sort of thing! 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 chapter 77 and the next two interludes (11 and 12) as we wrap up Day Six![end-mark] The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 74-76 appeared first on Reactor.