Stormlight Chronology Notes

[WeiryWriter]

Okay, in my most recent re-read of The Way of Kings I gave a discerning look to the chronology of events and I just finished typing the up and I figured I should share them with y'all.

 

I have them in two versions of a Google Doc (Spoiler and Non-Spoiler ) that you can comment on:

 

Stormlight Chronology - WoK ONLY

 

Stormlight Chronology - WoR INCLUDED - Here There be SPOILERS! (Soon, so far only has WoR prologue included)

 

Be warned the way I've formatted things is probably weird, but it makes sense to me at least.

 

I haven't had a lot of time for analysis but there are two oddities that I did notice.  (Maybe Peter can shed some light on it?  If he deems us worthy?)

 

1. The timing of the chasmfiend hunt.

 

The chasmfiend hunt occurs on [D/A-1].

 

On [D/A-2] (Ch 18/19) the hunt is referred to as having happened "last week"

 

On [D/A-3] (Ch 22), which is definitely after [D/A-2], the hunt is said to have happened only "three days ago"

 

It is a fairly odd, in my opinion.  Perhaps the hunt took place on the 4th/5th day of the week so it was technically the "week before" but it is an odd construction, why would they have said one/two days ago?

 

2. Kaladin being old enough to go to Kharbranth

 

In Ch44 Hesina says Kaladin will be old enough to leave in 2 months.  This takes place during the Weeping.  However Peter has said that Kaladin's birthday happens during the events of WoK and so is before the Weeping (Which can be backed up by the books).  So that 2 months can't refer to his birthday, so what does it refer to?

 

WoR stuff should get added to the Spoiler version soonish, I just wanted to get these up.

[DiamondMind]

About number two: Assuming that the "great courage" that Lirin showed is in front of the mob, Kaladin should turn 15 just around the time of the dinner. Is there any clue what time of year that is?

 

Another thought: Maybe Kaladin only has to be 16 when he arrives in Khabranth, so he'll leave sometime before his birthday.

Edited February 25, 2014 by DiamondMind

[Cromptj]

Did you remember that a week on Roshar is 10 days?

[PeterAhlstrom]

A week is 5 days.

 

But yes, Hesina was including travel time starting before his birthday. I think it's understandable they'd want to get Kaladin out of town as soon as reasonably possible.

 

Also, we have the Words of Radiance timeline worked out day by day, and diligent readers will be able to reproduce the timeline.

Edited February 25, 2014 by PeterAhlstrom

[Cromptj]

Whoops

[DiamondMind]

Also, we have the Words of Radiance timeline worked out day by day, and diligent readers will be able to reproduce the timeline.

 

Unless WeiryWriter missed some things in his timeline, I'm not sure we can. I'm trying to put one together now. Though I can string a bunch of chapters together, there are some gaps where we have no idea how much time has passed.

[hoser]

Excellent work!

 

I do have one minor suggestion.  A number of things happen "shortly (on the scale of this timeline)" before Gavilar is killed.  You reference some of them with "Death Rattles began about 7 years ago, about the time Gavilar was first investigating the Shattered Plains".  I wonder whether it would be helpful to start the general timeline about a year earlier, as Szeth's punishment started about that time and we will be getting more related events by book 3 at least. 

 

Events that happen about a year before Gavilar's assassination:

• Szeth commits whatever he did.
• Szeth is caught/turns himself in/is sentenced.
• Szeth completes surgebionding training, starts itinerant slave existence (these three could be combined, as we don't know them with precision, nor their significance).
• Death Rattles start.
• Gavilar starts exploring Shattered Plains.
• Eshonai starts exploring Shattered Plains.

My initial thought is that they could be done as G-0, but I could also see doing it as Sz-0. 

 

Hope this helps.

Edited February 26, 2014 by hoser

[cem]

A week is 5 days.

 

But yes, Hesina was including travel time starting before his birthday. I think it's understandable they'd want to get Kaladin out of town as soon as reasonably possible.

 

Also, we have the Words of Radiance timeline worked out day by day, and diligent readers will be able to reproduce the timeline.

I try to be one of those diligent readers, so can you answer me one little question? See this: http://coppermind.net/wiki/User:Cem/WoR_timeline

 

Here, I'm accepting the highstorm where Dalinar receives the "I'm dead" vision from Tanavast as day 0, and say that chapters 1 and 2 take place the very next day. Can you confirm whether that is the correct highstorm for both chapters or not?

[Cheese Ninja]

Enough time passed and Bridge runs occurred that all of the Bridge 4 members from chapter 6 had died by the end of chapter 9 (except Kaladin, obviously).  So 2-3 weeks is far too short.  Teft can't have been on Bridge 4 when Kaladin joined either, and since Teft had been with Bridge 4 for a few weeks by chapter 9, you should up your estimate by at least another week or two there.  I think chapter 27 of WoK is actually three days after 23, and that the "two days" mentioned were the days between.  Somehow I never noticed the "two dozen bridgeruns" that Kaladin had been on when he mentioned it in chapter 30.  Chapter 6-9 must have been longer than I thought, since Bridge crews normally alternate active and inactive days, and even on active days, they might not have a run.

