The Way of Kings and Leadership

This year I wanted to tackle one of the 1000+ page books on my to-read list. The choices were The Count of Monte Cristo or The Way of Kings. As you have probably guessed based on the title of this post, I chose The Way of Kings. I had previously read some of Sanderson’s books and enjoyed them thoroughly. Specifically, I read, of the Cosmere books, the first 3 Mistborn books, Elantris, and The Emperor’s Soul as well as the first 3 Alcatraz books among the non-Cosmere books. I enjoy his writing and have no issue with his “simple” prose. I see what people mean when they refer to his prose as “simple” but I, for the most part, find it makes the book easier to read which allows me to enjoy the story and the fantastic characters and setting. These 1000+ pages did take awhile to get through but I actually think the “simple” prose helped me get through the sheer number of pages. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and think it is one of the best books I have ever read (and the second book is supposed to be even better???). One of the main themes explored in the book is leadership (A book called The Way of Kings is about leadership??? *gasp*) and it is explored using the characters as they fight at the Shattered Plains. One of the ideals which some of the characters uphold are the Alehti Codes of War. In The Way of Kings, those who follow the codes are good leaders while those who do not follow them are not.

One of the main locations in the story is the Shattered Plains. The plains are made up of many plateaus which are traversed by using bridges, either permanent ones or temporary ones which are carried and laid across the chasms. On the plains a war called the Vengeance Pact is being fought to avenge the assassination of the previous king of the Alethi, Gavilar. The Parshendi have taken credit for the assassination and all of the Alethi highprinces have made their way to the plains to exact their revenge against the Parshendi. Although that was the original reason for coming to the plains, most of the highprinces have lost sight of this goal and instead compete against one another in order to win wealth and fame. They refuse to try and work together to actually take down the Parshendi and exact their revenge. Instead they squabble over gemhearts, despite one of the highprince’s insistence on working together.

Dalinar is one of the Highprinces at the Shattered Plains. He is probably one of the few people in this story who could be considered honorable. He is one of the only highprinces who does not see the war as a game to compete in for personal gain and power. One of the ways that he upholds his honor is adhering to the Altethi Codes of War; they state

1. Readiness- The officer will be prepared at all times for battle. Never drunken on wine, never without his weapon.
2. Inspiration – The officer will wear his uniform when in public, to look ready for war and to give strength to his troops.
3. Restraint – The officer will refrain from needless duels, arguments or squabbles with other officers in camp, to prevent injury to men who may be needed to command.
4. Leadership – The officer will require no action of his soldiers that he would not be willing to perform himself.
5. Honor – The officer will not abandon allies on the field, nor will he seek to profit from the loss of his allies.

These rules are important to Dalinar and he requires that all of his officers follow these rules despite some being reluctant to do so. This is in contrast to the other highprinces who do not follow the codes at all. Instead they see Dalinar’s obsession with following them to be prudish and condescending, as if Dailnar is looking down on the other highprinces. The irony is that we know that these are good traits for leaders to have and the fact that the highprinces mock them shows how they are not good leaders.

The next character at the Shattered Plains who has some amount of honor is Kaladin. Kaladin is the son of a surgeon and trained under his father with the intent to become a surgeon himself one day. When he was younger, he did yearn for the glory of a soldier wielding a spear in battle but eventually decided to be the surgeon that his father wanted. Unfortunately he wasn’t given much of a choice. He eventually ended up in Brightlord Emaran’s army which eventually led to him becoming a slave and ending up as a bridgeman in Saddeas’ army at the Shattered Plains. After surviving several bridge runs, Kaladin is “promoted” to bridgeleader and gets “command” of the bridgecrew. At first there isn’t much to command and no one listens to him, despite his title, but through his hard work he eventually builds a respectable crew. He does this by following and enforcing the Codes in his bridgecrew.

1. Readiness – Kaladin’s crew is always the first to be ready for a bridge run due to their organization and preparation
2. Inspiration – The bridgemen take pride in their uniforms and make sure they are in good condition
3. Restraint – Kaladin wants to enforce this but decides to let them spend their meager pay how they want, even if it is on booze or whores. He, himself, doesn’t waste his money on these things.
4. Leadership – Kaladin runs at the front of the bridge on bridge runs
5. Honor – Kaladin tries to save everyone he can with his skills as a surgeon and refuses to leave the wounded men on the field despite orders to do so

By upholding the codes of war, Kaladin creates a well-trained and disciplined crew, so much so that they end up becoming more respectable than the “actual” soldiers in Sadeas’ camp. It’s almost funny how Kaladin’s crew, who are considered the lowest and worst members of society, are more respectable than the lauded members of a highprince’s army.

One of the people who does not follow the Codes is Sadeas. Sadeas is one of the highprinces at the Shattered Plain but is very different from Dalinar. At first it seems like Sadeas is at least a little receptive to Dalinar’s ideas about leadership and the Codes and even says that he is willing to listen to some excerpts from The Way of Kings. This is just a ploy, however, since Sadeas has no honor and follows none of the points from the codes.

1. Readiness – Sadeas and his men are slow to assemble for battle and, eventually, are outdone by Kaladin’s crew
2. Inspiration – Sadeas is always concerned with fashion and it is frequently noted what he is wearing
3. Restraint – Sadeas does not care what his solders do and allows all forms of debauchery in his camp
4. Leadership – Sadeas makes the bridgemen run without armor and sits behind his honorguard during battle, making sure to stay a safe distance away from the most intense fighting
5. Honor – Sadeas orders the bridgemen to leave their wounded since it would be “a waste of resources” to care for them

The contrast between those with honor and those without, is stark and almost jarring. Sadeas is the worst of the highprinces and clearly demonstrates how the lack of honor and leadership will lead to destruction. This ploy eventually leads to him trying to get Dalinar killed on the battlefield. His lack of honor pushes him so far away from the need to come together under one banner that it actively works against it by literally getting the people who are supposed to be your allies killed.

In The Way of Kings, leadership plays an integral role and dictates how some of the characters handle themselves and their men. We have Dalinar, the only one of the highprinces who seems to have any honor remaining. Kaladin, a slave who still clings to his honor even as he faces tragedy after tragedy. And finally Sadeas, who has forsaken his honor in order to rise and gain as much power as he can. Two of these three leaders made a choice to hold to their honor in spite of the hardships because they feel it is important and will lead to greater results, while the other snuffs at the idea. Because of their choice to follow the Alethi Codes of War, Dalinar and Kaladin are good leaders while Sadeas is not.

This took a long time to write but I’m glad I tried to do something other than my usual book review. While reading The Way of Kings, I had several ideas regarding leadership and honor and I wanted to try to express some of them in this essay. There is actually a lot more that I didn’t include here, both about the book and about leadership and honor, but I couldn’t think of a good way to include it. Things like paragraphs about the Shin and Horneater cultures’ revulsion to war, and using the Althei Codes of War to analyze Straff and Elend Venture in the Mistborn books. Maybe I will use the notes for another post where I try and explain my writing process. I have a very formulaic approach to writing, which I believe my college English professor described as “simple? (I forget the exact word) but effective”. Either way, I am glad I wrote this and I look forward to reading more of the Stormlight Archive in the future. I also look forward to being able to work on some more book reviews without this task looming over my shoulder. 😅