History Literature / Oathbringer

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Kaladin manages to order around Roshone's soldiers before he even summons his Shardblade by dint of being the only real soldier around. Then when they finally start complaining, he does summon his Shardblade, which legally makes him the most important person in the village.

** [[spoiler:Taravangian tries one of these on Odium: Odium will agree to spare Taravangian's people, and Taravangian will become king of the entire world. Odium sees right through the trick, being smart enough to only approach him on a day where he's less intelligent and read the Diagram first, and agrees only to spare Kharbranth and anyone married to any citizen of Kharbranth]].

* AvengersAssemble: In the Battle of Thaylen Field, [[spoiler: Honor's Perpendicularity has faded]] and the heroes gather to Dalinar at the breach in the city wall for orders. ''Seven'' out of the ten Knights Radiant orders are represented - the most in one place since the Recreance: Dalinar for the Bondsmiths, Kaladin for the Windrunners, [[spoiler: Szeth for the Skybreakers]], Lift for the Edgedancers, Renarin for the Truthwatchers,, Shallan and [[spoiler: Shalash, patron Herald]] for the Lightweavers, Jasnah for the Elsecallers, [[spoiler: Taln, patron Herald]] for the Stonewards.

* AvengersAssemble: In the Battle of Thaylen Field, [[spoiler: Honor's Perpendicularity has faded]] and the heroes gather to Dalinar at the breach in the city wall for orders. ''Seven'' out of the ten Knights Radiant orders are represented - the most in one place since the Recreance: Dalinar for the Bondsmiths, Kaladin for the Windrunners, [[spoiler: Szeth for the Skybreakers]], Lift for the Edgedancers, Jasnah for the Elsecallers, Shallan and [[spoiler: Shalash, patron Herald]] for the Lightweavers, Renarin for the Truthwatchers, [[spoiler: Taln, patron Herald]] for the Stonewards.

* MundaneUtility: The Stormfather eventually mentions that he can give the highstorm visions to anyone during a highstorm, or anyone who is near Dalinar due to their bond. Dalinar then realizes that he can use this ability to talk "in person" with the other rulers of the world, giving him a much better chance to convince them of his good intentions than struggling to communicate through spanreed.

* RefugeInAudacity: None of the ardents will consent to marrying Dalinar to Navani, so he decides to get a higher authority to do it: ''The Stormfather''. In Dalinar's own words, he's the closest thing to a god they have left.

** Kaladin has trouble arguing with some of the points that the Pprshmen make after their souls are healed.

* {{Cuddlebug}}: Evi, Dalinar's wife, was much more touchy-feely than he (not to mention Alethi society in general) was comfortable with. She insisted on near-constant hugs, which his men snickered at. Alodin and Renarin both learned this from her and are far more affectionate in public than your typical Alethi.

* {{Cuddlebug}}: Evi, Dalinar's wife, was much more touchy-feely than he (not to mention Alethi society in general) was comfortable with. She insisted on near-constant hugs, which his men snickered at.
* CycleOfRevenge: Once the freed parshmen have joined together in strength, they immediately capture every human they come across. Kaladin isn't able to convince them to avoid revenge entirely, but he begs them to at least be better masters than the lighteyes were to them. [[spoiler: It turns out that this only really applies to the Alethi Parshmen; the Thaylen parshmen simply steal all their ships and sail away, while the Azish parshmen are completely peaceful and just ''sue'' the government for backpay.]]

** Radiants can have "squires" who share in their powers without having a spren themselves. They retain these powers at a very long range, but not an infinite one; Lopen was able to use Stormlight in the previous book while he was in the warcamps and Kaladin on the Shattered Plains, but Bridge Four loses their powers when they are in Urithiru and Kaladin flies to Hearthstone. [[spoiler:Vathah becomes Shallan's first squire.]]

** The Unmade are an entirely different kettle of fish altogether due to their borderline EldritchAbomination nature. [[spoiler: Re-Shephir just wants to understand humanity, but, thanks to Odium's influence, tries to do so by being a CopycatKiller. Sja-anat claims to want to help the Radiants, and her corrupted spren don't seem inherently malicious, especially the one that bonded to Renarin by mistake. Nergaoul may be responsible for the Thrill, but he doesn't hate, and simply [[BloodKnight loves fighting]], and wants to share that love with everyone else]].

