The Way of Kings Ending Explained: The Tower, the Second Ideal and a Dead God

The Way of Kings ends with three revelations landing at once. Kaladin swears the Second Ideal and saves Dalinar’s army at the Battle of the Tower, Dalinar learns that the voice in his visions belongs to a dead god, and Shallan and Jasnah conclude that the parshmen are the Voidbringers. Full spoilers for book one follow.

What happens at the Battle of the Tower?

The Battle of the Tower is the joint assault that Dalinar Kholin and Torol Sadeas launch on a huge plateau of the Shattered Plains, and Coppermind’s summary of chapters 65 and 66 shows how the trap closes. Dalinar refuses to throw bridgemen at the Parshendi line, so Sadeas crosses first and Dalinar follows once the bridgehead is cleared. A second Parshendi force then arrives without any warning from Sadeas’s scouts. When Dalinar climbs a rock formation to look, Sadeas and every bridge crew are already leaving the plateau, and the Kholin army is surrounded with no way back across the chasms.

Why does Kaladin go back for Dalinar?

Kaladin Stormblessed has a perfect escape in his hands when Sadeas retreats, because Bridge Four lags behind the army and could simply slip away. Coppermind’s summary of chapter 67 records the turn: Syl appears beside him at human size, horrified by the slaughter, and tells him she finally remembers what she is, an honorspren. Kaladin recalls his father’s teaching that someone has to care about life when the lighteyes will not, and he leads Bridge Four back to the Tower. Drained after pulling a whole volley of arrows onto his shield, he relives the day Tien died, then breathes in Stormlight from the gems woven into the Parshendi beards and whispers the Second Ideal of the Windrunners: “I will protect those who cannot protect themselves.” Our Windrunners guide covers the Ideals that follow.

Who is the Parshendi Shardbearer who fights Dalinar?

The seven-foot Parshendi Shardbearer who duels Dalinar at the Tower is Eshonai, general of the listener army, although The Way of Kings never gives her name. Coppermind’s Eshonai page says she defeats Dalinar, whose Shardplate is already leaking Stormlight from dozens of cracks, and then leans over him to say that she has finally found him. Kaladin stabs her through a gap in her armor before she can explain, and the listener ranks back away chanting “Neshua Kadal.” As the Kholin army crosses the chasm, Eshonai salutes Dalinar and lets the retreat go without pursuit. Coppermind adds that she would rather negotiate peace with the Alethi than fight them, which Words of Radiance confirms, so that salute reads on a reread as one of the saddest missed chances in the whole series.

Why does Dalinar trade his Shardblade for the bridgemen?

Dalinar Kholin promised Bridge Four their freedom on the battlefield, and Coppermind’s summary of chapter 69 shows how far he goes to keep that promise. Back in Sadeas’s warcamp the two highprinces keep up public civility, but in private Sadeas admits that he simply wanted Dalinar gone and that Dalinar’s ideas were infecting the king. Dalinar offers sixty emerald broams for each bridgeman, and Sadeas says he would not sell them for a thousand. Dalinar then summons his Shardblade, Oathbringer, and trades it for every one of Sadeas’s bridgemen while Sadeas mocks him for giving up a Blade for worthless slaves. Asked why, Dalinar tells Kaladin that the bridgemen saved him and two thousand of his soldiers, whose lives are priceless, so one priceless sword is a small price.

What does Dalinar decide after Sadeas’s betrayal?

Dalinar Kholin’s last waking chapter turns him from victim into commander. Coppermind’s summary says he corners King Elhokar, beats him around the sitting room until the king’s Shardplate cracks, and forces him to admit that he cut his own saddle girth to make Dalinar take his fears of assassination seriously. Dalinar then tells Elhokar that tomorrow the king will name him Highprince of War, and he decides to stop trying to be Nohadon the peacemaker and become the Blackthorn again, the warlord who can actually end the war. On his way out he also tells his nephew that he is courting Navani.

What does Dalinar’s final vision reveal?

Dalinar’s final vision in chapter 75 delivers the biggest cosmology twist of the book. During the next highstorm he stands in a white, rocky landscape while the familiar voice repeats its command to unite them. Dalinar demands to know why the voice told him to trust Sadeas, then realizes the voice cannot hear him and never could, because the visions are a message recorded in advance. The figure shows him a wall of darkness that leaves only a void where Kholinar stood, orders him to refound the Knights Radiant to face the True Desolation, and closes by naming itself the Almighty, killed by Odium. Coppermind’s page on Tanavast, the Vessel of Honor, notes that he even apologizes in the visions for getting himself killed.

What do Shallan and Jasnah discover at the end?

