#kowt prologue draft

[butwhybother]

Once, the thirst for the battle had nearly led him to attack Gavilar himself. Dalinar could remember the jealousy on that day some ten years ago, when the itch to attack Gavilar--the only worthy opponent he could see, the man who had won Navani's hand--had nearly consumed him.

The Way of Kings, chapter 56.

One way for Dalinar to get everything he deserved.

He was running. Some of the men in Gavilar's group raised hands in welcome. Weak. No weapons presented against him! He could slaughter them all before they knew what has happened. They deserved it! Dalinar deserved to--

Gavilar turned toward him, pulling free his helm and smiling an open, honest grin.

Dalinar pulled up, stopping with a lurch. He stared at Gavilar, his brother.

Oh, Stormfather, Dalinar thought. What am I doing?

He let the Blade slip from his fingers and vanish. Gavilar strode up, unable to read Dalinar's horrified expression behind his helm.

-Oathbringer chapter 26

Gavilar shivered, remembering a time on a battlefield, watching his brother approach. Soaked in blood. Eyes seeming to glow red with a hunger for the throne, the life Gavilar had…

That ghost haunted him at times.

-Kowt (Stormlight Archive 5) sneak preview.

Dalinar: I nearly killed Gavilar one time. Blessedly, he never knew.

Gavilar: The murder in his eyes from that day haunts me daily.

[blindradiant]

I have a vague theory about Gavilar and the visions he was getting. This isn’t flushed out at all, and probably has lots of holes and problems. It occurred to me earlier though, so I thought I’d write it out and see what others think and/or contribute to this. This has spoilers for the first draft of the prologue of Stormlight 5 that Brandon released on Youtube. I still can’t figure out how to put a break or whatever in Tumbler posts, so I’ll just separate it with dots. If you don’t want to be spoiled, turn back now.

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The way the Stormfather speaks and acts in the KoWT prologue seems very different from the Stormfather we see in the other books. His speech patterns and responses to things Gavilar does and says seem inconsistent or out of character for him. At the time of writing this, I’ve only listened to the Youtube reading once, so I can only remember one example off the top of my head.

Gavilar often asked the Stormfather to watch the hallway outside his door for him. In Oathbringer and Rhythm of War though, the Stormfather says multiple times that even the land is dim and indistinct to him. He can’t see or access things that aren’t exposed to the Highstorms. If Gavilar was really talking to the Stormfather, how could he watch the hallway for Gavilar? There are other things that seemed off, but that was one of the biggest ones for me.

I remember thinking multiple times that the character Brandon had written didn’t seem quite like the Stormfather. I’ve seen others say that also, so if multiple people are making the same observation, there must be a reason for it. I bet Brando is far too experienced a writer for his characters to be that inconsistent, even in first draft. So if this wasn’t the Stormfather Gavilar was talking to, who was it?

I’ve seen a few ideas presented already, but there’s one in particular that I want to focus on.

One of my mutuals on Twitter suggested that Ishar could have been pretending to be the Stormfather, and I thought of a far-fetched way that could have happened. This is barely cohesive even in my own mind, but here’s what I’m thinking:

The Stormfather actually does start sending Gavilar the visions Honor left behind. Gavilar interprets them in a very different way from Dalinar, and takes very different actions based on the information he learns from them. The Stormfather decides that Gavilar actually isn’t the right person to be given the visions and become a Bondsmith, so he stops sending them maybe after Gavilar has seen the full sequence once.

At some point not long after Szeth is named Truthless, Ishar goes to Shinovar and reclaims the Bondsmith Honorblade. He either already knows about the visions Honor left behind, or learns of them somewhere around this time. Gavilar intrigues him for some reason, so Ishar uses his Bondsmith powers to forge a Connection between himself, the Stormfather, and Gavilar. The Connection to the Stormfather allows Ishar to have access to the visions, and his Connection to Gavilar allows him to continue replaying the visions and act like the Stormfather. Since Ishar took over as the “Stormfather” after Gavilar has only seen the visions once, Gavilar probably doesn’t notice anything off about the spren he’s interacting with. Ishar keeps up the act until the night of Gavilar’s assassination.

On the night Gavilar is assassinated, the supposed Stormfather has a strong reaction to an event that he says is a Herald dying. That ties into another theory, but I’ll let other fans tackle that aspect of things. The “Stormfather” also mentions something about the Oathpact, and seems to be pretty distressed for a minute. I could see the real Stormfather being able to tell if something has happened to one of the Heralds or the Oathpact, but I think Ishar would have a stronger reaction. I’m reminded of the way Shalash reacted at the end of Oathbringer when Moash killed Jezrien.

As the “Stormfather” recovers from that moment, he says that he’s seen what’s coming for Gavilar, and that he won’t stop it. Again, I’ve only listened to the Youtube video once at the time of writing this, so I could be remembering this wrong.

