Eleven years earlier, Dalinar returns to camp wounded but resolute, orders truce envoys from Rathalas shot, and conspires with Sadeas to keep Gavilar uninformed while they act decisively. Against protests about night fighting, Dalinar orders oil and fire prepared, intending to burn the city as a lesson for rebellion.

Kholin troops seize a section of the wall through bloody effort, then soak upper tiers with oil and ignite them. Dalinar leads elites to the old hidden tunnel, now reinforced, cuts it open with Oathbringer, and has it fired to purge anyone hiding within. As flames consume the city from the rim, he has Tanalan the younger hauled up by rope while the man’s family screams below; Dalinar refuses rescue, declaring himself an “animal” and pressing the punishment.

Sadeas reveals archers also burn the city’s lower egress per Dalinar’s earlier order, making escape impossible; sections collapse, taking the palace and Tanalan’s family. Dalinar deems they’ve gone too far, but cannot stop it. When Dalinar moves to execute Tanalan, the man reveals Evi was imprisoned in the tunnel Dalinar burned. Dalinar strangles him in horror, then fails to reach the inferno. Later, Evi’s burned body is found. Scribes assume treason, but Dalinar insists otherwise, orders a cover story that she was assassinated, and frames the city’s destruction as retribution. Bereft of the Thrill, he is left with guilt and the screams of the dead in his mind.