Dawnshard (Novella) Explained: Rysn, Lopen and Cosmere Clues

Dawnshard is the Stormlight Archive novella in which Rysn Ftori sails the Wandersail to the hidden Aimian island of Akinah and returns bonded to a Dawnshard, one of the four primal Commands behind the Cosmere. Set between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War, the novella also gives Lopen and Huio their Third Ideals. Full spoilers follow.

What is Dawnshard about?

Dawnshard follows Rysn Ftori, the Thaylen merchant who lost the use of her legs in the Reshi Isles, on an expedition to Akinah, the ancient capital of the Silver Kingdom of Aimia. Three goals meet on the same voyage, according to Coppermind. A Thaylen ship has found the First Dreams drifting home from Aimia without its crew, so Queen Fen wants answers. Navani Kholin wants the Oathgate that should still stand on the island. Rysn wants a cure for Chiri-Chiri, her Stormlight-eating larkin, who has fallen ill and can only recover at her ancestral home. Radiants who fly too near Akinah have their Stormlight drained, so the trip must happen by sea, aboard the Wandersail, the ship Rysn’s mentor Vstim gave her.

The voyage of the Wandersail turns into a test of Rysn as a leader before it becomes a mystery. The crew resents that Vstim named Rysn the rebsk of the ship instead of Captain Drlwan, and a string of bad omens nearly breaks the expedition: the ship’s skyeel mascot dies, the grain turns out to be infested, and a santhid corpse washes up beside the ship. Rysn answers each omen with a merchant’s tools, trading the bad grain to Hexi nomads for jerky and spinning the santhid into a good sign. Coppermind confirms that the omens were staged by Nikli, Rysn’s quiet porter, who is really a Sleepless working with others of its kind to scare the ship away. Lopen and Huio fly Nikli to shore, and the Wandersail sails on toward the storm.

Where does Dawnshard fit in the Stormlight Archive reading order?

Dawnshard is book 3.5 of the Stormlight Archive, set about three months after the end of Oathbringer and before Rhythm of War, according to Coppermind, which cites Brandon Sanderson’s own signing sessions. The ebook reached Kickstarter backers of the Way of Kings leatherbound on November 5, 2020 and the general public on November 10. A print edition followed on February 15, 2022, and the audiobook on August 16, 2022. The novella runs 55,096 words over nineteen chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue. Sanderson wrote it before Rhythm of War because Aimia matters to the larger story and Rysn was the character best placed to go there. Our Stormlight Archive reading order shows where both novellas slot in.

What happens when the Wandersail reaches Akinah?

Akinah is guarded like a vault, and the Wandersail has to break through every layer. The island is ringed by Soulcast stone spikes about forty feet tall, with more spikes hidden underwater to pierce hulls, and a persistent storm hangs over it. Hordelings bred with larkin fly through the clouds and drain the Stormlight of any Surgebinder, while Sleepless sea monsters patrol the water. Once ashore, Lopen and the ardent Rushu discover that the ruined city on the surface is a decoy: the real Akinah and its working Oathgate are hidden underneath. The crew, meanwhile, finds a beach covered in gemhearts from dead greatshells. Rysn is the first to realize the gemhearts are fake and that the beach is a trap, but Nikli is already back aboard.

The climax of Dawnshard happens underwater, in a cavern Rysn was never meant to see. Cord, the Horneater cook, grabs Rysn and jumps overboard, and luckspren guide the pair into air-filled caves beneath the island. According to Coppermind, the chamber holds a set of Shardplate, eight Soulcasters, six enormous larkin skulls and a mural depicting the Shattering of Adonalsium. The mural is not paint: it is the Dawnshard, and it leaves the wall and enters Rysn. What follows is a negotiation, not a battle. Using Vstim’s lessons, Rysn bargains with three Sleepless for her crew’s lives, and the crew leaves with the Plate and the Soulcasters. Rysn agrees to carry the Dawnshard away from Akinah, and the Sleepless will guard her permanently, hidden behind a two-layer cover story.

“The Dawnshards are Commands, Rysn. The will of a god.”
Nikli to Rysn, Dawnshard

What is a Dawnshard in the Cosmere?

A Dawnshard is one of the four primal Commands that Adonalsium used to create all things, and Coppermind records that the Dawnshards were later used to Shatter Adonalsium into the sixteen Shards, roughly ten thousand years before the True Desolation. Afterward each Dawnshard was placed on a different planet to keep the four apart. A Dawnshard has no mind of its own, unlike a spren, and its most dangerous powers need a bearer with access to Investiture. Holding one still changes a person: Rysn sees colors more vividly and hears Drlwan’s voice as more musical before the ship even leaves Aimia. Her Dawnshard is Change, the will of a god to remake things. Before the Recreance it was brought through Cultivation’s Perpendicularity in the Horneater Peaks, then guarded by the lanceryn and, after the scouring of Aimia, by the Sleepless.

