the Wind
An ancient spren of Roshar who has begun speaking to Kaladin by name in the days after the liberation of Urithiru. Wit explains that she was left on the world by Adonalsium long before Honor, Cultivation, or Odium arrived — older than the Rosharan gods — and is weaker than she once was, but has seen so very much. Sometimes confused with the Old Magic associated with the Nightwatcher. SA:WaT:Ch 4
Known facts
- older-than-the-rosharan-godsWit tells Kaladin that when Roshar was created, long before Honor, Cultivation, or Odium arrived, Adonalsium left something behind on it — the deep substrate sometimes called the Old Magic, a name now usually attached to the Nightwatcher instead. The Wind is older than the Rosharan gods, weaker than she once was, and has seen so very much.SA:WaT:Ch 4
- kaladin-music-calls-the-windKaladin's fumbling attempts at Wit's flute on the Shinovar hillside call the Wind to him; she says the music *the ancient one* taught him calls to her. She returns to repeat her warning that Odium is *made anew* — his attention is shifted off her at the moment, which is why she can speak — and asks Kaladin to stay and watch with her, to help preserve a remnant of Honor.SA:WaT:Ch 33
- claims-kaladin-mission-in-shinovar-as-more-importantSilent on the ridge above Talmut's monastery, the Wind returns to speak with Kaladin in Shinovar for the first time since they arrived — *we need you* — and tells him his work here is *far, far more important* than the battle his friends fight at Urithiru and Azimir.SA:WaT:Ch 42
- was-a-caretaker-of-shinovar-before-humans-arrivedBefore the arrival of humans on Roshar, the Wind was a *caretaker* of the land of Shinovar — full-voiced, met with prayer by the singers of the mountain passes — and her voice has grown quieter in modern times as new gods came. The windspren are not what she became; they continue independently while she weakens.SA:WaT:Ch 43
- path-forward-is-honors-deathThe Wind tells Navani inside the Ashyn vision that her husband is *both wise and foolish*: the only path forward through the Spiritual Realm runs through the day Honor died.SA:WaT:Ch 50
- prepares-her-own-championSpeaking to Navani inside the Spiritual Realm vision of pre-Radiant Shinovar, the Wind reveals that she is preparing in case Dalinar fails to become Honor — *to protect her charges*, the spren. The spren find their own champion, *blessed by the storm*; a champion for the wind itself.SA:WaT:Ch 58
- honor-modulated-prayer-stormsDuring the pre-Oathpact era, Honor would modulate the highstorm in small regions around the faithful who prayed to him, turning the killing wind into a warm rain — the Wind tells Dalinar and Gav that the storm could be terrible, but that before Honor it could be pled with as well. *Nothing on Roshar merely is. Everything thinks. Everything has a choice.*SA:WaT:Ch 62
- weakening-and-stormfather-withdrawnSyl tells Kaladin that something has changed about her father of late — he has withdrawn from her — and that the Wind, too, sounds weaker today. The Stormfather still speaks long-distance into Kaladin's mind in a low rumble, calling him *son of Honor*, but goes quiet when Kaladin tries to answer.SA:WaT:Ch 64
- was-steward-left-by-adonalsium-before-tanavastAmong the *stewards* Adonalsium left on Roshar — fragments of his voice with instructions to protect, to shroud, to nurture — Tanavast singles out the Wind as the one who sang to him at his arrival and did not condemn what he had done. He found her choice as steward odd: *Wind, invisible Wind, so flighty and immaterial.* He sang back to her, and was steadied.SA:WaT:Ch 100
- loves-stones-but-her-touch-slowly-wears-themThe Wind tells Kaladin that she loves the Stones — they are her sibling — but her touch, over time, breaks them. She lets him press a hand to a roadside stone and shows him: thousands of years ago it had been a fine statue of an open-armed woman above an old road, candles lit at her feet for weary travellers. Storm by storm her face wore down and her shape sank into the soil until she became another anonymous lump of rock.SA:WaT:Ch 103
- names-the-flaws-of-each-heraldAsking Kaladin and Syl to remember that the Heralds were never perfect but were good people, the Wind names a flaw of each: Jezrien proud; Ishar superior; Pralla in love with her secrets; Battar conniving; Chana avoidant of responsibility; Nale a grudge-holder. She insists that a piece of an infinite god is still infinite, and that the power in the nine — and what is left of Taln — will be needed in the days to come.SA:WaT:Ch 103
- tells-kaladin-szeth-will-soon-be-a-heraldWhen Kaladin protests that healing Nale is beyond him, the Wind answers that he has already helped one who will soon be a Herald — meaning Szeth. It is the first time the Wind tells Kaladin outright that the work he is doing on this pilgrimage is preparation of Szeth to take that seat.SA:WaT:Ch 103
- wind-returned-song-as-to-cephandriusReduced to nothing but her voice, the Wind returns Kaladin's practised song to him in the Skybreaker monastery as a frail chorus of flute notes — *as I once returned it,* she says, *to Cephandrius.*SA:WaT:Ch 110
- older-than-honor-cultivation-and-odiumPressed by Kaladin on what the Wind actually is, Syl answers that she is part of something very ancient — older than Honor, Cultivation, and Odium arriving on Roshar. If a god still lives in this world, Syl finds him in the quiet breeze that dances with all things.SA:WaT:Ch 129
- asks-kaladin-to-be-there-when-she-needs-himThe Wind — the ancient soul of Roshar — confesses her fear, asks Kaladin whether he will curse her for continuing to live, and pleads with him to be there when she needs him. She had been the one to imagine the reforging that might give the Heralds peace between Returns.SA:WaT:Ch 144
Events
- SA:WaT:Ch 43 Speaks to Dalinar and Navani in chorus on the mountain pass above Shinovar — her pre-arrival self, full-voiced, a caretaker of the land.
