#Stormlight AU

[nevertheless-moving]

Stormlight AU 26: Adolin doesn’t kill Sadeas. Mostly just an excuse to dunk on him for trading one (1) shardblade for mythical warriors who can make their own shardblades.

"What was it you said? When Dalinar traded that sword of his for your slaves? I wasn't there, of course, but quite a few clerks took note. Something like…" Sadeas ground his teeth together, ignoring Sebarial. A bridgeman let out an indecorous whoop of excitement, swooping down low, chased by windspren and a number of delighted peasant children. "This will be remembered as…" Another man flew past, slamming into a wall, his arm visibly mangled out of shape. Several more flew to support him, and a blue white light flooded the soldier. An injury that might have been debilitating for life for any other soldier, healed in moments. "…the most ridiculous decision…" Two more soldiers, sapphire eyes at odds with their Azish and Herdassian coloring, sparred nearby. Sadeas watched hungrily as their blades adjusted in length throughout the drill. How often had shardbarers secretly muttered that impressive as the weapons were, it would be nice if sometimes they were a bit more practically sized. "…ever made by an Alethi Highprince." Sadeas rounded on Sabriel, and was pleased when the round old man stepped back in cautious alarm, even if his grin didn't fade. Sadeas's fingers twitched, longing to strangle that smug expression off his face. To his side, he could feel the loathsome stares of the 'windrunners.' His hands clenched. Ten heartbeats, that's all he needed…but they wouldn't need even that long. He snarled, then stalked away.

seriously i feel like it might be worth it just to see him suffer through knowing he actually, objectively, got the worse end of the deal. One (1) dead shardblade for a lost radiant. Several radiants actually. Hmm oh look that's over 100 of your ex slaves that are now nearly unkillable soldiers who fly and are producing a new blade a week. Loyal to dalinar. Also dalinar may or may not have a new sword but if he does than its actual GOD.

Sadeas trying to do his game of thrones political scheming and the highprinces are just like. Uhhh i understand where you are coming from but we have shifted genres my dude. Literally standing in a magical lost city right now. Above the clouds. People are flying. You want me to backstab the literal prophet. The guy whose wedding was officiated by the STORMFATHER. You were there, right? You saw the actual stormfather come out of the literal sky?

Sorry man, nothing personal but you're asking to gamble against the guy who has been conclusively proven to have if not actual god than god like powers on his side…and we're in the middle of a desolation…and alethkar is in open revolt so…you know…this is kind of it, here. Like we'll be petty about tarrifs, sure, but…sorry, it just doesn't feel like a good idea to be seen around you right now.

Has a singular genuine moment during one of Dalinar's oathbringer panic attacks where he feels bad and actually tries to help. Unfortunately rosharan mental health awareness is shit so he does this by slapping dalinar a lot. Dalinar is remarkably unhelped. Sadeas gets thrown out a window, and dalinar doesn't even have the courtesy to remember doing it. See if he tries to do something nice again.

Sadeas constantly enraged because he's so out of favor that his only real political power comes from meetings with dalinar, because dalinar needs advice, and Sadeas is the only one whose not so blinded by awespren to tell dalinar when hes being an idiot.

"Old Friend, I know my own son died pointlessly years ago, so far be it from me to give parenting advice, but if I suddenly remembered that I accidentally killed my wife — which was somewhat hilarious by the way, so glad we can talk about that now — NO THROAT GRABBING NOT A RADIANT REMEMBER — anyway if I had living sons and was going to (ugh) publish a book that involved them intimately, I might consider hearing their opinion on what they find acceptable to include. Oh, no definitely leave in the part about how little you felt at Renarin's birth. The children will love that. Don't worry my dear man, I'm sure Adolin will make a fine king of Urithiru after he guts you like a Skyeel"

Anyway Sadeas getting the classic season one villain to reluctant defeated season three feral ally treatment.

Inevitably Schemes with Odium at some point and when Dalinar is mad about betrayal, Sadeas hits him with the ol' 'WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THIS. I TOLD YOU REPEATEDLY NOT TO TRUST ME, DALINAR. THIS IS WHO I AM, THIS IS WHO I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, AND THIS IS WHO I WILL ALWAYS BE. "

"MEN LIKE US NEVER TRULY CHANGE"

(there's maybe some tears when he says this. But probably not. That glistening in his eyes was likely just the Thrill)

Other Stormlight AUS

[egglantine23]

Here is Hesina from @nevertheless-moving Hesina Willshaper au!! I hope you like it!! The skirt is that big because of the big bag of snacks she keeps in her pockets.

