Editing Venli

{{character
|image=Venli.png
|parents=[[Jaxlim]]
|siblings=[[Eshonai]]
|spouse=[[Demid]]
|abilities=[[Regal|Forms of Power]], {{tag+|willshaper}}
|bonded=[[Timbre]]
|titles=The Last Listener{{book ref|sa4|11}}<br />Voice of Lady Leshwi{{book ref|sa4|11}}<br />Voice of the Lady of Wishes <small>(former)</small>{{book ref|sa4|104}}<br />Voice of Odium <small>(former)</small>{{book ref|sa4|14}}
|species=singer
|nation=listener
|world=Roshar
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[The Stormlight Archive]]
}}
{{update|sa4}}
{{quote
|I feel like a relic. Already I seem like a cast-off ruin from a nearly forgotten day.
|Venli{{book ref|sa3|i|11}}
}}

'''Venli''' is a [[listener]] scholar in [[Narak]] and [[Eshonai]]'s sister. During the [[True Desolation]], she bonds with [[Timbre]] and becomes a [[Surgebinder]] of the [[Order of Willshapers]]. 

== Appearance and Personality ==
{{image|Venli Portrait - Envoyform by Marie Seeberger.jpg|side=left|width=200px|[[Envoyform]]}}
{{for|/Gallery|more images}}

{{quote
|Why should I continue to obey your orders, spren? You should obey me.
|Venli to [[Ulim]]{{book ref|sa3|i|3}}
}}

Venli is slender, with a thin face and red-and-white marbled skin. She wears her hair long, down to her waist, and ties it in three places. Her eyes are dark and glassy like all [[singer]]s, though they appear violet in the right light. During the [[War of Reckoning]], she utilizes nimbleform as a substitute for the undiscovered scholarform.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}} She later changes into [[stormform]] for the [[Battle of Narak]], making her bulkier and taller, and smiles often while wearing it.{{book ref|sa2|i|13}} Following the battle, she transforms into [[envoyform]].{{book ref|sa3|i|7}} In that form, she has visible breasts and is extremely tall, taller even than the [[Alethi]] humans.{{book ref|sa3|i|6}}{{book ref|sa3|109}}

In any form she has, Venli seems to tend towards the fatalistic, putting the odds of things like the war ending or her own survival at rather low.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}{{book ref|sa3|109}} While she wishes she had the power to fight, she does not consider herself to be skilled in this regard, and being on a battlefield distresses her.{{book ref|sa3|i|6}}{{book ref|sa3|115}} On the other hand, she's highly ambitious, and by and large does not care about the plight of her people, so long as she gets what she wants -- power and recognition.{{book ref|sa3|i|11}} To that end, she can be extremely manipulative and deceitful; however, when those goals, and the respect they'd give her, are threatened, she grows angry.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}} She seems jealous of her sister and her position, and tries to take over once the two are both in stormform.{{book ref|sa2|i|11}} It remains unclear how much of Venli's ambition came from having Ulim, a Voidspren, inside of her gemheart for a long period of time.

Eshonai's death is a massive catalyst of change in her.{{book ref|sa3|i|1}} Over time, Venli comes to understand how horrid her actions have been and their true cost, and regrets them deeply, beginning to care about the other singers and their plight. She acknowledges her responsibility for causing the [[Everstorm]] to be summoned, and admits that this was an awful thing to do.{{book ref|sa3|i|11}}{{book ref|sa3|121}} However, she retains her prideful streak, and will not accept any compromise with humans.{{book ref|sa3|109}}

== Attributes and Abilities ==
{{image|Venli - XVI. The Tower .jpg|With her [[spren]]|side=right|width=200px}}
{{quote
|Venli's eyes always seemed to have an extra depth of secret knowledge to them.
|[[Eshonai]]{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}
}}

Venli is a highly skilled scholar and researcher; she has managed to create a functional writing system from scratch and has discovered, among others, the [[nimbleform]], as well as [[stormform]].{{book ref|sa2|i|1}} She can think on her feet and make snap decisions.{{book ref|sa3|i|6}} She also has some ability as a craftswoman, having constructed and decorated the home where she and her family lived in [[Narak]].{{book ref|sa2|i|1}} She doesn't, however, have much in the way of combat skills; though she mentions having used an axe before, it's unclear whether it was in battle, and she's unfamiliar with swords.{{book ref|sa3|115}}

=== Forms ===
As a [[singer]], Venli has a [[gemheart]], and can bond with different [[spren]] to attain different forms.

