Books Wind and Truth Reread Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 124-125, Interludes 17 and 18 It’s the end of Day Nine, and dire events are unfolding… By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey | Published on November 3, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Greetings, Sanderfans! Here we are at the end of day nine! We’re back with Tanavast, two thousand years in the past, where he done messed up by trapping Mishram! We also see Odium destroy him—though not completely, of course. We check in with Navani and Wit as they discuss their dire situation, awaiting the impending dawning of the tenth day and still no sign of Dalinar… or is that a good thing? And then we witness what appears to be the fall of Azimir as Adolin and company take refuge in the saferoom. All this and a couple of intriguing interludes before we head into the final section of the novel—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 Chapter 124, “Rejection,” is a Tanavast POV that takes place two thousand years ago. It opens with Tanavast talking about how he betrayed Mishram, and how Honor’s power rejected him for it. He didn’t realize how her capture and imprisonment would affect the singers, though he thinks he ought to have anticipated the devastation. Without the power of Honor, the Radiants and Heralds had no check against their powers. Tanavast doesn’t know if Honor’s power leaving him had been part of Rayse’s plan all along, as he had seemed so genuinely afraid of Mishram usurping him. But I would guess that, yes, Rayse was fully aware of what would happen with Honor. Tanavast reaches out to Kor but feels only revulsion and hate in return. All bonds that had been made in his name were corrupted. MY EVERY PROMISE WAS FLAWED. I HAD SOUGHT TO SAVE THE WORLD, BUT IN DOING SO HAD RUINED IT AND EVERYTHING I STOOD FOR. As the power abandons him, Rayse appears and brags about having tricked him. Then Rayse comes to the realization that he still can’t leave Roshar, as the agreements still hold despite Honor leaving Tanavast. As Rayse is about to kill Tanavast, Honor offers to fight with Tanavast, but he knows that it would destroy Roshar. He does not take the power but instead asks for protection. The power of Honor took a portion of Tanavast’s soul, including his memories, and as Odium destroyed what was left of Tanavast, Honor gives the remnant it had taken to Tanavast’s avatar, the Stormfather. But the power of Honor wanted a vessel and it planned with the Stormfather, bid the spren to find one who could hold it. One who was honorable and merciful, a warrior and a leader. But the caveat was that the individual had to prove themselves without knowing of the reward. So they agreed that the Stormfather would find a champion to defeat Rayse; if they saved Roshar, “HONOR WOULD INVEST THEM.” Chapter 125, “One Man Against a Tide,” opens with Navani discussing the situation with Wit on the night before the final day. Wit reasons that with Odium interfering in the Spiritual Realm, if Dalinar doesn’t return in time for the contest, then Odium can be said to have been interfering with Dalinar making it to the contest, which would be an automatic win for them. Navani thinks on Fen’s betrayal, as well as that of the Emuli and the others who had abandoned the Azish empire. She thinks of Adolin and Yanagawn fighting in a city on the verge of falling and Jasnah’s reticence to return to Urithiru after her defeat in Thaylen City. Then Wit drops the Taravangian-is-now-Odium bomb and Navani’s world is rocked. Wit says he can’t “think of a better, or worse, vessel for Odium.” And Navani knows that this is the worst possible eventuality for the fight with Dalinar, as Taravangian will want to break his former “friend.” “Together we will hope that the man we have all chosen as our champion can resist whoever Odium chooses to be his. Because whatever happens tomorrow, I think that secretly, Dalinar Kholin is both champions.” Wit pretty much has the up and down of it. He knows that Taravangian knows how to best Dalinar due to their long acquaintance. And he doesn’t seem hopeful for anything but Dalinar not showing up in time. POV Shift! Adolin, our poor best boy Adolin, is numb but still fighting, going far beyond what could possibly be expected of him in his state. The waves of singers are endless and the defense begins to fail. Then the last remaining Shardbearer, wearing Adolin’s own Plate, falls and is taken by the singers. Adolin’s plate then makes a reappearance—worn by none other than Abidi the Monarch. Gross. As the singers break through the meager remains of their defense, Adolin begins to fight with his longsword. He thinks that this is the night he’ll die and Maya reaches out to him, saying that there is no shame in loss and that she is coming. Adolin keeps fighting until he is felled, but then he’s rescued by a small group of defenders wielding bows and arrows. Colot and May are there and when Adolin says to leave him, Colot points out that Yanagawn himself is there to fetch him, and will not leave him behind. They flee to the saferoom beneath the hospital where he is healed of the wounds he suffered while fighting. Kushkam is there with the emperor, May, Colot, some soldiers, and many of the wounded. They are safe for the moment; however, they know that the city has fallen, and with it, Azir. Interlude 17 is