Words of Radiance Timeline

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

Words of Radiance timeline for current events.

 

Open to editing version

 

It's probably still off by a day or two in a few places.  I'd like to include some more of the Way of Kings dates, but the passage of time is much more vague in the first book.

 

Notes: Peter stated in the Typos thread that Dalinar should have used "Eleven days." instead of twelve in chapter 67.

 

The dates come mostly from Taravangian's list of Highstorm dates in the chapter 88 epigraph and partially from the countdown of the scratched numbers (Which Navani says leads to 10-10-3).  Those are in agreement.  From there I used PoV comments about when highstorms and certain events occurred/will occur.  I haven't tried estimating any time frames yet.

 

In chapter 31, Kaladin thinks "It seemed like too soon since the last one" despite a 4 day gap, especially since it was preceded by a 5 day and a 2 day gap.  A 4 day gap is pretty typical, really.  Maybe it's just that the week leading up to it was fairly boring and uneventful.

 

In Interlude 11, Eshonai says that she's been in stormform for 15 days, and that the next highstorm is in two days.  This works if she's only counting the full days between, otherwise it should be 16.

 

Some chapters are hard to place, and some I just haven't felt like adding in yet.  The Interlude chapters are especially hard to place, with the exception of the Eshonai chapters, which some good markers.

 

Any criticisms or suggestions would be appreciated.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Cheese Ninja

[DiamondMind he/him]

Wonderful! I still think that we need something like WeiryWriter's notes for lot of other things, but this is great!

 

1. Can you give references such as quotes or at least page numbers as to how you placed the dates to it's easy to check?

2. Can you list which chapters you haven't added yet so we can help? For example, I notice that you don't have chapter 3, as Cem's timeline did. Also, might you be off by a day for the whole timeline? Two days before Light day might be Ishishev instead, and it could solve the Eshonai problem. (How did you get the names for all the dates, by the way? Extrapolated from what we know?)

3. You can add some of the last Kaladin chapters before the battle of the Tower that I figured out the timeline for here.

4. You could make the list a little easier to read by putting a space between each week or something similar.

 

Anyway, great job! I've already seen discussions getting confused about dates, so they will probably find this useful. Can this thread get pinned, maybe? We've already got a bunch of those...

 

Edit:

 

Chapter 13 is definitely the first day of Shallan's travels with the slavers, Tanatakah. No quote, but the language used can't have it any other way.

 

Chapter 16, page 240: "Adolin's quick duel from yesterday" referencing chapter 14.

 

Chapter 25, page 315: "4 days since" chapter 23.

Edited March 12, 2014 by DiamondMind

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

Ah damnation, I forgot to reference FireArcadia for making a list of all the dates: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/1285-all-the-days-of-the-vorrin-calendar/ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlvnJhrTVOeKdHhQMWVIajZLMXIwZnR4R1ZJNDFsY2c

I actually copied and pasted that for the initial bit, since I wasn't able to find a good way to populate the 80 rows or so that I needed.  Since his had the day names, and I thought there might be some interest in those, I left them in.

 

I'm worried that it will become too cluttered if I include all the references on it.  I haven't used GoogleDocs before this, any suggestions?

 

 

“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.”

near the end of Chapter 50 - Uncut Gems.

Year end would be 10-10-5, so I'm fairly sure she means that 10-10-3.

There's also this in Chapter 79.
 

“The countdown?” [Dalinar] asked.

“Three days away,” Navani said. “Three days before Lightday.”

Agrees with 10-10-3 for day 0 of the countdown.

 

It's a bit of a work in progress, obviously.

 

Storms . . . she’d be lucky not to die of exposure out here. Or starvation. What would she do when a highstorm came? When was the next one? Tomorrow night? Or was it the night after.

That's chapter 11, before she collapses in the slaver camp.  So I wasn't sure if when she started traveling with them the next day whether it was 9-8-5 (Tanatakah) or 9-9-1(Tanatates, a highstorm day).

