Leading up to the release of Rhythm of War, I reread the first three books of the series, along with Edgedancer. To make the reread a little more entertaining, I decided to see how many times the phrase "unite them" is repeated throughout the series, as it became something of a meme among my friends and myself. I wanted to see if my memory embellished the amount of times it happened.

So, without further ado, the Way of Kings. The Way of Kings featured the phrase "unite them" a total of 22 times, all of them said by Dalinar. As he didn't have a pov in all the parts, it's spread across the book. Eleven repetitions in part 2, eight repetitions in part 4 and three repetitions in part 5. The total word count of Way of Kings is 398 460 words. This means that with 22 instances of 44 words, Way of Kings is 0.011% unite them.

Moving on, Words of Radiance had only 5 repetitions of unite them. One in part 1, one in part 4, one in part 4's interludes and two in part 5. A rather pitiful showing, but interesting as it featured the phrase being used by people other than Dalinar. Navani with the first one, and Taravangian in the interlude. On the reread this felt like foreshadowing of the character's futures, and as the readers of Rhythm of War can tell, that future very much came to pass. The total word count of Words of Radiance is 419 485 words. With the 5 instances of 10 words, Words of Radiance is 0.0024% unite them.

Next up, Oathbringer. The first book to have a "unite them" in every part, a total of 12. Five repetitions in part 1, one repetition in part 2, one repetition in part 3, two repetitions in part 4 and three repetitions in part 5. Curiously, there is also a "unite us" from the stones of the temple in Thaylen City, but that doesn't count. With the word count of 481 980 words and 12 instances of 24 words, Oathbringer is 0.0049% unite them.

Finally, last but not least, Rhythm of War. Just kidding, it's the least, as Rhythm of War is the first book to be 0% unite them. Dalinar does do some cool uniting, though, which made me happy. But sadly, he didn't say the Words.

In summary, the phrase was repeated a little less than I remembered, but it's a good refrain and sticks with you for a long time. Navani's "order from chaos" struck a similar chord with me in Rhythm of War, so we'll see if those become her Words.

By this metric, Way of Kings is the best book and Rhythm of War is the worst. Anywho, thank you for coming to my Wit talk. Life before death.