El camino de los reyes (in-world)
| El camino de los reyes | |
|---|---|
| Relacionado con | Reinos Plateados, Nohadon |
| Mundo de origen | Roshar |
| Universo de origen | Cosmere |
El camino de los reyes es un libro de parábolas e historias escritas por el rey Nohadon en Roshar. Usando glifos [[alezi[[, el título del libro está escrito con los símbolos para "senda" y "rey".[1]
Fue leído por Gavilar Kholin en los años previos a su muerte. Dalinar Kholin comenzó a escuchar sus lecturas tras el funeral de su hermano.
Resumen
El libro está escrito como una narración de la vida de Nohadon, un antiguo rey, mientras actúa como debería hacerlo un gobernante, con honor y dignidad. En particular, se centra en un viaje que emprende entre las ciudades de Abamabar y Urithiru, con su decisión de ir sirviendo como punto de encuadre para toda la obra. En vez de usar una Puerta Jurada, como hace su familia, él viaja solo y a pie, encontrándose un número de escenarios que incitan al pensamiento.
El libro se compone de una introducción, donde el narrador toma la decisión de partir, cuarenta parábolas sobre diferentes aspectos de la monarquía, y una nota final donde resume sus experiencias. Cada parábola conocida presenta una situación o un problema que el narrador se encuentra, después una solución o manera de entenderlo y, finalmente, reflexiones filosóficas sobre cómo la situación se relaciona con las labores de un rey. En cada historia, el narrador siempre lucha por liderar ejemplarmente, a pesar de las objeciones de aquellos cercanos a él. De esta manera, se gana el respeto y lealtad de sus seguidores.
Historicidad
“I've grown fond of [metaphors]. You might say I wrote an entire book about them. ”
El libro fue escrito por Nohadon, un antiguo rey que vivió y reinó tras una de las Desolaciones. Como se revela en las visiones de Dalinar, escribió el libro después de que hubiese subido al poder. Por ende, mientras ejemplifica las virtudes de un gobernante, va dirigido a actuar como alegoría más que como un método por el que inspirar a otros.[3]
No se conoce cuántos de los eventos que el libro describe son reales, y cuántos son puramente metafóricos. En otra visión, Nohadon afirma que realmente hizo el viaje que forma la base de las historias; sin embargo, la factualidad de las parábolas individuales es discutible.[2] Adicionalmente, es posible que algunos de los detalles se hayan perdido o alterado a lo largo de los años.[4]
Influencia
Teniendo alrededor de cinco milenios de edad, El camino de los reyes es uno de los textos más antiguos que han sobrevivido hasta el presente.[4] A diferencia de otra literatura y documentos de esa era, que fueron preservados exclusivamente en canto del alba, y por tanto, hasta recientemente, imposibles de leer, El camino de los reyes fue continuamente traducido, asegurando su supervivencia en la consciencia pública.[5] Una fuerza mayor tras esto fueron los Vanrial, una orden de artistas dedicada a preservar textos y canciones antiguos.[6]
Aunque la Potenciación precede a Nohadon, los antiguos Caballeros Radiantes fueron profundamente influenciados por El camino de los reyes. Se sugiere que sus Ideales fueron basados en el libro.[7] En particular, parece que la Orden de los Forjadores de Vínculos le debe mucho a sus enseñanzas, ya que sus primeras líneas sugieren su Tercer Ideal.[8]
Este libro tuvo un enorme impacto en ambos Gavilar Kholin y, más tarde, Dalinar Kholin. Después de que se lo leyesen varias veces, se hacen más y más honorables, lo que es un gran contraste al típico comportamiento moderno alezi. Curiosamente, ambos comenzaron a recibir visiones del Todopoderoso a través del Padre Tormenta después de que empezaran a escuchar El camino de los reyes.[9]
Adicionalmente, El camino de los reyes tiene una gran importancia personal para Dalinar. Siguiendo la muerte de su hermano, comenzó a recomponerse después de escuchar su lectura por parte de Jasnah Kholin.[10] Durante los siguientes años, volvió a escucharlo múltiples veces y comenzó a basar su propio punto de vista del mundo en sus enseñanzas.[9] Adicionalmente, dos de sus visiones, una de las cuales no vino del Padre Tormenta, concernían a Nohadon y su obra. Cuando vino el momento de confrontar a Odium en la batalla de la Explanada Thayleña, Dalinar decidió llevarse el libro en vez de cualquier arma.[11] Odium destruyó esta copia en su intento de romper el espíritu de Dalinar; sin embargo, para entonces ya había adoptado sus enseñanzas.[12]
Extractos
Nota: aparte de la nota final y la octava parábola, ninguno de los extractos tienen nombre o número; como tal, los nombres dados aquí son puramente informales.