Alternate eye color:

[epicmilly]

guysss i just thought of a really cute shakadolin comic idea would anyone wanna see it?

[comiclysmic]

Painting I did for the Stormlight AU that lives in my head. ✊😔

I am not immune to Akira Bike Slide Scene. <3

Special shoutout to wllmbssnntt and pickles_art on IG for giving me some tips of making the lighting pop. 💕

[thatboreddrake]

Stormlight AU where Tien doesn’t get drafted to fight a pointless war. Kaladin gets to go and study to become a surgeon at Karbranth. Instead of Syl, he ends up attracting the attention of a cultivationspren and becoming a nascent Edgedancer. He becomes catapulted into Plot(TM) when one of his patients gets transferred to Taravingian’s sketchy future sight division.

Idk I just like the idea of a Kaladin who doesn’t have to angst about when to kill and when to save, he can just focus on saving and healing those in need. You cannot tell me that Roshar’s #1 Union organizer wouldn’t swear to “remember those who have been forgotten.” Also Surgeon Kaladin getting to use Regrowth powers would be very fun.

Taravingian: “Why do I hear Eurobeat music?”

Edgedancer Kaladin who has been picking up speed and gliding across half a continent:

[kaladinsspear]

Bored at work, have a AU

Stormlight Musician AU

* Kaladin is front man for a symphonic metal band (think nightwish or within temptation)

* Kaladin can fucking SING. Hes a good musician with keybord and knows his way around rhythm guitar, but holy shit the power, the emotion, the raw feeling that he puts into his music. The control he has over his instrument is insane.

* Kaladin practices on a tredmill sometimes. It helps with breath control.

*Shallan is an amazing pianists. She can play most instruments at least a little bit, but piano is where she started and always where she comes back.

* Shallan has perfict pitch.

* Adolin is an amazing guitarist. Clasical, electric, rhythm, lead, anything you want. This man can play the guitar.

* Adolin's favorite genera to play is Jazz. He likes to freestyle

* No conflict, just imagining my fav's as musicians. Will probably add more to this later.

[nerd-in-distress]

stormlight college au Adolin is a frat boy and Shallan is in a she's the man situation. Kaladin is the only one to see through shallan's lies but no one actually believes him. they all think he's delusional when he goes SHES NOT A DUDE. Shallan hates him for it but he's about to lose his mind not being believed. Rock thinks Shallan is a distant cousin.

[piano-hoarder]

Cosmere sitcom au

After promising to be present on both a romantic date with Adolin as well as an important meeting with her fellow Radiants, Shallan must use her Lightweaving to appear in two places at once. While practicing Surgebinding with Szeth, Kaladin misuses Cohesion and the two have to learn to get through the day literally stuck together. Dalinar is banned from the tower's book club after his suggestion every week is always the way of kings.

[ramsei501st]

in honor of laika coming back from the dead to release a new movie, a kubo of mine with some questionable summer fashion. im love he

inspired by @/kittarts' coraline art ;o;/

[nevertheless-moving]

Stormlight AU 17B Part Two

Continued from Here

Kaladin takes the honorblade because Syl insists it’s too dangerous to leave, collapses on the way back because holy shit exhaustion and injuries and also it's draining his stormlight a bit.

(There’s some interference between Syl Bond/ Honorblade Bond that takes time to sort out.)

When the storm starts dying, Kaladin and Szeth are found laid out like a Rosharan Renaissance painting.

Kaladin’s sprawled on the palace steps, still clutching the blade. There’s probably a single beam of light streaming down from a break in the clouds, illuminating Kaladin’s artistically devastated and storm soaked body with golden light, because of course there is.

The Assassin in White has dagger wounds in his heart and throat. Wounds from a darkeyes weapon. A LOT of witnesses to that messy aftermath because people are too freaked out to move either of them until Dalinar comes downstairs

When Kaladin wakes up he's injured. Syl isn’t answering. He’s surrounded by lighteyes and a handful of his men. The shardblade is on a pedestal.