[DiamondMind he/him]

Ah damnation, I forgot to reference FireArcadia for making a list of all the dates: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/1285-all-the-days-of-the-vorrin-calendar/ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlvnJhrTVOeKdHhQMWVIajZLMXIwZnR4R1ZJNDFsY2c

I actually copied and pasted that for the initial bit, since I wasn't able to find a good way to populate the 80 rows or so that I needed.  Since his had the day names, and I thought there might be some interest in those, I left them in.

 

I'm worried that it will become too cluttered if I include all the references on it.  I haven't used GoogleDocs before this, any suggestions?

 

Congrats FireArcadia, two years later. That's extremely impressive.

 

Anyway, for the references, I think you should put in footnotes in one more column and make another tab where you list and expand on them. Make sense?

 

 

That's chapter 11, before she collapses in the slaver camp.  So I wasn't sure if when she started traveling with them the next day whether it was 9-8-5 (Tanatakah) or 9-9-1(Tanatates, a highstorm day).

 

Jasnah was attacked the night of Tanatakach, and Shallan awakens during the day, starting chapter 11. Presumably this is the next day, Tanatakev, and she wasn't unconscious for more then 24 hours. That night, she finds the slaver's camp and awakens the next day, Tanatakah, and starts travelling with them. That should be chapter 13. 

Edited March 12, 2014 by DiamondMind

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

Sounds good, I'm a bit tired, so I might be a day or two before I get all the references on there.  Or would it be easier to just open it up to editing?

[DiamondMind he/him]

There's no rush, we've got plenty of time till the next book. 

 

But yeah, you could open a separate one for editing so this one one doesn't get compromised.

 

Oh and another one! Chapter 26, age 332: "Two weeks now, with no word" about Jasnah. I swear there was a quote about one week delayed earlier...this is why we need detailed notes. 

 

Edit: Chapter 28, page 342: Shallan "ran into some bandits three weeks ago" gives a rough time placement.

Edited March 12, 2014 by DiamondMind

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

The "week" statements tend to have a bit of rounding to them, anywhere around from 4-6 day for a week or 9-12 for two weeks.  "Few weeks" and "several weeks" are even more vague.  And in that same chapter 28 with the "three weeks ago", Shallan refers to them having nearly died a "couple weeks ago" in reference to the same event.  Chapter 28 probably takes place on 10-2-3, give or take a day, since Kaladin tells them they're a day and half away from the Shattered Plains by caravan.  Chapter 30 seems to be the next day (10-2-4). They're said to be taking it easy.  The highstorm is the day after that. And their actual arrival is the day after the highstorm.

 

That chapter 26 line about "two weeks now, with no word" is rounded down a bit as well.  It's been about 12 or 13 days.

[DiamondMind he/him]

The "week" statements tend to have a bit of rounding to them, anywhere around from 4-6 day for a week or 9-12 for two weeks.  "Few weeks" and "several weeks" are even more vague.  And in that same chapter 28 with the "three weeks ago", Shallan refers to them having nearly died a "couple weeks ago" in reference to the same event.  Chapter 28 probably takes place on 10-2-3, give or take a day, since Kaladin tells them they're a day and half away from the Shattered Plains by caravan.  Chapter 30 seems to be the next day (10-2-4). They're said to be taking it easy.  The highstorm is the day after that. And their actual arrival is the day after the highstorm.

 

That chapter 26 line about "two weeks now, with no word" is rounded down a bit as well.  It's been about 12 or 13 days.

 

Argh, oh well. Maybe you should put them in with question marks? 

 

Chapter 54 is the day of the duel in chapter 53, seen from the first paragraph.

 

Edit: Are you sure about the placement of Chapter 68?

Edited March 12, 2014 by DiamondMind

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

For some of them like 54 I got a bit lazy, since it was obviously the same day.

 

68 and 69 should be the same day, and Shallan says that the highstorm is tomorrow night in 69.  Near the end of 70 is when they go into the next day.  Of course, this is based on Taravangian's list being perfect, and being designed for the Shattered Plains and not Kharbranth.  It's possible that it would be past midnight and onto the next day by the time the highstorm hit Kharbranth. 