** [[spoiler:Odium used Nergaoul to turn the entire Alethi army at Thaylen City onto the city, with the Thrill turned UpToEleven. Amaram has joined up with Odium.]]

** Leshwi also develops a bond with Moash despite -- or perhaps because of -- him having [[UpToEleven killed her]] in a previous body.

* AllForNothing: The circumstances in which Shallan is forced to realise she's in. Acting the part of a FolkHero by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor sounds good in theory, but [[spoiler: if you do it openly, whatever you give to the poor will quickly be stolen from them in turn by the local criminals.]]

* NotTheIntendedUse: The Stormfather's visions were intended to serve as a warning by Honor for the recipient, to pass on lessons and bits of the past to worthy subjects. They weren't intended to serve as historical records, but Honor had infused them with so many valuable details from the past and enough interactivity to tease out some lost secrets of history that Dalinar and later Navani and Jasnah use them to learn a great deal about the ancient and mythological past. Nor were they supposed to be used as [[MundaneUtility a mechanism for video calls.]] Eventually the Stormfather just allows Dalinar to use the visions as direct mechanisms to contact other people, and in ''Rythym of War'' the vision is used to [[spoiler:let Kaladin talk with Tien in the Spiritual Realm to get closure for his death.]]

* NotTheIntendedUse: The Stormfather's visions were intended to serve as a warning by Honor for the recipient, to pass on lessons and bits of the past to worthy subjects. They weren't intended to serve as historical records, but Honor had infused them with so many valuable details from the past and enough interactivity to tease out some lost secrets of history that Dalinar and later Navani and Jasnah use them to learn a great deal about the ancient and mythological past. Nor were they supposed to be used as [[MundaneUtility a mechanism for video calls.]]

* NotTheIntendedUse: The Stormfather's visions were intended to serve as a warning by Honor for the recipient, to pass on lessons and bits of the past to worthy subjects. They weren't intended to serve as historical records, but Honor had infused them with so many valuable details from the past and enough interactivity to tease out some lost secrets of history that Dalinar and later Navani and Jasnah use them to learn a great deal about the ancient and mythological past.

At the end of ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'', the Parshendi became Voidbringers and summoned the Everstorm, an evil highstorm that blows the wrong way. Kaladin and Shallan revealed their Surgebinding abilities and opened the way to Urithiru, fabled city of the Radiants. Once there, Dalinar bound the Stormfather himself as his spren, and Renarin revealed himself to be a Truthwatcher. Realizing that the Parshmen in his home village would soon become Voidbringers, Kaladin flew off to warn his family, while everyone else remained behind to explore the city.

And Szeth-son-Neturo, formerly the Assassin in White, has been inducted into the Skybreaker Order by Nalan'Elin, Herald of Justice himself. Nale tells him that he should never have been made Truthless, but praises him for holding to his ideals regardless. Now, it is time to return to punish the Shin for their crimes. To that end, the Herald has a new sword for him, a black Shardblade with a metal sheathe.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: In his younger days, Dalinar casually walked out into [[HostileWeather a highstorm]] in search of a proper knife to cut his steak with, returned empty-handed, killed an assassin, and promptly sat down to use the man's knife for the purpose after washing the blood off. He was unaware that Galivar was trying without success to convince Highprince Toh that the Kholins could protect him, and proved the point in doing so.

** It is commonly believed that in Alethi conflicts, the winner and therefore the stronger side has the divine mandate of the Almighty. When Dalinar seems to reject Vorinism Kadash warns him that in doing so he will lose the moral ground in conquering Alethkar by force.

* AppropriatedAppelation: The designation 'Voidbringers' [[spoiler:originally applied to ''humanity'' who came to Roshar as space-refugees and eventually tried to conquer the world from the singers.]]

* BavarianFireDrill: Of a sort. When Kaladin returns to his hometown, he immediately takes charge from the soldiers there by way of how he dresses their horrible discipline down. This is despite them being ordered ''against'' him.

* BizarreAlienSexes: According to Syl, some of the older spren have four potential sexual identities.

* TheBrute: As seen in the flashbacks, this is basically the role Dalinar filled for Gavilar when they were young. In the present, Dalinar's reputation as [[FourStarBadass The Blackthorn]] makes it difficult to convince the other nations to cooperate with Alethkar.

** [[spoiler: The Fused are the spirits of ancient parshmen transformed into spren by Odium, growing more insane each time they take over the body of another parshman, killing them in the process, with many so focused on revenge on humanity that they're willing to destroy Roshar to get it. Some of them don't even seem aware of what's going on anymore, and some souls are so twisted Venli can barely recognize them as Listeners anymore]].

