Books Wind and Truth Reread Wind and Truth Reread: Chapters 128 and 129 Reunions! Confrontations! And a sneaky secret mission to the throne room… By Paige Vest, Lyndsey Luther, Drew McCaffrey | Published on November 17, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Greetings and salutations, Sanderfans, and welcome to another installment of your Wind and Truth reread! This week we spend some time with Szeth and Kaladin, who finally arrive at the monastery to find Ishar waiting. We witness Dalinar and Wit chatting before the contest, and Dalinar’s reunion with Navani. We peek into the Spiritual Realm where Shallan finds Renarin and Rlain again, and we follow Adolin and Yanagawn as they sneak into the palace to reach the throne room, hopefully undetected. (Only we know that’s not going to happen!) Let’s dive in! 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 128, “The Price of Survival,” opens on a Szeth POV. It’s now early morning as he, Kaladin, Syl, and Nale continue on toward the Bondsmith monastery. Szeth tells Nale that it would help if he would tell them why Ishar came up with this plan and what he thought it might accomplish. Nale recollects that it started when Ishar told him he foresaw pain in the future. This was after Taln had already held for thousands of years. Several of the Heralds had grown weaker, and Ishar was afraid that one would die and be sent back to Braize. Further, Ishar would visit the Spiritual Realm where he “foresaw future threats,” and said he needed time to prepare for them. That’s why he sent Nale to “stop the return” and kill anyone showing signs of bonding spren. While he stalled the Return, Ishar looked for ways to bolster the Herald’s strength, eventually taking some of Odium’s power from the Well of Control. That’s when he started trying to make spren physical. Nale says that Ishar created something terrible. “Human Fused,” Szeth guessed. “Like my father and my sister. You made their souls able to be recalled to new bodies, so they can be reborn each time they are killed.” Which is rather horrifying, in my opinion. Nale says they did it to each Honorbearer, save Sivi, who refused. Ishar had been planning to make an army of human Fused, but they needed a new body each time; they can’t manifest a body like a Herald can do. He said it takes a few days and is very painful. Kaladin says the cost is not worth paying and Szeth ponders that, saying it might protect them and give them warriors who can fight the Fused. Kaladin argues that they can already fight the Fused. Nale says this Return is worse because of the Everstorm, because the Fused can’t be locked away. They argue over the issue for a couple of pages and Szeth asked, what if they lose? And Kaladin replies that then they lose—and maybe even die—but they lose as themselves. Nale mentions some Skybreaker dissenters and Szeth asks about them. Nale says that sometimes a group of them will refuse his leadership, and one claimed to have found old Skybreaker oaths. He doesn’t share any more info about this, but I can’t help but wonder where these rogue Skybreakers are? Have they just abandoned the fight altogether and gone off to do their own thing, as the listeners did? POV Shift! Wit and Dalinar are still headed to the lifts to ascend to the roof while Wit continues his story of Jerick, the nobleman’s son. He tells Dalinar the story, which I won’t repeat here, but the bottom line is that Jerick ran away to war rather than take the last test, which was to create poetry that Wit would judge (and Wit admits he would have passed Jerick no matter what he presented). “The lumberman’s son found the only way to lose an unlosable contest. He didn’t show up.” Dalinar reflects on how Tanavast ran instead of facing Odium because it would have destroyed the world if he hadn’t. Dalinar says he won’t run from the contest and, here, Wit utterly surprises me. “I don’t know what comes next, Dalinar,” Wit said. “But I’m glad you are the one who will walk up to meet Odium. Because while you might not know the secret to defeating him, you have learned something more important. We’re not sending as soldier up those steps. We’re sending a king.” Oh, my feels. Especially knowing what happens in the contest. My feels hurt… POV Shift! Adolin’s stump needs healing before they head out to sneak into the palace. The doctor gives him a tincture of firemoss to help his pain and give him a little pep in his step, but warns that