Unfortunately this hits right in the incredibly specific trauma.

Adolin wasn't exactly sure what he imagined would happen when the bridgeman woke. No, that wasn't true. Over the last two days vigil, he had had plenty of time to think.

A haughty sneer, maybe. Or maybe a victorious smile, gloryspren, stormfather knew he deserved glory. More likely shock, surprise at even being alive — his body must have been devastated, he couldn't have expected the blade to heal him after he won, could he? A suspicious part of him had considered the idea of an attack, some form of betrayal, but not...

Whatever this was.

Prince Adolin Kholin stood in full shardplate watching bridgeboy — bridgeman — the Captain who killed the Kingkiller, face him down. Kaladin stood in a corner, one hand outstretched towards Adolin, wielding a scalpel like a dagger.

That arm was the only part of him that wasn’t shaking.

His eyes were feral, terrified. Storms, he had seen the man tackle the Assassin in White out a fifty foot drop with less fear. Shudders wracked his body. His other arm was gripping the one armed Hardashian that had been tending him, pushing him behind, protecting him.

Protecting him from Adolin.

Adolin took a hesitant step forward, hands held placatingly in front of him, feeling abnormally overly large and clumsy in his shardplate, like a chull, or a chasmfiend.

Captain Stormblessed finally spoke. "No," he said.

No, he didn't just say it, he begged. Adolins jaw dropped with shock. Before that moment, he would have laughed at anyone who claimed that the proud man could lower himself to plead like that. It felt...wrong.

"No," he said again, and almighty, were those tears in his eyes?

"Just let my men go. They won't say anything. I won't say anything. I don't want it. You can have it. I don't want it. Don't hurt my men. Please."

He was babbling. The proudest, most taciturn man on Roshar was babbling, pleading. Fearspren writhed sickly around his chest.

Adolin felt sick. He...must have been wounded in the head. That would be the most singularly cruel injury he could imagine. Worse than rotspren taking a hale warrior.

He glanced helplessly at his father, but he looked just as disturbed as Adolin felt.

Or — could the blade be doing this? It was impossible to miss the way it glowed, pulsing in time with the bridgemans gasps for air. Could it be cursed? Granting power, somehow healing a shardtaken arm, a body shattered from falling, but stealing the mind of the man who bore it?

"It's alright gancho," the hardassian said softly. "The fights over, eh? You can put it down, see, we're all friends here?"

"You have to run Hab," Stormblessed whispered, audible in the too still room. "It's a trap. They're going to..." he was barely able to stay on his feet, but he pushed at the smaller man, making sure to stay in between the Kholins and the uncertain bridge four guards.

More fearspren choked the air. Stone faces too — almighty above agonyspren too? Those hadn't even shone up when light had flooded to his shardtaken feet, and that couldn't have been comfortable.

The hardassian frowned. "Gancho, I'm getting the feeling you ain't completely with me. Surely you remember the Lopen? One armed hardassian? Irresistible to women? Your favorite wall decor?"

The Captain didn't seem to hear him, eyes glassy and unfocused. "No," he whimpered, looking at Adolin and Dalinar. "They're not a threat." He pushed the Herdassian further back. "I don't want the blade."

Adolin was glad his helmet was off, because he was pretty sure he was going to puke. This wasn't...he had tried sometimes, to put the darkeyed Captain in his place but storms...it wasn't right. The memory of his own behavior made him sick. Did the Captain really think so badly of him? That he would kill to steal the blade? Or was it just the delirium?

"It's alright Kaladin," one of the guards — Moash said, stepping forward. "It's not going to happen again. Bridge four is guarding the hall, just a shout away."

He glared at Adolin. Storms. Their entire guard thought that little of them?

Kaladin shook his head in Moash's direction, tears falling freely now. "We cant take them all, Coreb," he rasped. "We — you — you have to run."

His father finally spoke. "It's alright Soldier. I'm not Amaram. You're not there. You're safe. You're a hero."

Adolin and Kaladin stared in confusion.

Amaram? What in Damnation?

"I —" Stormblessed's voice cracked.

Father looked... hollowed out. He took a deep breath, then stepped toward the pedestal that held the sword. Moash, incredibly, lowered his spear at him.

