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{{quote|It strikes me that religion—in its essence—seeks to take natural events and ascribe supernatural causes to them. I, however, seek to take supernatural events and find the natural meanings behind them. Perhaps that is the final dividing line between science and religion. Opposite sides of a card.|Jasnah on why she researches Voidbringers{{book ref
'''Jasnah Kholin''' (<small>Alethi pronunciation:</small> [[Wikipedia:Help:IPA|[ˈjas·nɐ xoˈlɪn]]] [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Pronunciation_respelling_key|'''''<small>YASS</small>'''-nah kho-'''<small>LIN</small>''''']]) is an [[Alethi]] princess on [[Roshar]]. She is a [[Surgebinder]] with access to the [[Surge]]s of transformation and transportation. She is the sister of King [[Elhokar Kholin|Elhokar]], daughter of the late King [[Gavilar Kholin|Gavilar]] and [[Navani Kholin|Navani]], and niece of Highprince [[Dalinar Kholin|Dalinar]]. She is known widely as a brilliant scholar and for her denunciation of [[Vorinism]].{{book ref
== History ==
=== Early Life (1139—1167) ===
Jasnah Kholin was born in {{date|1139|EoS}} to Gavilar and Navani Kholin. Her brother, Elhokar, was born eight years later in {{date|1147|EoS}}.{{book ref
She wrote Gavilar's account of his first meeting the [[Parshendi]] in {{date|1166|EoS}}.{{book ref
=== The Research (1167—1173) ===
==== Parshendi Betrayal ====
She attended the feast that was held in the [[Kholinar]] Palace after the treaty with the Parshendi was signed in {{date|1167|EoS}}. While walking to a meeting with an assassin named [[Liss]] with the intention of having Elhokar's wife, [[Aesudan Kholin|Aesudan]], killed, she noticed her [[Spren|shadow]] behaving oddly which discomfited her. She walked past Highprince [[Torol Sadeas|Sadeas]] and a [[Shinovar|Shin]] [[Szeth-son-son-Vallano|servant in white clothing]], and subsequently came across her father and [[Meridas Amaram]] having a quiet conference. Once Amaram left, Jasnah asked Gavilar what he commanded Amaram, but Gavilar deflected the question and hastily left Jasnah, leading her to wonder if he knew about her plans regarding Aesudan. Walking onwards, Jasnah's shadow again acted oddly, and this time, formed into a man-shaped oily blackness with an unsheathed sword. In panic, Jasnah went into [[Shadesmar]] for the first time, and there the shadowy figure sheathed its sword in satisfaction, and Jasnah fell into the sea of glass beads. Before being drowned, she managed to find the glass bead corresponding to the Kholinar Palace, and using that as her guide, willed herself to rise to the surface. She stood upon a platform made of glass beads locked together. From the beads, she formed the corridor she stood in in the [[Physical Realm]], and when the shadowy figure stepped onto her platform with its sword drawn, she formed a statue of [[Talenel|Talenelat'Elin]]. She confronted the figure, and it saluted her by raising two fingers to its head and bowing. After this, Jasnah returned to where she was in the Physical Realm, to find the spheres lining the walls of the hallway without [[Stormlight]].{{book ref
She managed to compose herself, and hurried to her appointment with Liss. Once there, she decided not to go through with assassinating Aesudan, and instead ordered Liss to take a job as one of Aesudan's maids, and watch her only. Once the meeting was concluded, Jasnah asked about the servant Liss wanted to show off, but Liss answered that she had sold Shin servant to a slaver weeks ago for being too good a servant. Hearing that the servant was Shin, Jasnah recalled the servant in white clothing she'd seen earlier, and decided to check into him.{{book ref
