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The Way of Kings, Chapters 63-65: Dalinar's Final Vision Before Gavilar's Death

Image: Courtesy of the publisher

By

Newsela Staff

Recommended For

middle - middle

Words

690

Text Level

8

Published

2025-09-01

In this passage from The Way of Kings, The Way of Kings, Chapters 63-65: Dalinar's Final Vision Before Gavilar's Death, readers encounter a pivotal moment that illuminates the novel's central themes.

Kaladin begins the novel as a bridgeman — a slave whose only function is to carry bridges to allow soldiers to cross the chasms of the Shattered Plains. Bridgemen are used as arrow fodder: run forward, expose the enemy's archers, be killed so the real soldiers can cross safely. Kaladin's arc is built around a question Sanderson takes seriously: how does a person maintain moral agency and care for others when the system they are trapped in is designed to kill them?

Dalinar Kholin is a highprince — a military commander and one of the most powerful men in the Alethi army — who has begun experiencing visions during highstorms. The visions show him the ancient Knights Radiant, a legendary order of warriors who held Roshar together before mysteriously disbanding. Dalinar's challenge is not physical but epistemic: how do you trust what you have seen when everyone around you believes you are losing your mind?

Shallan Davar's sections in The Way of Kings take place far from the Shattered Plains, at a Rosharan university where she is trying to apprentice herself to Jasnah Kholin, a brilliant and skeptical scholar. Shallan needs Jasnah's access to resources her family is desperate for — but to get it, she is planning a theft. Sanderson uses Shallan to explore the relationship between talent, deception, and the self-image we build to survive difficult circumstances.

The caste system of Alethi society — Darkeyes below, Lighteyes above — is not incidental to The Way of Kings. It is the structural condition that makes every injustice in the novel possible. Lighteyes have authority over Darkeyes by law, and this authority is treated as natural and divine. Kaladin's arc is in part a direct challenge to this system: his abilities exceed those of the Lighteyes who outrank him, and the system has no way to account for that without undermining itself.

Lesson 35: The Stormfather's Visions — Who Gets to Know History? Sequence

Post the learning objectives. Open with a brief activating prompt — a quick write, turn-and-talk, or a single discussion question connected to where students left off in their reading.

Transition students to the day's first task by naming what they will be doing and why it matters for their growing understanding of the unit's central themes.

Model the focus skill using a think-aloud with an excerpt from the anchor text. Name each analytical move explicitly.

Check for understanding with a quick signal. Address misconceptions before moving to independent or collaborative work.

Release students to the main task. Circulate purposefully — listen in on partner conversations, ask probing questions about character motivation and theme, and provide targeted feedback.

Pull a small group if exit ticket data from the previous lesson flagged a skill gap. Keep the rest of the class working independently with their annotated texts and graphic organizers.

Bring the class together. Ask a student to restate the day's objective in their own words and name one thing they learned from today's reading or discussion.

Distribute exit tickets. Collect before students leave and use responses to plan next steps.

Students complete any unfinished work from the Learning in Action task or reread the assigned passage, adding at least two additional annotations focused on the lesson's target skill.

Post the learning objectives. Open with a brief activating prompt — a quick write, turn-and-talk, or a single discussion question connected to where students left off in their reading.

Transition students to the day's first task by naming what they will be doing and why it matters for their growing understanding of the unit's central themes.

Model the focus skill using a think-aloud with an excerpt from the anchor text. Name each analytical move explicitly.

Check for understanding with a quick signal. Address misconceptions before moving to independent or collaborative work.

Release students to the main task. Circulate purposefully — listen in on partner conversations, ask probing questions about character motivation and theme, and provide targeted feedback.

Pull a small group if exit ticket data from the previous lesson flagged a skill gap. Keep the rest of the class working independently with their annotated texts and graphic organizers.

Bring the class together. Ask a student to restate the day's objective in their own words and name one thing they learned from today's reading or discussion.

Distribute exit tickets. Collect before students leave and use responses to plan next steps.

Students complete any unfinished work from the Learning in Action task or reread the assigned passage, adding at least two additional annotations focused on the lesson's target skill.