Introducción
Jasnah lee la totalidad de El camino de los reyes en la noche del funeral de Gavilar, pero solo una sección temprana está citada, describiendo como una reunión con un supuesto profeta causa que Nohadon parta en su viaje, y explicando la estructura del libro. Es posible que esto sea parte de un prefacio.
“You must find the most important words a man can say.
Those words came to me from one who claimed to have seen the future. 'How is this possible?’ I asked in return. ‘Have you been touched by the void?’
The reply was laughter. 'No, sweet king. The past is the future, and as each man has lived, so must you.’
‘So I can but repeat what has been done before?’
‘In some things, yes. You will love. You will hurt. You will dream. And you will die. Each man’s past is your future.’
‘Then what is the point?’ I asked. ‘If all has been seen and done?’
‘The question,’ she replied, ‘is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path.’
This started my journey. And this begins my writings. I cannot call this book a story, for it fails at its most fundamental to be a story. It is not one narrative, but many. And though it has a beginning, here on this page, my quest can never truly end.
I wasn’t seeking answers. I felt that I had those already. Plenty, in multitude, from a thousand different sources. I wasn’t seeking ‘myself.’ This is a platitude that people have ascribed to me, and I find the phrase lacks meaning.
In truth, by leaving, I was seeking only one thing.
A journey.
”
—[10]
La octava parábola
Esta es la única parábola que se presenta en su totalidad, citada por Dalinar Kholin. Elabora en el principio del "viaje antes que destino" a través de la historia de la familia y amigos de Nohadon reaccionando a su viaje tanto antes de partir como cuando llega a Urithiru.
“I walked from Abamabar to Urithiru. In this, the metaphor and experience are one, inseparable to me like my mind and memory. One contains the other, and though I can explain one to you, the other is only for me.
I strode this insightful distance on my own, and forbade attendants. I had no steed beyond my well-worn sandals, no companion beside a stout staff to offer conversation with its beats against the stone. My mouth was to be my purse; I stuffed it not with gems, but with song. When singing for sustenance failed me, my arms worked well for cleaning a floor or hogpen, and often earned me a satisfactory reward.
Those dear to me took fright for my safety and, perhaps, my sanity. Kings, they explained, do not walk like beggars for hundreds of miles. My response was that if a beggar could manage the feat, then why not a king? Did they think me less capable than a beggar?
Sometimes I think that I am. The beggar knows much that the king can only guess. And yet who draws up the codes for begging ordinances? Often I wonder what my experience in life—my easy life following the Desolation, and my current level of comfort—has given me of any true experience to use in making laws. If we had to rely on what we knew, kings would only be of use in creating laws regarding the proper heating of tea and cushioning of thrones.
Regardless, I made the trip and—as the astute reader has already concluded—survived it. The stories of its excitements will stain a different page in this narrative, for first I must explain my purpose in walking this strange path. Though I was quite willing to let my family think me insane, I would not leave the same as my cognomen upon the winds of history.
My family traveled to Urithiru via the direct method, and had been awaiting me for weeks when I arrived. I was not recognized at the gate, for my mane had grown quite robust without a razor to tame it. Once I revealed myself, I was carried away, primped, fed, worried over, and scolded in precisely that order. Only after all of this was through was I finally asked the purpose of my excursion. Couldn’t I have just taken the simple, easy, and common route to the holy city?
For my answer, I removed my sandals and proffered my callused feet. They were comfortable upon the table beside my half-consumed tray of grapes. At this point, the expressions of my companions proclaimed that they thought me daft, and so I explained by relating the stories of my trip. One after another, like stacked sacks of tallew, stored for the winter season. I would make flatbread of them soon, then stuff it between these pages.
