Rhythm of War (9781429952040)
83. The Games of Men and Singers
by Sanderson, BrandonVenli, a listener, kneels in the ancient tower of Urithiru, communing with the sentient stones that remember its origins as the mountain Ur. The stones whisper memories to her, not in words but in impressions, urging her to recall forgotten truths. As she sinks her hands into the stone, she reflects on her childhood—listening to her mother’s songs, her love for family, and how ambition under Odium’s influence overshadowed these bonds. The stones remind her of the love she once cherished, contrasting sharply with Odium’s hollow promises of passion.
In a moment of clarity, Venli recognizes Odium’s deception, realizing his rhythms have stifled her capacity for love. She seeks the tone of Cultivation, a melody older than Odium’s influence, and blends it with his power to awaken her Surgebinding. The stones respond, rippling and reshaping into a miniature sculpture of her ancestors walking away from war—a symbol of their rejection of conflict and embrace of freedom. This act reconnects Venli to her heritage, reinforcing the enduring power of her people’s songs and choices.
Later, Venli meets secretly with Leshwi, a Fused leader, to discuss the Pursuer’s discovery of the Windrunner’s parents. Raboniel’s strategic placement of Regals hints at a political game, but Leshwi assures Venli that her authority can protect the humans for now. The encounter underscores the delicate power dynamics among the Fused, with Raboniel’s actions serving as both a threat and a move in a larger, more enigmatic scheme.
The chapter juxtaposes Venli’s spiritual awakening with the political intrigue of the Fused. Her rediscovery of ancestral love and Cultivation’s tone contrasts with the manipulative games of Odium’s forces. Through the stones’ whispers and her ancestors’ example, Venli finds strength to resist Odium’s corruption, while the Fused’s machinations remind her that her journey is far from over. The chapter highlights themes of memory, identity, and the struggle for autonomy amid larger cosmic conflicts.
FAQs
1. How does Venli’s interaction with the stones of Urithiru reveal key themes about memory and identity in this chapter?
Answer:
The stones of Urithiru serve as a powerful metaphor for memory and cultural identity. They whisper to Venli, urging her to “remember what you have forgotten,” triggering childhood memories of her mother’s songs and family bonds (pg. 934-935). This interaction highlights how memory is etched into both physical landscapes and personal identity—like “canals in stone.” The stones’ ability to retain impressions of Urithiru’s ancient past parallels Venli’s rediscovery of her Listener heritage, emphasizing how identity is shaped by both personal recollection and collective history. The chapter suggests that true self-knowledge requires reconnecting with these layered memories, as Venli does through the stones’ whispers and her mother’s preserved songs.2. Analyze the significance of Venli’s realization about Odium’s deception regarding Passion. How does this moment represent her character growth?
Answer:
Venli’s epiphany about Odium’s lies (pg. 935) marks a turning point in her moral development. She recognizes that while Odium claims to embody all Passions, his influence has systematically suppressed love—for family, friends, and mate—in favor of selfish ambition. This realization contrasts her childhood self, where “ambition and love had been like two sides of her face.” Her ability to critique Odium’s corruption of her people’s original songs demonstrates critical self-awareness. The moment is particularly poignant as she uses Odium’s own Light to practice Surgebinding while rejecting his emotional manipulation, showing her capacity to repurpose destructive systems for growth.3. How does the chapter use musical motifs to explore cultural preservation and resistance?
Answer:
Music serves as the primary vessel for cultural continuity in this chapter. Venli’s mother’s songs act as “chains, spiked into the stone” across generations (pg. 935), preserving Listener identity despite Odium’s influence. The climactic moment occurs when Venli rediscovers the tone of Cultivation mixed with Odium—a harmonic representation of cultural synthesis. This allows her to reshape stone into a sculpture of ancestors “striding away from war” (pg. 936), visually echoing their historical rejection of conflict through song. The text positions music as both an act of resistance (against Odium’s corruption) and preservation (of pre-Odium Listener values), with Venli becoming a living archive through her mother’s teachings.4. What political dynamics are revealed in Venli’s interaction with Leshwi, and how do they reflect larger conflicts among the Fused?
Answer:
The covert meeting between Venli and Leshwi (pg. 936-937) exposes layered power struggles. Their choreographed encounters—known to Raboniel but conducted secretly—mirror the “dance of politics” among Fused factions. The Pursuer’s placement of Regals named “Light” and “Mystery” at the Windrunner’s infirmary becomes a triple-layered threat: an overt warning from the Pursuer, a subtle message from Raboniel about her leverage, and a challenge to Leshwi’s authority. Leshwi’s calm response (“My authority extends far enough to protect them”) demonstrates her strategic patience, contrasting Raboniel’s “grander song” of ambition. This microcosm reflects macro-level conflicts over control, ideology, and the treatment of humans in the war.5. How does the chapter’s portrayal of stone as both permanent and malleable reinforce its thematic exploration of change?
Answer:
The stones paradoxically embody stability and transformation. While appearing “stable and unchangeable,” they actively reshape over centuries (pg. 936), mirroring Venli’s personal evolution. Their eagerness to yield to her hands and Surgebinding reflects Cultivation’s influence—growth through deliberate change. This duality extends to cultural memory: the mountain Ur was reshaped into Urithiru, just as Listener traditions were overwritten by Odium, yet both retain imprints of their origins. The stone sculpture of departing ancestors becomes a literal manifestation of this theme, freezing a moment of radical change in enduring material. The chapter ultimately suggests that true permanence lies not in stasis, but in the capacity to evolve while retaining core identity.
Quotes
1. “I remember so few of those centuries. I am a blur. A smear on the page. A gaunt stretch of ink, made all the more insubstantial with each passing day.”
This opening line sets the melancholic tone of Venli’s introspection, capturing her struggle with memory and identity. It introduces the chapter’s central theme of ancestral remembrance and personal legacy.
2. “Listeners were not like humans, who grew slow as trees. Listeners grew like vines, quick and eager.”
This quote beautifully contrasts Listener and human development, providing key cultural insight into Venli’s people. It underscores the chapter’s exploration of Listener identity and the passage of time.
3. “To her people, leaving the battlefield. Walking away rather than continuing to squabble over the same ground over and over. They hadn’t merely rejected the singer gods, they’d rejected the conflict.”
This pivotal moment reveals the core philosophy of Venli’s ancestors - their revolutionary choice to abandon war entirely. It represents the chapter’s most important historical revelation about Listener culture.
4. “Rock seemed so stable, so unchangeable, but if you saw it on the timescale of spren, it was always changing. Deliberately. Over centuries.”
This profound observation about stone’s hidden nature mirrors Venli’s own transformation. It encapsulates the chapter’s themes of gradual change and the deep time perspective of Roshar.
5. “Raboniel does not think like other Fused, Venli. She hears a much grander song. A skewed and twisted one, but one she seeks to sing without traditional regard for Odium.”
This insight into Raboniel’s complex motivations provides crucial foreshadowing. It represents the political intrigue subplot while maintaining the chapter’s musical metaphor framework.