65 pages • 2 hours read
Brandon SandersonThe Way of Kings
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Spren
One of the book’s most original worldbuilding elements are the spren. They appear in all kinds of sizes and shapes and are the visible expression of emotions and natural elements. There are painspren, deathspren, creationspren, as well as wind-, water-, and firespren, which personify emotions and elements of the natural world. They are described as immaterial creatures who can change shape. Those spren who are more aware or who bond with humans acquire the ability to reason and communicate. A person’s ability to do magic, transform matter, fly, and walk on walls is directly connected to the type of spren they are connected to.
In literature, embodiment and personification are central literary devices. However, they are typically understood to be metaphorical or nonliteral. Roshar is a testament to what could happen if such techniques become embodied for real. Firstly, people have a more difficult time hiding their emotions as the spren who appear reveal the pain or fear or other emotions the person is experiencing. Secondly, the visible embodiment of concepts such as honor can interact directly with people and engage in a dialogue. Many of Kaladin’s insights come during his conversations with Syl. The spren is also the reason he does not take his own life at the end of part one. In this way, personified ideas exert a direct influence on the world of Roshar. However, this also means that negative concepts, such as greed and hatred, can have a stronger impact on people as well.
Leadership
The motif of what makes a good leader is explored several times in the novel. By presenting good and bad examples, Sanderson suggests that true leaders inspire trust and loyalty through their own good behavior. Both Kaladin and Dalinar expect no more from their men than what they themselves are willing to do. Additionally, these two protagonists are invested in their subordinates’ wellbeing and safety. Their good examples inspire others, such as Adolin, to strive to become better people in turn.
Bad leaders, such as Gaz and most Alethi lighteyes, expect obedience simply because they demand it. They are shown as callous and selfish, treating commoners as tools, rather than as human beings. Such negative examples highlight that social standing or military rank are not guarantees of leadership skills. As Dalinar remarks, many people want to lead and rule, but the Alethi “lack ones who are good at it” (1062). His words highlight that most Roshar societies are hereditary-, rather than merit-based. This becomes a problem in times of war since the people in charge often do not have leadership skills.
Women face similar challenges in becoming good leaders, albeit in a different shape. Jasnah is presented as a good teacher, inspiring Shallan to improve herself by asking difficult questions and teaching her to think for herself. However, she is not someone who can inspire a large group of people as the princess lacks the passion that comes with strong emotions. She is cerebral in all her undertakings, which works best with one-on-one interactions with another person interested in scholarship.
True leadership is presented in the novel as taking care of everyone, even people one dislikes. Kaladin is the first to do this and his actions highlight that such behavior has the power to change social structures and turn the tide of war. His initiative in saving Dalinar frees him and his men and places him outside of the traditional darkeyes-lighteyes binary opposition. Furthermore, his good leadership might eventually lead to the end of war and violence as he gradually begins to care about the enemy and their respective needs and emotions. Ultimately, the book suggests that truly great leaders can rise above personal enmity and strive to achieve the best outcome for all people involved, including those different from themselves.
Family and Romantic Relationships
Family is an important motivation for each of the protagonists in the novel, and Sanderson uses the motif of fathers-and-sons frequently throughout the novel. Dalinar and his sons struggle to navigate war and maintain political power, and Sanderson offers glimpses of Kaladin’s defining interactions with his own father, including their fraught encounter with their local lord and his respective son. Through these various portrayals, Sanderson presents family relationships alternately as support systems, sources of fear, and social obligations. In Alethkar, family determines social status, wealth, and opportunity. Sanderson engages the generational aspects of inheritance—both Dalinar’s sons and Kaladin are expected to take up their fathers’ vocations—to emphasize the role of cultural norms in family life and emphasize the epic nature of the novel.
While father-child interactions are prominently featured, there are no mother-daughter relationships depicted at all. Navani is Jasnah’s mother, but they do not cross paths in this novel. Jasnah’s interactions with Shallan, in turn, are closer to those of an older sister with a younger one. There are no other mother figures depicted in the novel and although Shallan’s relationship with her family is not explicitly described, it is implied through her brother’s brief, violent depiction to be fraught—she both fears and desires to save them.
Likewise, romance is almost entirely absent from the story. Except for Syl, who is a nonmaterial being, Kaladin does not have any relationships with women. For him, help and emotional support come mostly from his men, whom he sees as brothers in need of saving, like Tien. Shallan experiences a brief flirtation with Kabsal, but it turns out to be under false pretenses. She is not particularly interested in romance, otherwise, too preoccupied with her studies and family problems. Jasnah also does not seem to be interested in romance or sexual relations, and although Adolin courts any attractive woman he meets, but without being able to develop a meaningful connection with them. The only viable romantic couple depicted in the novel at the very end are Dalinar and Navani.
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By Brandon Sanderson
