Resumen:El camino de los reyes

This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of The Way of Kings. We hope this summary will make it easier to find specific areas of the book, as well as providing a quick plot refresher for anyone who doesn't want to take the time to reread the entire book. Similar summaries will be completed about future books in the Stormlight Archive.

Editing Note from Andrew: I'm posting these as I read the chapters on my re-read, and they're bound to be messy. If you want to clean them up in any way, feel free.

Prelude to the Stormlight Archive

The Prelude opens just after one of the Desolations (huge battles between humanity and the Voidbringers). Kalak, one of the Ten Heralds of the Almighty, is walking the desolated battlefield. The landscape is torn and ruined, apparently due to Surgebinders fighting and thunderclasts ripping themselves free from the ground. Kalak expresses relief that he didn't die in the battle (He's apparently died before), and also reveals that after each Desolation, the Heralds are supposed to return to an unspecified location where they are tortured until the next desolation. He contemplates just walking away instead.

Kalak goes to meet the other nine Heralds in the location they had chosen before the battle. Instead of the other nine, however, he finds only one waiting for him. That Herald, Jezrien, explains to Kalak that one of the Heralds (Talenel) was killed, and was sent back automatically to their place of torture. The rest of them decided that rather than face the torture again, they would simply go their separate ways.

Jezrien alludes to the Oathpact, apparently an agreement among the Heralds and possibly with some other entity, and says it is time for the Oathpact to end. Talenel, who was killed, will still be bound to the Oathpact. The other Heralds, by abandoning Talenel and walking away, remove themselves from the Oathpact.

The Heralds leave, abandoning mankind to the care of the Knights Radiant and Talenel. They plan to tell the men who fought on their side that they had finally beaten the Voidbringers for good. The Heralds go their separate ways. Kalak looks back at the ring formed by the Heralds' abandoned swords, and thinks about Talenel and his fate. He silently pleads for forgiveness, but leaves anyway.

Prologue: To Kill

The prologue begins 4500 years later with Szeth, a Truthless Shin assassin, waiting quietly in a large room, watching the Alethi celebrate the signing of a peace treaty with the Parshendi. None of the Alethi seem to notice him.

“He was just a servant, and Shin were easy to ignore. Most out here in the East thought Szeth's kind were harmless. They were generally right.”

-The Way of Kings, Pg 21 (Hardcover), Prologue: “To Kill”

Szeth leaves the room, noting that his Parshendi masters have seen him and will soon withdraw. He notes several important Alethi, particularly Dalinar Kholin, the king's brother, who is passed out drunk at a table, and Elhokar, the king's son and heir, who is talking to two foreigners.

Szeth wonders why the Parshendi have commanded him to kill King Gavilar of the Alethi.

“They did not seem offended. They did not seem angry. And yet they were going to break their treaty of only a few hours. It made no sense.”

- The Way of Kings, Page 22 (Hardcover), Prologue: “To Kill”

Szeth also explains that he wears white because the Parshendi commanded him too. The Parshendi apparently believe that if you are going to assassinate a man, he deserves to see you coming.

By this point, Szeth has reached an area just outside of the king's quarters. Making use of his abilities as a Surgebinder, Szeth uses the Stormlight from the gems that light the corridors to fight his way past all the guards. This is when Szeth explains another of the oddities in his orders from the Parshendi, the fact that he was instructed to kill the king, but be seen doing it. Make a scene.

As Szeth reaches the king's quarters, he sees the king leave with his guards through a side passage. Szeth is confronted by a Shardbearer, who he fights until he is able to get past the man.

As he is pursuing the king, Szeth realizes that the Shardbearer isn't following him. This is odd behavior for a bodyguard, and Szeth realizes that the Shardbearer is actually King Gavilar, and the man he's been pursuing is a decoy.

Szeth goes back to face Gavilar for the second time. He is nearly killed in the fight. Gavilar has the advantage of Shardplate, while Szeth is forced to rely on his Surgebinding to survive. Eventually, Szeth is knocked out onto the balcony of the King's Quarters, where Gavilar follows him. Szeth Lashes the balcony to the ground several times, making it five times as heavy as it normally would be. The balcony collapses under the weight, and Gavilar plunges to the ground below. Szeth, however, is able to keep from falling by Lashing himself to the wall of the palace.