Kelek's breath, Adolin knew that his men were loyal to their captain, but...stormfather.

Dalinar ignored him, lifting the sword, cloth wrapping the hilt, stepping forward.

Stormblessed's whole body was shaking now, scalpel barely staying in his grip. Still, Adolin barely restrained himself from stepping up to protect his father. On one hand, he could hardly imagine Stormblessed in a less threatening state. On the other hand, the Assassin in White might have thought the same.

Kaladin pushed Moash back, eyes fixed on Dalinar's approach.

"I am not Amaram," he repeated. "You know that soldier. Do you remember our conversation, after I exchanged the shardblade for you and your men?"

The captain blinked, scalpel still brandished in warning.

“What is a man’s life worth?” Dalinar asked, calmly stepping forward.

“The slavemasters say one is worth about two emerald broams,” Kaladin mumbled, frowning.

 “And what do you say?”

“A life is priceless,” he said immediately, blinking hard.

Dalinar smiled, then knelt down holding the blade in front of him, still not touching the hilt directly. Moash sucked in a shocked breath, and Adolin couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment.

“Coincidentally,” his father said. “That is the exact value of a Shardblade. Two days ago, you saved the four lives I hold most precious in this world, not to mention countless other priceless lives across Roshar. There is no treasure great enough to serve as payment for such a deed. If, as a start, you would be willing to accept what you have already earned, I would consider it a bargain.” He extended the sword, holding it perpendicular to them both.

“I…” Stormblessed blinked down at Dalinar in confusion. “Sir…?” 

The scalpel slipped through his fingers and landed on the floor with a clatter. Adolin exhaled in relief. I mean, the man could probably  do unreasonable amounts of damage with his bare hands but — still. One less thing to worry about.

The man blinked harder, eventually turning away from the blade to look at Moash.

"Syl," he said fervently. "Something's happened to Syl."

The lieutenant's eyes widened — he clearly recognized the name. Did bridgeboy have a girlfriend?

"It's alright Kal," he said soothingly. "Syl's tough, right? She always comes back."

"She always comes back," bridgeboy said, squeezing his eyes shut and swaying on his feet. Moash and the little Herdasian both moved quickly to steady him. "She has to come back," he whispered.

Dalinar rose smoothly, stepping back. "Perhaps it would be wise to allow the Captain more time to rest before discussing anything further."

"Of course brightlord," Moash said, nodding respectfully, as if he hadn't leveled a storming spear at his Highprince minutes ago. "Come on Kal." The three started moving slowly back to the bed.

Perhaps they were all going to pretend the last ten minutes hadn't happened. That seemed like a good plan to Adolin right now.

Upside of all this, Dalinar is pretty convinced about the Amaram accusation.

Funny conversation with Zahel because yeah fair enough you didn't need shardblade training but also because of that you definitely need shardblade training

REALLY funny conversation with Shallan because the boot stealing incident already happened, Kaladin's getting feasts and parades, and she's like oh. oh i done goofed.

Don't worry Syl's fine, it's just a tight fit until Kaladin's soul adjusts. She maybe even gets a nebulously defined sick power boost (ability to hold honorblade in physical realm perhaps?!?)

Kaladin gets ordered to go master his new powers and is just like. Ok. But i'm doing it because i want to, not because you told me to.

comes back a day later like Ok I can stick rocks together wahoo.

Comes back three days later like "I CAN FLY!! GUYS, GUYS I CAN STORMING FLY!!" it is the first time any lighteyes in camp have seen him smile and might cause several minor sexual crises

Learning to fly and getting to joyfully share it with bridge four right away because why not :)

Happily swapping the blade around bridge four giving a bunch of lighteyes aneurysms, though Syl insists on always taking it back after a bit because she's maybe sort of also bonded with it and its uncomfortable for it to go too far for too long

Incredibly resistant of new titles/lands. It becomes a thing.

Whitespine Uncaged except its like, 20 guys because it's a desperate trap for Kaladin specifically, trying to get him before he masters the honorblade and becomes the Blackthorn's unbeatable champion and the rest of the world get washed away in a river of blood.