While getting back to the party, the music coming from above stopped, leading Jasnah to wonder if the party was over. She ran into two ambassadors from the west, and was made uncomfortable by the one with a silver birthmark on his cheek. Abruptly, screams replaced where the beat of drums had sounded, and Jasnah immediately ran toward them, fearing for her family's safety. The sounds led to her father's chambers, and the way was littered with corpses with burned eyes and the walls marked by [[Shardblade]] cuts. She eventually reached a balcony and saw her father in his [[Shardplate]], called to him and made him hesitate. The balcony broke beneath Gavilar, and Jasnah saw the servant she'd seen before fall down with her father. The Shin man somehow changed direction in the air, and fell onto the wall, completely ignoring gravity. While crying to herself, Jasnah was approached by three Parshendi, [[Klade]], [[Gangnah]] and [[Varnali]]. They took responsibility for the assassination, and told Jasnah they were sorry for her loss but that Gavilar was about to do something very dangerous and had to be stopped. Sadeas stumbled in, saw what happened, and ran toward Gavilar's corpse with his guards.{{book ref
Hours later, they discovered that the assassination and the surrender of the three covered the escape of the rest of the Parshendi in the palace. Dalinar sent a hundred cavalry after them, but they were killed to the last man and horse. The three Parshendi didn't say anything more, and were all hanged. Jasnah interrogated the surviving King's guards and Liss about the Assassin in White, but got almost nothing. Next, she started looking through the books to explain what she had seen that night.{{book ref
==== Travels ====
After the death of her father, she started drawing parallels between the Parshendi and the [[Voidbringers]].{{book ref
In {{date|1172|EoS}}, she received a letter from [[Shallan Davar]], asking for wardship. She replied Shallan to meet her in [[Dumadari]] in two weeks time, though she didn't really expect her to make it. She spent the next six months traveling from town to town, leaving notes for Shallan when she left so the young woman could follow her. She eventually reached [[Kharbranth]] in {{date|1173|EoS}}.{{book ref
==== A New Ward ====
She found out King [[Taravangian]]'s [[Taravangian's granddaughter|granddaughter]] was trapped in one of the palace rooms after an highstorm caused a boulder to fall down from the walls, blocking the way in. Taravangian asked for Jasnah's help, to free his granddaughter by [[Soulcasting]] the stone. Jasnah accepted to help, in return for free admittance to the [[Palanaeum]]. Shallan Davar, a prospective ward, caught up with her at this point and Jasnah evaluated Shallan's knowledge. Once they reached the boulder that had trapped the king's granddaughter, Jasnah Soulcast the stone into smoke, causing the newly formed smoke to explode because of the difference in density of rock and smoke. After this, she informed Shallan that she wasn't good enough to become her ward. Jasnah left Shallan behind and went to the Palanaeum.{{book ref
She spent the next two months studying and teaching Shallan, in particular having her study the events around the death of King Gavilar, to some frustration from Shallan.{{book ref
Few days later, she found Shallan and [[Ardent]] [[Kabsal]] in their alcove while he was showing Shallan the [[cymatics|cymatic]] patterns for the four cities of Kholinar, [[Vedenar]], [[Thaylen City|Thaylen]] and [[Akinah]] as a proof of the [[Almighty]]'s existence. Jasnah didn't show surprise by his demonstration, and asked if he could the cymatic pattern for [[Urithiru]] as well, to which Kabsal answered Urithiru was a fable. She was rude to him, and even insulted him and the [[ardentia]] in general. Once Kabsal left, she told Shallan that he wasn't really interested in her, and was only getting close to Shallan, in order to turn her against Jasnah, and get her to steal Jasnah's Soulcaster.{{book ref
Eventually, she started trusting Shallan enough to use her as a bathing attendant. After one of their talks about King Gavilar and the Parshendi, Jasnah remarked that Shallan looked anxious and decided to shift her training from history to philosophy, which she claimed was a more hands-on field of study. She took Shallan, in the middle of the night, to a roadway that she knew to be hunted by footpads, showing her wealth. Soon, four men came and attacked the two women. Jasnah, using Soulcasting, killed the men and left the corpse of one as crystal in the middle of the roadway. Shallan was horrified to see her kill the men, especially with the Soulcaster which Shallan considered holy. Jasnah told Shallan to research and consider the morality of the killing.{{book ref