* ChekhovsGun: The captain's cord that Rysn gets from Vstim as a symbol that she now owns a ship comes in very handy soon, when she needs to fight a Fused. And in general, the whole interlude is full of these (unexpected and unwanted presence of a larkin in the vault, the position of Rysn's usual chair next to the stairs, crossbows in guards' hands).

** Kaladin just cannot catch a break. He flies literally across the entirety of Alethkar in half a day, only to run out of Stormlight somewhere in Aladar's princedom, some ninety miles from home. It takes him three days to walk a distance that he could have flown in a heartbeat, and he arrives after Hearthstone has already been devastated by the Everstorm and the Parshendi turned Voidbringers. He even manages to attract some gloomspren, which are rare.

* CycleOfRevenge: Once the freed Parshmen have joined together in strength, they immediately capture every human they come across. Kaladin isn't able to convince them to avoid revenge entirely, but he begs them to at least be better masters than the lighteyes were to them. [[spoiler: It turns out that this only really applies to the Alethi Parshmen; the Thaylen parshmen simply steal all their ships and sail away, while the Azish Parshmen are completely peaceful and just ''sue'' the government for backpay.]]
* DamagedSoul: Apparently the Parshmen had their very souls damaged by whatever reduced them to slaveform, and the Everstorm merely undid the damage to their Connection and Identity.

** [[spoiler:Odium used Nergaoul to turn the entire Alethi army at Thaylenah City unto the city, with the Thrill turned UpToEleven. Amaram has joined up with Odium.]]

** [[spoiler:Nale and the Skybreakers decide that the 'Law' supports the Voidbringers and make a group wide FaceHeelTurn.]]

* DisneyDeath: Played with. Eshonai fell into a chasm at the end of ''The Words of Radiance,'' but was wearing Shardplate (which we know is able to cancel some amount of fall damage) and was in Stormform (whose exact specifications are unknown). Dalinar sees a vision of the Voidbringer champion, and they are clad in shardplate painted black, just like Eshonai's. After the end of Part One, one of the interludes details her sister and a strange new Spren searching for her. They discover that she survived the fall, used her Shardblade to anchor herself to the wall while the storms met, [[spoiler: and drowned as the storms' rain filled the chasm she fell into]].

* DrowningMySorrows: Dalinar following the massacre in Rift and death of his wife Evi. And then later, when memories of this come back to him.

** Szeth [[spoiler:is also accepted as one of Dalinar's Radiants -- his personal bodyguard, even -- with basically no resistance despite being perhaps the most famous and prolific assassin in the world. Mostly because the Radiants REALLY needed help at the time and were in no position to demand and explanation or turn down his help.]]

* EqualOpportunityEvil: Zigzagged. The Fused, who are at the top of the pyramid, often have contempt for regular Parshmen and treat them as lessers -- or worse, [[spoiler:potential vessels to be hijacked by other Fused.]] The rank-and-file Voidbringers treat most humans with more or less the same courtesy they were treated themselves: put to work doing manual labour, but keep well fed enough to keep going. That said, exceptions exist. Leshwi, a prominent Fused who was bested by Moash, develops a fondness for him and eventually [[spoiler:has him sworn in as a Parshendi-aligned Shardbearer.]] Odium himself has always been willing to accept alliances and personal allegiances regardless of race or geography, but one of his goals is still to wipe out humanity.
* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Dalinar Kholin has been undergoing some serious CharacterDevelopment as of late and even tried to cooperate with his archnemesis Torol Sadeas up until his unexpected murder, despite the wrongs Sadeas had inflicted on him. He absolutely ''despises'' Meridas Amaram once he discovers everything Amaram had done to Kaladin Stormblessed, one of Dalinar's most trusted men. This, however, does not stop him from treating him just like any other subordinate.

** The [[spoiler:copycat murderer spren replicates]] the murder of Sadaes, resulting in another case of EyeScream.

** Zahel's literally colorful metaphors and the sword kata he taught Adolin and Kaladin. [[spoiler: It not only immediately singles out a new characters as not only a worldhopper, but also hints heavily that Vivenna isn't dead as has been hinted.]]

