Ketek

The Way of Kings: Endnote

A ketek is a complex form of a holy Vorin poem which reads the same forward and backward (allowing for alteration of verb forms), and is also divisible into five distinct smaller sections, each of which makes a complete thought.

The complete poem must form a sentence that is grammatically correct and (theoretically) poignant in meaning. Because of the difficulty in constructing a ketek, the structure was once considered the highest and most impressive form of all Vorin poetry.

Examples

“	Radiant of birthplace, the announcer comes, to come announce, the birthplace of the Radiants.	”
–Allahn, referring to Urithiru*

“	Above silence, the illuminating storms - dying storms - illuminate the silence above.	”
–An illiterate dying Herdazian

Glyphs from Navani's Notebook
Drawing by Isaac Stewart

“	Alight, winds approach deadly approaching winds alight.	”
–Navani

“	You, always about dreams. My soul weeps. Farewell, weeping soul. My dreams ... about, always, You.	”
–Navani, for Gavilar

Oathbringer Endnote in Women's Script
Drawing by Isaac Stewart

“	Burdens, Our Calling. Songs of Home, a knowledge: Knowing a Home of Songs, called our burden.	”
–Ketek written by El, Fused scholar of human art forms, to commemorate the restoration of the Sibling. Poem is curious in its intentional weighting of the last line, where Alethi poets traditionally weight the center word and build the poem around it. Singers, it can be seen, have a different interpretation of the art form.**

Notes

*Jasnah believed that Allahn, along with others, mistook the home of the Knights Radiant (i.e., Urithiru) as their birthplace.

**This ketek celebrates the return of the Sibling.

Trivia

The abbreviated titles of the novels of The Stormlight Archive collectively form a ketek (i.e., TWoK, WoR, O, RoW, KoWT).

With the release of the tentative title of the fifth book, the abbreviated titles no longer form a prefect ketek (i.e., TWoK, WoR, O, RoW, WaT). One theory is this could be due to perfect symmetry in names being considered heresy in Alethi culture.