[WeiryWriter]

A week is 5 days.

 

But yes, Hesina was including travel time starting before his birthday. I think it's understandable they'd want to get Kaladin out of town as soon as reasonably possible.

 

Also, we have the Words of Radiance timeline worked out day by day, and diligent readers will be able to reproduce the timeline.

 

Ah, okay.  That makes a lot of sense actually.  Can you help with the timing of the chasmfiend hunt as well?

 

And I will definitely be working on the WoR chronology, eventually.  But do you have the timeline worked out for WoK as well, or is that only something you did for WoR?

 

Unless WeiryWriter missed some things in his timeline, I'm not sure we can. I'm trying to put one together now. Though I can string a bunch of chapters together, there are some gaps where we have no idea how much time has passed.

 

Yeah, at this point WoK can't really be strung together.  Luckily Peter was referring to Words of Radiance.  Ah I want that storming book!

 

Excellent work!

 

I do have one minor suggestion.  A number of things happen "shortly (on the scale of this timeline)" before Gavilar is killed.  You reference some of them with "Death Rattles began about 7 years ago, about the time Gavilar was first investigating the Shattered Plains".  I wonder whether it would be helpful to start the general timeline about a year earlier, as Szeth's punishment started about that time and we will be getting more related events by book 3 at least. 

 

Events that happen about a year before Gavilar's assassination:

• Szeth commits whatever he did.
• Szeth is caught/turns himself in/is sentenced.
• Szeth completes surgebionding training, starts itinerant slave existence (these three could be combined, as we don't know them with precision, nor their significance).
• Death Rattles start.
• Gavilar starts exploring Shattered Plains.
• Eshonai starts exploring Shattered Plains.

My initial thought is that they could be done as G-0, but I could also see doing it as Sz-0. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

What I have is still in the early stages.  Eventually I'm going to be trying to make a more cohesive timeline, as opposed to just a listing of notes.

[DiamondMind]

Yeah, at this point WoK can't really be strung together.  Luckily Peter was referring to Words of Radiance.  Ah I want that storming book!

 

I really need to start reading more carefully! 

 

Oh well. I made a rough Kaladin timeline anyway, basing it off your notes. 

 

See if you like it!

[PeterAhlstrom]

The highstorm in chapter 75 of book 1 happens after midnight, the day after the Tower. Chapter 1 and chapter 2 of book 2 happen later in the morning of that day.

[moochboy]

Don't know if this helps, but if you use the date Shashahes ( I think that's how you would write Shash month, Palat week, Jes day) year 1173 as the being day of the Desolation. Then you could count back the 68 days to ch. 75 of WoKs and put a close date to maybe not most but a lot of chapter or events in WoKs. I got that date from Szeth prologue ch's epigraph.  

[cem]

Don't know if this helps, but if you use the date Shashahes ( I think that's how you would write Shash month, Palat week, Jes day) year 1173 as the being day of the Desolation. Then you could count back the 68 days to ch. 75 of WoKs and put a close date to maybe not most but a lot of chapter or events in WoKs. I got that date from Szeth prologue ch's epigraph.

 

It doesn't help. I've been seeing that date as the date of the True Desolation, and I know people think it so because of the thousand days epigraph, but it is wrong. The Way of Kings starts in around 7th or 8th month of the year. Words of Radiance starts in 9th. Palah is the fifth.

• Kaladin joins the army in Weeping (last 20 days of the year) 1168
• Spends four years minus few weeks in the army, then is sold to slavery in probably 10th month of 1172
• Spends eight months in slavery, then is sold to Sadeas's army in 7th or 8th

Edited March 1, 2014 by cem

[DiamondMind]

And he and all the bridgemen are freed in the ninth month. Do we know when the Weeping is supposed to start?

[WeiryWriter]

Yeah as people have said, it doesn't work.  The battle of the Tower occurs in Tanat, which is a couple months after Shash, which is when that thousand days would have been up.

 

As for the Weeping, it is four weeks long (I think) with a Highstorm directly in the middle.  And it marks when the old year transitions to the new.  We don't know exactly though.  I've been operating under the assumption, for now, that it covers the last 2 weeks of Ishi and the first two of Jes. (I'm really not sure on its accuracy, its just how I've been thinking about it, I'd love to have actual confirmation on the placement of the Weeping though)  However it could take place any where in the following range: the last 4 weeks of Ishi until the first 4 weeks of Jes.

[DiamondMind]

I don't think we'll have any luck trying to figure out what day WoR starts and how long it is until the Weeping before we get the book, as there is just too much variation possible.