** Played with in the depiction of Odium's champion and its nine shadows. [[spoiler:Dalinar WAS chosen by Odium to be his champion, but that doesn't mean Odium got him. When he went to battle with Odium, it was with nine companions; seven Knight's Radiant whose powers are still shadows of what they could be, and two Heralds who are mere shadows of their former selves.]]
** The conversation between Adolin and Azure, when she says that sometimes the best way to fulfil a duty is to let someone else do it. Adolin at first finds this unthinkable but later on [[spoiler: he decides to let Jasnah take the throne of Kholinar, because he knows she will be much better at it.]]

* HeroicVow: In the flashbacks, Dalinar nearly murders his brother for his throne and his wife while in the grips of the Thrill. While Gavilar didn't notice what almost happened, Dalinar is deeply ashamed that he swears to never covet the throne for himself.

* IfIWantedYouDead: Still Dalinar's most effective approach diplomacy. Itends up backfiring. [[spoiler:Because of his use of this trope, his allies, while in, still think he means to conquer rather than unite in defense.]]

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler:After two books' worth of boneheaded decisions and causing nothing but trouble for everyone, Elhokar finally gets his act together and almost becomes a Radiant even... just in time for Moash to avenge his grandparents' death at his hands.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: How Szeth wins a Skybreaker trial in which squires throw sacks of colored powder at each other, winner having the fewest hits on them. He performs virtuosically until the very end when he runs out of stormlight and is promptly covered with powder by more mobile squires who gang up on him. Instead of flying his way back to the judges like everyone else, he swims in order to wash the powder off - and thus have no hits on him - and wins, despite having gotten hit the most.

** Shallan knows the difference between love and attraction and she's in love with Adolin. However, her powers require her to [[BecomingTheMask Become The Mask]] and it just so happens that Veil, one of her main personas, wants to jump Kaladin's bones. Shallan is not amused by this since it causes complications as both Adolin and Kaladin pick up on it.

* MindRape: The Parshmen didn't just lose their knowledge and get stuck in slaveform like Eshonai and the Parshendi thought. Humanity somehow managed to strip some of their very souls away, with the Everstorm undoing the damage to their Identity and Connection. The freed Parshmen compare it to having a fog that's surrounded them their whole lives suddenly stripped away.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Odium decides to send the Fused (and then later, a thunderclast) to steal King's Drop (a perfect ruby) from the Thaylen Gemstone Reserve. This alerts Dalinar Kholin to the fact that the ruby must be important, so he sends Lift to get it back. Also, without gemstones strewn all around after the Reserve has been destroyed, Radiants would not have so much Stormlight to use, [[spoiler: especially Kaladin, while fighting the Fused and Amaram on the field outside Thaylen]].

* NotSoDifferentremark:
** The Parshmen act like the humans of the country they're in after having their Identity and Connection restored, likely because of the way Connection and Identity work in the Cosmere. [[spoiler:Many times, the quickest way to get a parshman that's being abusive to stop is to say that they're acting just like humans.]]
** Kaladin, despite thinking that the Parshmen are becoming Voidbringers, can't help but start to empathize with them after seeing and interacting with them, since he is also a former slave (though he has to admit that they had it worse than he did).

** Whatever the remainder of the team sent to Kholinar did to [[spoiler: escape a conquered city overrunning with fused and singers, while rescuing Gavinor from Aesudan's clutches in the process.]]
** The last we see of the Honor spren and Azure [[spoiler: has them preparing to fight the fused, with Azure preparing ''something'' involving a lot of Awakening, if her instructing the Spren to prepare a lot of specifically cut scraps of cloth are any indication]].

** The Parshmen, after they've regained their minds, are rightfully angry about how mankind has treated them, and Kaladin, a former slave himself, has more than a little sympathy for them. Perhaps because of this, the humans enslaved by the parsh are treated surprisingly well. They are given shelter and clothing, freedom to roam when they're not working, and can choose what type of work they want to do--they can even choose not to work at all, though they don't get food in that case. They are also careful not to work their slaves to exhaustion and excuse slaves who are simply too weak to do the job (though they keep an eye out for slaves just ''pretending'' to be too weak to do the job) and keep them well-equipped as necessary. It's a stark contrast to the way humans treat their slaves. There's an argument to be made that technically the humans aren't slaves at all, just ordinary laborers.

** The Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram gave the Parshmen their forms and powers, and her binding, apparently more violent than expected, was what turned them into slaves.