...People are kindof freaking out about the blackthorn having a personal magic assassin

Adolin gets a little more beat to shit but they still manage to wreck everyone. I think Renarin also gets the honorblade for a hot minute and gets to go to town since this one doesn't scream. Possibly more of bridge four gets involved.

Absolute epic clusterfuck of a duel. 'Duel' is really the wrong word for 20 shardbarers trying desperately to kill a minor demigod and two pissed off kholins.

Dalinar and the King actually end up giving back a bunch of the shardblades and plate after the Kholin win because keeping all of them would be it's own political nightmare

i mean the 'duel' was already a painfully obvious metaphor. it's Kholins v Everyone Else time and the odds are not looking good for the everyone else side.

Kaladin gets his boon and duel with Amaram but of course it doesn't go how he wanted. Was there ever even a best case scenario here?

(Amaram desperately wants to become a radiant)

(Amaram has also accurately judged his likelihood of victory against the OP darkeye who has gotten even more OP since the last time he saw him to be approximately zero)

(Amaram sees the writing on the wall for house Sadeas now that Kholin is on the rise)

Amaram surrenders completely, throwing himself at Kaladin's feet, swearing over his lands and all that he owns, swearing eternal service to Kaladin in repayment for his sins. Kaladin really really really wants to kill him in cold blood but FUCK he's got morals that's like his whole thing

Kaladin: oh god does this mean i have to deal with Amaram all the time now

Dalinar: i mean he's yours to do with what you want. you could lock him away forever without trial.

Kaladin: oh god why is that even an option

Dalinar: ...the more politically expedient thing to do would be to keep him on as an advisor, at least until you get a better grip on his lands

Kaladin: oh GOD

Adolin kills Sadeas so now the other highprinces are REALLY freaking out

Actual radiant status gets hidden by glowing sword clearly giving Magic powers.

Like. The crabcat is out of the bag on the magic and flying but the sword is VERY CLEARLY GLOWING so. Fun sideways reveal.

TREMENDOUS number of assassination attempts because i can not stress this enough — this sword makes you unkillable and also gives you the power to fucking fly.

Oh! Forgot to mention: Shortly after waking up/bonding the blade he attends the meeting with Stormform!Eshonai, still dissociating slightly, because Syl is high on honorblade and extremely attuned to cognitive realm. Ends up helping Eshonai get rid of stormspren and bond her own light spren. End result for plot is this:

Rumors filter out that one of his powers is making people Radiant, so that's definitely adding to people going wild over him/The Blade/Dalinar's weird religious midlife crisis

new uneasy partial detante with Parshendi because at least one of them has superpowers now (thanks for that)

the desolation gets pushed back another year (tbh mostly because I want more time to explore plot device/political fallout of Kaladin being an absolutely overpowered freak amongst normies)

Stormlight AU Masterlist

[taravangians-storming-balls]

forget kowt they should be petting a dog collab with @comiclysmic (shallan), @smeegamae (adolin + dog), me (kaladin), @stormlight-archive (moash), and @stivya (szeth) based on this

[cosmereplay]

[ID: A digital illustration of Kaladin and Moash as cowboys by @sadibadimadi. They are shown from head to toe, in front of a brown square background. Kaladin has tan skin, a clean shaven face, long wavy black hair, and a light grey cowboy hat. Moash has tan skin, a scruffy chinstrap and moustache, short brown hair, and a black cowboy hat with a black band and brown detailing. Oh and he has a black gauge in his ear! Kaladin wears a long sleeved denim shirt, a light blue compared to his medium blue jeans, which he wears pulled down over his brown boots. Kaladin wears a six-pointed sheriff's badge pinned to his breast pocket. Moash wears a long sleeved black shirt and very dark jeans with a large patch over one knee. Over his shirt he wears a ruddy shirt with the sleeves ripped off, and a bandolier over that. He has a pouch strapped to his leg, the leather straps matching his shirt and boots. There's a pistol on his belt, and his belt buckle has the bridge four glyph. The two are leaning back casually, side by side, hands in pockets. Moash looks blatantly at Kaladin's chest and says around his cigarette, "Nice badge, Kal." Kaladin, eyes closed, says, "Shut it." End ID.]

