Marethyu316 Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 When Szeth decided to swear himself to Dalinar with his third ideal it was obviously a good idea from the reader's perspective since he's the most honorable person (except maybe Kaladin) in the books, but I'm a little unclear how Szeth reached that conclusion. IIRC, Szeth's interactions with Dalinar have been seeing him drunk I the night he killed Gavilar, and the two assassination attempts. Certainly, Dalinar fought well during those two later encounters, but that doesn't seem like enough to earn Szeth's allegiance. Otherwise, most of the world seems convinced that Dalinar is either a tyrant or a madman. The only thing that I can think is that since Szeth predicted the Voidbringers' return that he knew Dalinar wasn't crazy, but that still doesn't make it obvious that he would know Dalinar as an honorable person. It makes sense if you know Dalinar's whole story, but not if you've been off working as an assassin. Have I missed something where this connection is set up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnhargreaves he/him Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 Dalinar bonded the Stormfather, who is literally the cognitive shadow of Honor. Most present day political leaders don't really appreciate what that means, but it seems the Shin know far more about such things (not just that Szeth was able to somehow predict the return of Voidbringers, but we also know the Shin have most of the Honorblades, and in OB we learned that Szeth had used these to train with all of the Surges). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmithki Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 In all liklyhood he knows about what is happening in the world and has heard about the rest of what Dalinar is doing, he also knows Lift (who Nightblood repulsed, if you've not read warbreaker most people are filled with bloodlust by Nightblood) and she trusts Dalinar. He also probably knows about how the windrunners are honourable and whatnot, and he knows Kal trusts Dalinar and knows Kal is a windrunners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aemetha he/him Posted November 23, 2017 Report Share Posted November 23, 2017 He also knows that Dalinar was leading the fight against voidbringers before anyone else even acknowledged their return. Szeth was there at the battle on the shattered plains, so he knows Dalinar had more foresight about it than the others he could have sworn to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndigoAjah he/him Posted November 24, 2017 Report Share Posted November 24, 2017 He knows T wanted to kill him to stop him leading the World, which is probably a good enough reason for Szeth! He also watches his actions at Thaylen, when he makes his decision. And he has seen the reaction of the men guarding Dalinar when he tries to assassinate him the second time, including Kal 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marethyu316 Posted November 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2017 Good points! I'm re-reading now and will soon reach that point again, so I'm interested to see if it seems more obvious the second time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edvarin he/him Posted November 24, 2017 Report Share Posted November 24, 2017 Also he saw Dalinar standing by himself against his former army gone rogue.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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