Chapter 80
69: JUSTICE
Overview
After a devastating ambush by the traitor highprince sadeas causes dalinar to lose thousands of men in battle, dalinar returns alive to the warcamps with survivors. He confronts sadeas, then makes a shocking trade—his shardblade for all of sadeas's bridgemen—before moving to secure his political position by forcing king elhokar to name him highprince of war and announcing his courtship with navani.
Summary
Following the catastrophic plateau assault where sadeas abandoned dalinar's forces to the parshendi, dalinar limps back to the warcamps with only 2,653 surviving soldiers from an original force of 8,000. Upon learning of the betrayal, navani performs a ritual prayer for justice, burning an enormous thath glyph on sadeas's staging field. When dalinar arrives, he embraces navani, declaring his newfound resolve to stop worrying about others' opinions and to live with purpose. He then confronts sadeas on the scoring field, where sadeas coldly admits he orchestrated the betrayal not merely for honor but to remove dalinar from influencing elhokar, whom sadeas fears is becoming like gavilar—weak and treaty-minded. When sadeas refuses to release the bridgemen, dalinar shocks all observers by summoning his shardblade and driving it into the justice glyph, offering it in exchange for the bridgemen's freedom. sadeas accepts the weapon, calling dalinar mad. Later, dalinar meets privately with king elhokar and physically beats him, forcing him to admit he cut his own saddle girth during the hunt to create a false assassination attempt and test dalinar's loyalty. After intimidating the young king into understanding that dalinar could have killed him but chose not to, dalinar demands elhokar appoint him highprince of war the following day, announcing plans to enforce the codes across all ten camps, coordinate all plateau assaults through the throne, and unite the highprinces into a real army rather than competing warbands. As dalinar leaves, he casually informs elhokar that he and navani are now courting.
Characters
- navanireturns to sadeas's warcamp upon hearing rumors of dalinar's death; performs a ritual prayer for justice by painting an enormous thath glyph; greets dalinar upon his return and embraces him, revealing her emotional investment in his survival
- sadeasawaits dalinar's return; admits to orchestrating the betrayal to remove dalinar as an obstacle to his influence over elhokar; accepts dalinar's shardblade in exchange for the bridgemen
- dalinarreturns from the plateau assault with surviving troops; confronts sadeas to learn the reason for the betrayal; trades his shardblade for the bridgemen's freedom; beats elhokar into submission and demands appointment as highprince of war; announces his courtship with navani
- renaringreets dalinar upon his return to sadeas's warcamp with joy; witnesses the emotional reunion between dalinar and navani
- adolinaccompanies dalinar back to the warcamps; matches dalinar's armor using shared gemstones; walks alongside his father during the confrontation with sadeas; is shocked when dalinar trades away his shardblade
- kaladinleads the bridgemen survivors back from the plateau; initially doubts dalinar's promise to free them; is astonished when dalinar trades his shardblade for the bridgemen's freedom; is consoled by dalinar's philosophical explanation of the trade's value
- elhokaris brutally beaten by dalinar in his private chambers; admits to cutting his own saddle girth to fabricate an assassination attempt; is coerced into agreeing to appoint dalinar as highprince of war the following day
- bridge fourthe bridgemen survivors who follow kaladin; initially fear dalinar will separate them from their leader; are freed from servitude in exchange for dalinar's shardblade
- matala soldier in sadeas's camp who watches kaladin's team with red-faced anger, knowing he will face punishment for failing to kill kaladin
- tefta bridgeman who persuades kaladin's team to stay with dalinar to see the situation through
- nohadonreferenced through dalinar's memory of a vision in which he rejected dalinar's suggestion to write down his wisdom; dalinar reflects on the vision's meaning regarding the enforcement of the codes