Last Words

Last words are often spoken by people just before dying. This began about a year before the events in the Prologue of The Way of Kings took place, about the time when King Gavilar was investigating the Shattered Plains for the first time. It remains unknown why and how people speak these words. King Taravangian set up a hospital beneath his palace where the words spoken are recorded. Only those who are near death are brought there, but none are allowed to leave if they recover; their blood is slowly drained in order to induce the prophetic words.
==List of Last Words==
*"The love of men is a frigid thing, a mountain stream only three steps from the ice. We are his. Oh Stormfather ... we are his. It is but a thousand days, and the Everstorm comes."
:: - Collected on the first day of the week Palah of the month Shash of the year 1171, thirty-one seconds before death.
:: Subject was a darkeyed pregnant woman of middle years. The child did not survive.
*"You've killed me. Bastards, you've killed me! While the sun is still hot, I die!"
:: - Collected on the fifth day of the week Chach of the month Betab of the year 1171, ten seconds before death.
:: Subject was a darkeyed soldier thirty-one years of age. Sample is considered questionable.
*"Ten orders. We were loved, once. Why have you forsaken us, Almighty! Shard of my soul, where have you gone?"
:: - Collected on the second day of Kakash, year 1171, five seconds before death.
:: Subject was a lighteyed woman in her third decade.
* "A man stood on a cliffside and watched his homeland fall into dust. The waters surged beneath, so far beneath. And he heard a child crying. They were his own tears."
:: - Collected on the 4th of Tanates, year 1171, thirty seconds before death.
:: Subject was a cobbler of some renown.
* "I'm dying, aren't I? Healer, why do you take my blood? Who is that beside you, with his head of lines? I can see a distant sun, dark and cold, shining in a black sky."
:: - Collected on the 3rd of Jesnan, 1172, 11 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject was a Reshi chull trainer. Sample is of particular note.
* "I have seen the end, and have heard it named. The Night of Sorrows, the True Desolation. The Everstorm."
:: - Collected on the 1st of Nanes, 1172, 15 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject was a darkeyed youth of unknown origin.
* "I'm cold. Mother, I'm cold. Mother? Why can I still hear the rain? Will it stop?"
:: - Collected on Vevishes, 1172, 32 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject was a lighteyed female child, approximately six years old.
* "They are aflame. They burn. They bring the darkness when they come, and so all you can see is that their skin is aflame. Burn, burn, burn ... ."
:: - Collected on Palahishev, 1172, 21 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject was a baker’s apprentice.
* "Victory! We stand atop the mount! We scatter them before us! Their homes become our dens, their lands are now our farms! And they shall burn, as we once did, in a place that is hollow and forlorn."
:: - Collected on Ishashan, 1172, 18 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject was a lighteyed spinster of the eighth dahn.
* "Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red."
:: - Collected: Jesachev, 1173, 12 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: one of our own ardents, overheard during his last moments.
* "Three of sixteen ruled, but now the Broken One reigns."
:: - Collected: Chachanan, 1173, 84 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: a cutpurse with the wasting sickness, of partial Iriali descent.
* "I'm standing over the body of a brother. I'm weeping. Is that his blood or mine? What have we done?"
:: - Dated Vevanev, 1173, 107 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: an out-of-work Veden sailor.
* "He must pick it up, the fallen title! The tower, the crown, and the spear!"*
:: - Dated Vevahach, 1173, 8 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: a prostitute. Back ground unknown.
* "The burdens of nine become mine. Why must I carry the madness of them all? Oh, Almighty, release me."
:: - Dated Palaheses, 1173, unknown seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: a wealthy lighteyes. Sample collected secondhand.
* "A woman sits and scratches out her own eyes. Daughter of kings and winds, the vandal."
:: - Dated Palahevan, 1173, 73 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: a beggar of some renown, known for his elegant songs.
* "Light grows so distant. The storm never stops. I am broken, and all around me have died. I weep for the end of all things. He has won. Oh, he has beaten us."
:: - Dated Palahakev, 1173, 16 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: a Thaylen sailor.
* "I hold the suckling child in my hands, a knife at his throat, and know that all who live wish me to let the blade slip. Spill its blood upon the ground, over my hands, and with it gain us further breath to draw."