 

Anyway, I finished the Kaladin timeline, or as much as I can get out of it, and made one for Dalinar as well. Dalinar's is much more loose, though we know that it spans months while Kaladin is bridgeleader of a shorter span of time, about a month and a half. Again, both can be found here, and I based it off WeiryWriter's notes.

 

Cem, why do you think that Shallan and the warcamps start on the same day in WoR? Otherwise it looks like a good start before we actually get the book.

Edited March 2, 2014 by DiamondMind

[EvilKetchupCow]

Peter made a post saying that WoR starts the next morning. Scroll up : )

[Cheese Ninja]

If Kaladin had been on roughly two dozen bridge runs by Chapter 30 of Way of Kings, and we only see 2 or 3 and are told about another 2, then he must have been on almost 20 runs between Chapters 6 and 9. 

 

Bridge crews are sent on runs only ever alternate day at the most, so at the bare minimum there should be 8 weeks (40 days) between chapters 6 and 9.  That seems way too long, so maybe Kaladin is overestimating the amount of runs he'd gone on, but I think 2-3 weeks is also too short.

[DiamondMind]

If Kaladin had been on roughly two dozen bridge runs by Chapter 30 of Way of Kings, and we only see 2 or 3 and are told about another 2, then he must have been on almost 20 runs between Chapters 6 and 9. 

 

Bridge crews are sent on runs only ever alternate day at the most, so at the bare minimum there should be 8 weeks (40 days) between chapters 6 and 9.  That seems way too long, so maybe Kaladin is overestimating the amount of runs he'd gone on, but I think 2-3 weeks is also too short.

 

You're right, as well as the fact that Teft was there for a few (3-4?) weeks at least. I'll put in about 40 days to a month instead.

[Cheese Ninja]

Most days in Words of Radiance have concrete dates, pretty much all the highstorm dates.  I put this in a Tarvangian-heavy thread in the WoR subforum.

“Out of curiosity,” Dalinar said. He turned and nodded toward the glyphs on the floor. “Tell me, Navani. Assuming these numbers are counting toward a date, is it a day when a highstorm will come?”
“Thirty-two days?” Navani asked. “That will be in the middle of the Weeping. Thirty-two days won’t even be the exact end of the year, but two days ahead of it. I can’t fathom the significance.”

So, the 0 day (day of the Parshendi/Alethi clash, Kaladin's fight, transportation to Uritihiru) would be 1173-10-10-3.  Incidentally, Renarin was kind enough to write down some of the numbers I've put in red for us throughout the book.  Here's the highstorm dates from the chapter 88 Diagram epigraph, they aren't stated as such, but it's pretty obvious.  It's mostly just to show off how intelligent Taravangian was on that day, calculating highstorm dates perfectly many years in advance, and specifically when they would hit the Shattered Plains.
1173-09-06-05(68)  1173-09-08-01(62) 1173-09-09-01(57) 1173-09-10-01(52)
1173-09-10-04(49) 1173-10-01-05(42) 1173-10-02-05(38) 1173-10-04-01(32) 
1173-10-06-03 (20) 1173-10-08-04 (9)

 

We can actually backtrack from 9-6-5 for a few exact WoK dates too.

[DiamondMind]

Most days in Words of Radiance have concrete dates, pretty much all the highstorm dates.  I put this in a Tarvangian-heavy thread in the WoR subforum.

So, the 0 day (day of the Parshendi/Alethi clash, Kaladin's fight, transportation to Uritihiru) would be 1173-10-10-3.  Incidentally, Renarin was kind enough to write down some of the numbers I've put in red for us throughout the book.  Here's the highstorm dates from the chapter 88 Diagram epigraph, they aren't stated as such, but it's pretty obvious.  It's mostly just to show off how intelligent Taravangian was on that day, calculating highstorm dates perfectly many years in advance, and specifically when they would hit the Shattered Plains.

1173-09-06-05(68)  1173-09-08-01(62) 1173-09-09-01(57) 1173-09-10-01(52)

1173-09-10-04(49) 1173-10-01-05(42) 1173-10-02-05(38) 1173-10-04-01(32) 

1173-10-06-03 (20) 1173-10-08-04 (9)

 

We can actually backtrack from 9-6-5 for a few exact WoK dates too.

 

Those dates are exactly when Renarin writes during highstorms? Huh. Good catch.

 

I'm going to start a WoR timeline as a community effort on that board, so WeiryWriter doesn't have to do this all again. Mind if I copy some of this? I'll attribute it to you! 

 

Edit: and it looks like you finished one already, an hour after I posted this. Wow, good job.

Edited March 12, 2014 by DiamondMind

[WeiryWriter]

I might still do this for Words of Radiance at some point in the future but since the chronology has been already worked out it is very low priority.