The Way of Kings

Did You Know?

• The unabridged audiobook is read by narrator team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
• A 5-part GraphicAudio version was released between March and July 2016.
• A VR game, 'The Way of Kings: Escape the Shattered Plains', was released on March 2, 2018.

Setting

The world of Roshar is shaped by recurring highstorms, hurricane-force magical storms that sweep from the eastern ocean westward. These storms infuse gemstones with stormlight, which serves as both currency and a power source for magical artifacts, including devices that can transmute matter. The backstory involves Desolations, catastrophic invasions by monstrous Voidbringers that nearly wiped out humanity. To fight them, the Knights Radiant used Shardplate and Shardblades—magical armor and swords—along with other powers.

The last Desolation occurred thousands of years ago and is now considered myth; the Knights Radiant disbanded, leaving their weapons as heirlooms. Nobility is tied to eye color: blue eyes are considered purest because the Radiants had glowing eyes. Flora and fauna have adapted to the highstorms: most animals are crustaceans that burrow, and plants retract into the ground. The western sides of rocks and mountains shelter life.

Spren, spirits that appear in response to emotions or environmental conditions, are common; windspren appear as ribbons of light, painspren as red forms around wounds, and gloryspren as golden halos. Thousands of spren types are believed to exist.

Plot

Four thousand five hundred years before the main events, ten immortal Heralds agreed to eternally battle the Voidbringers. After one Desolation ended, nine Heralds abandoned their pact and left their Honorblades, leaving only Taln to defend the realm. In the present, the Heralds are worshipped as gods. Szeth, a Shin exile called Truthless, is sent to assassinate King Gavilar of Alethkar. Using a Shardblade and gravity-affecting powers fueled by Stormlight, Szeth mortally wounds Gavilar, who reveals that the Parshendi—humanoids with mottled red and black skin—hired the assassin. Gavilar gives Szeth a black sphere and asks him to send regards to his brother Dalinar. After Szeth flees, Gavilar's son Elhokar declares war on the Parshendi.

Characters

The primary chapters are told from the viewpoints of several major characters, with interludes featuring others. Kaladin, a darkeyed slave from Alethkar, is accompanied by a spren named Sylphrena. Szeth-son-son-Vallano, a Truthless assassin from Shinovar, must serve whoever holds his Oathstone. Shallan Davar, a lighteyed woman from Jah Keved, seeks to become the ward of scholar Jasnah Kholin; she can Soulcast without a Soulcaster and has a photographic memory for art.

Dalinar Kholin, highprince of Alethkar and brother to the slain king, is called the Blackthorn and experiences visions during highstorms. Adolin Kholin, Dalinar's son and heir, is a skilled duelist who fears his father may be mad. Navani Kholin, widow of King Gavilar and mother of Elhokar and Jasnah, is a scientist who loves Dalinar. Jasnah Kholin, the king's sister, is a renowned scholar considered a heretic by the ardentia.

Taravangian is king of Kharbranth. The prelude features Kalak, a Herald. Interlude characters include Axies the Collector, Baxil, Geranid, Ishikk, and Nan Balat.

Development

The earliest pieces of The Way of Kings were written in the late 1990s. Key elements like Bridge Four came from Dragonsteel, Sanderson's 2000 undergraduate thesis at Brigham Young University. He finished the first complete draft in 2003, but Tor passed on it, feeling it wasn't quite right. Sanderson then set it aside to write the original Mistborn trilogy, published from 2006 to 2008. When he returned to the project in the late 2000s, he scrapped everything and began again. Tor.com released the prologue and first three chapters as a preview in June 2010, with more chapters appearing in audio and text over the following months. The original Dragonsteel thesis, still held by BYU, is the only undergraduate thesis in the university's history that required rebinding due to heavy use. The 2003 draft, now called The Way of Kings Prime, was posted on Sanderson's website in 2020.