I don’t remember if we ever see the actual Stormfather predict events in the future that aren’t related to Odium or the Everstorm. If this is Ishar though, maybe something either about his Bondsmith powers or his abilities as a Herald let him see glimpses of the future sometimes. I’m not certain about this part, but that did stick out to me, so I thought I’d try to bring it up.

At the very end of the prologue, as Gavilar is dying, the “Stormfather” says something about how he’ll never trust another member of Gavilar’s family again. If the actual Stormfather was the one who said that, I highly doubt that he would have allowed himself to be bonded to Dalinar so easily. The Stormfather is strict about oaths, and that definitely includes oaths he himself has made. When he bonds Dalinar though, he doesn’t seem much more distrustful than he is toward most mortals in general.

Ishar, on the other hand, is extremely distrustful of Dalinar when Dalinar confronts him at the end of Rhythm of War. An argument could be made that he responds the way he does because of how his time as a Herald has affected him, and I don’t know enough about Ishar or the Heralds in general to say whether or not that’s accurate. I just know that this angle is intriguing to me, and it would explain some of the events in this prologue. Ishar’s severe distrust of the Kholins could also add another layer to the plotline that will be Kaladin and Szeth’s fun-filled adventure to Shinovar. That callback seems like something Brando would do, at least to me.

It’s very possible that the being Gavilar interacts with in this prologue really is the Stormfather, and that things related to this will change and be made clearer as Brando edits later on. If Gavilar is talking to someone else though, the implications are intriguing regardless of who this mysterious individual is. Ishar is a fascinating possibility, especially considering things that will be relevant to KoWT’s plot.

[isdalinarhot]

I think when making meta posts about little details from the kowt prologue it’s important to remember that it was a first draft and as such there are going to be mistakes and continuity flops and typos and the like. So analyzing with a fine toothed comb is ill-advised, especially when things could change substantially between now and winter 2023/spring 2024

[butwhybother]

In prologue to The Way of Kings, Gavilar is wearing a blue-and-gold Shardplate. I had always assumed this was Gavilar's own Shardplate, but the sneak peek to Stormlight Archive 5 has revealed that he was actually wearing Sadeas's Shardplate.

(If Szeth had time to memorize the Shardplate patterns -- the prologue says he didn't -- maybe he would have fallen for the distraction. )

It was Sadeas's Shardplate. Blue and gold are the king's colors. Sadeas gave his Plate the color scheme of the king's guards. He had the foresight and planning to bring his Plate to the feast, and he was ready to sacrifice himself as live bait so Gavilar could live.

Sadeas was really into Gavilar.

[butwhybother]

The people Gavilar accused of sending the Assasin, in order:

Thaidakar

Stormfather

Restares

Sadeas

[butwhybother]

Speculation about KOWT (Stormlight Archive 5) after reading the sneak preview.

I'll start tagging posts that discuss contents of the prologue of Stormlight Archive 5 with #kowt prologue draft.

IF Gavilar could become a Herald, there are two possible people who could benefit:

One of the Heralds. By finding a replacement, maybe a Herald could get out of the Oathpact.

Odium. By getting Gavilar to go to Braize, Odium can hasten the start of the Desolation instead of just waiting forever for Taln to break. Taln has not broken for thousands of years, and Odium is very tired of waiting; Gavilar will break much, much sooner. (But it seems that death of one of the existing Heralds' death got that started anyway.)

And about the right words that Gavilar needed to speak:

Opposition, sometimes, is needed, the Stormfather said. You will need someone to fight, should you take the position I am offering you.

“Give it to me,” Gavilar said. “Now. I need it.”

The Stormfather turned a shimmering head his direction. That was almost them.

“What, those?” Gavilar said. “Those were almost the words? A demand?”

So close. And so far.

Maybe the words should have been more greedy? Like "What's mine is mine, and mine and mine, and mine, and mine, and mine! Not yours!"

Or more entitled? Like "That's mine and I'm taking it!"

Or if we're looking at other Shardworlds, perhaps "Your Breath to mine!"

[butwhybother]

Vin could sense and sometimes see the "mist spirit." Maybe that's similar to Gavilar sensing the "Stormfather" and seeing the shimmering? Maybe?

[butwhybother]

"Fortunately, the man was a kindly drunk. Both his pain and his addiction made him easy enough to control.”-from Stormlight Archive 5 prologue draft.

"A kindly drunk?" Dalinar once got drunk at a tavern and got into a brawl. As a result of that brawl, one of the men he fought cannot walk anymore. Another one had his arm amputated. A third one's brain doesn't work and he can't talk. When Dalinar tried to get into a wrestling match, people got scared and left. This guy is not "a kindly drunk."