Editing User:WeiryWriter/Jezrien

{!{character

|image={{symbol|{{PAGENAME}}|e}}

|parents=[[Jezrien]]

|titles={{tag+|herald}},<br>Herald of Beauty,<br>Patron of the [[Order of Lightweavers|Lightweavers]]

|world=Roshar

|books=[[The Stormlight Archive]]

}}{!{spoilers|book=sa2}}

{{quote|A woman sits and scratches out her own eyes. Daughter of kings and winds, the vandal.|A [[Death Rattle|death rattle]] collected on Palahevan 1173, 73 seconds pre-death, by the [[Silent Gatherer]]s.<br>Subject was a beggar of some renown, known for his elegant songs.{{epigraph ref|sa1|55}}}}

'''Shalash''', also known as '''Ash''', is one of the ten [[Herald]]s of [[The Almighty]] on [[Roshar]].{{book ref|sa1|prologue}} She is known as the Herald of Beauty.{{book ref|sa2|30}} She serves as the patron of the [[Order of Lightweavers]] and is associated with the divine attributes of "Creative" and "Honest".{{book ref|sa1|part=ars}}

She is the daughter of the Herald [[Jezrien]].{{qa ref|1034|26|Is Shalash Jezrien's daughter?|date=Sep 24th, 2013}}

She is [[Baxil]]'s mistress.{{17s ref|post|204063|It is confirmed that Shalash is Baxil's mistress|date=Dec 10th, 2014}}

==Appearance and Personality==

She has dark skin and long black hair. Her eyes are a faint violet, so faint as to be almost white, and lack epicanthic folds. She is also described as being tall and lean as well as being exceptionally beautiful.{{book ref|sa1|i|7}}

During her time as Baxil's mistress she never wears traditionally female clothing, such as dresses or skirts, preferring instead sleek and tight trousers. She also wears a thin-bladed sword.{{book ref|sa1|i|7}}

She dislikes thievery, however she has no issues with breaking into the dwellings of the rich to destroy art. Her destruction of said art appears to be a perversion of her divine attribute of "Creative" and may be a symptom of her forsaking of the Oathpact. She does not want the destruction to be "too easy". She is also very private and does not appreciate being asked "prying" questions.{{book ref|sa1|i|7}}

==History==

===Heraldic Epochs===

;Formation of the Oathpact:

Shalash was chosen by the [[Shard]] [[Honor]] to be one of his Heralds, this relationship was the formation of the [[Oathpact]] and as part of it Shalash received one of the [[Honorblade]]s in exchange for her service.{{ref|name=oathpact}}{{qa ref|1112|18|Why was the base form of Shardblades chosen to be blades?|date= Apr 16th, 2014}} The circumstances of how this came to be is unknown, however there are stories about [[Proving Day]], where the Heralds faced difficult, if not impossible, tasks to prove themselves.{{book ref|sa1|5}}

;Cycle of Desolations:

Following the formation of the Oathpact, Shalash and the other Heralds spent several thousand years helping the people of Roshar fight the [[Voidbringer]]s in battles called [[Desolation]]s. Preceding each Desolation the Heralds would return to Roshar and have a short time to prepare them for said Desolation, teaching them any necessary technology they may have lost in the intervening time. The level of technology the Heralds returned to varied with each Desolation, in some cases the Rosharans had not progressed past the Stone Age.{{book ref|sa2|i|7}}{{url ref|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D3GtHHLISdbzugzdUGeiNzLHgWKnDpi-dTmCzl4VsFY/edit?usp=sharing|text=WoR Portland signing|date=Mar 7th 2014|site=Google Docs}} At the end of each Desolation, if Shalash did not "die", she, along with any other surviving Heralds, was required to leave Roshar and return to what is believed to be [[Damnation]] or risk triggering another Desolation.{{qa ref|1080|10|What caused a Desolation to end?|date=Mar 19th, 2014}}

Between Desolations Shalash, along with the other Heralds, was tortured in a fiery place that is believed to be [[Damnation]] or [[Braize]]. Presumably, the longer they are able to withstand the torture the longer the interval between Desolations will be.{{book ref|sa1|prelude}}

Some time later the [[Knights Radiant]] were founded to help preserve knowledge between Desolations.{{book ref|sa2|i|7}}{{book ref|sa2|63}} Shalash served as the Patron for the Order of Lightweavers.

===Era of Solitude===

;Breaking of the Oathpact:

Following [[Aharietiam]], the "Last" Desolation, Shalash and the other Heralds, excluding [[Talenel]] who had fallen in battle, decided to forsake the Oathpact and abandoned their Honorblades. They were less successful in breaking the Oathpact than they believe.{{ref|name=oathpact}} They lied to the the people of Roshar, telling them they had "won" and went their separate ways.{{book ref|sa1|prelude}}

;The Vandal:

Roughly four and a half thousand years after Aharietiam, Shalash is traveling the world destroying art, in particular depictions of herself. Sometime prior to the Assassination of King [[Gavilar Kholin]] of [[Alethkar]] she infiltrated the royal palace in [[Kholinar]] and destroyed her statue.{{qa ref|1040|4|Is Baxil's Mistress destroying statues of the Herald Shallash?|date=Sep 24th, 2013}} At the feast the night of the assassination Shalash's fellow Herald, [[Nale]], and an unidentified man remark that she is getting "worse".{{book ref|sa2|prologue}}

In the year 1173, five years after Gavilar's assassination, Shalash infiltrates the palace of [[Ashno|Ashno of Sages]] in [[Emul]], assisted by [[Baxil]] and [[Av]], where she destroys a great deal of art.{{book ref|sa1|i|7}}

Sometime prior to [[Gawx]] becoming Prime of [[Azir]], she also infiltrates the [[Bronze Palace]] in [[Azimir]] where she defaces a mural of the Heralds, scratching out her face.{{book ref|sa2|i|9}}

==Abilities and Attributes==

[[File:Herald Glyph Shalash.svg|thumb|150px|A stylized depiction of Shalash's honorblade]]

===Surgebinding===

As part of the Oathpact, Shalash was given one of the Honorblades which grants access to Surgebinding for those who bond it. Her blade grants the Surges of Illumination and Transformation.

;Illumination:

The Surge of Illumination allows Shalash to create illusions through [[Lightweaving]].

;Transformation:

The Surge of Transformation allows Shalash to transmute material into one of the [[Ten Essences]] through [[Soulcasting]].

===Longevity===

Shalash has had her life extended far beyond that of an average human through unknown means. This has allowed her to live through thousands of years of [[Desolation]]s as well as the 4,500 years between Aharietiam and the coming of the Everstorm and potentially beyond.

===Other Attributes===

She has unusually good hearing.{{book ref|sa1|i|7}}

==Trivia==

Shalash is currently planned to be one of the focus characters in the "back five" of ''[[The Stormlight Archive]]''.{{17s ref|post|245061|Chicago Firefight Signing|date= Feb 20th, 2015}}

== Notes ==

<References>

{{qa ref|name=oathpact|1080|15|How many parties were there to the original Oathpact?|date= Mar 19th, 2014}}

</References>

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