Book Themes of the Stormlight Archive

[DSCrankshaw]

"Life before death, [Maya] replied. Or maybe life after death this time? I never really understood that motto anyway. Let's kick some Fused ass." (Wind and Truth, Chapter 135, p. 1235)

Aside from being one of my favorite lines from the book, this also illustrates my premise, which is that each of the first five Stormlight Archive books has a theme, and it forms a ketek based on the First Ideal of the Knights Radiant. In order:

• Life before death. The Way of Kings. This is most apparent in Kaladin choosing to live, keeping Bridge Four alive and encouraging them to choose to live. And it ends with the revelation of a big death, the death of Honor.
• Strength before weakness. Words of Radiance. This is central to two plots, that of Kaladin learning what it means to protect, whose weakness he needs to shelter, and in Shallan learning to project strength in order to hide her own weakness.
• Journey before destination. Oathbringer. This is Dalinar's journey in Oathbringer, realizing that he is changing. That said . . .
• Destination becomes journey. Also Oathbringer. Dalinar's journey isn't done. Each day he is a new person, he's reached a new destination, and begins a new journey. It's not the first step, it's always the next step. There's another way this is true, but it isn't expressly stated. Only by knowing your destination, who you want to become, what you want to accomplish--a destination that can and will change as your journey progresses--do you know the direction of that next step.
• Weakness becomes strength. Rhythm of War. Adolin expressly states this in his words to Formless--weakness forces those who struggle against it to become stronger. They grow. Shallan  experienced this, as did Kaladin, and even Navani. Their weaknesses, in themselves, in their circumstances, in their experiences and minds, gave them the strength to face their latest challenge.
• Death becomes life. Wind and Truth. As stated in Maya's quote above, the deadeyes went through death to a new life, a new path that is neither Radiant spren nor dead Shardblade and Shardplate. Kaladin's mortal body died so that he could become a Herald. And Dalinar accepted death as a path forward to life for his people (and most immediately, to protect Gavinor's life).

I feel fairly confident that this works, but the real question about themes is whether they're intentional on the part of the author. Adolin's speech to Formless in Rhythm of War is what convinced me that it was probably intentional. I'm not quite sure of the language--it could be "before" instead of "becomes," but examples of keteks show that the words don't need to exactly match. It may not matter, as long as it's an unspoken theme, and not a new Ideal that will eventually appear in the second half.

Edited December 25, 2024 by DSCrankshaw
Clarify wording.