- SA:WaT:Ch 50 Speaks to Navani inside the vision, advising her to take Ash's ribbon and telling her where the path forward lies.
- SA:WaT:Ch 52 Joins Kaladin and Syl in the dance, then blows across the flute holes to draw out the first clean note for him.
- SA:WaT:Ch 62 Speaks into Dalinar and Navani's minds during the modulated highstorm, answers Gav's question about why she is kind.
- SA:WaT:Ch 85 A feeling rather than a voice — the ancient gods have less power in this time and find it difficult to speak — but answers Dalinar with a single nudge.
- SA:WaT:Ch 86 Whispers in Kaladin's ear, brushes his face, and shows him glimpses of Nale's heroism through long centuries.
- SA:WaT:Ch 100 Sings to Tanavast when he arrives on Roshar — one of the stewards Adonalsium left behind — and does not condemn him for what he has done; the new god sings back to her.
- SA:WaT:Ch 103 Settles around Kaladin as he plays the flute, shows him the buried statue of stone, and asks him — please — to help Nale remember who he once was, even as he is already helping one who will soon be a Herald.
- SA:WaT:Ch 109 Whispers in Kaladin's ear at the start of the duel — *I am weak. I have nothing but my voice* — and warns him about Nale's ability to *command forces once forbidden him* now that Honor is dead and Jezrien is gone.
- SA:WaT:Ch 110 Returns Kaladin's practised song to him as a frail chorus of flute notes, then erupts through the monastery gates carrying every practice he has ever played.
- SA:WaT:Ch 119 Carries a few skilled phantom flute-notes back to Kaladin over the broken-monastery walls — music too good to be his own, he suspects she has fetched them from the broken man he once was on the Shattered Plains.
- SA:WaT:Ch 122 Whispers to Tanavast on the Shinovar grass, refuses to help him, tells him to *listen,* and millennia later affirms that mortals are better off without what he has become — and that he killed the god who would have cared.
- SA:WaT:Ch 127 Blows softly against Dalinar's back as he walks the corridors with Wit, whispering *listen, listen* — and through her his Connection to the people of Urithiru opens; their souls and his align as the contest hour approaches.
- SA:WaT:Ch 129 The Wind joins them as a soft breeze, whispering to Kaladin that the hour when spren need a champion is nearly here — and that *everything* will be required.
- SA:WaT:Ch 132 The Wind stills as if uncertain, then returns as Kaladin tells Ishar he is only a man.
- SA:WaT:Ch 139 Takes a welcome gasp around Kaladin when he stands; thousands of windspren, somewhere, find wonder in the simple act.
- SA:WaT:Ch 140 Accepts Kaladin's Words herself, the first time the Wind has spoken back to a Knight Radiant's ideal.
- SA:WaT:Ch 141 Holds her breath at the edge of every horizon, the whole air of Roshar suspended at the moment of decision.
- SA:WaT:Ch 142 Speaks to Kaladin in many overlapping voices, warning him that Dalinar now faces his greatest challenge and the outcome is not yet written — *be ready.*
- SA:WaT:Ch 144 Fearful, asks whether the reforging can spare the Heralds the old torture and proposes the construct that would hide their minds while their souls return to Braize.
Backreferences
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 4
- factthe Wind
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 6
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- factthe Sibling
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- factShinovar
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- factsingers
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- factKaladin
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- factThe Heralds
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- factKaladin
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- factPralla
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- factKaladin
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- summarySA:WaT:Ch 119
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- factTanavast
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 127
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- factIshar
- factKaladin
- factFifth Ideal of the Windrunners
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 141
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- factThe Oathpact
- factthe Wind
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 145