 

There's a 2nd one up now that anyone should be able to edit from the link, if I did it right.

[DiamondMind he/him]

Since highstorms only seem to last a few hours at most, I think that we can trust it unless there is conflicting evidence.

 

Edit: Argh, I can't seem to pinpoint when Dalinar's expedition starts. This is really annoying. It's the last paragraph of part four. I am blind. Now to figure out when the Weeping begins.

 

Edit again: Found it!! My changes are in blue. Except for a few chapters that we can't find, I think it's mostly done. Maybe we can get Peter to clear those up. Now we have to make the comprehensive notes for this book.

Edited March 13, 2014 by DiamondMind

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

About WoK dates, any Kaladin/Dalinar chapters from 64 on are obviously the day of the Tower battle. 

Ten days, with six bridge runs, had allowed Kaladin and his team to perfect their method. Five men to be decoys with five more in the front holding shields and using only one arm to support the bridge. Their numbers were augmented by the wounded they’d saved from other crews, now strong enough to help carry.

So chapter 63 and earlier would be at least ten days before that (which would be 9-4-4). It's not clear if 62 took place on the same day as 63, or a day or two before.  I'd agree that 59 was probably the day before 62, since that was the point where they started full time Bridge Run duty instead of every other day.  From there the timeline going backwards in WoK gets a bit more vague again.  From Peter's comments and a couple educated guesses, I think Kaladin's initial arrival on the Shattered Plains was about midway through month 7.  Chapter 9 of WoK to the end of the WoK is only about a month span.

[Zizoz he/him]

Do we have confirmation that the Ch 88 epigraph is a list of highstorm dates? I thought that would be too obvious for the Diagram to not have figured out, and it didn't fit with my calculation of the penultimate highstorm from Eshonai's chapters, so I'd dismissed it.

 

I'll look at this and see if there's anything else I can add. I took notes on the timeline while reading starting with about page 300. But I'm getting the impression you've got that pretty much covered already.

 

EDIT: List of changes

 

Moved Chapter 28 (Shallan meeting Kaladin) to the same day as Chapter 30, per Chapter 36, page 426: "She'd almost forgotten the encounter two days outside the warcamps." 

 

I think Chapter 59 should be Ishahan, but I suppose it's unclear if it means the third full day. Leaving it as is for now. Probably won't matter.

 

Added Chapter 60 to Ishashes, since Pattern mentions it is Jesel (p. 734) and Adolin imprisoned himself "last week" (p. 735)

 

The Wind's Pleasure is "a week overdue" in Chapter 14 (p. 221). That probably puts Chapter 26 about a week later. I've put it on Isheses, six days after Ch 14, since the highstorm is "recent". If it had been the previous day I think it would have said so.

 

More comments:

 

I-12 is mostly set two days before riots break out in Kholinar, news of which reaches Dalinar on Ishishach (chapter 87, page 1050). I'd therefore guess Ishishes-Ishishan for that chapter but it could be earlier. I haven't added it.

 

Chapter 82, page 992: "Dalinar remembered fighting like that himself two months ago, surrounded by a sea of enemies, without hope for salvation." I thought this referred to the Tower battle but obviously that wasn't two months ago. Is there another scene in WoK it could refer to? Or is it before that?

Edited March 16, 2014 by Zizoz

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

I'm assuming that the Diagram people added their own notes fairly early on, probably many years before current events.  They may not have realized it was possible for even Taravangian to calculate that far ahead.

 

Good points.

 

I'd thought that 28 and 30 were different days since Kaladin had said they were a day and a half from the Plains in 28, and then in 30 Shallan said they were a day from the Plains and that that they have been taking it easy, but they could be the same day as long as 28 took place fairly early in the day.  And they pretty much have to be the same day with the quote you pointed out.

 

There's a couple different points where I'm not sure if a character mean full days or partial days.  Kaladin's chapter 59 (days imprisoned) and Eshonai's I-11 interlude (days in stormform).  Full days is the only way to make Eshonai's chapter fit properly.

