The Most Important Step as Oathbringer's Symbol of Redemption

What Is the Most Important Step?

The phrase “What is the most important step a man can take?”—first posed by the ancient king Nohadon in a dream-like vision—matures into a defining mantra for Dalinar Kholin and the entire novel. It is not a physical object but a riddle that crystallizes the story’s philosophy of incremental progress, self-acceptance, and redemption. Throughout Oathbringer, the question evolves from an abstract puzzle to a personal code: the most important step is the next one. This symbol anchors Dalinar’s darkest moment, provides the courage to reject Odium’s demand for his pain, and ultimately becomes the written credo of the memoir that shares the book’s title.

Origin of the Question: Nohadon’s Vision

In chapter 115, while Dalinar reels from days of self-destructive drinking and fractured memories, he slips into a surreal vision. He walks beside Nohadon in a sunlit market where the ancient king haggles for grain, tips scales to satisfy a merchant, and speaks of the unfairness of life and the weight of ruling. When Dalinar confesses he feels like a hypocrite and a warmonger, Nohadon counters that a hypocrite is simply a person in the process of changing. As Dalinar’s inner torment materializes as a thunderclast of stone and dread, Nohadon suddenly asks, “What is the most important step a man can take?” The vision shatters, leaving the question unanswered and Dalinar shaken but beginning to recall the memories that booze had buried.

The question’s origin is thus intimate and philosophical, not a commandment from divinity but a whisper that seeds Dalinar’s eventual transformation. It arrives alongside Nohadon’s insistence that principles are defined by what they cost—a foreshadowing of the price Dalinar will have to pay to embrace the answer.

Dalinar’s Initial Hesitation: The First Step

When Dalinar wakes sober in chapter 119, he replays the dream and reaches the logical surface answer. “What was the most important step a man could take? The first, obviously. But what did it mean?” he wonders. At this stage, he interprets the symbol as the initial move toward action—the decision to stop drinking, to rejoin the coalition war councils, to take up leadership again. Yet he knows that “this recovery… wasn’t a redemption.” The first step feels insufficient because it cannot erase Rathalas, cannot silence Evi’s screams, and cannot guarantee he will not collapse again.

Consequently, the motif initially represents the daunting start of a journey. The first step implies hope, but Dalinar’s lingering fragility exposes its limitations. The question nags at him precisely because he suspects that answering “the first” does not solve the problem of ongoing failure. The motif’s true depth remains hidden until he confronts the full magnitude of his past.

The Climactic Answer: The Next Step

The revelation occurs in chapter 133 during the battle of Thaylen Field. Odium forces Dalinar to relive his worst atrocities, including the murder of his wife Evi, while the Thrill pounds through him. Odium insists that Dalinar caused all the pain and begs him to surrender it—so that the god can own the blame and use Dalinar as his champion. The Way of Kings is incinerated by lightning. Dalinar stands shattered, alone, clutching a bleeding fist.

Inside that fist, a single gloryspren appears. The inner voice crystallizes: “The most important step a man can take. It’s not the first one, is it? It’s the next one. Always the next step, Dalinar.” In that instant, the symbol’s meaning flips. It is no longer about a single heroic beginning but about the continuous choice to move forward despite atrocity and grief. Accepting the next step means owning the pain rather than handing it to Odium. Dalinar speaks the words that define the climax: “You cannot have my pain.” The rejection triggers Honor’s Perpendicularity, fusing the three realms into a pillar of Stormlight and declaring “I am Unity.” The next step becomes the engine of his Bondsmith oath and the core of his redemption and self-forgiveness.

Kaladin’s parallel struggle with the Fourth Ideal echoes this necessity. In chapter 120, windspren swirl around him as he nears his next oath, yet at Thaylen City he cannot speak the Words, crushed by the knowledge that he cannot protect everyone. His arc, too, hinges on taking the next step rather than achieving a perfect state. The motif thus spreads across Radiant progression; each ideal is not an endpoint but another stride on an endless journey.

Weaving the Motif into the Memoir

After the battle, Dalinar, now learning to read and write, starts the memoir Oathbringer. In its preface he codifies the lesson: “The ancient code of the Knights Radiant says ‘journey before destination.’ … But if we stop, if we accept the person we are when we fall, the journey ends. That failure becomes our destination. … the most important step a person can take is always the next one.” The symbol transitions from a private revelation to a public manifesto. By inscribing it, Dalinar accepts his own continuous growth and offers the same possibility to others. The act of writing itself—a skill forbidden by Vorin tradition—is his literal next step, transforming literacy into a mark of defiance against fixed identity. He titles the work Oathbringer, My Glory and My Shame, confirming that his glory and shame are inseparable parts of the journey, not final verdicts.

Thematic Connections and Character Parallels

The most important step interlaces with major themes across Oathbringer.

• Redemption and Self-Forgiveness: Dalinar’s mantra proves that redemption is not about erasing past sins but progressing while carrying them. He does not forgive himself in a single dramatic gesture; he works toward it step by step.
• The Weight of a Leader’s Soul: Nohadon’s discussion about the cost of principles and Dalinar’s eventual acceptance of his burden show that leadership requires continuous accountability, not a flawless start.
• The Reinterpreted Past: Dalinar reclaims his memories not as permanent condemnation but as steps he has already taken, which he can now use to fuel the next one.
• Unity versus Division: Dalinar’s internal unification—acknowledging both the monster and the man—predicates his attempt to unite Roshar. The next step philosophy turns division into a necessary feature of a long journey.

Kaladin’s stalled Fourth Ideal, Shallan’s gradual integration of her personas, Adolin’s admission of murder and refusal of the throne, and Venli’s tentative teaching of parshmen heritage all reflect the same principle: each character must keep moving, however imperfectly. The symbol thus becomes a unifying thread, embodying the Radiant ideal that the journey never ends, and that the true failure is not stumbling but stopping.

Study Questions

1. What literal event first introduces the question “What is the most important step a man can take?”
   In chapter 115, Dalinar dreams of walking with Nohadon in a market. While discussing the burden of leadership, Nohadon poses the question just as a thunderclast representing Dalinar’s pain attacks, ending the vision without an answer.

2. How does Dalinar’s understanding of the step shift from chapter 119 to chapter 133?
   In chapter 119, after emerging from a week of drunkenness, Dalinar assumes the answer is “the first one”—the beginning of action or sobriety. By chapter 133, during Thaylen Field, he realizes the answer is “the next one,” the continuous choice to move forward despite atrocity, which empowers him to reject Odium and declare “You cannot have my pain.”

3. What role does the gloryspren play in Dalinar’s realization of the next step at the climax?
   As Odium overwhelms him, Dalinar finds a solitary gloryspren in his bleeding fist. The spren accompanies the inner words: “It’s not the first one, is it? It’s the next one.” The gloryspren—a manifestation of honor—reinforces that the decision to keep stepping, not a singular heroic act, is itself the glory.

4. How does Dalinar’s memoir Oathbringer embed the symbol of the most important step?
   In the preface, Dalinar writes that “journey before destination” requires accepting stumbles and failures, and he explicitly states that “the most important step a person can take is always the next one.” The writing of the memoir itself constitutes his own next step, turning his personal revelation into a lasting lesson and confirming his commitment to continual growth.