The Fatal Flaw of Predicting (Wind and Truth)

We can't always know what we don't know

Introduction

Since early September I've been gleefully anticipating the weekly release of preview chapters for Wind and Truth, the fifth installment in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. I have touched on this series before, writing about the idea of transhumanism in Stormlight and highlighting a significant moment at the end of the third book Oathbringer that has an important lesson to teach us all.

I've also previously written about the potential folly of prediction and getting invested, as it pertained to A Song of Ice and Fire. In that piece, I noted that Wind and Truth would be the biggest release I'd personally seen, and was wary about the transition from prediction to reading the actual book.

But upon reflection, that isn't entirely true. In 2006, at the age of 9 or 10, I was devoted to the Harry Potter books and was similarly looking for any clue as to what might happen in the final book. I remember being proud to have deduced the identity of R.A.B. on my own; but also felt frustrated by the introduction of the 'Deathly Hallows' at the final hour, when there was an entire series worth of magical MacGuffins that could have served a similar role.

Cover art for Brandon Sanderson's Wind and Truth, by Michael Whelan

Now, almost twenty years later, I'm watching similar revelations unstitch my understanding of the Stormlight Achive world at the conclusion of its first arc – and it's a fascinating lesson to relearn.

Spoilers for the preview chapters of Wind and Truth ahead.

Hidden and/or New Information

As I alluded to above, this series is planned for ten massive books (each has been over 1000 pages so far, and their lengths been consistently increasing) split into two 5-book arcs. While they seem to be taking place over a relatively standard timespan and geographic region, they are also shedding light on the ten thousand years of history on multiple planets that shaped the current story. My transhumanism post went a little more into it, but suffice to say that there are many beings in this story who have been around for significant portions of that decamillennium, but may have little reason to share insights with mere mortals.

The previews for Wind and Truth have caught fans entirely off guard with at least three new insights so far, and there are presumably still four more weeks worth of chapters to come until the book's release on December 6th.

One is the introduction of the Wind as an elemental force and avatar of Roshar (the planet where action has mostly taken place so far). Granted that this isn't quite as big a shock here as it would be if included in the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird – we already knew of creatures like the Wind, with similar ancient origins – but her appearance now and utter absence up to this point are incredibly strange.

We have known of her kin, the Stormfather, since the beginning of the series. But he has also been the topic of much discussion in the fandom since Sanderson first read the prologue to Wind and Truth way back in 2022. This character, who has seemed uniquely reliable if a little brusque for four entire books, is suddenly incredibly inconsistent to the point of lying to our point-of-view characters.

The Stormfather, by taratjah

These two, alongside the more recent revelation that the mysterious Sja-Anat is now apparently working with the Ghostbloods, are twists on the existing world and narrative that feel impossible to predict – not unlike the Deathly Hallows. The difference, I believe, is that Stormlight is founded on these revelations re-shaping our understanding of its world. These are still the same setting and characters that Sanderson established in 2010, but every book has brought insights to expand the scope and ask us to question our understanding. Which is fitting, given that the whole series is about Journey before Destination.

The other revelation is one that almost certainly was guessed at some point, but still shattered my understanding of this world. All of Sanderson's Cosmere books (of which Stormlight is a major part) take place in a universe made up of three realms, or planes: the Physical (normal reality), the Cognitive (shaped by and reflecting the ideas and perceptions of sentient beings) and the Spiritual (where all things are connected across space and time). Visiting the Cognitive realm was a huge deal in the early Stormlight books, but by now has become fairly commonplace and understood.

The Spiritual realm always felt off-limits, like stepping into the scrolling computer code running the universe. But apparently we needn't have put quite so much mystique on the place – the reveal that we'd be visiting it came thanks to the blurb on the back of the damn book.

Kaladin and Szeth in Wind and Truth, by Randy Vargas

Where do we go from here?

David from the 17th Shard podcast, which discusses and theorizes about Brandon's books, had a great quote last week that I've clipped here. In context, the quote was about another of Brandon's series where he took seven years between books, but I think it is incredibly apt for discussing A Song of Ice and Fire and so many other series. Luckily Stormlight is big enough and has so far been consistent enough that expectations have yet to be set in stone to the same degree.

But I think we can apply this to more than just predicting the plots of sequels, can't we? Our beliefs, expectations and actions can very easily become calcified and almost automatic unless we consciously choose to change them and become more open to new possibilities.

Funnily enough, that was the topic of one of my very first posts, back on September 20, 2023. I didn't even have it up on Medium until now, so consider giving it a look and maybe discovering another excellent speculative fiction series.

Until next week, cheers and thanks for reading!