Szeth Quotes 💬

Manually posting quotes from passages involving Szeth. Quotes will be taken from all published books of the Stormlight Archive. Be ware of spoilers

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

Announcement:

I think I should point out that I won’t post passages from any readings or previews of Stormlight 5 until the book releases. RoW spoilers are one thing, but I won’t spoil something that is in draft, unfinished, and unpublished. SA5 Szeth quotes can wait for 2 years

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

Szeth inspected the dead convicts, and found them as dirty as the one he had fought, though two weren’t nearly as emaciated.

There was a prison economy, Szeth thought. Food went to those in power while others were starved.

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

At the town, he approached the beefy nobleman, who was trying to make small talk with Master Ki—failing spectacularly. Nearby, other members of the town were debating the ethics of simply executing murderers, or holding them and risking this. (1/2)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

Szeth picked his way carefully down the rocky slope to the town, careful not to drag the sword. Whatever Nin’s reasons for entrusting him with the weapon, it was a holy object.

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

He passed the small town where the master Skybreakers waited, then hiked up the hillside to the prison. The dark block of a structure overlooked the Purelake, but the beautiful vantage was wasted; the place had barely any windows.

(1/4)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

I see, he thought, kneeling beside the fallen man. Yes. This test was indeed a curious one.

Outside, he noted some of the squires returning to the town with corpses in tow, though none of the other hopefuls seemed to have found anyone. (3/4)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

Szeth rose and walked up the coast, back toward the town.

Aren’t you going to search for other criminals?

“I needed only one, sword-nimi, to test what has been told to me and to learn a few important facts.”

Like how smelly convicts are?

“That is indeed part of the secret.”

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

And after Shashara made me, she argued with Vasher, saying I could be a poet or a scholar. Like a man, right?

Shashara? That sounded like Shalash, the Eastern name for the Herald Shush-daughter-God. So perhaps this sword’s origin was with the Heralds.

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

That was cruel, the sword said. Leaving him to drown.

“Better than feeding him to a greatshell,” Szeth said. “That happens to criminals in this kingdom.”

Both are cruel, the sword said.

“You know of cruelty, sword-nimi?”

(1/3)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

Vivenna used to tell me that cruelty is only for men, as is mercy. Only we can choose one or the other, and beasts cannot.

“You count yourself as a man?”

No. But sometimes she talked like she did. (2/3)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

Not long ago, he had danced with a Windrunner at the front of a storm. Today, he fought in shallow water against a half-starved man.

Oh, how he missed the sky.

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

“Did someone work with you in your escape?” Szeth asked. “One of the local nobility, perhaps?

“What?” the man sputtered. “Oh, Vun Makak. What have you done to me? I can’t feel my arms, my legs...”

“Did anyone from the outside help you?”

(1/4)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

“Oh, Nu Ralik...” the man said, crying. “We shouldn’t have killed the guard. I just wanted...wanted to see the sun again....”

Szeth dropped the man back into the water. He stepped onto the shore and sat down on a rock, breathing deeply. (3/4)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

I suppose that will do, the sword said. Really, you should have just used me in the first place.

Szeth shook himself. Had he killed the fellow after all? Szeth knelt and pulled him up by his matted hair. The convict gasped, but his body didn’t move. Not dead, but paralyzed.

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

Curious. Szeth stepped back as the convict came up looking gleeful, holding the weapon.

Szeth punched him across the face, his arm leaving a faint afterimage. He grabbed the sheathed sword, ripping it from the weaker man’s hands. (1/3)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

Though the weapon often seemed too heavy for its size, it now felt light in his fingers. He stepped to the side and swung it—sheath and all—at his enemy.

The weapon struck the convict’s back with a sickening crunch. The poor man splashed down into the lake and fell still.
(2/3)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

The weapon sank into the water. Szeth splashed to his feet, turning to face the winded, dirty convict.

The man glanced at the submerged, silver sword. His eyes glazed, then he grinned wickedly, dropped his knife, and dove for the sword.

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

He threw off the criminal, who was weak and scrawny. The man tried to grab the knife—which was clearly visible beneath the surface—while Szeth rolled the other direction to gain some distance. (1/3)

[Szeth Quotes 💬 @SzethQuotes]

Unfortunately, the sword on his back got caught between the stones of the lake bottom, and that caused him to jerk back to the water. Szeth growled and—with a heave—ripped himself free, breaking the sword’s harness strap.

(2/3)