Words of Radiance Quiz

Think you know every twist and revelation in Words of Radiance, the second volume of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive? This 20-question quiz spans the entire book — from Shallan's shipwreck to Kaladin's soaring Third Ideal, from the Shattered Plains to the corridors of Urithiru. Seventeen multiple-choice questions with plausible distractors and three short-answer synthesis prompts will challenge your recall of plot details, character motivations, and the novel's deeper themes.

Prefer a recap before diving in? Browse the full Words of Radiance chapter guide or explore frequently asked questions about the book. If the ending left you with questions, our ending explained breakdown may help.

Quiz Questions

Plot and Sequence (1–8)

1. What ultimately happens to the Wind's Pleasure after Jasnah is murdered by Ghostblood assassins?

a) The crew manages to sail it to the Shattered Plains
b) Shallan enters Shadesmar and Soulcasts the hull into water
c) A highstorm destroys it at sea
d) Pirates capture the vessel

2. Immediately after surviving the fall from the Pinnacle with Szeth, what does Kaladin do?

a) Ties a tourniquet and searches for Dalinar
b) Forces Stormlight into his Shardblade-severed hand, restoring it
c) Collapses unconscious from blood loss
d) Chases Szeth through the warcamp

3. What does Shallan discover by mapping the Shattered Plains in the chasms?

a) The location of the Parshendi gemheart vaults
b) That the Plains form a symmetrical pattern, likely created by an ancient weapon, with the Oathgate at the center
c) A hidden trade route to Jah Keved
d) That the chasmfiends are migrating away from the warcamps

4. During Adolin's disadvantage duel against four Shardbearers, how does Renarin intervene?

a) He summons his Shardblade and fights alongside his brother
b) He enters the arena unarmored and unarmed to distract one opponent
c) He heals Adolin with a hidden surge
d) He negotiates a new judgment with the highjudge

5. After the sinking of the Wind's Pleasure, how does Shallan make her way to the Shattered Plains?

a) She hikes across the Frostlands alone
b) She is rescued by a santhid and later travels with Tvlakv's slaver caravan
c) She uses Jasnah's spanreed to summon a rescue party
d) She stumbles upon a working Oathgate

6. At the post-expedition feast, how does Dalinar respond when his recorded visions are leaked and circulated with derisive commentary?

a) He denies the visions are authentic
b) He climbs onto a table, publicly owns the visions, and vows to publish them with proof
c) He arrests the scribes who altered the pages
d) He challenges Sadeas to a duel on the spot

7. At the Battle of Narak, how do the four Alethi armies escape the converging Everstorm and unexpected highstorm?

a) They outrun both storms on horseback
b) Shallan activates the Oathgate, transporting the entire plateau to Urithiru
c) Kaladin Lashes the army across a wide chasm
d) Eshonai surrenders and the Parshendi stop the storm

8. What situation immediately precedes Kaladin speaking the Third Ideal of the Windrunners?

a) He witnesses Dalinar about to fall to Szeth
b) Moash and Graves corner him and the wounded King Elhokar, and Kaladin refuses to let them pass
c) Syl appears in full form and commands him to speak
d) He defeats Szeth in aerial combat

Character Motivation (9–13)

9. What personal grievance drives Moash to conspire against King Elhokar?

a) Sadeas offers him a substantial payment
b) Elhokar imprisoned Moash's elderly grandparents on a false charge, and they died in the dungeons
c) Moash wants to claim the throne for himself
d) Amaram ordered the assassination to protect his own secrets

10. Why does Shallan infiltrate the Ghostbloods after killing Tyn?

a) She hopes to claim a share of their treasure
b) The Ghostbloods orchestrated Jasnah's murder and are connected to the threat against her family; she wants to uncover their secrets from within
c) Adolin asks her to spy on a suspected enemy of House Kholin
d) She genuinely wants to join their organization

11. What argument pushes Eshonai to accept stormform despite her deep longing for peace?

a) Her hatred of humanity outweighs all other considerations
b) Venli convinces her that human Surgebinders leave no viable path for the listeners except adopting forms of power
c) The Council of Five votes unanimously to force the transformation
d) A stormspren possesses her against her will during the highstorm