a Dieno interlude. The Mink is on the chopping block. Literally. He’s about to be beheaded and he’s trying to get the Herdazian judiciary, who is working with the singers, to come up with a better way to kill him. He suggests that they tie him to a boulder and launch him into the ocean, or throw him from a tower and see how many archers can hit him before he lands; he even suggests that they use a sledgehammer and crush his head rather than removing it. All the while, he’s trying to distract them so he can try to escape, and eventually, he succeeds. He slips his ropes and escapes beneath the platform. Exits are blocked so he heads up to the fort’s wall, hoping to “hop off it to safety.” No luck there. Just when it seems he’s done for, a thumping shakes the ground. A greatshell the size of a city emerged from the darkened fog, big enough to tower over the entire fort.“Well now,” Dieno said. “That’s a finale.” I feel that this is a very unsatisfying finale, though, because we don’t find out what happens! Interlude 18 is titled “Conflux” and is, of course, an Odium interlude. He is considering whether he can destroy the power of Honor, which is protecting Dalinar. He knows that power cannot be destroyed completely, but also knows there are other possible options. Odium thinks that he can Splinter the power of Honor, spreading it out to prevent it from resisting him. However, this would violate his oath not to strike against Honor first, thus leaving him open to an attack by Cultivation. Then Honor “spat” Dalinar out, right into the Physical Realm, and Odium is overwhelmingly relieved. Odium and Honor both, for the moment, are aligned in that they feel the people of Roshar deserve more. Odium finds himself caring for these people, the singers, so long abused. And he thinks of the many across the cosmere who are similarly abused. And obviously, they all need one God, him, to unite them. Obviously. Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs TANAVAST Yet another instance of a character betraying someone “for the greater good” and it backfiring dramatically on them. And in a spectacular lapse of judgment, Tanner then goes on to mislead all the Radiants and cause them, en masse, to reject their oaths. For the good of the world. In the end, is Tanavast a hero, or a villain? He makes the right choice at the very end, but he is so flawed, made so many mistakes, that it’s hard to think of him as something so noble as a hero. Shards An interesting note here regarding emotions in general, of the bearers of Shards. We have seen that the original personality of the bearers are slowly, over the course of time, overwritten or corrupted until all that’s left is the power, tinged with shades of the original personality. This change takes thousands of years, but it always happens. In most cases, that power is some sort of emotion or intangible concept (honor, passion, etc). But the lack of balance that the other emotions/powers provide creates an imperfect situation. What is honor, without the tempering of compassion? What is passion, without love? These people who choose to bear a Shard are rendered incomplete. Adolin Watching Adolin lose this battle is hard to take. He’s already lost so much… and the final indignity is that he’s not even allowed to die as so many others around him already have. Even this, he fails at. But of course we know that it’s a damn good thing his life is saved at the eleventh hour. His revelation about his father is even more painful: If Adolin couldn’t trust his father…What… what could he trust in? A weighty question indeed. So much faith is placed on our parents as we grow; reverence, love, loyalty. To have that undermined so brutally is a hard blow. He wanted to find a way to love his father again. He wanted to make peace. He wanted a chance. The clarity that being faced with certain death will bring. Dieno (The Mink) “Come on. I’m a legend. You can’t have a legend dying by a mere beheading, can you?” Bless him. I hope he never changes. We don’t have much here in regards to his character arc as this is, if memory serves, the first time we’ve actually had a POV for him. So if anything, this is—for our purposes—the beginning of his arc. And what a beginning it is! Trapped, about to be executed, then a daring escape and a monster attack… a story befitting a warrior of the Mink’s stature, for sure. Odium He felt the singers, so long abused, and gloried in the idea of bringing due vengeance. As his soul vibrated with this…The power of Honor vibrated along.In this one thing, Honor and Odium were aligned. These people deserved more. I find this fascinating because for so long, we as readers were led to believe that the singers were the villains of the piece. The slow reveal of their mistreatment was a master stroke in trope reversal. Peace. A lack of pain. A universe united. How many villains have had a motive of wanting to unite the world for the sake of peace? How many heroes? It’s interesting that the defining difference between what makes one a hero or villain comes down to how they choose to lead, and if they allow their people, once conquered, freedom of choice. I, for one, do not for a moment believe that Odium will allow freedom. I think he’d be a despot and a tyrant, destroying anyone who might possibly voice dissent or disagreement. Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories Remember when Oathbringer came out, and it dropped the bombshell revelation that the humans were the Voidbringers, and the Recreance happened because the Radiants found out about that? Pepperidge Farm remembers. I also remember going “nuh uh, not good enough” the moment I read that. I didn’t buy it for a second. I knew there was something different, something bigger, that must have led to the Recreance. And, well, here we are. IF THE POWER DID ABANDON ME, IT WOULD LEAVE THE RADIANTS AND THE HERALDS WITHOUT A CHECK AGAINST THEIR ABILITIES. THEY WOULD DESTROY THE WORLD. THE HONORBLADES ALONE… Good (bad) ol’ Tanavast just made his final mistake, and Honor dumps him like the two-week-old detritus from your center console when you finally stop at the gas station. Well, mostly. We still get the Stormfather, of course: Tanavast’s Cognitive Shadow, tied to the immense power of the highstorm, to preserve his memories, on a quest to find a new champion to Ascend to Honor and fight against Odium the way the power wanted. The rest of Tanavast, his physical being, is destroyed by Odium. But before Tanavast dips out here, he leaves us with another tidbit about the Shattering: MOST IMPORTANTLY, THEY COULD NOT BE LIKE THOSE OF US WHO HAD DESTROYED ADONALSIUM. I COULDN’T HAVE SOMEONE WHO WANTED THE POWER. There’s definitely some wiggle room here, but I think this is largely indicative of the mindsets of the Sixteen. They knew going in that they would become gods in some capacity after they Shattered Adonalsium. Whatever their motivations for the actual Shattering, for removing the god they knew, they all wanted divinity in some manner for themselves. And this, of course, raises some questions about Hoid and Frost, who were both at the Shattering but did not Ascend afterward. Hoid, at least, was offered a Shard and declined it; Frost remains a mystery, but I could see him being disinterested in becoming a Shard entirely, given his experience as a dragon god. And speaking of Shards, we get some direct information from Taravangian on Rayse’s actions: He couldn’t completely destroy the power of Honor, as power could not be destroyed, but there were options. His predecessor had done it several ways. First, by imprisoning the power of two Shards in the Cognitive Realm, which had proved cataclysmic and made it very difficult to access the land. Then by attacking a Shard outright, an action which had left him wounded and had—in the clash—destroyed planets. This isn’t new information, as such, since we already knew about the Dor/Devotion and Dominion, and Arcanum Unbounded provided some details on Odium’s clash with Ambition. But the wording here is interesting, nonetheless. Specifically regarding Sel. The description of Odium stuffing the Dor into the Cognitive Realm as “cataclysmic” makes me raise an eyebrow. By all accounts, the subastral there is basically a plasma storm. Super dangerous, sure, but people have navigated it. Moreover, however, there’s really nothing in either Elantris or Khriss’ essay in Arcanum Unbounded that indicates any kind of major Physical Realm reaction to this. The rift that opened and caused the downfall of Elantris, for instance, happened a long time after Odium’s conflict with Devotion and Dominion; there’s no lore or mythology on Sel about a world-wracking cataclysm, at least as far as we know. So why does Taravangian think about it this way? Was there a ripple effect, not in the Physical Realm but in the Spiritual Realm? The power of a Shard primarily resides there, after all. What happened when Odium tore Devotion and Dominion from the Spiritual Realm and dragged it into the Cognitive? Anyway, while we don’t have a ton of other magic- or lore-related stuff in this week’s selection, there’s still Dieno, the notorious Mink, to check in on. A greatshell the size of a city emerged from the darkened fog, big enough to tower over the entire fort. Ever since the Sheler interlude in Oathbringer, we’ve had at least some vague idea of a massive greatshell that lives along the coast of Herdaz. Like with the Mink, Sheler is all set to be executed… but he’s given a choice of methods: He can choose the sword, the hammer, or “the hog” as his vehicle of execution. He chooses the hog, thinking that it’ll be a fight against some kind of farm animal—but of course it’s not that. He’s covered in some oil and dangled over the edge of the very same cliff that Dieno is standing over here, whereupon a gigantic claw comes out of the ocean and snaps him up. I do wonder about the hog. I don’t think it’s a chasmfiend (though there was a theory back in the day that chasmfiends would move into the sea after pupating on the Shattered Plains, and this was one of them), and it doesn’t seem to be quite like the island greatshells that Rysn saw in the Reshi Isles. The Santhid that Shallan dove to observe in Words of Radiance also doesn’t fit the bill. How many kinds of greatshells are there on Roshar? I believe I’m not alone in thinking that the hog was somehow there to help out Dieno, rather than kill him. But if so, how intelligent is this thing? Does it have some special Connection to the Herdazians? Sheler was not Herdazian, it must be noted. 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 126 and 127. On to Day TEN![end-mark] The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 124-125, Interludes 17 and 18 appeared first on Reactor.