Jenny Dolfen

Mental health (The Dog and the Dragon)

Added 2025-01-27 20:14:06 +0000 UTC

So, one of the reasons why Stormlight Archive hit such a huge nerve with me is the way it treats mental health and illness. For some very personal reasons.

The year is 27 days old, and out of my family of four, three of us have been to doctors or in hospital for mental health emergencies. Not a good way to start the year. It's been a rough four weeks.

These books have helped. All of us. My daughter had already told me "The Dog and the Dragon" was her favourite chapter not just of Rhythm of War, but of all five books. I then told it to my husband and my son. It's a story that Wit tells Kaladin when he's at his darkest and most desperate, and boy, does it hit. I encourage you to read it - it's a little long, but beautiful. Especially the two endings.

There is some incredible dialogue around this story. After Wit has finished, and tells Kaladin he can't uphold this bubble away from pain and despair any longer and that Kaladin has to go back there, Kaladin asks him, "Will it get better?”

Wit tells him it will. And then it'll get worse again. And then, it'll get better again. This was such a simple and incredible wisdom that I couldn't believe I needed it spelled out that way, but I did. As with Wit's next words: "You will be warm again."

Yes and well, of course I had to draw it. Hey, I get to draw a mental health themed pic with a dragon! And a cute fluffy dog, in a story that has neither dogs nor dragons (and indeed, when Wit tells Kaladin the title of the story, Kaladin responds, "the what and the what?!")