Szeth goes down to see the king, who is near death. The king asks Szeth who sent him, and when Szeth tells him that the Parshendi are his masters, Gavilar says, “The Parshendi? That makes no sense.”

Gavilar then gives Szeth a strange black sphere and tells him, “You must take this. They must not get it.” The king then instructs Szeth to tell his brother that he must “find the most important words a man can say.”

Szeth leaves a note for Dalinar with the King's message, as the Shin consider a dying wish to be sacred. He takes the sphere and leaves, leaving the King's Shardblade behind, thinking “The Blade Szeth already carried was curse enough.”

Part One: Above Silence

Chapter One: Stormblessed

Five Years Later

Cenn, a new recruit in Brightlord Amaram's army, is terrified. The first battle of his career as a soldier is about to begin, and he has almost no idea of what to expect. They're fighting against another Alethi army over a minor border dispute. Most of the full-time well-trained soldiers are at the Shattered Plains, fighting a war against the Parshendi, so the leftover squads and new recruits are used to fight unimportant battles like this one.

Cenn is transferred to the squad of Kaladin Stormblessed at the last minute, for reasons he doesn't understand. He thinks it has something to do with camp politics. He is being guided by a veteran named Dallet, one of the senior members of Kaladin's squad.

Kaladin appears, and Cenn is amazed to discover how young he is. He appears to be no older than 19. Kaladin and Dallet discuss tactics for the upcoming battle briefly, and point out a promising hill to make a stand. Then Kaladin asks Dallet to help Cenn, since he won't know any of the squad's signals.

The battle begins, and Brightlord Amaram's untrained army is unable to hold a line, even against the other Alethi force, which is just as poorly-trained. Kaladin's squad races to be the first to the enemy lines, as doing so separates them from the rest of Amaram's army, and makes them a less appealing target for archers. They reach the hill that Kaladin and Dallet had chosen earlier, and make a stand there. They use various formations to shield their wounded while still effectively attacking the enemy.

Kaladin's men continue holding this hill for the better part of an hour without losing a single man, though they do have several wounded. Then, a large portion of Brightlord Amaram's army breaks, and Kaladin and his squad try to assist in keeping the enemy away while they reform formation. In the confusion, Cenn is isolated, and runs into a group of six enemy spearmen. He attempts to attack them, but takes a leg wound. Just as one of the enemy spearmen is about to kill him, Kaladin appears, somehow killing all six enemy spearmen before the rest of the squad can even arrive.

An enemy Brightlord appears on the battlefield. Cenn mistakes him for a Shardbearer, but Dallet tells him that no Shardbearers will take part in the conflict, as they're far to important to waste on simple border disputes, especially with the war with the Parshendi. Kaladin and his squad decide to try to kill the man, as it will make it more likely that they will be sent to the Shattered Plains, where they believe the true, honorable soldiers to be. Kaladin and his squad leave to engage the enemy Brightlord. Dallet explains to Cenn that a runner will come for him to take him to the surgeons, because Kaladin spends most of his pay on bribes to be certain that his men are well taken care of.

Cenn and Dallet discuss briefly that Kaladin is not like other men. He cares about what happens to his men, and he fights “like a storm,” as Dallet puts it. Cenn asks why Kaladin brought him into his squad, of all the soldiers. Dallet responds that Kaladin will often take in young new recruits, that many of the men in the squad started out that way. He thinks that they remind Kaladin of someone.

By this time, Cenn is suffering from severe blood loss. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of a Shardbearer on the battlefield. Dallet is shocked by the use of a Shardbearer in such a mundane and unimportant battle.

Cenn thinks that the man's Shardplate and Shardblade are beautiful. The chapter ends with Cenn thinking to himself, “You didn't fight something like this. And that gorgeous, intricate, sinuous sword. It was like....like the Almighty himself had taken form to walk the battlefield.

