11. The Rift

This chapter is a flashback set thirty-three years before the main narrative, depicting a young Dalinar Kholin's first major military engagement as a Shardbearer during his brother Gavilar's campaign to unify Alethkar. Dalinar and his companions assault the chasm city of Rathalas (the Rift), where Dalinar is separated from his force by a collapsing trap and must fight his way through the city alone to duel Highlord Tanalan and claim his first Shardblade.

The chapter opens thirty-three years in the past with young Dalinar, newly equipped with his own Shardplate, preparing to assault Rathalas alongside his brother Gavilar and Sadeas. Dalinar is eager for battle, dismissing talk of politics and strategic marriages. The three Shardbearers charge the city's walls, overwhelming defenders with ease. Dalinar destroys catapults positioned on an observation platform overlooking the Rift, but this is revealed to be a trap—the platform collapses beneath him, dropping him far into the city below while Gavilar and Sadeas remain stranded above. Injured and separated, Dalinar pursues Highlord Tanalan through the vertical city, navigating collapsing bridges and enemy ambushes. He finally confronts Tanalan in a garden platform and engages him in combat. Though Dalinar gains the upper hand, Tanalan's soldiers intervene, forcing the fight to continue. During the chaos, the platform collapses again, and Tanalan is carried by his men into a hidden chamber. Dalinar pursues relentlessly, following them through a secret door carved into the chasm wall. Inside the hidden chamber, he finds Tanalan mortally wounded, the highlord's wife weeping over him, and their young son attempting to lift his father's Shardblade. Tanalan's son speaks of fighting monsters and winning through faith, but Dalinar—driven by the Thrill and the desire to claim the blade—takes Oathbringer, Sunmaker's legendary Shardblade. Later, Dalinar sits with Gavilar, who names the blade and discusses the psychological toll of their conquest and the need to transition from warfare to statecraft and rule. Dalinar, troubled by the morning's violence and its cost, drinks wine to numb his shame.