Happy Monday, Sanderfans and Cosmere Chickens! It’s time for another Wind and Truth read-along discussion. Chapters 12 and 13 wrapped up the events of Day One, and so we’re on to the Interludes before we dive into Day Two! Today we’ll be discussing Kalak and… dun-dun-dunnn… Odium.
Note that this post will possibly contain full Cosmere spoilers, so beware if you aren’t caught up on all Cosmere content. And please remember, when posting or commenting about these preview chapters on social media, to follow your platform’s spoiler rules. Pattern says, “No spoilers!” Your comments here, however, don’t need to be spoiler-tagged, so feel free to comment as you will down below…
Onward to our commentary!
Paige’s Summary and Commentary
There are no epigraphs on Interludes, of course, so let’s dive right in!
Interlude 1 is from Kalak’s POV. As you’ll remember from chapter 7, he chose to stay at Lasting Integrity after Shallan and Adolin (astride Gallant!) left with the Windrunners. In this Interlude, Kalak goes to his quarters and locks himself in, thinking that, after all of his long years of life, he still doesn’t want to die. He wonders if he should have gone with the Radiants and then decides that he needs to hide somewhere other than Lasting Integrity because Thaidakar, “a Herald from another world,” could send someone else after him.
He goes into his study to gather his things and… the drapes by the window grab him, tie him up, shove a gag in his mouth, and slam him against the wall. He wonders if this is some art of Stonewards but we know better, don’t we, Sanderfans? If you recall Kaladin’s visit to Zahel in chapter 15 of Rhythm of War, “The Light and the Music,” Zahel used Awakening to manipulate cloth when he was sparring with Kaladin. As we know, Zahel is Vasher from Warbreaker and can use Breath to Awaken objects. Whoever is in Kalak’s chambers obviously has the same ability. I imagine Drew will delve into this a bit more below, so let’s move on.
Kalak thinks he recognizes the man sitting at his desk as one of Adolin’s soldiers, a foreigner with long mustaches and a floppy hat. Then he notices a dagger on the desk. A dagger with a gemstone. Kalak the Herald, king and warrior (once upon a time), whimpers. The man tells him not to worry about the dagger and opens a box, which reveals the seon that Shallan had been using, given to her by Mraize. The timid, frightened little creature that Shallan had freed.
And she’s a bit different than what we saw before. She pops out of the box, bright and confident, telling Felt, the foreigner, how aggravating her experience has been. She didn’t care for Shallan, it would seem, and faked being a frightened, imprisoned “spren” once Shallan rebelled against Mraize. The seon, Ala, has already revealed Mishram’s location to Iyatil and Kelsier, and Kalak realizes that everything he had discussed in front of Shallan has been relayed to the Ghostbloods. He feels a fool for not realizing who the real spy was.
Ala asks Felt if it’s time to use the dagger, but he says they’ll wait as he doesn’t trust the dagger. He notes that Iyatil gave it to him and that he doesn’t work for that “masked witch.” He says that “Lord Kelsier” told him to be careful, so they’ll just sit tight and wait for further instructions. Kalak, though now a prisoner with the threat of death or worse hanging over his head, is actually relieved that at least he didn’t have to make any more decisions. Poor old guy.
In Interlude 2, we see Odium. ::foreboding music:: This interlude is titled “The Divided God” and, indeed, we see that Odium is of two minds as he holds the body of a dying child in a backwater called Tu Bayla. There is a famine and a war raging between the kingdoms of Jah Kaved and Aziri; in the chaos, the government has collapsed and warlords rule.
Cultivation arrives, manifesting as a woman dressed in green and brown, and Odium begins to speak to her, stating that while there is so much to experience with vast power, there’s also so much suffering. He talks of the pain and misery he finds all around him:
“Infinite capacity to see. Infinite capacity to feel. Infinite capacity for agony.”
Odium (“That was not my name, he thought. I cannot lose myself in godhood”) is both “thinking” and “feeling” with the thinking side of him understanding that in the grand scheme of things, suffering is bound to happen and that the universe is complicated. The feeling side of him just wants to weep. And he feels rage. He is, after all, the god of passions. And we know that Taravangian also had a great capacity to feel, and holding the shard of Odium seems to have expanded that capacity.
Odium and Cultivation talk about how much he essentially wants to make people do what he wants them to do. She stresses how important it is to leave them to make their own choices. She tells him he’s forbidden from taking direct action and he states that he could break the pact his predecessor made which would, of course, leave him open to attack. But Odium says he can basically force people to behave and Cultivation tells him that he knows he can’t do that.
“What,” Cultivation said, “do we do instead?”
“You want me to say,” he whispered, “that we create systems—teachings, incentives—that encourage the right decisions. That we prevent war by building up societies where people choose peace. We prevent greed by nurturing governments where the greedy are held accountable. We take time, and we steer, but we do not dominate.”
“Yes.”