The sheriff and the outlaw

[gh0stfellow]

guy who is daydreaming about hitting elhokar with his truck

[hay-bails]

stormlight modern au where dalinar is a famous politician or something and the trio look like this maybe

[sorchasolas]

If i had a nickel for everytime an author writes a love triangle between two men and a woman and once the love triangle is resolved the two men are still friends but it just comes off as the two men are madly in love and one of them happens to also really love his wife while being really gay id have two nickels, which isnt alot but its weird i happened twice, right?

[thatboreddrake]

Okay, I'm back!

For the Kaladin/Jasnah/Shallan plotline:

Their ship is ambushed by the Ghostbloods on their way to the Shattered Plains

The crew is taken by surprise and Jasnah is stabbed as usual

However, before she can port to Shadesmar, Kaladin uses Regrowth to heal her

The Ghostbloods retreat upon learning that there are other Radiants aboard. Things are progressing faster than they had anticipated

Meanwhile, Kaladin and Jasnah spend much of the trip to the Shattered Plains arguing about the ethics of killing some to protect others

Kaladin is firmly in the camp of "you cannot save lives by taking lives," the idea of which is only bolstered by his newfound healing powers

Jasnah's arguments to the contrary plants a seed of suspicion in Kaladin as to the motives of her and other lighteyes

Upon arriving in the warcamps, Jasnah is shocked to discover that Dalinar is missing and presumed dead

The erstwhile betrothal to Adolin is still put in place, but everyone agrees that it needs to take a bit of a backseat while the Kholins try to consolidate their influence

As gratitude for saving her life, Jasnah assigns Kaladin to serve as Renarin's personal medical aide

Meanwhile, Jasnah informs Shallan of the Ghostblood's hunt against her and enlists her to use her Lightweaving abilities to try to find more information

Upon seeing their symbol, Shallan realizes that her father was working with the Ghostbloods and decides to use his face as a disguise for her undercover work

About 5 minutes into meeting Renarin, Kaladin realizes that this couldn't *possibly* be epilepsy and elects to get to the bottom of Renarin's symptoms

Adolin begins dueling again, seeking a challenge against Sadeas. Syl isn't happy about him using dead spren, but does not forbid him for practicality's sake

Jasnah, in the meantime, begins pushing her brother and Adolin to call for an expedition to locate Urithiru

Moving to our secondary plot line:

Helaran arrives in the warcamps, having sworn his second oath after eliminating Amaram

Nale sent him to the warcamps to trace the Lightweaver from Amaram's army (Tien)

He passes himself off as a Veden mercenary and the Kholinar forces hire him to augment their losses from the Tower

He and Shallan do not cross paths, due to her undercover work and residence in the Sebarial warcamp

Helaran begins investigating the bridge crews after discovering that that's where most of the slaves end up

In the process, he traces a series of strange occurrences to a young bridge captain, Moash

He refrains from killing him, however, after realizing that a highspren has singled out Moash as a potential Skybreaker initiate

He hears from some of the Kholin soldiers about how the king has been raving about seeing geometrically-headed creatures watching him in the mirrors

Realizing that Elhokar is a potential Lightweaver, Helaran recruits Moash to help him create an opportunity to eliminate the king, and thus prove himself worthy of swearing the Third Ideal

Over to the Parshendi in Narak:

Eshonai has been interrogating Dalinar with respect to the Alethi's plans on the Shattered Plains

Desperate to have a listening ear, Dalinar tells her of the visions he has been having

With her knowledge of Parshendi history, Eshonai realizes that their ancient gods may be close to returning

Thus, when Venli approaches her to achieve a new form of power, Eshonai turns her down, spurred onwards by an odd spren

Venli does not take this well and elects to take this new form for herself

Upon achieving stormform, Venli sets out to bully the Council into converting the rest of the Parshmen and annihilating the Alethi once and for all

When Eshonai protests, Venli proclaims that Dalinar has poisoned her sister's mind and has him executed

Eshonai begins to covertly gather forces to resist Venli's hostile takeover of Narak

Back to the main plotline:

Although Sadeas is his main mark, Adolin's priorities in dueling have changed

Elhokar proves unwilling to command an expedition to Urithiru, fearing he will lose what standing he has left

In response, Adolin, Shallan, and Jasnah hatch the plan to create such a dueling spectacle that Elhokar will be forced to grant him a boon