Shallan Davar’s arc ends with a string of confessions in Kharbranth. Coppermind’s summaries of chapters 70, 72 and 74 say she works out from her own drawings that Jasnah’s Soulcaster is a fake and that Jasnah Soulcasts without any fabrial at all. To prove that she has seen Shadesmar too, Shallan gives a symbol-headed spren the truth it asks for, admitting that she killed her father, and nearly drowns in the sea of beads before Jasnah pulls her out. Jasnah then takes her on as a true ward and shares her research, and both conclude that the parshmen are the Voidbringers, enslaved rather than destroyed. Jasnah also names Kabsal, the ardent who poisoned the bread, as a Ghostblood, and Shallan realizes that her father probably belonged to the same secret society.

Who is Szeth’s secret master?

Szeth, the Assassin in White, finishes his kill list in chapter 71 by breaking into the palace of Kharbranth to murder King Taravangian, the last name on it. Coppermind’s summary says Taravangian then reveals that he is the unseen master holding Szeth’s Oathstone, and that he put his own name on the list to deflect suspicion if Szeth ever failed. Taravangian defends the killings as the price of a stronger Roshar and shows Szeth a secret hospital where dying patients are bled slowly so that their last words can be recorded, the death rattles that open the chapters of Part One and Part Four. Before dismissing Szeth he adds a new name he had hoped to avoid: Dalinar Kholin. Our Szeth character guide follows what that order costs him.

Who arrives in Kholinar in the epilogue?

The epilogue, Of Most Worth, belongs to Wit, who sits near the gates of Kholinar asking the guards which talent men value most. Coppermind’s Talenel page says Hoid knew exactly when and where the visitor would arrive. Taln, the Herald of War, rushes in with twigs and leaves in his beard, cuts through the city gate with his Honorblade, warns that the True Desolation has come and collapses. Coppermind dates his return to shortly after the Battle of the Tower, when the Herald Chanarach broke under torture on Braize and both of them came back to Roshar. Wit answers his own riddle with timeliness and observes that Taln has arrived too late, a single line that turns the whole book into the start of a countdown.

What does the ending set up for Words of Radiance?

The Way of Kings ending loads every major thread of Words of Radiance. Kaladin becomes a captain leading Dalinar’s honor guard, and Coppermind’s summary of chapter 73 records Bridge Four swearing to keep his powers secret while they run experiments to test them. Dalinar holds a mandate to unite the highprinces and refound the Radiants, but he has given away his Shardblade. Shallan and Jasnah are heading to the Shattered Plains to chase Gavilar’s death and the listeners’ change into warriors. Readers who just finished book one can go straight into Words of Radiance, and our 9 Things You Missed in The Way of Kings covers the clues that only make sense after this ending.

Frequently asked questions

How does The Way of Kings end?

The Way of Kings ends after the Battle of the Tower. Sadeas abandons Dalinar’s army, Kaladin leads Bridge Four back to rescue it and swears the Second Ideal of the Windrunners, and Dalinar trades his Shardblade for the bridgemen’s freedom. Dalinar’s last vision reveals that the Almighty is dead, Shallan and Jasnah conclude that the parshmen are the Voidbringers, and the Herald Taln arrives in Kholinar to announce the True Desolation.

What Ideal does Kaladin swear at the end of The Way of Kings?

Kaladin swears the Second Ideal of the Windrunners, “I will protect those who cannot protect themselves,” during the Battle of the Tower in chapter 67. Coppermind lists it as the Second Ideal of the order. The First Ideal, shared by every order, is “Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.”

Why does Dalinar give up his Shardblade Oathbringer?

Dalinar promised Bridge Four their freedom for saving him at the Tower. Sadeas refused to sell the bridgemen for money, so Dalinar traded his Shardblade Oathbringer for all of Sadeas’s bridgemen, explaining that two thousand saved lives were worth far more than one sword. Sadeas held the Blade for a little over two months, according to Coppermind.

Who arrives in Kholinar at the end of The Way of Kings?

The man who arrives in Kholinar in the epilogue is Talenel, also called Taln, the Herald of War. Coppermind says he returned from Braize shortly after the Battle of the Tower, cut through the city gate with his Honorblade, warned that the True Desolation had come and collapsed. Wit was waiting for him and remarks that he has arrived too late.

Who is Szeth’s master in The Way of Kings?

Szeth’s secret master is King Taravangian of Kharbranth, who held Szeth’s Oathstone and put his own name last on the kill list to deflect suspicion. In chapter 71 he shows Szeth a hospital where dying people are bled so their last words can be recorded, then orders him to kill Dalinar Kholin.