Odium then gets angry. He blames his predecessor, Honor, and Cultivation for the state of the world, saying that they had eight thousand years to fix things. He says that he can do better. She tells him to calm the Everstorm and restore peace. He insists that wouldn’t fix it and that it wouldn’t be fixed until there was one god. Cultivation warns him from that path, saying it destroyed his predecessor. He states that he destroyed Rayse and tells her to leave him.
Knowing that she’ll work against him, he tells himself that he is Taravangian and that he holds Odium… that he won’t let it rule. But then he goes on to think about his mission in Karbranth—only now, he’s determined to save them all.
So, Sanderfans… What are your thoughts on these interludes? We know that Shallan is intending to hunt for Mishram, but now she’s going to be racing against Mraize and Iyatil to do so, since they know of her plan thanks to the seon spy. What will become of Kalak? Will Felt kill him, trap his soul, and let him fade into oblivion? How about Taravangian? Can he really hold the shard and not allow Odium to control him? Does anyone really think it’s possible to control Odium? I personally don’t—I think that Taravangian’s mind is already corrupted by Odium—but tell me what you think in the comments!
Lyndsey’s Commentary: Characters and Relationships
Interlude 1, Kalak: Appropriately enough, the herald in all four arches is Kalak (Kelek), patron of the Willshapers. His attributes are Resolute/Builder and his role is Maker. Seeing as how the interlude unfolds from his POV, I don’t think there’s much more analysis that needs to be done here.
Interlude 2, Odium: Nalan (Nale), Herald of Justice, patron of Skybreakers is present in all four arches. His attributes are Just/Confident, and his role is Judge. I believe that Nalan appears here because Toadium is debating the prospect of “justice” on a grand scale, but that’s just my best guess.
Kalak
Eyes closed, he tried to remember the man he’d once been, the hero who had fought for thousands of years. His life seemed a blur, a wash of grey and brown, a fresh painting left out in the storm.
It’s hard to form any sort of psychological analysis on a character who is, for all intents and purposes, immortal. How could we, as simple mortals, possibly understand the mindset of someone who has lived for thousands of years? Yet this is the thing that Sanderson (and many other authors before and most certainly after him) has attempted to portray. There’s something alluring about immortal characters. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know that I’ve always wished to leave something behind me, to not simply disappear when I’m gone. And if there were an option for you, yourself, to continue on? Would you take it? This is prevalent in so many types of fiction, including but not limited to vampires (which I think is part of the reason that they’re so continually alluring).
I have to admit that I was a HUGE fan of the Highlander TV show in my youth (yes, I know about the remake in the works and I have mixed feelings about it), so this is a subject that I may have done more thinking about than most. Who wants to live forever, indeed. The Heralds in Sanderson’s work deal with all the issues that we’d expect from characters who have outlived so many of their loved ones, and they’ve paid the price for their longevity. Most of them are barely hanging on to their sanity… if they are at all. And in this chapter, Kalak is confronted with the very real possibility of his existence ending. He clearly wants to continue living, and who can blame him for that? But Kelsier and his Ghostbloods have other plans for him, which I’m certain Drew will get into below.
Taravangian/Odium (I also like to refer to him as Toadium)
Quick note that this interlude takes place in Tu Bayla, which is here.
That was not my name, he thought. I cannot lose myself in godhood…
Odium wept for them, and—having formed a body from his infinite essence—held one little boy close.
And:
I can see to the ends of the cosmere. I can see the lives of people great and small. I had thought this wonderful, with so much to experience, but now I find only suffering.
And:
“I am the very substance of passion, and where a person suffers anywhere in this miserable galaxy, I feel it. That is the burden of this power.”
Hoo boy. Lots to unpack here. Taravangian was always willing to do whatever it took to do what he saw as protecting his people, and now that definition of “his people” has broadened to the entirety of the Cosmere. I see some interesting parallels here between his ideas about creating harmony in the universe and Thanos in the MCU. They both have good intentions, theoretically: saving people and removing strife. However, their methods of achieving said intentions are problematic on so many levels. Can you save half the universe by killing the other half? Sure. Can you save a kingdom by hiring an assassin to eliminate other world leaders, thereby distracting them from your own country? Yup. Is it ethical to do either? Depends on your perspective, doesn’t it?
It’s the classic trolley problem played out on a universal scale. (For those unfamiliar, see the wiki article here.)
I’ve often said that I appreciate Taravangian as a villain because he exemplifies the “I don’t see myself as a villain” trope, and his ascension to godhood has heightened this. He now has access to near omnipresence and omnipotence (with some limitations), and seeing what he does with them is going to be fascinating. (And horrifying, I’m sure.) Are there any right answers to this dilemma? Well, he sure thinks he has one:
By directly intervening on such a granular level, he risked creating a society where no one learned, and where society did not progress. By supernaturally forbidding warlords, he would also stifle scientists and artists. By removing the capacity for violence, he would also remove the capacity for mercy.