And why would you fight the Almighty?

Cenn closed his eyes.”

Chapter Two: Honor is Dead

Eight Months Later

Kaladin is now a slave in a caravan, waiting to be sold. He is solitary, and most of the other slaves avoid him since he nearly broke a man's arm (while the man was attempting to steal his food). He thinks to himself that no matter what is done to him, he has one thing that he won't allow the slavers to take from him – his ability to not think like a slave.

Kaladin is approached by one of the other slaves, who offers Kaladin half of his food in exchange for Kaladin's agreement to take him with him the next time he escapes. Kaladin tells the man that he's not going to attempt another escape. When the man protests, Kaladin reveals that he's attempted escape ten times in the past eight months. He has succeeded on several occasions, but was always found and returned due to the brands on his forehead, the most recent of which is the shash glyph, meaning “dangerous,” that was given to him by his last master.

A second slave approaches Kaladin and asks how he came to be a slave. Kaladin doesn't respond, so the other men begin to tell their stories. After a few such stories, Kaladin reveals that he killed a lighteyes. When the other slaves express surprise that he wasn't hanged for such an offense, Kaladin says, “Killing the lighteyes isn't why I was made a slave. It's the one I didn't kill that's the problem.” He refuses to say more on the subject.

Several hours later, Kaladin notices one of the other slaves coughing. Lessons from his father on how to treat the man's sickness whisper quietly in the back of his mind. Kaladin expresses his own discomfort at the shash brand on his forehead, and thinks of how to treat it as well. He regards the knowledge as an annoyance, as he doesn't have the necessary tools for any sort of healing.

Kaladin gets out a leaf of blackbane, a deadly plant that he suspects no one else in the caravan recognizes. He wonders what inspired him to grab it when he saw the plant, and decides that it was probably motivated by his instinct to obtain a weapon, no matter how unconventional.

A windspren in the form of a slender young woman, but only a handspan tall, speaks to Kaladin and wants to know what the blackbane is. When he ignores her, she asks, “Kaladin, why must you ignore me?” Kaladin is startled, because spren are typically not intelligent, but rather only mimic what they hear. He thinks that she might have heard his name from one of the other slaves, but then realizes that none of them know his name. He asks the spren how she knows his name, and she replies that she doesn't know how. She just knows.

The spren asks Kaladin why he doesn't fight anymore, and he responds that he's failed. Kaladin notices Tvlakv, the slaver, moving over to inspect the sick slave Kaladin had noticed earlier. The slavers begin to remove the man from the cage, and Kaladin, after a long internal struggle about whether or not he should bother to help the man, tells Tvlakv that the man has the grinding coughs, and if he is given extra water for a few days, he will survive.

Tvlakv removes the man from the rest of the slaves, and Kaladin thinks he is going to give him water. Instead, Tvlakv brutally murders the man, to keep him from spreading the disease. When Kaladin tells him it wasn't contagious, he responds that he won't risk all of the slaves for one life. Kaladin thinks about his failure to do the man any good.

Kaladin thinks about using the blackbane to poison Tvlakv, but realizes that in his anger, he crushed it against the bars of his cage, and dropped too much of it for the remainder to be potent. He thinks to himself that even in this, he has failed, and sinks to the floor.

Chapter Thee: City of Bells

Shallan Davar has just arrived in Kharbranth, the City of Bells. She is going through a culture-shock of sorts, amazed at the number and variety of people in the city.

After a short conversation with Captain Tozbek of the Wind's Pleasure, during which Shallan reflects several times on how she often says things that are improper because she likes being witty, she receives word that Jasnah Kholin, the woman she has been chasing for several months, is still in the city.

Captain Tozbek suggests to Shallan that her beauty is what brought favorable winds that allowed them to arrive in time. Shallan responds by saying that if that's the case, she must be beautiful precisely one-sixth of the time, as the other five times they landed, they were too late.