12. What drives Adolin to murder Sadeas in the corridors of Urithiru?

a) Sadeas attacks him with a hidden knife
b) Cumulative rage over the Tower betrayal, Sadeas's public mockery of Dalinar, and the man's promise to continue undermining House Kholin finally snaps his restraint
c) He is overwhelmed by the Thrill and loses control
d) Dalinar gives him a direct order to eliminate the threat

13. Why does Szeth continue obeying his oathstone and killing despite being haunted by his victims' screams?

a) He secretly enjoys the act of killing
b) He believes he is Truthless and that his oath of obedience is absolute, rendering his own moral judgment irrelevant
c) Shin leaders hold his family hostage to ensure compliance
d) A Voidspren compels him through supernatural means

Themes and Symbols (14–17)

14. What does the recurring countdown scratched onto the walls represent?

a) A random manifestation of the Stormfather's displeasure
b) The dwindling days until the Everstorm arrives and the era ends
c) Dalinar's remaining lifespan, foretold by a Death Rattle
d) The number of Parshendi who have adopted stormform

15. In Kaladin's character arc, what does breath symbolize?

a) His lifelong fear of drowning
b) The great equalizer — something shared by all people regardless of eye color, station, or freedom
c) The surgical techniques his father taught him
d) The Stormfather's personal gift to the Windrunners

16. What is the purpose of the Fleet parable Wit tells Kaladin in prison?

a) It gives a factual history of a legendary ship captain
b) It is an open-ended story about a runner who races a highstorm and continues even after death — Kaladin must decide its meaning for himself
c) It warns him to avoid traveling by sea
d) It provides tactical advice for defeating Szeth

17. How does light and illumination function as a symbol for Shallan throughout the novel?

a) It represents a childhood fear of darkness
b) Lightweaving allows her to craft illusions, but genuine illumination comes only when she confronts the traumatic truths she has repressed
c) It is simply a metaphor for her artistic talent
d) It symbolizes Jasnah's teachings about fabrial mechanics

Synthesis Questions (18–20)

Answer each in a few sentences.

18. Compare Kaladin's and Shallan's respective journeys toward accepting their Radiant identities. What internal obstacles must each overcome, and how does the novel resolve their struggles?

19. The discovery of Urithiru ties together several major character arcs. Identify at least three characters and explain how their individual quests converge on the lost city.

20. The concept of "truth" runs through Shallan's Lightweaving, Szeth's identity as Truthless, and the Vorin church's suppression of history about the Voidbringers. How does Sanderson use these three threads to develop a larger argument about the danger of hiding from truth?

Answer Key

Plot and Sequence

1. b) Shallan enters Shadesmar, locates the cognitive bead of the Wind's Pleasure, and persuades it to change into water as a final act of service. (Chapter 8)

2. b) Kaladin instinctively forces Light into his dead-seeming hand, restoring its life while Szeth flees in terror at the name "Windrunner." (Chapter 33)

3. b) Lost in the chasms with Kaladin, Shallan uses her perfect memory to map their path and realizes the Plains are a symmetrical pattern consistent with cymatics — an ancient destruction centered on the Oathgate. (Chapter 71)

4. b) Renarin, wearing no Plate and carrying no weapon, runs into the arena to pull one Shardbearer away, giving Adolin a brief reprieve. (Chapter 56)

5. b) A santhid saves Shallan from drowning, and after washing ashore, she stumbles into the camp of slaver Tvlakv, whom she persuades to transport her to the Shattered Plains. (Chapters 11–12)

6. b) Dalinar stands on a table, acknowledges the visions as his own, and declares he will publish them alongside supporting evidence. Wit later tells him he is a tyrant — benevolent, but still a tyrant. (Chapter 67)

7. b) Shallan recognizes the circular chamber as a giant fabrial requiring a living Shardblade, uses Pattern to activate the lock, and rotates the inner wall, teleporting the entire plateau and all four armies to Urithiru. (Chapter 86)

8. b) Kaladin, drained and weaponless, forces himself to stand between Moash—now in Shardplate—and the bleeding king. He whispers the Third Ideal, Syl transforms into a living Shardblade, and Stormlight erupts from him. (Chapter 84)

