75. Only Red

Eleven years before the present, Dalinar is lured into a trap by Tanalan of the Rift and nearly killed in a landslide orchestrated to crush him. Surviving through Shardplate and the Thrill, he slaughters all his attackers in a berserker rage. Upon returning to camp covered in blood, Dalinar learns that traitors within his own ranks—scouts bribed by Tanalan—set the ambush. Influenced by Sadeas and consumed by the Thrill, Dalinar orders the complete destruction of Rathalas and the annihilation of its entire population.

Dalinar leads a company of elite archers on foot to intercept a caravan supposedly carrying an enemy Shardbearer. Upon finding soldiers wearing Sadeas's colors at the canyon, he grows suspicious of the setup. As his men pursue the fleeing troops up a ravine, Tanalan triggers a landslide that buries Dalinar under tons of rock. Though his Shardplate shatters and his helm breaks, Stormlight keeps him alive. When Rifters dig through the rubble to claim his armor and Blade, Dalinar erupts from the stones consumed by the Thrill and massacres them in a berserker fury, using both his hands and Oathbringer. He hikes through the night in delirium, discarding pieces of broken Shardplate, guided by visions of red-mist armies and phantom conflict. Arriving at camp at dawn, Dalinar staggers into his command tent covered entirely in blood, shocking everyone present. Teleb reveals that the scouts who reported the caravan were traitors bribed by Tanalan to lure Dalinar into the ambush. Sadeas urges harsh punishment to prevent future rebellions. The exhausted, blood-soaked, and Thrill-addled Dalinar—who terrifies even his wife Evi with his appearance—agrees and orders the complete annihilation of Rathalas: he commands the Soulcaster to produce oil for a massive pyre and declares that he will so thoroughly destroy the city that none of its people will survive to mourn it, ensuring generations will fear to build there again.