While discussing King Gavilar's interest in the Parshendi with Shallan, Jasnah revealed that a fresh perspective could be helpful, and that she felt Shallan could discover something she had missed. The topic eventually led to Urithiru and the Voidbringers. Shallan suggested that Urithiru, which Jasnah claimed was the center of the [[Silver Kingdoms]], could be in the Shattered Plains, but Jasnah was certain that it wasn't there. She eventually ended their talk, and told Shallan to go back to her studies. Shallan left the alcove, saying she needed [[Tifandor]]'s biography of Gavilar. Shallan returned two hours later with Kabsal, of whom Shallan wanted to sketch a drawing. Jasnah was annoyed by the distraction, but left the other two to themselves. After sketching for a bit, Shallan became very agitated, saying she made a mistake, and left the alcove for her room. Jasnah, concerned for her ward, followed her, and found Shallan on the ground, bleeding from a cut on her wrist, after an apparent suicide attempt. She immediately called for help, and Shallan was taken to one of Taravangian's hospitals.{{book ref
==== Theft of Soulcaster ====
Jasnah spent the next two days outside Shallan's hospital room. Once she was allowed inside the room, she apologized to Shallan, although she didn't prove to be very proficient at apologizing which Shallan attributed to Jasnah's ineptitude at making mistakes. Becoming serious again, Jasnah claimed she may have done the world a disservice and stolen from it one of the great scholars of the rising generation by overworking Shallan. She gave her an empty book, and called it ''The Book of Endless Pages'', and cautioned her to seek out the [[devotary|Devotary of Sincerity]] of whom the book was the guide. Kabsal joined them, and as usually, Jasnah was cool and rude to him. He let it slip that Shallan was returning to her home and Jasnah, while initially suprised, agreed that it was the best for her. Kabsal revealed the strawberry jam and the bread she brought for Shallan. After being insisted by Shallan, Jasnah decided to eat some of it as well, but as her habit while accepting food from someone, she Soulcast the jam and the bread to purify them of any poisons. She was unsuccessful with the jam and the result was a rotten mush that was uneatable. Kabsal ate the jam anyway and get Shallan to eat as well, though when she refused he tried to run out but collapsed before reaching the door. The same happened with Shallan a few seconds later. When Jasnah told her that she had to Soulcast her blood to get the poison out, Shallan revealed Jasnah's fake Soulcaster fabrial, apparently having stolen it. Jasnah healed her and Shallan fell unconscious.{{book ref
She was furious and hurt at the apparent betrayal from her ward. She initially thought that Shallan had stolen the Soulcaster for one of the devotaries. When Shallan woke up, Jasnah confronted her. Shallan told her, rather defiantly, that she'd stolen it for herself, that [[Lin Davar|her father]] was dead and [[House Davar]] was bankrupt, and that she had become Jasnah's ward to steal the Soulcaster in the first place. Jasnah told her that Shallan would be leaving for home the next day on a ship she'd arranged and Kabsal was dead. She told her that the bread he'd been bringing Shallan was poisoned with [[backbreaker powder]] and the jam contained the antidote, that he'd been using Shallan to assassinate Jasnah the whole time. She left the room, leaving Shallan behind in tears.{{book ref
Despite what she was told, Shallan came to Jasnah's alcove and claimed that the Soulcaster Jasnah wore was a fake and she could Soulcast without a fabrial. Jasnah initially tried to deny this, but she was shocked to see Shallan reveal a depiction of [[Shadesmar]]. Shallan told Jasnah that she'd stolen the Soulcaster fabrial on the night when Jasnah killed the four footpads and that she could Surgebind as well. When Jasnah didn't believe her, Shallan entered, with a dim sphere, Shadesmar to prove her claim. Jasnah followed her, and brought her back, admonishing her for being an idiot in trying to enter Shadesmar with only a dim sphere. Shallan asked Jasnah to teach her and that she wanted to be a part of Jasnah's studies. Jasnah was reluctant at first, but eventually accepted her, with the promise that she would never lie to Jasnah or steal from anyone ever again.{{book ref