Upon hearing that his father has been spotted dealing in the warcamps, Helaran begins to trace Shallan's steps

He begins to unravel for himself the secrets of the Ghostbloods and their dealings with his father, but still feels that he is missing a crucial piece

In the meantime, he officially takes on Moash as his squire (normal squire, not Radiant yet)

When the time comes for the Honor Duel, Kaladin leaps in to protect Renarin from the enemy shardbearers, and Helaran takes the offensive, seeking to curry favor with the Kholins to get closer to Elhokar

Adolin declares that his boon will be to organize a coalition of highprinces to march on Narak, ostensibly to finally end the war

For his bravery, Helaran earns the boon of serving as Elhokar's personal bodyguard, alongside his squire Moash

In the shadows, Graves keeps Taravingian abreast of the happenings in the warcamps, informing him that Dalinar is likely dead

In the aftermath of the duel, Kaladin speaks with Renarin of his experiences with holding Shards, finally deducing that Renarin has a Radiant spren of his own

He begins working with Renarin to hone his skills, upon learning that they both have the power of Regrowth

Back in Narak:

Rlain arrives back in Narak in time for Eshonai to inform him that a civil war is about to break loose

She asks him to take the noncombatants at Narak and lead them back across the plains

Meanwhile:

Adolin sets out with the Kholinar forces at the start of the Weeping, supported by highprinces Aladar and Sebarial

Sadeas promises that he will follow behind, but he needs some time to muster his forces (he has no more bridge crews, you see)

Adolin's forces encounter Rlain and the Parshendi refugees, who promise to lead them to Narak in exchange for sparing any who surrender

By the time the Alethi forces arrive at Narak, a full on battle has broken out between those loyal to Eshonai and the newly discovered stormform Parshendi under Venli's command

Under encouragement from Rlain and Syl, Adolin orders the Alethi to relieve the remaining Parshendi by attacking the stormforms

In the middle of this battle, Sadeas arrives and attacks their back lines, reasoning that Adolin has betrayed the Vengeance Pact and thrown in with the Parshendi

Eshonai swears the Second Oath of the Willshapers and vows to safeguard her people from the slavery of their old gods

In the midst of the melee, Adolin discovers Eshonai fighting against an empowered Venli

He struggles with the situation, knowing that Eshonai is fighting to protect her people, but also believing her to be the one who killed his father

At a critical moment, he swears the Third Windrunner Ideal in a desperate bid to save Eshonai from her sister, turning the tide of the battle

Back in the warcamps, Helaran and Moash execute Elhokar

They receive word from Nale's informants that there are still several Surgebinders among the Kholin forces and depart for Narak

When they arrive, they follow the guidance of Helaran's potential highspren and locate Renarin, Jasnah, Shallan, and Kaladin in the antechamber of the Oathgate

Jasnah summons Ivory as a Shardblade, but Shallan recognizes Helaran's Blade and begs her to wait

She attempts to talk Helaran down, but he remains convinced that the only logical reason for her to be here would be if she was working with their father

She shows Helaran the Lightweaving of her as their father, but this only sends him further into a rage, forcing Kaladin to pull her away before her brother can strike her down

Finally, urged on by Pattern, she recalls the moment she killed her mother, revealing that their family's trouble began with the Skybreakers

Helaran is broken by this realization and, in the heat of the moment, swears the Third Skybreaker Ideal to follow Shallan's commands, officially taking on Moash as a Skybreaker squire

He promises that he will right the wrongs that have been done to their family, and he and Moash fly off to confront Nale with this revelation

After they depart, the Kholin scribes receive word from the warcamps that King Elhokar has been slain

Having driven off the stormform Parshendi, Adoling desperately calls for a ceasefire between the Kholin and Sadeas forces

Adolin, Kaladin, Jasnah and co. head to the designated parley grounds to negotiate with Sadeas

He proclaims that, with Elhokar and Dalinar both now dead, the throne should pass to the most experienced of the Alethi highprinces: him (until, of course, Elhokar's son Gavinor is old enough to assume the throne)

Now burned twice by Sadeas's betrayals, Adolin decides that he has had enough

He growls, "No. I am the king" and kills Sadeas with the Sylblade (she is chill with this, as Sadeas had broken his oath multiple times before)

Kaladin's suspicions of the Kholins are deepened after seeing Adolin kill Sadeas

End book two! This one was a lot more detailed than the first one, and ngl my thoughts on the third book timeline are much more jumbled, so that's all for now!

