Wind and Truth

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of mental illness, child abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.

The prologue of Wind and Truth takes place seven years before the main events of the novel. Gavilar Kholin, then king of Alethkar, is experiencing a vision of the past which is shown to him by his spren, the Stormfather. Like all spren, the Stormfather is a being of the magic (in this universe, magic is called “Investiture”). The Stormfather is an especially powerful spren that is closely tied to the god-like being Honor; Honor created the Stormfather in his image.

Gavilar’s vision shows nine ancient swords called Honorblades having just been abandoned by their owners, the Heralds of Honor. The Heralds are bound in an ancient contract to imprison Odium on another planet. After enduring millennia of war, death, torture, rebirth, and war, the immortal Heralds have suffered severe mental trauma. Gavilar’s vision of the Honorblades shows the moments just after the Heralds walked away from their vows.

Gavilar seeks to become a Herald. To do so, he must speak a powerful oath to the Stormfather.

The vision ends. Gavilar is in his palace. This scene is a flashback to events that were described in The Way of Kings.