Character Motivation

9. b) Moash reveals to Kaladin that Elhokar imprisoned his elderly grandparents on a false charge and left them to die in the dungeons. This fuels his desire for vengeance, which he frames as justice for Alethkar. (Chapter 44)

10. b) The Ghostbloods hired Tyn to kill Jasnah and have been hunting Urithiru. Shallan, using Tyn's spanreed, accepts a meeting to learn more about the organization that threatens her family and murdered her mentor. (Chapter 34)

11. b) Venli argues that human Surgebinders — like the one who fought Szeth — mean the listeners cannot survive through conventional warforms. Eshonai, torn between peace and survival, consents to test stormform herself instead of risking Venli. (Interlude 1)

12. b) In Urithiru, Sadeas corners Adolin and boasts that he will continue undermining Dalinar indefinitely, claiming the Tower betrayal was a mercy. Adolin, unarmored, snaps and stabs Sadeas through the eye, then conceals the crime. (Chapter 89)

13. b) Szeth was named Truthless by the Shin Shamanate and given an oathstone. The oath compels absolute obedience to whoever holds the stone, and Szeth believes he has no moral standing to question orders. He later realizes this may have been a lie. (Interlude 10)

Themes and Symbols

14. b) The countdown — starting at sixty-two days and decrementing throughout the novel — marks the time until the Everstorm is summoned by the Parshendi in stormform, ending the current lull between Desolations. (Chapter 4 and recurring)

15. b) In the opening of Chapter 2, Kaladin contemplates breath as the great equalizer — shared by lighteyes and darkeyes, free men and slaves. This idea underpins his belief that all people deserve protection. (Chapter 2)

16. b) Wit plays music that guides Kaladin to envision Fleet's race. When Kaladin supplies the ending that Fleet dies, Wit offers an alternative: Fleet's body falls, but his soul rises and continues the race forever. Wit refuses to interpret the tale, telling Kaladin the meaning is his to decide. (Chapter 59)

17. b) Shallan's Lightweaving enables her to craft visual illusions, but the Order requires speaking truths about oneself to progress. Her arc hinges on confronting the memory of killing her mother with a Shardblade — a truth she has buried for years. (Chapters 88 and throughout)

Synthesis

18. Kaladin's obstacle is moral: he distrusts lighteyes and is tempted by vengeance through Moash's assassination plot. His bond with Syl weakens as he makes conflicting promises. He resolves this by speaking the Third Ideal — protecting even those he hates — in the moment he defends Elhokar from Moash. Shallan's obstacle is psychological: she has repressed the truth that she killed her mother in self-defense with a Shardblade. Pattern forces her to relive the memory, and she finally accepts it, unlocking her full Lightweaver abilities. Both characters must face their deepest pain to progress as Radiants.

19. Jasnah's scholarship identified Urithiru as the key to proving the Voidbringers' return, and her notes guide Shallan's cartographic work. Shallan's mapping of the Shattered Plains reveals the Oathgate's exact location, and she activates the portal to save the Alethi armies at Narak. Dalinar's visions from the Almighty command him to unite the Radiants, and Urithiru becomes their physical headquarters. Renarin's budding Truthwatcher abilities surface there, and Kaladin transports himself and the rescued Elhokar to the tower. The city is the nexus where all four new Radiants — Dalinar, Kaladin, Shallan, and Renarin — stand together for the first time.

20. Shallan's Lightweaving literally operates on truth: she must speak increasingly difficult truths about herself to advance her powers. Szeth's entire identity is built on the Shin Shamanate's decree that he is Truthless, but he eventually accepts that the decree was false, freeing him from a lifetime of obedience to lies. The Vorin Hierocracy actively suppressed knowledge that the Voidbringers were the parshmen, leaving Roshar unprepared for the Everstorm. Sanderson builds a layered argument: hiding from truth — whether personal trauma, institutional lies, or doctrinal suppression — enables suffering and destruction. Embracing truth, however painful, is the precondition for growth and preparation.

Ready for more? Explore the complete Words of Radiance guide or see how the ending sets up the series in our ending explained article.