 

I think Dalinar must be referring to the Tower battle with that, even though rounding 1.4 months up to 2 is a bit odd.  He was swarmed when rescuing Sadeas in WoK, but I don't think he was ever "without hope of salvation." in that particular scene.  I'm not too sure how to place I-12 either.

 

Also, in your last post, chapter 54 was supposed to be 36, and 46 was supposed to be 26.

[Zizoz he/him]

Fixed those. No idea how I managed to get those chapter numbers wrong.

 

The storm on Ishanah, when Eshonai takes stormform, was after nightfall (according to Chapter 31). After thinking about it I now agree that having held stormform for fifteen days is best interpreted as indicating a time between night on Ishahah and night on Ishashes, thus making Taravangian's list correct.

[Zizoz he/him]

Chapter 16, top of page 234: "It had been seven days since Amaram's arrival in the warcamps." That places Chapter 12, when Amaram arrives, on Tanatakev.

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

Cool, 9 is the same day as 12 too.  There aren't too many gaps left, and all the major non-flashback, non-interlude chapters seem to be listed now.  29 uses "2 weeks" since the assassination attempt on Elhokar, but that still has the issue of all the "week" statements, it might be rounded.

[Aether he/him]

I might be arriving a bit late to this party, but how did we get the exact date of the Battle of the Tower? Working backwards from the end of the countdown, Ishishach [1173-10-10-3], the date of Dalinar's first count-down would be, as you yourselves have calculated, Tanatakes [1173-9-8-1]. In chapter 4, "a short time" after the countdown scratchings appeared, Kaladin mentions having been "one week at the job". Kaladin was promoted to Captain and assigned to protect the Kholins on the evening in the wake of the Battle at the tower, which would mean that his job as bodyguard most likely started the very next day. So, counting backwards from Tanatakes, we get Tanatashash [1173-9-6-5] or Tanatabes [1173-9-7-1] for the Battle of the Tower, depending on whether or not he's counting the current day or not. Of course, he might use the word "week" as an approximation, which throws off this line of reasoning.

 

Am I correct here, or is there some other piece of information that I am ignorant of?

[Zizoz he/him]

The Chapter 88 epigraphs appear to be highstorm dates, which lets us place the previous highstorm (WoK Chapter 75/WoR Chapter 2). 

[Aether he/him]

The Chapter 88 epigraphs appear to be highstorm dates, which lets us place the previous highstorm (WoK Chapter 75/WoR Chapter 2). 

That's cool! Cross-referencing the dates with the dates with Highstorms (counting back form Lightday) confirms it, and it more or less gives us the exact date of the start of WoR. Turns out that Kaladin's "one week at the job" was slightly more than 5 days. But I am tempted to suggest that the exact date is less certain than you seem to imply:

 

     Ever since the failed betrayal and subsequent rescue earlier, Kaladin had found himself nervous.

- From the Way of Kings, chapter 73: "Trust", page 981 of the Tor hard-cover.

This extract makes it evident that the events on the Plains happened on the same day that Kaladin got his freedom and his promotion. There is nothing in chapter 77: "In the Top Room" to indicate that a day has passed. The question then, is whether the Highstorm happened in the evening of Tanatashah [1173-09-06-5], making this the date of the Battle at the Tower; or very, very early in the morning (id est in the middle of the night), placing the battle at Tanatashev [1173-09-06-04], technically the day before.

 

Given that the riddens are still ongoing the morning after, I am leaning towards the latter option (as seems to be the consensus here), but I am by no means certain. I suppose it would be possible to find an answer if we know how long a Highstorm is supposed to last, but I do not remember any references to its exact length. Did you guys and gals find the answer to this conundrum, or did you just make an educated guess? Do we have a WoB on this?

Edited April 14, 2014 by Aether

[Cheese Ninja he/him]

Ah, what you is this then:

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.

[Aether he/him]

Thanks! That was exactly what I was looking for!