Yes, I could have traveled quickly. But all men have the same ultimate destination. Whether we find our end in a hallowed sepulcher or a pauper’s ditch, all save the Heralds themselves must dine with the Nightwatcher.
And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived.
In the end, I must proclaim that no good can be achieved of false means. For the substance of our existence is not in the achievement, but in the method. The Monarch must understand this; he must not become so focused on what he wishes to accomplish that he diverts his gaze from the path he must take to arrive there.
”
El hombre y la piedra
Esto es presumiblemente un extracto de otra parábola. Habla sobre la soledad y las cargas de la monarquía.
“I once saw a spindly man carrying a stone larger than his head upon his back. He stumbled beneath the weight, shirtless under the sun, wearing only a loincloth. He tottered down a busy thoroughfare. People made way for him. Not because they sympathized with him, but because they feared the momentum of his steps. You dare not impede one such as this.
The monarch is like this man, stumbling along, the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders. Many give way before him, but so few are willing to step in and help carry the stone. They do not wish to attach themselves to the work, lest they condemn themselves to a life full of extra burdens.
I left my carriage that day and took up the stone, lifting it for the man. I believe my guards were embarrassed. One can ignore a poor shirtless wretch doing such labor, but none ignore a king sharing the load. Perhaps we should switch places more often. If a king is seen to assume the burden of the poorest of men, perhaps there will be those who will help him with his own load, so invisible, yet so daunting.
”
—[14]
Velas
Parte de otra parábola sin numerar. Concierne a las responsabilidades que vienen con el poder de la realeza.
“I stood in the darkened monastery chamber, its far reaches painted with pools of black where light did not wander. I sat on the floor, thinking of that dark, that Unseen. I could not know, for certain, what was hidden in that night. I suspected there were walls, sturdy and thick, but could I know without seeing? When all was hidden, what could a man rely upon as true?
Candle flames. A dozen candles burned themselves to death on the shelf before me. Each of my breaths made them tremble. To them, I was a behemoth, to frighten and destroy. And yet, if I strayed too close, they could destroy me. My invisible breath, the pulses of life that flowed in and out, could end them freely, while my fingers could not do the same without being repaid in pain.
I understood in a moment of stillness. Those candle flames were like the lives of men. So fragile. So deadly. Left alone, they lit and warmed. Let run rampant, they would destroy the very things they were meant to illuminate. Embryonic bonfires, each bearing a seed of destruction so potent it could tumble cities and dash kings to their knees. In later years, my mind would return to that calm, silent evening, when I had stared at rows of living lights. And I would understand. To be given loyalty is to be infused like a gemstone, to be granted the frightful license to destroy not only one’s self, but all within one’s care.
”
—[15]
Montón de piedras
Esta sección particular describe como una estructura (aquí, una pila de piedras, pero la metáfora puede aplicarse tanto a personas como grupos) colapsará si sus mismos cimientos son removidos.
“I passed a curious pile of stones along my path, of a type I found remarkable. The fractured shale had been weathered by highstorms, blown up against stone of a more durable nature. This pile of thin wafers lay as if stacked by some mortal hand.
But no man had stacked these stones. Precarious though they looked, they were actually quite solid, a formation from once-buried strata now exposed to open air. I wondered how it was possible they remained in such a neat stack, with the fury of the tempests blowing against them.
I soon ascertained their true nature. I found that force from one direction pushed them back against one another and the rock behind. No amount of pressure I could produce in that manner caused them to shift. And yet, when I removed one stone from the bottom—pulling it out instead of pushing it in—the entire formation collapsed in a miniature avalanche.
”
—[16]
El asesinato del porquero
Dalinar le recita esta parábola a Taravangian mientras debaten sobre la moralidad. Es inusual entre otras ya que no ofrece una solución clara a los problemas que presenta; quizás, el punto es decir que a veces no hay soluciones buenas ni soluciones claras.
“On my sixtieth day, I passed a town whose name shall remain unspoken. Though still in lands that named me king, I was far enough from my home to go unrecognized. Not even those men who handled my face daily—in the form of my seal imprinted upon their letters of authority—would have known this humble traveler as their king.
In this town, I found men bedeviled. There had been a murder. A hogman, tasked in protecting the landlord’s beasts, had been assaulted. He lived long enough, only, to whisper that three of the other hogmen had gathered together and done the crime.