:: - Dated Shashanan, 1173, 23 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: a darkeyed youth of sixteen years. Sample is of particular note.
* "ReShepir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to abominations with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!"
:: - Dated Shashabev, 1173, 8 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: a darkeyed dock-worker in his forties, father of three.
* "Above the final void I hang, friends behind, friends before. The feast I must drink clings to their faces, and the words I must speak spark in my mind. The old oaths will be spoken anew."
:: - Dated Betabanan, 1173, 45 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: a lighteyed child of five years. Diction improved remarkably when giving sample.
* "The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended."
:: - Dated Betabanes, 1173, 95 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject: a scholar of some minor renown. Sample collected secondhand. Considered questionable.
* "In the storm I awaken, falling, spinning, grieving."
:: - Dated Kakanev, 1173, 13 seconds pre-death.
:: Subject was a city guardsman.
* "The darkness becomes a palace. Let it rule! Let it rule!"
:: - Kakevah 1173, 22 seconds pre-death.
:: A darkeyed Selay man of unknown profession.
* "I wish to sleep. I know now why you do what you do, and I hate you for it. I will not speak of the truths I see."
:: - Kakashah 1173, 142 seconds pre-death.
:: A Shin sailor, left behind by his crew, reportedly for bringing them ill luck. Sample largely useless.
* "They come from the pit, two dead men, a heart in their hands, and I know that I have seen true glory."
:: - Kakashah 1173, 13 seconds pre-death.
:: A rickshaw puller.
* "I see them. They are the rocks. They are the vengeful spirits. Eyes of red."
:: - Kakates 1173, 8 seconds pre-death. A darkeyed young woman of fifteen.
:: Subject was reportedly mentally unstable since childhood.
* "That chanting, that singing, those rasping voices."
:: - Kaktach 1173, 16 seconds pre-death.
:: A middle-aged potter. Reported seeing strange dreams during highstorms during the last two years.
* "Let me no longer hurt! Let me no longer weep! Daigonarthis! The Black Fisher holds my sorrow and consumes it!"
:: - Tanatesach 1173, 28 seconds pre-death.
:: A darkeyed female street juggler. Note similarity to sample 1172-89.
* "They named it the Final Desolation, but they lied. Our gods lied. Oh, how they lied. The Everstorm comes. I hear its whispers, see its stormwall, know its heart."
:: - Tanatanes 1173, 8 seconds pre-death.
:: An Azish itinerant worker. Sample of particular note.
* "All is withdrawn for me. I stand against the one who saved my life. I protect the one who killed my promises. I raise my hand. The storm responds."
:: - Tanatanev 1173, 18 seconds pre-death.
:: A darkeyed mother of four in her sixty-second year.
*"They break the land itself! They want it, but in their rage they will destroy it. Like the jealous man burns his rich things rather than let them be taken by his enemies! They come!"
:: - Probably 1173
::Gadol, a bridgeman from Bridge Four, dying after being shot by Parshendi arrows.
* "And all the world was shattered! The rocks trembled with their steps, and the stones reached toward the heavens. We die! We die!"
:: - Probably 1173
::Maps, a bridgeman from Bridge Four, dying during a bridge run.
* "The day was ours, but they took it, Stormfather! You cannot have it. The day is ours. They come, rasping, and the lights fail. Oh, Stormfather!"
:: - Probably 1173
:: A dying youth in King Taravangian's hospital.
* "Above silence, the illuminating storms-dying storms-illuminate the silence above"
:: - Probably 1173
:: An illiterate Herdazian in a language he barely spoke.The Way of Kings, Endnote
:: 
*"He watches! The black piper in the night. He holds us in his palm ... playing a tune that no man can hear!"
:
:: - Probably 1172
:: Cenn, a boy under Kaladin in Amaram's army. Trampled by a Shardbearer's horse.
==Notes==
Most quotes are gathered from the epigraphs, but some are from the text, when someone is dying in the book.
*According to Brandon, the "Tower, Crown, Spear" death rattle has not yet happened.Tower, Crown, Spear
==References==
Category:Epigraphs
Category:Document
Category:The Way of Kings