=== Return to the Shattered Plains (1173—) ===
During their days sailing, Shallan occasionally asked Jasnah about the Ghostbloods, but she claimed to know very little of them beyond the fact that they wanted her research, and were willing to kill for it. After the first few days of their journey, which she spent mostly in her cabin, Jasnah contacted Navani via spanreed, without informing Shallan, to ask whether Shallan's Soulcaster could be fixed. She also requested Navani arrange a betrothal between [[Adolin Kholin|Adolin]] and Shallan. Navani answered positively to both, however Dalinar stipulated he would not agree to marriage before Shallan and Adolin met. She also arranged a relatively small amount of money to be sent to the [[House Davar|Davar family]]. Later that day, she came up to the deck while they were traveling through the [[Longbrow's Straits]] to find Shallan watching a [[santhid]] that was following the ship even though she was supposed to be reading. She joined her ward, and started looking through her sketches. She came to a sketch of Shadesmar, and seeing it was bothering her, she explained the nature of Shadesmar and the spren to Shallan at length, showing a good understanding of the [[Realmatic Theory]]. She claimed that meeting was not an accident, that the spren had guided Shallan to her, and that the old ways were returning because spren sensed an impending danger and were trying to preserve themselves. When she mentioned that their attention must be on the Shattered Plains and the relics of Urithiru, and that it would be a long time before Shallan was able to return home, Shallan expressed worry about her family. Jasnah was hesitant and anxious to tell about the betrothal because she had not consulted Shallan beforehand, but she told Shallan about the arrangements she had made with her mother that morning. Rather than being offended like Jasnah had expected, Shallan was very happy about it. Seeing that, Jasnah relaxed and said she expected Shallan to be distressed because a marriage would mean the restriction of her freedom and being beholden to a man. She told she would let Navani know Shallan's response, and that they would have a causal betrothal in a day. Shallan was afraid that she wouldn't fit the Alethi court, but Jasnah told her that she would teach her, and then started teaching by explaining that perception of power is as important as welt or power to command armies or to Soulcast. After that, she left for her cabin, saying Shallan had the day free because she needed to consider how best to teach about Shadesmar. Soon afterward, she heard a commotion coming from the deck, and went back. She watched as Shallan had the sailors lower her into the water so she could take a look at the santhid underwater.{{book ref
== Appearance and Personality ==
Jasnah is a reserved and statuesque woman. She is widely praised for her beauty, always graceful and dressed immaculately. She is tall and slender with a full chest. She has tan skin and deep black hair that, when unbound, reaches the middle of her back. She has a squarish face and pale violet eyes with an [[Wikipedia: epicanthic fold|epicanthic fold]].{{book ref
Jasnah is generally a stern and serious person, although she occasionally shows a wry sense of humor.{{book ref
Jasnah is an atheist.{{book ref
== Attributes and Abilities ==
=== Surgebinding ===
Jasnah has a Nahel bond with the [[spren]] [[Ivory]] which gives her the ability to Surgebind.{{book ref
==== Soulcasting ====
Jasnah can use Soulcasting in various ways with great precision, ranging from burning letters into a page,{{book ref
She has also shown the ability to Soulcast multiple targets at distance. In this method of Soulcasting, bolts of Stormlight can be seen traveling towards the intended target. When Jasnah used this ability to transform two men into smoke, it caused the [[smokestone]] she used to shatter, indicating that this method may use more Stormlight than regular Soulcasting.{{book ref
Jasnah pretends to use a fake Soulcaster fabrial to disguise her Surgebinding abilities from the public.{{book ref