I arrived as questions were being raised, and men interrogated. You see, there were four other hogmen in the landlord’s employ. Three of them had been responsible for the assault, and likely would have escaped suspicion had they finished their grim job. Each of the four loudly proclaimed that he was the one who had not been part of the cabal. No amount of interrogation determined the truth.
”
—[17]
El final de la parábola no está citado, pero está resumido por Dalinar
“Nohadon eventually wrote that the landlord took a modest approach. He imprisoned all four. Though the punishment should have been death, he mixed together the guilt and innocence, and determined that the average guilt of the four should deserve only prison.
(...)
[Nohadon] said the only course was to let the Almighty guide, and let each instance be judged differently, depending on circumstances.
”
—[17]
Nota final
Los epígrafes de los últimos capítulos de Juramentada (119-122) están tomados de la nota final de El camino de los reyes, donde Nohadon reflexiona sobre su viaje. Todo junto, esto lee:
“As I began my journey, I was challenged to defend why I insisted on traveling alone. They called it irresponsible. An avoidance of duty and obligation.
Those who said this made an enormous mistake of assumption.
If the journey itself is indeed the most important piece, rather than the destination itself, then I traveled not to avoid duty—but to seek it.
It becomes the responsibility of every man, upon realizing he lacks the truth, to seek it out.
Yes, I began my journey alone, and I ended it alone.
But that does not mean that I walked alone.
”
Otras citas
También hay varias citas más pequeñas repartidas por el libro, como:
“There is honor in loss, if that loss brings learning. ”
—[3]
“A man's emotions are what define him, and control is the hallmark of true strength. To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child. ”
—[15]
“A monarch is control. He provides stability. It is his service and his trade good. If he cannot control himself, then how can he control the lives of men? What merchant worth his Stormlight won’t partake of the very fruit he sells? ”
—[22]
“Never fight other men except when forced to in war. ”
—[22]
“Let your actions defend you, not your words. ”
—[22]
“Expect honor from those you meet, and give them the chance to live up to it. ”
—[22]
“Rule as you would be ruled. ”
—[22]
“As I fear not a child with a weapon he cannot lift, I will never fear the mind of a man who does not think. ”
—[23]
Curiosidades
- La parte favorita de Brandon Sanderson de este libro es la parábola sobre el hombre llevando la piedra pesada.[24]
- El libro se conoce fuera del mundo, aunque no ha llegado a Scadrial.[25]
- Brandon se ha planteado escribir la totalidad de El camino de los reyes. Eventualmente decidió no hacerlo, diciendo que sería demasiado trabajo para muy poca recompensa, y que prefería tener la libertad de crear nuevos pasajes en caso de que fuese necesario.[26][27]
Notas
- ↑ Juramentada capítulo 111#
- ↑ a b Juramentada capítulo 103#
- ↑ a b El camino de los reyes capítulo 60#
- ↑ a b Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing
— Arcanum - 2014-03-21# - ↑ Juramentada interludio I-2#
- ↑ El camino de los reyes capítulo 45#
- ↑ El camino de los reyes capítulo 52#
- ↑ El camino de los reyes capítulo 118#
- ↑ a b El camino de los reyes capítulo 12#
- ↑ a b Juramentada capítulo 105#
- ↑ Juramentada capítulo 115#
- ↑ Juramentada capítulo 118#
- ↑ El camino de los reyes capítulo 58#
- ↑ El camino de los reyes capítulo 15#
- ↑ a b El camino de los reyes capítulo 26#
- ↑ Palabras radiantes capítulo 38#
- ↑ a b Juramentada capítulo 28#
- ↑ Juramentada capítulo 119#
- ↑ Juramentada capítulo 120#
- ↑ Juramentada capítulo 121#
- ↑ Juramentada capítulo 122#
- ↑ a b c d e El camino de los reyes capítulo 28#
- ↑ Palabras radiantes capítulo 67#
- ↑ Words of Radiance Philadelphia signing
— Arcanum - 2014-03-21# - ↑ Words of Radiance San Francisco signing
— Arcanum - 2014-03-06# - ↑ Orem signing
— Arcanum - 2017-12-21# - ↑ Skyward release party
— Arcanum - 2018-11-06#