118. The Weight of It All

Multiple characters face critical moments as Odium assaults Dalinar's mind with visions of his past atrocities while the battle at Thaylen City deteriorates. Szeth pursues a Voidbringer assassin but is consumed by the corrupted Shardblade, Kaladin fails to speak a new Ideal, Renarin's visions lead Jasnah to nearly kill him before she recognizes his vulnerability, and Meridas Amaram receives Yelig-nar from Odium. Dalinar, broken and seemingly defeated, finds a single gloryspren within his clenched fist and speaks words of defiance.

Odium torments Dalinar by forcing him to relive every killing he committed while under the influence of the Thrill, including the murder of Evi and the burning of Rathalas. The god offers to take the pain if Dalinar will surrender, but Dalinar clings to The Way of Kings until lightning incinerates the book. Meanwhile, Szeth wields the corrupted Shardblade against Voidbringer soldiers across the battlefield; pursuing a Voidbringer woman with a gemstone, he loses the sheath to her and begins to be consumed by the weapon's darkness. When he collapses, Lift attempts to save him by breathing life into him, but the sword drinks from her instead. Navani, held captive with Fen and Kmakl, uses a pain fabrial to disable her guards and escapes to the walls of Thaylen City, where she observes the battle's dire state and senses something vast confronting Dalinar. Renarin, influenced by visions from Odium's power, foresees Dalinar falling to become the Blackthorn once more and tells Jasnah that her father is already lost. Jasnah raises her Shardblade to execute Renarin as a threat but, moved by his tears and their shared painful history, dismisses her weapon instead and embraces him. Renarin reveals that his visions can be wrong, suggesting his prophecy of Dalinar's corruption may not be absolute. At the battle, Odium declares victory and presents Meridas Amaram with a smokestone containing Yelig-nar, offering him power over a corrupted Dalinar. Kaladin, on the verge of speaking a new Ideal while Fused close in, cannot find the strength to say the Words and collapses in failure. Dalinar, trembling and seemingly broken under Odium's weight, discovers a single gloryspren in his bleeding fist and speaks a defiant sentence: "You cannot have my pain."