he’ll crash hard later. Adolin is fine with that as long as “later” is after the contest, which is approaching very quickly. Several teams head out, two to look for more human troops and Adolin’s group, who follow Yanagawn. Adolin talks in his mind with Maya a bit, about Dalinar. He feels at peace and is no longer angry at his father; despite knowing that he may never be able to forgive Dalinar for what happened to Evi, he’s willing to love him anyway. Adolin has also let go of the idea that his father was perfect and, in doing so, realized that he doesn’t have to be perfect, either. Maya says she’s close enough to be summoned, if he needs her, and they talk about how the spren she’s bringing probably won’t be able to help. Maya says she feels like a fool because she should have stayed to fight with him. Adolin reassures her that that would have just resulted in the enemy taking her Blade. When they reach the wall around the palace complex, Adolin and the young girl Zabra are spotted by passing singers but they notice his peg and her young age and move on. *whew* So they make it to the rest of the group and Yanagawn looks for the “smuggler’s port,” a concept which offends Noura. It’s apparently manned by soldiers who let people bribe their way in “for small-scale crimes.” Maya takes this opportunity to speak to Adolin some more, telling him he needs to stop trying to do everything by himself and assuring him again that he’s a good person. She brings up his treatment of Kaladin and Shallan as examples of Adolin doing good things and helping others, then asks him about what he needs. Maybe I don’t need anything, he said. Oh, my feels again! So as Yanagawn is trying to open the door, it suddenly opens and a soldier lets them in. They convince him and another soldier that Yanagawn is the emperor and are shown the way to a tunnel that leads up to the main palace building. And they’re off, with less than an hour to go! Chapter 129, “Oaths and Light,” opens with a Kaladin POV. Nale is saying that Ishar took the power from the well about three or four hundred years ago. But it was actually a thousand. Time gets wonky when you’re practically immortal, I guess! Ishar had Connected himself to the land, becoming the spren of Shinovar, and started seeing himself as the Almighty. That power, as we know, can definitely go to your head… Szeth asks Nale if killing Ishar would end his touch on the land and free the Shin. Nale doesn’t know… but he thinks that Szeth must do more than defeat Ishar—that our heroes must do for Ishar what they did for Nale. Oh, sure, we can help him heal his mind, lickety-split, no problem! Then Kaladin says that Dalinar told him a spoken oath might restore Ishar, at least briefly. So they discuss who might speak an oath; Kaladin admits he barely lets himself think about the Words because the last oath nearly broke him. Szeth says it will have to be him—he’ll have to speak the Fourth Ideal. But then Szeth realizes that there’s a flaw in that plan. “We cannot restore him to sanity without the burst of power I might release at the Words, but I cannot say the Words until he is already defeated.” Kaladin wonders if he could talk to Ishar as he did to Szeth. Syl, silently, reminds him that he helped Nale and Kaladin counters by saying that the Wind helped him. She responds that it was Kaladin and the Wind together that helped him. Out loud, Kaladin asks Syl what the Wind is and Syl said she’s part of something very ancient. That there was more before the three gods arrived. “If a God still lives, I find him in the quiet breeze that dances with all things.” Then the Wind itself speaks to him and says that the hour approaches when the spren may need a champion. Okay… what? Has the Wind mentioned a champion before? If so, I don’t recall that tidbit. Kaladin asks what will be required of him and the Wind answers, “Everything.” Everything as in, his very life? Szeth says they’re close and Nale directs him toward a ridge where a mound marks what used to be a thunderclast corpse. He reveals that this is where Ahariethiam occurred. They reach the place where Ishar waits with an Honorblade; Szeth tells Nale and Nightblood to guard the Honorblades. Nightblood is bummed that Szeth isn’t going to use him to fight; Szeth assures Nightblood that he’s a great sword, but says that he doesn’t know if he’s going to fight. Kaladin joins Szeth and they, in turn, are joined by Syl and 12124… then the Wind joins