Difference between revisions of "Dalinar Kholin"
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In the present day, Dalinar Kholin is a man defined by duty, striving to act in a honorable and righteous manner.{{book ref|sa3|122}} He is, however, keenly aware of his own failings in this regard, and his tendency towards the extreme. He seeks out causes that he can believe in and which he can dedicate himself to, such as the [[Alethi Codes of War]] or ''[[The Way of Kings (in-world)|The Way of Kings]]''.{{book ref|sa1|64}} He considers the latter in particular to be a particularly important part of his current self, as it was the book that began to heal him following his brother's death, and it's this book he constantly refers to for advice.{{book ref|sa3|105}}{{book ref|sa3|115}}
Dalinar considers himself wholly a soldier and general with no talent for back-room politicking.{{book ref|sa1|69}} He is unflinchingly honest and straightforward, preferring to speak plainly rather than engage in any delicate diplomatic dance.{{book ref|sa3|12}} He has a bad habit of trusting people, such as [[Torol Sadeas]] and [[Amaram]], based on prior association, to the point of ignoring even the most obvious alarm signs.{{book ref|sa3|69}}{{book ref|sa3|58}}
Dalinar cares little for social propriety, considering the opinions of others to be wholly irrelevant to himself so long as they don't actually impede his actions.{{book ref|sa3|12}}{{book ref|sa3|67}} He doesn't, however, deal well with not being in control; he finds the idea of events important to him being impossible for him to influence distressing, and has a bad habit of going over regular chain of command to claim power for himself.{{book ref|sa3|65}}{{book ref|sa3|4}}
Over the next year, Dalinar won his own Shards. His Plate he won in combat that involved kicking a man off of a cliff. The Plate was still new to him when the war took them to [[Rathalas]], otherwise known as the Rift, where Brightlord Tanalan rules. Dalinar knew that Tanalan had a Shardblade, and in the ensuing battle, he went straight to Tanalan to kill him and win the Blade. He defeated Tanalan but Tanalan's body was taken away by his men before the Shard appears. Dalinar tracked down the place where Tanalan was taken and found Tanalan's widow, and Tanalan's young son holding the Shardblade. Dalinar takes the Blade but can't find it within himself to kill Tanalan's family. After the battle, Gavilar tells Dalinar that the Blade he won is [[Oathbringer_(Shardblade)|Oathbringer]], the sword that belonged to the legendary Alethi conqueror, [[Sadees]] the Sunmaker.{{book ref|sa3|11}}
A year later, the war had started to slow down and the Kholins were looking for allies. They turned to [[Rira (country)|Rira]] and [[Iri]]. They negotiated with [[Toh]] and [[Evi]], a Westerner Brightlord and his sister. During one of their initial meetings, Dalinar impressed them by walking about in a highstorm and stopping an assassin from killing Gavilar in a notably casual manner.{{book ref|sa3|19}}
Two years after that, the war was still on going. Dalinar and Evi were betrothed, not yet married. Dalinar led the attack against Highprince [[Kalanor]], intent on winning the Shards that Kalanor held. While in the battle, Dalinar gets so caught up in the Thrill that he didn't realize he killed Kholin men during the assault. Dalinar killed Kalanor in single combat, winning his Shards, but the Thrill was so strong in him that when Gavilar approached him afterwards, Dalinar went after his own brother with the intent to kill him. Only when Gavilar took off his helm and smiled at him did Dalinar snap out of it. Deeply ashamed of himself, Dalinar gifted Gavilar the Shards he had just won. He swears to himself that he must never be king.{{book ref|sa3|26}}
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