Shallan often thinks about her own beauty (or in her opinion, the lack thereof) in the next several pages. She has pale skin and red hair, when in her opinion, the tan skin of the Alethi and their black hair are what is considered beautiful. She mentions that she doesn't really know how to deal with people telling her she's beautiful or flirting with her, as she's lived a somewhat isolated life up until this point.

Shallan and one of Captain Tozbek's sailors, Yalb, go to make the trip up to the palace so Shallan can speak to Jasnah. When they arrive, she asks Yalb to wait for her outside the palace. It is revealed that Shallan had requested to be Jasnah's ward, and that Jasnah told her to meet her in Dumadari. Shallan has been chasing her from city to city ever since.

Shallan goes on at great length about how her house's finances are in ruins since the death of her father, and that if they don't find some source of income or other means of controlling their rival political houses, they won't last long. She also reveals that her request to be Jasnah's ward is somehow related to resolving her house's crisis, though she does not make clear how.

The chapter ends with Shallan turning a corner to come face to face with Jasnah and introduce herself.

Chapter Four: The Shattered Plains

Kaladin is sitting in the slave wagon, waiting for the caravan to stop for lunch. The windspren that has been following him asks him why he doesn't cry at night, while all the other slaves do. He replies that he doesn't cry because it wouldn't change anything.

Kaladin notices that it's well after the time that the caravan usually stops for lunch. After a few minutes, he realizes that it is because Tvlakv is lost. Tvlakv remembers that Kaladin was once an Alethi soldier, and might have knowledge of the lands. He asks Kaladin where he thinks they should go, and Kaladin asks for Tvlakv's map, which, when given, he promptly tears to pieces. Tvlakv then offers him an extra meal each day if he'll lead the caravan out. He also tries to persuade Kaladin that it's in his best interest to reach their destination, because Tvlakv won't let him escape but perhaps some other master would, allowing Kaladin to seek vengeance on Tvlakv and his previous masters. Kaladin responds that he doesn't want vengeance.

Kaladin also makes the point that Tvlakv doesn't actually believe what he's saying, or he'd never be able to sleep due to worrying so much about former slaves of his seeking him out. Tvlakv laughs and says that perhaps Kaladin is right, and perhaps Tvlakv just thinks Kaladin will seek out the first man who sold him into slavery, Highlord Amaram. Kaladin struggles to control his reaction, but fails. Tvlakv notes his anger at Amaram.

Kaladin realizes that if Tvlakv knows about Amaram, then he also knows that Kaladin isn't actually a deserter, as the official story given when he was sold says. Tvlakv acknowledges this, but says that it's the story they will stick to because men who are guilty of high crimes are difficult to sell at a good price.

Kaladin then tells Tvlakv that he doesn't know where they are or how to get where they're going, wherever that may be. Tvlakv shrugs and says he'll have to trust his memory, and leaves.

***

Kaladin and the rest of the slaves are huddled in the slave wagon during a highstorm. The wagon leaks, letting in wind and rain, with lightning occasionally giving them light to see by.

The side of the wagon opens a few minutes before the end of the storm, when the rain and winds are no longer deadly. This is because Tvlakv wants the slaves to be clean. When Kaladin notes that they are being let out a little earlier today and asks about it, though, all he receives as a reply is that Tvlakv wants them to be extra clean today. Kaladin realizes that they must be approaching their destination.

The windspren comes back. She had apparently left during the highstorm, but now tells Kaladin that there is a large group of people not far away. A few minutes later, Kaladin realizes that it's an Alethi war camp, and that their destination is the Shattered Plains.

The other slaves are all excited, realizing that they will receive wages, and possibly be able to work their way free eventually. They also feel that maybe they will be treated more fairly by their masters here than they have been before. Kaladin mentally expresses his doubts, thinking of several lighteyes – Roshone, Amaram, and Katarotam are the exact names he uses – who have shown themselves to be corrupt rather than the honorable men they pretended to be.

He realizes that the one thing he still hopes for is that he'll be allowed to fight, to carry a spear, and maybe become again the man he had been before. In his own words, a man who cared. The chapter ends with Kaladin thinking that this is the only place he might find that still.