And:
“There is a spectrum of choice that can be allowed,” he said. “No society can persist with complete freedom, and growth can happen within limits. I can make it so that free will exists to an acceptable state, while also preventing famines.”
Now HERE’s a really fascinating moral debate. Can limitations on freedom create a better society?
Well, the existence of laws would certainly indicate that to be so. Society enforces limitations on freedom in all sorts of ways, thereby creating a more equitable and safe society for all. But Toadium appears to be planning to remove free choice entirely, by removing the very ability to even think of or do certain things. Is this crossing the line? Or is it an acceptable loss in order to remove the possibility of violence, bloodshed, and death? Does it lessen the impact of kindness, to remove the capacity for violence? Does that even matter when what’s at stake is human life?
I leave it to you in the comments to debate. Because I honestly don’t have an answer.
Drew’s Commentary: Invested Arts and Theories
Our first set of interludes comes out of the gate hard with some eye-opening Cosmere and Investiture implications. Nearly straight away in the Kalak interlude, we get a potential bomb dropped on us:
Without Ishar holding some of it back… it would have destroyed him long ago.
Somehow (almost certainly through Ishar’s uniquely powerful command of Connection), it seems that Ishar is directly helping the other Heralds by shielding them from the insanity that plagues them all. This is a huge revelation, to be honest, as it not only has direct impact on the current conflict on Roshar, but also opens up potential utility for all long-lived people and Cognitive Shadows across the Cosmere.
Vasher and Hoid are notably dealing with their long lives, and the crushing weight of memory, by storing memories in Breaths. That’s a fairly accessible source of Investiture, and less traumatic to acquire than some, but it’s still a limited resource. However Ishar is helping out the other Heralds, it might be something anyone with sufficient knowledge of Connection could do.
It makes you wonder if, somewhere on Scadrial, a certain spiked survivor has been directing his minions to keep an eye on Ishar…
“Well hello, Herald,” said a man sitting at Kalak’s desk. “If you don’t mind, I have a few questions.”
Because he’s certainly having his agents keep an eye on Kalak!
All this time, Felt has been a Ghostblood. It seems so obvious in hindsight (he is from Scadrial, after all) but this caught me off-guard. On top of his apparent loyalty to Kelsier—specifically to Kelsier, not to Iyatil or Mraize—Felt has a secret arsenal of Invested power. He may not be an Allomancer or Feruchemist, but he sure has a stash of Breaths and knows what he’s doing when it comes to Awakening.
Immediately, the drapes from the window beside the door seized him, wrapping around him like two grasping hands, pulling him tight. They’d been cut into strange shapes.
No wonder Felt was such an effective scout and soldier that Dalinar took him on important missions like the trip to the Valley.
But that’s not all we get in these interludes, oh no. No no no. We get Odium. We get the Divided God.
It has been a burning question in the Stormlight fandom since the day Rhythm of War came out: Does Taravangian’s boon/curse still hold?
In my mind, this interlude shows that it does—to an extent. Ascension has clearly changed the game, but Taravangian is still wrestling with what’s essentially a split personality. He is challenged by the powerful emotions that allowed him Connection to the Shard of Odium in the first place, and the “capacity to save humankind” that gave him such tremendous powers of thought and intuition.
He may be uniquely dangerous as a Vessel for Odium, but that doesn’t mean we have some Mega-Moriarty situation here; he isn’t a ruthless, coldhearted mastermind. However, that doesn’t make him less dangerous, but rather unstable. He may have difficulty managing his long-term plans, but this could make him more capable of short-term, catastrophic decision-making.
And, hmm, would you call ten days “short term” for a Shard?
I’ll leave you with this tidbit from Vargodium:
“Because you killed your father, and now worry the same will happen to you.”
What do we think? Is he talking about Adonalsium, or something more personal that he plucked from the depths of Cultivation’s presence in the Spiritual Realm?
Fan Theories
Lyn: Over on Reddit, there hasn’t been a ton of discussion on chapters 12 and 13. Not as much as in previous chapters, anyway—though I expect there will be a TON for this week’s chapter. I would like to point out this theory that caught my eye though, by TheBigFreeze8:
There are a lot of parallels between Vin and the mist and Kaladin and the wind. Both have a unique connection to their chosen, uh, gas, to the extent where it even seems to respond physically to them in unique ways.
If a shard can invest some of its power as mist, why couldn’t God themselves invest some of their power as wind?
Reddit comment of the week for me goes to this one—I’m simply linking to it here because you all need to go over to see it for yourselves and upvote it.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the comment sections of posts about this article on various social media platforms and may include some of your comments/speculation (with attribution) on future weeks’ articles! Keep the conversation going, and PLEASE remember to spoiler-tag your comments on social media to help preserve the surprise for those who choose to wait for the full release. See you next Monday with chapters 14 and 15! (Also, go and check out Lyn’s FB author page for a little special something that she’s going to be giving away this week…)
