Words of Radiance: Chapter 77

Progression of the Chapter:
The armies set off; slow can be majestic; a book arrives; the march turns out to be rather boring, but the book certainly isn’t; the Weeping begins, and Shallan finds it comforting; Navani joins Shallan in her carriage; their collaboration begins; the existence of living Knights Radiant is finally revealed to someone who is not a Surgebinder; the Weeping begins, and Kaladin finds it miserable; he continues to grieve for Syl; Moash comes for a visit; the assassination plan is revealed – and it will be so easy; Kaladin begins to show a deeper understanding, and expresses doubt; Moash is concerned, but Kaladin cannot stop it.
Quote of the Chapter:
This the beginning of Kaladin’s conscious return to his Ideals, as he connects the attitudes of Amaram and Moash to one another and to the effect his support of Moash had on Syl. He’s beginning to get past the mourning stage and is starting to take responsibility.
Development of the Chapter:
The expedition finally sets off in its motley but majestic array. Ryshadium, horses, carriages, bridges, scholars, scribes, mistresses, Soulcasters ... and four armies' worth of soldiers.
At the beginning, Shallan wonders why Gaz isn’t there, and wonders if, just maybe, she should've looked more closely into his debt issues. Then he runs to catch up to her, carrying her very own worn, faded, well-used, but real copy of Words of Radiance.
So, just what really is that "wicked thing of eminence"?
The best part of this chapter is when Navani joins Shallan, and really joins forces with her. It clearly takes effort on both sides; Navani has to consciously avoid taking over, and Shallan has to be willing to share her notes and what she retrieved of Jasnah's. Navani is straightforward in assuring Shallan that she's not going to steal the project, but she's fifty and Shallan is seventeen; who is likely to be the better scholar? But Navani places herself in the position of advisor and facilitator: arranging for copies to be made, connecting with archeologists for landmark identification, tapping surveyors to measure and scholars to research quotations.
However ...
The near echo of Gavilar's words to Jasnah in the Prologue is worth noting, but there are other things as well. One, the "cold and emotionless" aspect of Jasnah’s character is not in itself the result of some trauma; it's just who she's always been. Brilliant and logical from an early age, and never a terribly affectionate child, she grew into a woman who was brilliant, logical, and completely impatient of the perceived folly of many around her. Would she have had to temper that attitude if she hadn’t been the king's daughter?
She wasn’t actually emotionless, but her ability to relate to other people was definitely affected by her lack of empathy for them. Her father was different. Did the trauma Shallan suspected in Chapter 36 of The Way of Kings have more to do with Gavilar’s assassination than something that was done to Jasnah directly?
The insight into Navani’s character also gives a different angle than seen previously. As Elhokar's mother, she has come across as loving but pragmatic; she knows he's not very good at being king and makes no bones about saying so, at least within the family. As Dalinar's old/new love interest, she's attractive and – for their society – quite aggressive in going after what she wants. As a scholar and artifabrian, she's clever and insightful, even while mostly accepting her socially-acceptable role of sponsor rather than engineer. Here, though, is the mother of a strong-willed daughter, who loved deeply but still felt disconnected from her firstborn.
On another track, there's a difference between Shallan's and Kaladin's reactions to the Weeping. To Shallan, it's soft and pleasing; to Kaladin, it's miserable and gloomy.
Stormwatch:
This chapter takes place on day one and day two of the expedition, with the opening section on day one and the remainder on day two.
Sprenspotting:
Syl, once again, is noticeable by her absence, but her influence is working.
Pattern, on the other hand, is busy! Now that Shallan has her hands on a copy of the in-world Words of Radiance, and some time to read, his assistance is invaluable.
Pattern had offered some few insights, but mostly he had been of use telling her what sounded likely to have been real, and what from the book was a mistake based on hearsay. His memory was spotty, but growing much better, and hearing what the book said often made him remember more.
That Pattern (and Syl) actually can't remember very much keeps them from being a system cheat, and it's set up that way. At the same time, access to something like the book that can help Pattern remember, however sporadically, is an excellent find. Yet, it only kind of helps, because it's not exactly accurate help, and not too much help.
Also, there's lots of good info in this chapter on how the Knights Radiant used to function, according to memory and hearsay from a couple hundred years later.
