How does The Way of Kings end?
The climax comes at the Battle of the Tower, where Sadeas pulls his bridges out mid-battle and abandons Dalinar's army to the Parshendi, and Kaladin and Bridge Four turn back from their planned escape to save it. Afterward Dalinar trades his Shardblade Oathbringer to Sadeas to free every bridgeman in his camp, then learns from a final vision that the Almighty is dead and a True Desolation is coming. He resolves to refound the Knights Radiant and makes Kaladin captain of his guard. In the Epilogue, the long-lost Herald Talenel staggers into Kholinar announcing that the Desolation has arrived.
Why does Sadeas betray Dalinar in The Way of Kings?
Sadeas built his alliance with Dalinar as bait from the start. At the Tower, when a second Parshendi army appears, he withdraws his bridge crews and retreats, leaving Dalinar's forces to be wiped out; confronted later, he calmly admits the betrayal was policy rather than passion. Dalinar refuses to ignite a civil war and instead answers by handing over his priceless Shardblade, Oathbringer, to buy the freedom of twenty-six hundred bridgemen.
Does Kaladin become a Knight Radiant in The Way of Kings?
Kaladin spends the book unconsciously drawing in Stormlight, even surviving the highstorm he is strung up to face as punishment. At the Battle of the Tower he speaks the Second Ideal of the Windrunners, a vow to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and erupts with power as his bond with Syl, now revealed to be an honorspren, deepens. Teft, who knows the old stories, concludes he is watching a Knight Radiant being reborn. Kaladin, a slave two days earlier, ends the book as captain of Dalinar's personal guard, commanding a thousand freed bridgemen.
What does Dalinar's final vision reveal in The Way of Kings?
In his last highstorm vision, Dalinar understands that the visions were never a dialogue at all but a recording left behind for whoever might one day receive it. The voice identifies itself as the Almighty, the god called Honor, and reveals that he was killed by Odium, and that the celebrated victories of the past were false, and the Everstorm and a True Desolation are on their way. The Knights Radiant must stand again, so Dalinar claims the role of Highprince of War, determined to unify Alethkar and restore the Radiants.
Who is Szeth's true master in The Way of Kings?
Szeth travels to Kharbranth to murder the last name on his list, the beloved King Taravangian — who reveals that he himself is Szeth's hidden master and put his own name there to deflect suspicion. Taravangian shows off a secret hospital where the dying are bled for their prophetic death rattles and calls himself a monster who will save the world. He then gives Szeth a new mission with orders to carry it out openly and brutally — the assassination of Dalinar Kholin.
What does Shallan discover about Jasnah at the end of The Way of Kings?
Recovering in Kharbranth, Shallan works out that Jasnah survived Kabsal's poisoned bread because she can Soulcast with no fabrial at all — the famous Soulcaster is just a decoy, and Jasnah's ability comes from a spren bond like the one Shallan is forming. Shallan proves her own bond by speaking a truth to a Cryptic, admitting she killed her father, and Jasnah restores her wardship under strict honesty. Jasnah also shares her great discovery, that the Parshendi are the Voidbringers of legend and the docile parshmen a dormant invasion, and the two set out for the Shattered Plains.