In [[nimbleform]], Venli is agile and precise, as well as keen-minded. Assuming [[stormform]] makes her significantly stronger and tougher, almost enough to rival a person wearing [[Shardplate]]. It also lets her shoot red lightning from her hands.{{book ref|sa3|i|11}} Those abilities go away once the [[envoyform]] is thrust upon her, though she grows even taller. Instead of casting lightning, she gains the ability to speak and understand any language, both human and singer, on [[Roshar]]. She also mentions having other, lesser gifts, though those are unspecified.{{book ref|sa3|i|7}}

=== Surgebinding ===
With envoyform being one of the forms of power, Venli has a [[voidspren]] in her gemheart; however, she's also bonded with [[Timbre]], a [[Reacher]], making her a [[Willshaper]].

Though the voidspren within Venli's gemheart remains there, Timbre has it trapped. This allows Venli to retain her envoyform abilities and switch between red and normal eyes at will, letting her blend in with Odium's forces.{{book ref|sa3|120}}

== History ==

=== Early life ===
Venli is the sister of [[Eshonai]], and though her age is unclear, she is younger by a year.{{book ref|sa4|83}} When the two were children, Venli would often stay at home and help their mother, [[Jaxlim]], while Eshonai travelled.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}} Both sisters wore [[workform]] at the time. At some point, Venli and [[Demid]] became mates, and though the relationship did not produce any children, they remained together even after changing into different forms.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}

Eventually, Venli settled into the role of a scholar. After the listeners first made contact with humans, she created a written script, recognizing the value of recording information on paper. Venli received gemstone from [[Axindweth]] which contained [[Ulim]]. {{book ref|sa4|52}}Over the next five years, she and her team wrote down all listener song and stories to be preserved and cross-referenced. Through this, they also discovered nimbleform. Venli took it on and joined listener leadership as its representative.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}} 

{{image|Venli-Coad.png|In [[stormform]]|side=right|width=250px}}

=== War of Reckoning ===
{{quote
|The daughter of traitors. Then a traitor to her own kind.
|[[Raboniel]] about Venli{{book ref|sa4|14}}
}}
On the day of the peace treaty with the [[Alethi]] and the [[Assassination of Gavilar]] Kholin, the Alethi king, Venli and another listener, [[Klade]], were informed by the [[Herald]] [[Nale]] that Gavilar intended to betray the listeners; he directed her to purchase [[Szeth]], which led to the killing.{{book ref|sa3|prologue}}{{book ref|sa4|77}} Following that event, Venli and Ulim worked together on discovering new forms.{{book ref|sa3|i|6}} Though she claimed to Eshonai that she was researching mediationform to treaty with humans, in reality, Venli sought to capture a [[stormspren]] and unlock the associated [[stormform]].{{book ref|sa2|i|4}}{{book ref|sa2|i|11}}{{book ref|sa3|i|6}}

Upon succeeding, Venli intended to test the form herself, and was angry when [[The Five]] decided to let Eshonai do it instead. Though they did so out of concern, fearing the loss of Venli and her talent if the form turned out to be defective, she was jealous, and thought that her sister was distrusting her, and trying to steal her discovery.{{book ref|sa3|4}} After Eshonai's thoughts got altered by the stormform and she began to enact the plan to transform all listeners, Venli also reacted badly, believing her strategies to be too aggressive. She intended to seize control from her sister, and suggested killing the listeners who refused to adopt the new form.{{book ref|sa2|i|11}}

{{image|Choose a Side.jpg|Venli and [[Dalinar]] in the latter's vision|side=left|width=200px}}

=== True Desolation ===
{{quote
|How long can you keep being two people, Venli? How long will you vacillate?
|Venli imagining what Eshonai would think of her{{book ref|sa3|i|11}}
}}

After the [[Everstorm]] was created, Venli, led by Ulim, sought to find her sister, gone missing during the battle. She was heartbroken upon finding Eshonai dead, and stunned when Ulim told her that he only sought the [[Shardplate]] she'd been wearing at the moment of her death. The event somehow unlocked her ability to attune to the old, pre-stormform Rhythms. While stripping the Shardplate off Eshonai, Venli also spotted a strange [[spren]] escaping from underneath the corpse.{{book ref|sa3|i|3}}