* TalkingIsAFreeAction: {{Averted}} in one of the book's worst TearJerkers. [[spoiler:Elokhar gets within ''a single word'' of speaking the First Ideal...only for Moash to stab him in the back before he can finish]].

** Kaladin has trouble arguing with some of the points that the Parshmen make after their souls are healed.

** [[spoiler: After failing to accomplish anything as the new Sadeas and switching sides to go with Odium, Amaram is just barely holding it all together. Then Kaladin points out his hipocrisy, and he loses it for good.]]
* VillainsOutShopping: When Kaladin first finds the transformed Parshmen who escaped from various towns across Alethkar, he finds them trying to play cards using half-remembered rules. This is what leads Kaladin to realize that the situation is more complicated than he had been expecting.

** Dalinar is relieved beyond words when King Taravangian agrees to ally with him, completely unaware that he's the one who sent Szeth killing around the world. Taravangian also managed to get a Radiant on his side, which makes him look even better - however, she is a Dustbringer and their spren are mostly interested in smashing things (and still mad at old Radiants).

* WeHaveReserves: According to the Stormfather, this was why the Fused were so unstoppable, even before they gained Surgebinding abilities. While the singers lost the same number of bodies either way, (since the fusion process essentially kills the host singer), the ability to trade common "civilian" singers for their most skilled and experienced warriors gave them a huge advantage.

* WhamLine: As usual, there a lot of huge reveals and key moments. But [[spoiler: Dalinar ''creating/opening a Perpendicularity'' still stands out.]]

* IfIWantedYouDead: Still Dalinar's most effective approach diplomacy. RealityEnsues when it ends up backfiring. [[spoiler:Because of his use of this trope, his allies, while in, still think he means to conquer rather than unite in defense.]]

* RealityEnsues:
** Hits Shallan ''hard'' in Kholinar, as she's forced to admit that while she can convincingly act the part of a jaded street rat in her Veil persona, it doesn't change the fact that she's spent most of her life living in a mansion and still has a number of blind spots concerning how the real world works. Appearances count for more than most people realise, but they don't control everything.
** The circumstances in which she's forced to realise that also count. Acting the part of a FolkHero by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor sounds good in theory, but [[spoiler: if you do it openly, whatever you give to the poor will quickly be stolen from them in turn by the local criminals.]]

* NotSoDifferent:

** Adolin [[spoiler:stresses about what his father might think about his murder of Sadeas, but to his surprise Dalinar takes it pretty well when the truth comes out.]]

* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Dalinar Kholin has been undergoing some serious CharacterDevelopment as of late and even tried to cooperate with his archnemesis Torol Sadeas up until his unexpected murder despite the wrongs Sadeas had inflicted on him. He absolutely ''despises'' Meridas Amaram once he discovers everything Amaram had done to one of Kaladin Stormblessed, one of Dalinar's most trusted men. This, however, does not stop him from treating him like just any other subordinate.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Dalinar delivers one to [[spoiler: Odium]] when he rejects the latter's offer to [[spoiler: become his champion]] and then chooses to accept his pain and take responsibility for his actions.
-->'''Dalinar:''' You cannot have my pain. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis You. Cannot. Have. My. Pain.]] [[spoiler:I killed those children. I burned the people of Rathalas.]] [...] ''[[SuddenlyShouting YOU CANNOT HAVE MY PAIN!]]'' [[spoiler:I ''did'' kill the people of Rathalas. You might have been there, but ''I'' made the choice. I decided! I killed her. It hurt so much, but I did it. I accept that. You cannot have her. You ''cannot'' take her from me again.]] If I pretend... If I pretend I ''didn't'' do those things, it means I can't have grown to become someone else. [...] [[ArcWords Journey before destination.]] It cannot be a journey if it ''doesn't have a beginning''.

* {{Cuddlebug}}: Evi, Dalinar's wife, was much more touchy-feely than he was comfortable with. She insisted on near-constant hugs, which his men snickered at.

At the end of ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'', the Parshendi became Voidbringers and summoned the Everstorm, an evil highstorm that blows the wrong way. Kaladin and Shallan revealed their Surgebinding abilities and opened the way the Urithiru, fabled city of the Radiants. Once there, Dalinar bound the Stormfather himself as his spren, and Renarin revealed himself to be a Truthwatcher. Realizing that the Parshmen in his home village would soon become Voidbringers, Kaladin flew off to warn his family, while everyone else remained behind to explore the city.