them and they begin walking toward Ishar. Dun-dun-dunnn… POV shift! Adolin and company enter the grounds of the Bronze Palace and Yanagawn leads them to a door where Noura produces a key. Yanagawn is excited, feeling like he’s actually doing something for once, rather than staying out of the action. There’s just over half an hour left until the contest, so they start toward the throne room. Adolin has a things-are-quiet-too-quiet moment and announces that he thinks it’s a trap. The throne room is just on the other side of the wall and Adolin considers using his Blade to cut an entrance, but Yanagawn reminds him that the entire room is lined in aluminum. A hidden door is jammed shut, so they have no choice but to advance. Notum scouts back where they came from and reports that there’s a force of fifty singers approaching. They continue to a T-shaped intersection; down each corridor to the right and left, forces of singers await. But they don’t advance. Adolin walks to the throne room and opens the door. Inside, sitting on the storming throne, sits Abidi the Monarch, clad in Adolin’s own Plate with an Azish Blade. Adolin orders the group to wait in the corridor and to hold the room, no matter what happens. He enters the throne room and prepares to call Maya. Abidi pulls a lever and the door clicks closed, locks engaging. Adolin tries to summon Maya but Abidi gloats that the room is lined with aluminum, which means he can’t summon his Blade. Abidi raises the stolen Azish Blade and gleefully announces that he stays sane by bathing in the blood of Radiants. (Sane. Sure, buddy. You’re totally sane.) Then he attacks. POV Shift! Shallan overcomes the temporary paralysis that the visions have instilled in her. After all, she knows she wouldn’t kill Wit, or Jasnah, or Navani. She’s accepted the truth, and the visions can no longer hurt her. The visions fade and she’s back in the usual Spiritual Realm again. She senses Pattern and then encounters a black expanse where she’s joined by Pattern and Testament, and they find Renarin and Rlain waiting. Renarin says: “We will find her prison not in a place, but in a mindset. Her mindset. Which she’s been embedding into the visions we see.” So they all start trying to find Mishram’s mindset, comparing their experiences with hers, as they’ve seen in the visions. As each of them speak, Shallan comes to the conclusion that Mishram feels that she deserves her suffering. Then she steps forward and a corridor appears before her, which opens into a small room with a glowing light. They enter the stone room lit with torches and find a desiccated corpse in the corner. The corpse is Melishi, the ancient Bondsmith who had died there alone. There’s a yellow heliodor in the center of the room; it bears a crack and wisps of smoke are escaping it. Pattern tells her they’re not alone and she turns to see Mraize in the corridor. She leaves Mishram to the men and goes to deal with Mraize. POV Shift! Navani catches her breath as she sees Dalinar, neither the Bondsmith nor the Blackthorn, and he takes her into his arms to kiss her. They’re not alone; there are others in the room including guards and Sebarial and Palona (who are storming married! Woo-hoo!). Following their uncomfortable public display of affection, Dalinar and Navani talk for a bit. She’s sorry for leaving him but he says she cannot leave him. He asks after Gav and she says he’s safe. He tells her of seeing Tanavast’s history, which both haunts and inspires him. We do see Jasnah among the observers; she’s kept to herself since her return, it seems. Poor Jasnah. Navani asks if his time in the Spiritual Realm was a waste and he says it wasn’t, that he’s more confident now. Dalinar parts with Navani and thanks the observers for their strength, prayers, and trust. He speaks with Sebarial for a moment, then takes up a copy of The Way of Kings and heads up the stairs. Aaaaand—that’s all for this week! *evil chuckle* Lyndsey’s Commentary: Character Arcs Nale I killed so many… with no cause…” I find it difficult to have sympathy for him. That poor cobbler from the interlude in Words of Radiance keeps coming back to me. Just a sweet old man, who did absolutely nothing wrong… his life snuffed out in violence. Nale thought he was performing a necessary evil in order to stop many, many more deaths. I know this. But I still have trouble forgiving him. Sivi “We did it to each Honorbearer, save one. Sivi rejected him.” This