More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
He was like a tempest, slashing through legs, torsos, arms, necks, killing, killing, killing. He was a maelstrom of death and steel.
it appears that senile old brain of yours can come up with a good idea or two!” “We’re the same age, Sadeas.”
If he hadn’t learned to divide his mind like that, war would have destroyed him. Perhaps it had done so anyway.
Will I never stop hearing about Dalinar storming Kholin? Kaladin thought.
But he had cracks in him, like the cracks in the stone here at the edges of the Plains.
We belong together, you and I. I’m like you. What had made the Plains break in the first place? Some kind of great weight?
“What are you doing here?” Kaladin asked. “Sitting. Occasionally playing.”
“All right,” Kaladin said. “And you are … ?” “Sitting. Occasionally playing …
What do you steal?” “Pride,” the man said, leaning forward. “And occasionally boredom, if I may take the pride unto myself.
“Just legends and stories. Nobody really knows what the Radiants could do, lad.” Kaladin met his eyes, then smiled. “Well, we’re going to find out.”
‘And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take?
“We are soldiers at war, not courtiers at a ball.”
Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.”
This was a sacred place, the sarcophagus of the lowly, the burial cavern of bridgemen and spearmen who died upon lighteyed edicts, spilling blood down the sides of these ragged walls. This place wasn’t eerie; it was holy.
He broke into a run, leaping at the side of the chasm. He hit feet-first. Then bounced off and slammed back into the ground.
“Life before death,” he whispered. “Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.” The First Ideal of the Knights Radiant.
Lopen gaped.
“The death is my life, the strength becomes my weakness, the journey has ended.”
“I should see you strung up anyway.” “It’s been tried,” Kaladin said. “Didn’t work.
‘Do the impossible, Kaladin. But don’t push yourself too hard. But also don’t feel guilty if you fail.’ Precarious ledges, Syl. So narrow
But weakness can imitate strength if bound properly, just as cowardice can imitate heroism if given nowhere to flee.”
“Guess they finally realized what we are,” Kaladin said. “And what’s that?” Kaladin settled the bridge onto his shoulders. “We’re their champions.
Their corpses were his true bridge.
“It is time for us to fight,” he said, voice growing louder. “And we do so not because we seek the glory of men, but because the other options are worse. We follow the Codes not because they bring gain, but because we loathe the people we would otherwise become. We stand here on this battlefield alone because of who we are.”
“No. We fight here because we understand. The end is the same. It is the path that separates men. When we taste that end, we will do so with our heads held high, eyes to the sun.”
Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right.
Kaladin still wore that man’s sandals.
Many of them wearing beards. Beards woven with glowing gemstones. Kaladin breathed in.
“I will protect those who cannot protect themselves,” he whispered. The Second Ideal of the Knights Radiant.
Kaladin spun into them, a living storm of steel, wood, and determination.
Dalinar gaped,
he felt a rhythm to the battle. Almost like the beat of the Parshendi song.
“Well, you’ve shown me something today, Sadeas—shown it to me by the very act of trying to remove me.” “And what was that?” Sadeas asked, amused. “You’ve shown me that I’m still a threat.”
“But …” “What is a man’s life worth?” Dalinar asked softly. “The slavemasters say one is worth about two emerald broams,” Kaladin said, frowning. “And what do you say?” “A life is priceless,”
today, you and your men sacrificed to buy me twenty-six hundred priceless lives. And all I had to repay you with was a single priceless sword. I call that a bargain.”
Did I miss anything vital?” “Yes,” Dalinar said. Then he raised his leg and kicked the king in the chest.
“Well, now you know,” Dalinar said, voice hard. “If I’d wanted to kill you, Elhokar, I could have done it a dozen times over. A hundred times over.
“Oh, and Elhokar? Your mother and I are now courting. You’ll want to start growing accustomed to that.” Despite everything else that had happened in the last few minutes, this got a look of pure astonishment from the king. Dalinar smiled and pulled the door closed, walking away with a firm step.
“Your words are like the hundred doves.” “Easy to release, difficult to keep,
“We didn’t destroy the Voidbringers,” Jasnah said from behind, her voice haunted. “We enslaved them.”
“I am … I was … God. The one you call the Almighty, the creator of mankind.” The figure closed his eyes. “And now I am dead. Odium has killed me. I am sorry.”
