You’ve probably heard the line a thousand times. "Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king." It is one of the most iconic openings in modern fantasy, but for a long time, we didn't actually know who this guy was. Most readers just saw him as a terrifying, gravity-defying slasher movie villain who cried while he cut people down.
But Szeth is way more complicated than just being a "bad guy" or a "broken tool." He’s a walking case study in what happens when a person’s entire moral compass is stapled to a rock.
If you’re trying to keep track of his journey from the King of Alethkar's hallway to the high-stakes events of Wind and Truth, here is the real story of the man who arguably broke the world of Roshar just by following the rules.
Why Szeth-son-son-Vallano Refuses to Use His Father’s Name
One of the first things people get confused about is his name. Why "son-son-Vallano" instead of just "son-Neturo"? In Shin culture, names carry the weight of your lineage. Szeth’s father was Neturo, and his grandfather was Vallano.
When Szeth was named Truthless, he was essentially disowned and erased from his immediate family tree. He wasn't allowed to call himself "son-Neturo" because doing so would bring shame upon his father, who was actually a pretty big deal in Shinovar (he reportedly held a Bondsmith Honorblade). By skipping a generation and calling himself "son-son-Vallano," he was using a more distant link to identify himself without directly dragging his father’s reputation through the mud.
It’s basically the ultimate "I have no son" move, but self-imposed. He felt so much self-loathing that he didn't think he was worthy of the name his father gave him.
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The Truthless Burden: It Wasn't Just About the Oathstone
Honestly, the most tragic part of Szeth’s early arc is that he was right all along. He was named Truthless because he claimed the Voidbringers were returning and that the Knights Radiant would come back. The leaders of his people, the Stone Shamans, called him a liar and a heretic.
They gave him an Oathstone and told him he had to obey whoever held it. Because Shin culture is built on absolute, terrifyingly rigid obedience, Szeth didn't just feel like he had to obey—he believed his soul would be destroyed if he didn't.
- He wasn't allowed to take his own life.
- He had to murder whoever his master told him to.
- He had to watch his masters die and then pick up the stone for the next person who found it.
Imagine being a good person who is told that "being good" means committing genocide because a rock said so. That's Szeth. It’s why he wore white—the color of parshmen and servants in some cultures, but for him, it was a warning. He wanted his victims to see him coming. He wanted them to have a chance to kill him so the nightmare would finally end.
The Skybreaker Turn and the Nightblood Problem
After Kaladin finally took him down at the end of Words of Radiance (and Brandon Sanderson famously tweaked the ending in later editions to make the death more "soul-death" than physical), Szeth was brought back by Nale, the Herald of Justice.
This changed everything. Szeth stopped following a stone and started following a person: Dalinar Kholin.
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But he also got a new toy. Nightblood. If you’ve read Warbreaker, you know this sword is a literal black hole of investiture that wants to "destroy evil" but doesn't actually know what evil is. For a man as mentally fractured as Szeth-son-son-Vallano, carrying a sentient sword that constantly asks to kill people is... not great for his mental health.
The Five Ideals of the Skybreakers
Szeth is currently a Skybreaker, an order of Radiants obsessed with law. But he’s doing it his way.
- First Ideal: Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.
- Second Ideal: He swore to seek justice.
- Third Ideal: He swore to follow Dalinar Kholin as his "law."
- Fourth Ideal: This required him to cleanse his homeland, Shinovar.
- Fifth Ideal: "I am the law." This is where he finally stops looking for outside validation and decides his own moral path.
What Really Happened in Shinovar?
For years, we only had snippets. We knew the Shin lived on the grass (which they consider holy/alive) and that they hate people who walk on stone. But the "flashback book," Wind and Truth, finally peeled back the curtain on his childhood.
Szeth wasn't always a monster. He was a "respectable" member of society. But he lived in a culture where the "Highprinces" of Shinovar were essentially holding the Honorblades—the weapons of the Heralds—and using them to maintain a false peace.
When Szeth started hearing the voice of Ishar (who he thought was a god), he realized the traditions were built on a lie. He tried to tell the truth. He tried to save his people. Instead, they took everything from him and turned him into the Assassin in White.
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The "Voice" he heard wasn't just madness; it was the actual, insane Herald of Luck/Justice/Everything-gone-wrong manipulating the Shin to keep the world from preparing for the True Desolation.
How to Understand Szeth’s Redemption
Can a man who killed hundreds of world leaders and thousands of innocent guards ever be "good" again? Dalinar thinks so, probably because Dalinar himself burned a whole city down in his youth.
Szeth’s redemption isn't about being "forgiven" by the world. Most of the world still wants him dead. It’s about him finally taking responsibility. For years, he said, "I didn't kill them, the stone did." Now, he has to look at his hands and admit he was the one holding the blade.
Actionable Takeaways for Readers
If you're catching up on the series or preparing for the final volumes of the first Stormlight arc, keep these things in mind:
- Watch his relationship with Nightblood. The sword is a parasite, but it's also the only thing that understands his "hunger" for justice.
- Don't ignore the Stone Shamans. They still have the other Honorblades, and they aren't happy that Szeth is back with a "heretic" like Dalinar.
- Pay attention to his Fifth Ideal. The transition from "I follow the law" to "I am the law" is the most dangerous and important moment in his character arc.
Szeth-son-son-Vallano started as a ghost story told to scare kings. He’s ending as the only person honest enough to admit that on Roshar, the law is often just a pretty name for whoever has the biggest sword.
If you want to track his progress accurately, re-read the Interludes in The Way of Kings after finishing Wind and Truth. You’ll see a completely different man in those early pages—one whose tragedy was written long before he ever picked up a Shardblade.