So, do y'all remember a while back I made a post about a Stormlight AU where Kaladin becomes an Edgedancer instead of a Windrunner? So that idea was bouncing around in my head, and @catcas22 and I wanted to put down some bullet points of how this would actually change the story:

Kaladin goes off to study as a surgeon in Kharbranth before Amaram comes recruiting

Roshone drafts Tien, but Lirin elects not to send word to Kaladin, as he fears that Kaladin would quit his training and return if he knew

Kaladin gains a reputation as one of the more promising surgeons in Kharbranth

Eventually, one of his patients gets transferred to Taravingian's secret Diagram project (so they can drain their blood for a Death Rattle)

Kaladin, naturally, wants to stay with them and make sure they recover

He's told to "forget about them and move on to the next patient"

He can't accept that, so he starts digging into where the patients are being transferred to (with the help of an unusually talkative spren)

He is interrupted from his investigations by a request to help heal an important foreign dignitary from a strange form of poison

His path intersects with Jasnah and Shallan while he helps Shallan recover from Kabsal's attempted assassination

Over the course of her recovery, Kaladin confides in Jasnah his worries about Taravingian, and enlists the two of them in helping him get to the bottom of it

The three of them use Jasnah's Soulcasting to break into the underground facility

Kaladin freezes when he realizes what Taravingian has been doing and desperately starts trying to heal the people who are having their blood drawn

Kaladin swears his Second Ideal in attempting to escape Kharbranth with the captives

Kaladin, Jasnah, and Shallan depart for the Shattered Plains with as many of the captives as their ship can carry

Meanwhile, in northern Alethkar:

Tien breaks in battle and tries to run away using Lightweaving (Sanderson has confirmed that Tien was some level of Lightweaver)

Tien is captured, then sold into slavery on the Shattered Plains because Amaram decides he's too much trouble

Without Kaladin there to save him, Amaram is killed by nascent Skybreaker Helaran

Helaran gets word that the Surgebinder in Amaram's army is still at large, and heads for the Shattered Plains

Now, on the Shattered Plains:

Tien ends up in the Bridge Crews on Bridge Four (because you gotta have Bridge Four)

While returning from the greatshell hunt, Bridge Four is sent to help the Kholins return to camp

Adolin strikes up a conversation with Tien, as he reminds him of Renarin in a way

Moash arrives on the bridge crews and decides he's going to organize the crews so that they can have a chance at escaping slavery

Adolin notices that an oddly intelligent windspren with a mischievous streak has begun following him around

His conversation with Tien and the rest of Bridge Four has him realize just how bad the situation is under Sadeas for the bridgemen

While considering what to do, he discovers that Tien died on one of the bridge runs

At the urging of his windspren friend, Adolin defies Dalinar's wishes and takes up dueling again, seeking to gain a chance to challenge Sadeas for the freedom of the Bridge Crews

Dalinar is furious and strips Adolin of Plate and Blade, effectively benching him for the rest of the book

When Dalinar leaves for the Tower with Sadeas, he leaves Adolin behind

Adolin refuses to stand by and takes his personal guards to follow after Dalinar, recruiting an off-duty Bridge Four to help him get there

Moash agrees, as he figures that eluding one lighteyes would be far easier than escaping the whole army

Adolin encounters Sadeas's forces on their way back and orders a double-time march to try and save the Kholinar forces if he can

He arrives at the Tower in time to see the Kholinar forces routed and swears the Second Ideal of the Windrunners in a desperate bid to save his army and his father

Moash rethinks his plan after seeing a lighteyes leap, essentially unarmed, across a canyon to try and save his men

Bridge Four establishes an escape route, but the Kholinar forces are decimated by the Parshendi

Adolin fails to find his father, who has been captured and brought back to Narak by Eshonai

Suddenly finding himself to be highprince of Kholinar, Adolin surrenders his Shardblade, which has begun to scream whenever he touches it, in exchange for the bridge crews's freedom

And that's everything that changes for the Way of Kings! I'll go more into Words of Radiance/Oathbringer later, but that's what I have for now!