Bridge Four

Bridge Four
by Isaac Stewart
World of Origin	Roshar

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Bridge Four is the name of a bridge crew belonging to Highprince Sadeas's army, which is used to transport bridges so that soldiers could cross the chasms of the Shattered Plains. Infamous for being the worst crew, it does not have a stable leader until Kaladin Stormblessed is transferred into the unit.

Under Kaladin's leadership, Bridge Four transfers to the control of Highprince Dalinar Kholin, where it becomes a military unit, but chooses to retain the name of Bridge Four as an homage to its past. In this capacity, Bridge Four acts as the personal guard of Highprince Kholin, royal guard to King Elhokar Kholin, premier spearman platoon of the bridge crews, and headquarters platoon for the bridge crew battalion.

Their insignia, designed by Kaladin, is made up of the glyph vev (meaning the number four) suspended above the glyph gesheh (meaning bridge), stylized as a bridge spanning a chasm.^{[citation needed]}

History

Notorious for its bad luck, Bridge Four seldom kept a bridgeleader for more than a few days and almost always took the highest casualties on bridge runs.

A transfer to Bridge Four was often used as a punishment for bridgemen, and the existence of a group worse off than themselves was a mental control used by Sadeas' men on the rest of the bridge crews. As a result of this, the bridgemen in bridge four knew that nothing worse could be done to them, and put no effort into anything. They didn't tell each other their names or anything else about themselves.

Upon arrival at the bridge yard in Sadeas' war camp Kaladin managed to earn the immediate enmity of Gaz, the bridge sergeant in charge of the bridge crews, who then placed him in Bridge Four. They will still face resistance to turn their luck, for example, Sadeas has ordered the wounded men of Bridge Four to not receive food or pay for the duration of time they can't run bridges.[4]

Changes under Kaladin

Kaladin spent several weeks in the bridge crew before deciding to give leading and protecting one more try. Once the decision had been made he quickly turned Bridge Four around, and through his efforts it became the best of the bridge crews, taking the fewest casualties, treating its wounded and training for escape.

The Battle of the Tower

During the Battle of the Tower Bridge Four rescued Highprince Dalinar Kholin resulting in Dalinar buying the freedom of all the bridge crews, placing Kaladin in command of all bridgemen that choose to become soldiers, and requesting Bridge Four as personal bodyguards.

Bodyguards

As Highprince Dalinar's personal bodyguards, Bridge Four members guard both the Highprince and his family. They consider Dalinar as the priority, as Kaladin believes that the highprince is their only guarantee of freedom. Their policy is to have a team lead by a Bridge Four lieutenant, if not Kaladin himself, watching the highprince at all times, while others guarded his sons or carried out other responsibilities as officers of Kaladin's battalion.

Initially they were given Cobalt Guard uniforms, but they rejected the idea of being part of the Cobalt Guard. A Bridge Four insignia was later made to replace the Cobalt Guard insignia that they had cut off from their uniforms.

Tattoos

Bridge Four Tattoos

All Bridge Four members except Kaladin have glyphs for "Freedom" and "Bridge Four" tattooed on their person. The "Freedom" glyph is usually a mark of a freed slave.

In Alethi society, slaves were branded on their forehead to make their status quite apparent to anyone who sees them. A freed slave would be given a writ of freedom, but he could also cover his slave brand with a tattoo indicating that he has been freed in order to make this more apparent.

When Kaladin had a tattooist apply a Freedom tattoo to Bridge Four members who were former slaves, Hobber insisted on adding "Bridge Four" glyphs as a statement that Bridge Four gave him freedom. The rest of the former slaves copied him. As a gesture of solidarity, even those who never had a slave brand proceeded to have the same tattoo as well, although Moash opted to have the tattoo placed on his upper arm.

During Kaladin's turn, somehow the ink kept on melting away the moment he used Stormlight. This is why Kaladin, whose own slave brand has not been healed even after using Stormlight for so long, does not have the "Freedom" and "Bridge Four" tattoos.

Quotes

“ It appeared that he'd been wrong. There had been something more they could do to him. One final torment the world had reserved just for Kaladin. And it was called Bridge Four. ”

— Kaladin's thoughts after his first Bridge Run

“ Kaladin had not been assigned to Bridge Four by chance. Out of all the bridge crews, Bridge Four had the highest casualty rate. That was particularly notable, considering that average bridge crews often lost one-third to one-half of their number on a single run. ”

—

“ As they hefted their bridge, a spontaneous round of cheering rose up from the other crews. "That's new," ... "Guess they finally realized what we are," Kaladin said. "And what's that?" ... "We're their champions. Bridge forward!" ”

— Kaladin to Teft on the marching off for the Battle of the Tower

Notable Members

For a full list of members, see Category:Bridge Four.

Bridgeleader Kaladin

Squadleaders Rock Teft Skar Moash Sigzil

Members Adis Amark Arik Corl Dabbid Drehy Dunny Eth Gadol Hobber Earless Jaks Koolf Leyten Lopen Malop Mart Maps Murk Narm Pedin Peet Renarin Rlain (a.k.a. Shen) Torfin Yake

Notes

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