Words of Radiance: Chapter 68

Progression of the Chapter:
House Kholin heads out on the Shattered Plains on an expedition, ostensibly to observe a chasmfiend chrysalis; Kaladin tries and fails to draw in Stormlight, and has a small altercation with Syl about it; he converses for a few minutes with the bridgemen, Dalinar, and then Adolin; he repeats the failure and altercation routine, with perhaps a slightly better understanding; as Shallan sketches an unfolding mobile bridge, Kaladin recognizes one of the carpenters, but can’t place him; he is approached by Moash, who informs Kaladin that the assassination attempt is almost ready, and Kaladin’s betrayal will be super simple and easy; Kaladin is gladly distracted by Adolin, with conversation about the Assassin in White, women, and an attempt to figure out Kaladin’s powers; Kaladin admits nothing, but the two share a momentary camaraderie all the same; they attend Shallan as she sketches; Adolin teases Kaladin goodnaturedly, but Kaladin’s return is rather barbed, and Shallan catches it; she has Adolin slay the rock for her, revealing the oddity of the stone under the crem build-up; after Adolin wanders off, she censures Kaladin for his ungracious attitude and his attempt to shift the blame onto Adolin; he can’t answer her reproaches, and stomps off to join Bridge Four, carrying their bridge out across the Plains; near the farthest reach of the planned excursion, Kaladin converses with Dalinar about a feasible way to use the more mobile bridges without making the bearers so vulnerable; he watches Dalinar recrossing the last bridge in response to a call, and suddenly recognizes the carpenter as belonging to Sadeas; he charges screaming toward the bridge and Dalinar, causing Adolin to abandon Shallan in the middle of the bridge as he, too turns to run toward whatever danger Kaladin has spotted; too late to stop the carpenter, Adolin reaches Dalinar at about the same Kaladin reaches Shallan, and the bridge collapses.
Quote of the Chapter:
Commentary:
There’s a lot of disparate stuff going on in this chapter. The growing friendship between Adolin and Kaladin is fun to watch, at least until Kaladin starts taking his frustrations out on Adolin. It’s also rather fun to watch Kaladin’s embarrassment when the scouts tell Dalinar about the glowing man who was flying around out here a while back.
Shallan is fascinated by the rock formations and asks Adolin to "slay this moss" for her - revealing that there is more to the random landscape than others assumed. It is indeed, as she had suspected, the ruins of an ancient city.
The main focus of the chapter, though, is the attenuation of the bond between Kaladin and Syl. Three times in this chapter, Kaladin attempts to draw in Stormlight, only to find that it won’t obey him. This is where Kaladin finally starts trying to figure out what’s wrong with his bond. Too little, too late - and in the wrong direction, besides.
In all fairness to Kaladin, there’s a certain drawback to being the first Windrunner in millennia: there’s no one to train him, no one to teach him the precepts, except for the lone spren who is attempting to reestablish the Order and whose effective intellect is strongly dependent on his following the precepts he’s supposed to be learning. It’s not entirely his fault that he doesn’t get it right.
Be that as it may, it’s bizarre to watch his thought processes, from the vantage point of those who know more than he does about the Nahel bonding. For one thing, there’s his assumption that the powers he’s been learning are his powers. He blames himself for losing bridgemen because he didn’t accept his powers soon enough. Then he blames Syl for capriciously withholding his powers when he doesn’t behave the way she wants him to.
Sylphrena is a spren, not a human; she doesn’t get to rationalize and assimilate concepts to come up with her own understanding of honor the way Kaladin does. There are two possible sources for Syl’s "stupid, simplistic morality."
1) She is a Splinter of Honor and as such her standard of honor is, in a real sense, the definition of Honor in the entire Cosmere. The intent of a Shard of Adonalsium could be accepted as the definitive version of an attribute.
2) She is a spren, the physical manifestation of a Cognitive Ideal. This could possibly be characterized as either a) the general Rosharan ideal of Honor or b) Kaladin’s own ideal of Honor.
It’s even possible that more than one of these come into play. What’s not remotely part of the picture, though, is that any of it is her own capricious or simplistic definition.
Whatever the source, she is irrevocably defined by a power not her own, and she is bound to precepts beyond her control. When Kaladin behaves in ways that do not conform to the Ideal - whether that’s the Shard’s Intent, the Vorin idealization of honor, Kaladin’s own understanding of honor, or some combination - she has no choice and no power over what happens to the bond. Kaladin’s decisions violate the precepts which give her strength and sentience in the Physical Realm, resulting in her reversion toward a simple windspren and in his loss of access to the Surges the growing bond had given him.
He explains it to himself by assuming that the problem is having made two mutually-exclusive promises. His first promise to Dalinar, to guard and protect the Kholin family (including the King), was in line with the precepts of Honor and with the Windrunner’s Ideal of protecting those who cannot protect themselves. The second promise, the one causing the problem, is not merely in conflict with the first; it’s in conflict with the Ideals he’s already spoken - and that’s the real issue.
When he offers support to the assassination of the King, it is a direct violation of both the First and Second Ideals he’s spoken so far. He rationalizes it by telling himself it’s about justice and honor, since the King is responsible - through indifference or incompetence - for the deaths of many people, and therefore needs to be removed. The problem is that Windrunner Ideals aren’t about punishing people for past actions: they are about protecting people now. He doesn’t have the authority to look back and deal out his own vigilante "justice" for the past; even in the heyday of the Knights Radiant, that would have been a task for the Skybreakers, not the Windrunners. The fact that there are no qualified Skybreakers (of which readers are aware) doesn’t change the fact that the Windrunner Ideals simply don’t give him that option.
Kaladin’s loss of power, then, is not a matter of short-sightedly making conflicting promises. It’s a matter of making a promise which conflicts with the Ideals to which he’s sworn, and moreover one which leads in a direction away from the next Ideal he needs to pursue. If he were honest with himself, he’d recognize that the assassination is not about protecting anyone. Given the current situation, Elhokar’s ability to further endanger people through the aforementioned indifference and incompetence is severely curtailed. With both Dalinar and Navani on hand, to say nothing of his other wise generals and advisors, the chances of a repeat of anything like "the Roshone affair" are slim. This isn’t about prevention or protection; it’s about revenge.
It's tough on both of them that Syl can’t remember things until Kaladin progresses, and it’s hard for him to progress without more guidance. However, his accusation that Syl would "yank his powers away every time he did something that risked offending her" is inconsistent with his own experiences. It may, to some extent, be understandable in a human being; that doesn’t necessarily make it either right or justifiable.
Stormwatch:
This takes place the day following the feast of the previous chapter; there are ten days left of the countdown.
Heraldic Symbolism:
Palah reflects Shallan’s research and studies. About Kalak, though ... Maker? Resolute/Builder? Willshaper?
Shipping Wars:
Adolin and Shallan are very cute. Each of them is so worried over how to keep the other interested, and there’s approximately zero chance of either of them losing interest.
- Paraphrased from Alice Arneson