When nine listeners were chosen by Ulim to receive "new forms," Venli and Demid were among them. In the Everstorm, the [[Fused]] replaced their souls and possessed their bodies, with the sole exception of Venli. [[Odium]] himself protected her, and she was given [[envoyform]] instead. After realizing that the others were effectively dead, Venli once more spotted [[Timbre|the strange spren]], and hid it from the Fused.{{book ref|sa3|i|6}}

Afterwards, Venli became Odium's chief propagandist, first in [[Kholinar]], then in [[Marat]], telling the tragic tale of the listeners who, according to the new narrative, sacrificed themselves to free the [[Parshmen]] of their mindless slavery. During that time, she was kept apart from other singers to maintain her mystique; in lieu of contact with her people, she began chatting at her mute spren, whom she nicknamed [[Timbre]]. At Timbre's urging, she finally admitted that summoning the old gods was a horrible mistake, and that she wished she could be like her sister.{{book ref|sa3|i|7}}{{book ref|sa3|i|9}}{{book ref|sa3|i|11}}

While she was in Marat, [[Dalinar Kholin]] pulled her into one of his visions, and attempted to negotiate; Venli, however, refused all overtures of peace. The conversation was cut short by [[Odium]] breaking into the vision space, with Dalinar managing to send Venli out just before his arrival.{{book ref|sa3|109}} After that event, Venli boarded one of the ships heading to [[Thaylen City]].{{book ref|sa3|i|12}}

{{image|Envoyform Venli by Marie Seeberger.jpg|side=right|width=250px|At the Battle of Thaylen Field}}

=== Surgebinder ===
During the [[Battle of Thaylen Field]], Venli remained mostly out of the fighting, serving as a translator.{{book ref|sa3|115}} She accompanied Odium to witness Dalinar's presumed fall from grace.{{book ref|sa3|118}} After he managed to recover and summon [[Honor's Perpendicularity]] instead, she crept away and returned to the ships, where she swore the [[Immortal Words|First Ideal]], bonding with [[Timbre]] and becoming a [[Surgebinder]]. This allowed Timbre to live inside her [[gemheart]] and capture the [[voidspren]] there, letting Venli retain her Odium-derived red eyes.{{book ref|sa3|120}}

Following the battle, Venli remained on the Thaylen ships. Upon hearing the former [[Parshmen]] note that they have no idea who their people are, she decided to tell them the real story of the [[listener]]s.{{book ref|sa3|121}}

=== Urithiru ===
Venli was brought along with [[Raboniel]] and a scouting troop of ''makay-im'' during the invasion of [[Urithiru]] to serve as her Voice. Upon the initial seizure, she was attacked by a human soldier, and killed him in a panic. Afterwards, both she and Timbre attuned the [[Rhythm|Lost]], although Raboniel merely admonished her to carry a knife in the future.{{book ref|sa4|37}}

While she was the Voice of Raboniel, Venli regularly reported to [[Leshwi]]. Raboniel was aware of this, and offered to have someone deliver the reports for her in order to save time.{{book ref|sa4|92}}

After learning that [[secretspren]] and [[chaosspren]] didn't work, she realized that she could practice her powers as a Willshaper without being caught, and did so in a secluded corner of the tower.{{book ref|sa4|67}}

{{sidequote
|Don't make this harder than it already is. I'm not here to help the humans. I can barely help my own kind.
|Venli to Timbre{{book ref|sa4|41}}
|side=left|size=250px
}}

After discovering that [[Rlain]] was still alive, she went to Raboniel to request his freedom. Before she could do so, though, [[Mraize]] entered the room with [[Lift]] in a cage, giving her to Raboniel as a gift in exchange for access to the Oathgates. Venli, discomforted by this, left to fetch Rlain. On her way there, she attempted to swear the Second Ideal of the Willshapers, swearing to free those in bondage, but [[Cultivation]] did not accept them. Upon further reflection, she realized that she couldn't truly swear such an Ideal after having just seen a human child in a cage.{{book ref|sa4|60}}

