24: THE GALLERY OF MAPS

In the Gallery of Maps, a central location for tracking the war on the Plains, High­prince Dal­i­n­ar attempts to persuade High­prince RoionToJoin him in a coordinated military assault, but is rebuffed by the suspicious ruler. Later, Da­li­n­ar's son Ad­o­lin confronts him directly about his mental state, accusing him of chasing delusions through the visions and the so-called codes rather than addressing the practical dangers posed by Sa­deas and the king's growing paranoia.

The chapter opens with Dal­i­n­ar enter­ing the Gallery of Maps, an elegant So­ul­cast struc­t­u­re housing detailed maps of the combat zones on the Plain. High­prince RoionRe­mains skeptical when Dal­i­n­ar proposes a joint plateau assault, citing concerns about being man­i­pul­at­ed and main­t­ain­ing his in­de­pen­d­en­c­e. Dal­i­n­ar ar­g­u­es that coor­di­nat­ed efforts using each high­prince's distinct mili­t­ar­y strengths—his heavy in­fan­t­r­y, RoionAr­c­h­ers, Sa­de­asʼs fast bridges—could yield better outcomes than the current scramble for speed. He even of­f­ers to surren­d­er any won Sharp­blade to RoionFirst. How­ev­er, RoionPol­i­t­e­ly de­clines, re­m­a­i­n­ing un­willing to risk his pos­i­t­ion. After RoionDe­p­arts, Dal­i­n­ar stands alone, con­t­e­m­pl­at­ing pat­t­e­rns in the Plain and re­f­l­e­c­t­ing on his vision­ar­y in­s­i­g­h­ts about an­c­i­e­n­t Al­e­th­k­ar. Ad­o­lin then arrives and warns his father that Sa­de­as has re­q­u­e­st­ed ac­c­e­ss to their war­c­a­m­p to in­t­e­r­v­i­e­w grooms—a move Ad­o­lin be­l­i­e­v­es is a pre­l­u­d­e to fab­r­i­c­at­ing ev­i­d­e­n­ce against Dal­i­n­ar. Dal­i­n­ar re­f­u­s­es to block the re­q­u­e­st, cit­ing the need to grant Sa­de­as author­i­t­y as High­prince of In­f­or­m­a­t­ion. This trig­g­e­rs Ad­o­lin to ex­plode in frustra­t­ion, ac­c­u­s­ing his father of be­ing men­t­al­ly un­well, build­ing an ir­r­a­t­ion­al ra­t­ion­al­i­z­a­t­ion around his vi­s­ions, and drag­ging the house­h­old down with him. Ad­o­lin com­p­a­r­es Dal­i­n­ar to the paranoid king, ar­g­u­ing that some­t­i­m­es sim­p­l­e an­s­w­e­r­s are cor­r­e­c­t. Dal­i­n­ar, ini­t­i­al­l­y in­s­i­s­t­e­n­t that the vi­s­ions are real and im­p­or­t­a­n­t, even­t­u­al­l­y shuts down the con­v­e­r­s­a­t­ion and or­d­e­rs his son to leave, caus­ing Ad­o­lin to de­p­art with re­g­r­e­t and nau­s­e­a over what he has been forced to say.