The Dawnshard of Exist ties the novella to the biggest mysteries of the Cosmere. Wind and Truth confirms that Hoid held Exist throughout the first five Stormlight books, which explains his strange restrictions: according to Coppermind, Hoid cannot harm anyone or eat meat. In Wind and Truth Hoid, disguised as Dalinar, walks into a meeting where Rysn is present, and the two Dawnshards try to pull their bearers together with enough force to kill. Hoid stops it, and both flee. After Retribution forms, Hoid passes Exist to his apprentice Sigzil, which sets up The Sunlit Man. For the full story of Wit, read Who Is Hoid?, and for the Shards the Dawnshards created, see our Cosmere Shard guide.

How do Lopen and Huio swear the Third Ideal in Dawnshard?

Lopen and Huio join the expedition because Kaladin picked them: the two Herdazian cousins can swim, and neither yet has a Shardblade, according to Coppermind. Lopen bonds with Rysn over their shared experience of disability, while Huio, who struggles with Alethi, tinkers with Rushu’s spanreed and a piece of aluminum foil. That tinkering leads to the discovery of aluminum-modified fabrials and a prototype levitating chair for Rysn. On Akinah, the cousins fight a huge Yu-thorak, a Sleepless sea monster, so the crew can escape. Lopen tries to swear the Third Ideal and fails, then a larkin-bred hordeling drains his Stormlight and he falls and breaks his leg. Huio flies between Lopen and the creature, swears the Third Ideal, summons his spren Caelinora as a Shardhammer and kills the monster with a Shardspear.

Lopen’s own Third Ideal arrives quietly, back on the ship, which suits a character who spends most of the series making jokes. Lopen suspects that Huio’s oath was related to him and that Huio might resent him, and Huio admits that the constant teasing can be a bit much while insisting that he never hated his cousin. Lopen takes the conversation to heart and vows to protect others even if that means protecting them from himself, and the Stormfather accepts it as his Third Ideal. The scene is the best Windrunner material outside the main novels, because Lopen’s oath is about seeing his own flaws, not about a battle. Our Windrunners guide covers how the Ideals work for the rest of Bridge Four.

Which Cosmere clues does Dawnshard set up?

Dawnshard plants several threads that pay off in Rhythm of War and Wind and Truth. The aluminum-modified fabrials Huio stumbles onto become a real invention: after the expedition, Rysn and Huio go into business together and hold a patent, according to Coppermind. The Oathgate that Lopen and Rushu find beneath Akinah appears to be functional, according to Coppermind, which is exactly what Navani sent them to learn. The Sleepless, who once guarded the Dawnshard for the lanceryn, now travel with Rysn as her protectors. The novella’s final scene adds one more surprise: after Rysn confides in Vstim, Chiri-Chiri says a few words in the human tongue, starting with Rysn’s name, which confirms that the larkin is a thinking being. Each of these details looks small inside a 55,000-word story, yet each one widens the map of the Stormlight Archive.

The largest clue in Dawnshard is the reminder that Roshar is part of a bigger war. Honor, in the final vision he left for a future Bondsmith, worried about how mankind would survive without the Dawnshards, which suggests he saw them as weapons that could matter against Odium. Coppermind adds that shadowy groups hunted the Dawnshard of Change because it could be used to destroy whole worlds, and that a Dawnshard leaves a trace of Connection that can be tracked. Those groups are why the Sleepless chose to hide it inside an unremarkable merchant. Readers who finish Dawnshard and want the full map of worlds, Shards and books should continue with our pillar guide, The Cosmere Explained.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to read Dawnshard before Rhythm of War?

Dawnshard is not strictly required, but it is set between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War, about three months after the end of Oathbringer. The novella introduces the Dawnshards, the Sleepless and Rysn’s bond, which matter again in Wind and Truth, so reading it in order is the better experience.

Which Dawnshard does Rysn have?

Rysn carries the Dawnshard of Change, a primal Command that represents the will of a god demanding that something change or become something new. According to Coppermind, it was housed in a mural beneath Akinah before it moved into Rysn.

Who is Nikli in Dawnshard?

Nikli, full name Nikliasorm, is a Sleepless: a Dysian Aimian made of a swarm of small creatures called hordelings that can impersonate a human. Nikli poses as Rysn’s porter to stop the expedition from reaching Akinah and later negotiates with her in the cavern.

Does Lopen swear the Third Ideal in Dawnshard?

Yes. Huio swears the Third Ideal first while protecting Lopen from a Sleepless sea monster. Back on the ship, Lopen vows to protect others even if that means protecting them from himself, and the Stormfather accepts it as his Third Ideal.

How long is Dawnshard?

Dawnshard runs 55,096 words across nineteen chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue, according to Coppermind. Rysn has 17 viewpoint sections, Lopen 10, and Nikli and Yalb one each.