tracks, for her. Sivi was always one of the most interesting of the Honorbearers to me. She was strong of will and went her own way. Dalinar “But I am not pointless. My life. People’s lives. The meaning comes from us.” This entire story that Wit tells is convoluted and difficult to decipher. It’s meaningless… but it’s not. The boy loses… but he wins. It’s difficult, and complicated, and convoluted, and that’s life, isn’t it? There are no easy answers. There’s no set “right” way to do things. Even ethics and morality are a morass of choice and consequence and uncertainty. Philosophers have tried for millennia to make sense of it all. The best we can do, just as Dalinar gleans here, is to take the next step, and to try to make it the best step we can, and hope that it leads us in the right direction in the end. Navani puts it best: “Do what is right in the moment,” she whispered. Adolin “Tincture of firemoss.”He handed the cup to Adolin. “This will mute the pain, maybe even put a bit of a spring in your step. Until you crash tonight, Brightlord. When you do, it will be bad.” I have a bad feeling that the next time we see Adolin, he’ll be dealing with an addiction to this. I hope that I’m wrong. I’m not sure I’ll ever fully forgive him for killing my mother, but I’m willing to love him anyway. As someone with a… similarly problematic relationship with my father (though thankfully not as extreme), I really respect Adolin for this. I’m not sure if I could find it within myself to forgive as he has here. I guess the difference is that Adolin’s father is actively trying to atone, to be better. I wish I could say the same about my own. I felt, for some reason, that since he had proven to be flawed, I had to take his place and be perfect instead. It’s not logical, but how often are our feelings logical? Adolin’s realization that his father isn’t perfect is such a beautiful late coming-of-age moment. I think we often fall into the trap of thinking of Adolin as an older adult, because he’s an accomplished soldier, and married, and a leader. But he was only about 24 (26 in Earth years) at the beginning of The Way of Kings. Not a child anymore, but clearly not fully mature in some ways as well. This realization, as I discussed last week, is one of the final steps that Adolin makes in his journey to true adulthood, in my opinion. His father is a peer now, and no longer a paragon to be worshipped. That’s always how you are, Maya said. I’ve been watching a long time now, Adolin. Watching you give everyone whatever they need. What about what you need? There’s a saying I heard once that really seems to encapsulate this: “Stop lighting yourself on fire to keep others warm.” While it’s commendable to be always thinking of others, you won’t be able to help anyone else if you’ve completely spent all your energy on them. Just like when you’re on a plane, right—put on your own air mask before you try to help others. Yanagawn “They’re thieves.”“So was I,” Yanagawn said, with a smile. I love our little Aladdin-emperor. Who better to understand and sympathize with the governance of the lower class… than someone from the lower class? Shallan So, as the visions continued, she rejected the lie that she would inevitably hurt people she loved. She recognized it for what it was.Because she, Shallan Davar, was an expert in lies. I love this. Classic Plot Turn Two, in story structure terms (or if you’re more partial to the monomyth, “the ultimate boon”). She’s using the lesson that she’s learned on this journey to defeat the final evil. This is the culmination of her character arc. Overall Thoughts: “But what if someone has to make the difficult choices, and do terrible things, so that others may have peace?” In story structure terms, I would consider this to be the primary theme of this book. This question comes up time after time after time. We as readers analyze it from several different perspectives; Kaladin’s, Taravangian’s, Jasnah’s, Dalinar’s. What price is one willing to pay for peace? How many lives are “acceptable” to be lost in the pursuit of that goal? It’s the trolley problem played out on a cosmic scale. […] the Knight of Wind and the Knight of Truth […] I feel like an idiot for not realizing earlier that the title of the book was specifically naming Kaladin (Wind) and Szeth (Truth). Szeth specifically. I think I had just sort of assumed that they were both knights of “wind and truth” combined, not that one was wind, and one truth. But it makes so much sense now, in retrospect. Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts & Theories “They need a new body each time. We do not. Our substance is rebuilt from the essence of Honor when we return. Ishar was not able to access that power, so each rebirth of the Honorbearers requires a body.” I will always find it fascinating that Cognitive Shadows exist and function in so many different manners. The reproduction of physical bodies seems so easy in certain circumstances, and horribly challenging in others—just look at Kelsier. Situations like the shades on Threnody and the Returned on Nalthis add more into the mix. I’d guess that Returned work closer to the Heralds, with bodies fashioned directly from Endowment’s Investiture… but the shades are just a big mess. What would happen if a Threnodite shade actually got a new body? It feels like the kind of thing that the Night Brigade would be interesting in experimenting with, to be honest. Imagine armies of corporeal Threnodite shades. Kill the body? Whoops, now you’ve still got the shade to deal with, and its eyes are definitely gonna be red at that point. Billid claimed… to have found old Skybreaker oaths. We’ve touched on the various groups of Skybreakers at a few points in this book, but this note is particularly important. The impression given up till Wind and Truth is that each of the Orders of Knights Radiant shares a First Ideal, and then they have their own sets of oaths from the Second to the Fifth Ideals (with only the Lightweavers as outliers, using personal truths instead of oaths after the First Ideal). Sure, each individual Radiant might have some slight deviations—Kaladin’s Third Ideal was “I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right,” while Teft’s was “I will protect those I hate. Even… even if the one I hate most is… myself.” But at the core, those are the same oath. The idea Nale brings up here, that there are wholly different oaths for different groups of Skybreakers, seems pretty crazy to me. At what point do you just call yourself something different? Presumably Billid’s Skybreakers use the same Surges of Gravitation and Division as Nale’s, but in my mind the Surges are just decoration. The core of what it means to be a Radiant of one Order or another comes down to the Ideals. So if we have two (or maybe more?) sets of Skybreaker Ideals… “He ran away,” Wit said. “Off to war. He was cajoled into it, convinced to run. The lumberman’s son found the only way to lose an unlosable contest. He didn’t show up.” At this point, it’s pretty common knowledge that Dragonsteel Prime was the first appearance of the Shattered Plains and Bridge Four (and even some characters, like Rock and Gaz). Sanderson took them all out, made some tweaks for worldbuilding purposes—instead of Dragonsteel wells, they’re fighting over gemhearts—and rebuilt the whole thing with Kaladin at the heart of it, rather than Jerick. But the fact that Hoid is still telling this story means that, to some extent, the events of Dragonsteel Prime are remaining canon. So I have to wonder, what war did Jerick go off to fight in? Is this going to be covered in the reimagined Dragonsteel trilogy, years and years from now? In the original plan, back when Sanderson wrote Prime, the series was going to be five books, with two Hoid-origin-story prequels (The Liar of Partinel and The Lightweaver of Rens). Most information now indicates that, with the Shattered Plains yoinked out for Roshar, the story is now mostly focusing on Hoid and the Shattering. But I’m gonna be sitting here, wondering about Jerick, for a long time… And speaking of obscure, unpublished Cosmere works: Seven millennia later, I still couldn’t tell you why Ashyn burns. I doubt we’ll ever see The Silence Divine at this point, but I do really hope we get some more info about Ashyn and the disease-based magic and the floating cities. He never finished a whole draft, but Brandon did read from the work-in-progress draft back during the Words of Radiance signing tour. From Q&As over the years, we know that the story was planned to be set somewhere around Book 8 on Roshar, so maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll show up as something tied to the Heralds or in an interlude or something. 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 130 through 132![end-mark] The post <i>Wind and Truth</i> Reread: Chapters 128 and 129 appeared first on Reactor.