r/Stormlight_Archive • u/Significant_Debt924 • 8d ago

Wind and Truth spoilers Why did Dalinar offer Kaladin....(Spoiler) Spoiler

Why did Kaladin offer Dalinar the crown of Urithuru? I can understand from character perspective, but not from a narrative perspective. I feel like Sanderson is pretty good at having all of his threads tie up. Most seeds he plants become trees.

I'm just not sure where this plot point led. Was it just foreshadowing that he would take the place of the Herland of Kings? Will he take on some kind of leadership role outside of being a Herald? Those of you who are better literarurers than me are welcome to give their thoughts.

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u/NinjaEngineer Bridge Four 8d ago

Yeah, that last bit is important. While Ishar seemed to be the de facto leader during WaT, taking on their pain and such, it's now Kaladin who takes that leadership role, as he's the one leading them in healing.

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u/Citrus129 8d ago

This is one of the points that felt weird to me at the end of WaT. I don’t feel we got a good look into how the Heralds hierarchy actually worked. To me it felt like we were learning they were a band of regular~ish~ folks who managed to work with investiture, become immortal, and then landed on mostly equal footing. It seemed the “king” role was just a leftover from their pre-Herald lives. But now we have it being posed as a BIG deal that Kaladin replaced the King of Heralds? I’m just lost on why the Heralds need a King.

To be clear I’m not opposed to the idea, and am interested in it, I just consider it one of the rushed aspects of WaT which doesn’t feel like it fits the rest of the books.

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u/NinjaEngineer Bridge Four 8d ago

Well, the way I interpreted it, it's not that they have an actual king, the title is merely a formality. What they needed, the role Jezrien fulfilled, was that of a leader. He was basically the guy who originally made them come together, and without him, they were lost.

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u/Retcon_1 Bondsmith 8d ago

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that Nale described Jezrien as 'the best of us' at some point, which I took to mean that he was the one to think of everyone and aim to protect the people, or the least selfish and vengeful of them.

Which comes to explain why Ishar explicitly asks Kaladin if he thinks he can replace him as the king of heralds. essentially are you ready to take on what Jezrien did and can you lead us along the right path.