All Creatures Shelled and Feathered:
Roshar breeds some nasty specimens. The whitespine, and Shallan's observations on it, are similar to the wild boars of old English stories ... except nastier, if possible. It could take on several men at once and destroy them all, if it wanted to.
This is a nice side view into Shallan-the-natural-history-buff, but she's been studying the flora and fauna for most of her life.
Heraldic Symbolism:
The Heralds seem relatively straightforward this time. Shallan, poring over her new book and her maps, coordinating efforts with Navani and her scribes, is definitely in the role of Scholar for the entire chapter; Palah is clearly indicated. Kaladin, however imperfectly, is returning to his role as Guard, and even beginning to inch toward becoming a true bodyguard for his king, as he begins to recognize the inappropriateness of his approval of – much less participation in – Moash's assassination plot; hence, Chanarach.
The title of the chapter might refer to one of the following three possibilities:
The first usage of the word, where Adolin tells Shallan to trust him about the gentle horse he chose for her, could be extended to trusting his recommendation to avoid overdoing it, and make use of the carriage. Shallan later thinks about being closed up in the carriage and reminds herself that not everyone who tries to take care of her will be like her father.
The second usage, when Moash tries to confirm that he can still trust Kaladin with the assassination plot information. In reverse, there's also the question of Kaladin trusting Moash.
The third is Shallan taking the plunge to tell Navani that Jasnah could Soulcast, and was actually one of the Knights Radiant. While it's not as much of a plunge as admitting that she herself is also a Surgebinder would have been, it's a start, and it did require a measure of trust.
Shipping Wars:
For all the attraction of the "dangerous unknown," that's a stark reminder that Kaladin is definitely "unknown" to Shallan. At this point in time, those last three sentences are incredibly ironic – Kaladin is anything but secure, stable, determined, unchangeable. Appearances to the contrary, Kaladin is hurt, broken, damaged almost beyond recovery, and she doesn’t have a clue to that side of him.
In as much as Shallan and Kaladin opened up to each other during the highstorm in the chasm, when looked at more closely, they really didn't. They didn't go anywhere near the whole truth. They just cracked the door open a bit.
Kaladin didn't mention Syl, the issues surrounding her departure, Moash and Elhokar, anything to do with fighting Szeth, or becoming a Windrunner. He didn't talk about Tien, or Hearthstone, or Roshone, or his bitterness against being caught in the middle – too high for the other darkeyes and too low for the lighteyes. He only talked about the part where he was a slave – betrayal by Amaram (not the whole truth) up through the Tower. He didn't even talk about being bought back by Dalinar, though one could perhaps assume that she would have heard that story already.
For her part, Shallan didn't tell of killing her mother; of blanking out everything that had happened that night, nor did she mention Pattern or Surgebinding in any way. She talked of her abusive father, of her wretched home life between the time of her mother's death and her father's, of trying to keep her brothers from giving up or getting themselves killed, and finally of going to Jasnah to steal the Soulcaster, being accepted as a ward, and being causally betrothed to Adolin. She didn’t talk about Tyn, the Ghostbloods, or spying on Amaram – which was obviously relevant to Kaladin’s story, but since she couldn’t talk about how she got in, she didn’t talk about it at all.
Both of them left out vast, significant parts of who they are and how they got there. Before it was over, Kaladin figured out that Shallan was a proto-Radiant, but not because she wanted him to know. Kaladin didn't actually tell her much that she couldn't have learned from his men; she didn’t tell him much beyond what she'd already told Jasnah – and certainly her brothers knew it all. Neither one let the other into the deepest, darkest, most closely-held secrets. It was new information for them, in terms of getting to know one another, but when it comes right down to it, they spoke of very little that’s not already known to multiple other people.
It is awesome in terms of them realizing that the other is less shallow and annoying than they'd thought, and in developing some kind of functional working relationship and perhaps actual friendship, but there are a lot of secrets left to reveal ... later.
Words of Diagram:
And ... what weapon would this be? Something to do with Surgebinding, apparently ... but what? Is this related Gavilar’s black sphere? At one point, Szeth thought of it as being safely hidden in Jah Keved, but might he have passed it - or its location - to his master Taravangian? It seems like there ought to be other alternatives, but this is the only object I can think of that could, potentially anyway, be "deployed."
Commentary
- Paraphrased from Alice Arneson