Upon hearing that [[Kaladin]] was free and in the tower, she went to Leshwi to plead protection for [[Lirin]] and [[Hesina]], as both Venli and Leshwi knew that the [[Pursuer]] wouldn't hesitate to use them in a bid to lure him into a fight. Leshwi granted this request, and Venli used this opportunity to bring Lirin to tend to the unconscious Radiants. While visiting them with Rlain, [[Dabbid]] arrived, telling the four that Kaladin was asleep and wasn't waking up. Venli realized that Lift would likely be able to heal him, and used Cohesion to free her, hoping that the Fused would assume that a human Stoneward had survived. Instead of telling Rlain, Lirin, and Hesina that she was a Surgebinder, though, she claimed to have a Shardblade.{{book ref|sa4|83}}

While serving as an interpreter between Raboniel and [[Regals]] coming to deliver reports, Raboniel and Venli discussed the listeners. Venli admitted shame at being the one directly responsible for her people's downfall, asking Raboniel why there couldn't be peace. Raboniel commended her on her service and gave her a writ of authority and a map showing a settlement of listeners on the Shattered Plains. Venli realized that it might be the group that had refused stormform before the [[Battle of Narak]], and when Rlain found her crying, she told him the entire story of what she did. Rlain attuned Betrayal, a decision that she called smart, and he said that they should attempt to save the Radiants before seeking out the other listeners. She disagreed with this, and told [[Dul]] and [[Mazish]] that it was time to leave.{{book ref|sa4|96}}

As Venli waited with Dul and Mazish for an Oathgate transfer to Kholinar, Timbre expressed disappointment that Venli was abandoning the Radiants. Ignoring this, Venli walked to the front of the line to find out what was taking so long, and discovered that [[Vyre]] had left to meet with Raboniel, taking with him the only Blade that the Fused had that was capable of working the Oathgates. Venli moved everyone inside and decided to smuggle Kaladin and his family out with herself, Dul, and Mazish, who agreed that it was a good idea. They headed for the atrium, where they found Kaladin fighting the Pursuer. Although Kaladin forced Lezian to retreat, Vyre dropped [[Teft]]'s corpse on him, and Venli attuned the Lost as he grieved. The Pursuer attacked him again, and after killing him, Kaladin headed toward Venli. She feared that he was coming for her, but instead, he attacked the "shanay-im" holding his father.

{{image|Venli and Timbre by Laurys L.jpg|With her [[spren]]|side=right|width=200px}}
Venli watched as the humans desperately defended the Radiants against the Pursuer's troops, and at Timbre's urging, revealed her status as a Radiant to Leshwi. Contrary to Venli's expectations, she was overjoyed, and asked Venli if Timbre knew of an honorspren named Riah. Venli relayed the message that most of the old spren were killed in the Recreance, but despite this, the fact that the spren had forgiven the singers was enough to convince Leshwi that the Radiants must be protected, and she joined the humans in fighting Lezian's troops.{{book ref|sa4|107}}{{book ref|sa4|109}} During the fighting, Rlain arrived in the atrium, setting up a triage in the aftermath of the battle. He took command, telling the group that they should head for an Oathgate on the misconception that Venli had a Blade. She quickly disabused him of this notion, and while he was contemplating what to do, Kaladin, having just sworn the [[Knights Radiant#Immortal Words|Fourth Ideal]], arrived and activated the Oathgate to the Shattered Plains for them.{{book ref|sa4|109}}{{book ref|sa4|114}}

After leaving the tower, Venli located the listener settlement on the map, finding that [[Thude]] and Jaxlim, among others, were still alive. Although the group treated Venli with suspicion, and in some cases, outright hostility, they allowed her through to see her mother, who was the only one besides Venli herself who remembered the songs. Having brought a Reacher in the hope that it would heal her mind, Venli began to sing the Song of Mornings, Jaxlim's favorite of the old songs. Just when Venli was about to lose hope, Jaxlim recognized her, and Cultivation finally accepted her Words.{{book ref|sa4|115}}

== Trivia ==
* Venli is the focus character of ''[[Rhythm of War]]'', with the flashbacks split between her and [[Eshonai]].
* Brandon planned to kill off Eshonai and put more emphasis on Venli from very early on in the story's development, having always considered her to be the more interesting of the two sisters.{{wob ref|11666}}
* At present, Venli is one of only three [[singer]] viewpoint characters in the [[Stormlight Archive]], alongside her sister and [[Rlain]].

== Notes ==
<references />
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{{Stormlight}}
[[category: viewpoint characters]]