=== Scholarship ===
Jasnah is one of the leading scholars of her time. She is widely known for her brilliance. Despite her young age, many feel she would have obtained the cap of a master scholar, if it weren't for her vocal denunciation of religion.{{book ref
While researching, Jasnah prefers to collect various passages related to her subject from various sources in a single annotated, and cited notebook. Once she fills the notebook, she evaluates each item for reliability and usefulness, then copies them into different, more specific notebooks.{{book ref
;Parshendi-Voidbringer Theory: Jasnah believes that the Parshendi are the Voidbringers. The theory heavily relies on metaphorical texts thousands of years old and folk tales. Her most substantial proofs are shadow, ash and flame references in her sources that she believes refer to the red and black skin color of the Parshendi, and the reported sudden appearance of Voidbringers which she thinks similar to how the Parshendi assassinated her father, King Gavilar, apparently out of nowhere.{{book ref
== Quotes ==
{{dialogue|Shallan|I have kept a journal since I was a child, in order to practice my writing skills.|Jasnah|Congratulations. Should I need someone to write a treatise on their stuffed pony or give an account of an interesting pebble they discovered, I shall send for you.|attr=Shallan and Jasnah{{book ref
{{quote|Ignorance is hardly unusual, Miss Davar. The longer I live, the more I come to realize that it is the natural state of the human mind. There are many who will strive to defend its sanctity and then expect you to be impressed with their efforts.|Jasnah to Shallan{{book ref
{{quote|...a woman’s mind is her most precious weapon. It must not be employed clumsily or prematurely. Much like the aforementioned knife to the back, a clever gibe is most effective when it is unanticipated.|Jasnah to Shallan{{book ref
{{quote|Youthful immaturity is one of the [[cosmere]]’s great catalysts for change... To be young is about action. To be a scholar is about </em>informed<em> action.|Jasnah to Shallan{{book ref
{{quote|Too many scholars think of research as purely a cerebral pursuit. If we </em>do<em> nothing with the knowledge we gain, then we have wasted our study. Books can store information better than we can—what we do that books cannot is </em>interpret<em>. So if one is not going to draw conclusions, then one might as well just leave the information in the texts.|Jasnah to Shallan{{book ref
{{quote|I always forgive curiosity, Your Majesty. It strikes me as one of the most genuine of emotions.|Jasnah to Taravangian{{book ref
{{quote|A true scholar must not close her mind close on any topic, no matter how certain she may feel. Just because I have not yet found a convincing reason to join one of the devotaries does not mean I never will. Though each time I have a discussion like the one today, my convictions grow firmer.|Jasnah to Shallan{{book ref
{{quote|When we are young, we want simple answers. There is no greater indication of youth, perhaps, than the desire for everything to be </em>as it should<em>. As it has ever been. The older we grow, the more we question. We begin to ask why. And yet, we still want the answers to be simple. We assume that the people around us—adults, leaders—will have those answers. Whatever they give often satisfies us. ... Indeed, it seems to me that aging, wisdom, and </em>wondering<em> are synonymous. The older we grow, the more likely we are to reject the simple answers. Unless someone gets in our way and demands they be accepted regardless.|Jasnah to Shallan{{book ref
{{quote|You will find wise men in any religion, Shallan, and good men in every nation. Those who </em>truly<em> seek wisdom are those who will acknowledge the virtue in their adversaries and who will learn from those who disabuse them of error. All others—heretic, Vorin, Ysperist, or Maakian—are equally closed-minded.|Jasnah to Shallan{{book ref
{{quote|Let the Vorin believe as they wish—the wise among them will find goodness and solace in their faith; the fools would be fools no matter what they believed.|Jasnah to Shallan{{book ref
== Trivia ==
*Jasnah is the only member of a Vorin royal house who is a professed heretic.{{book ref
*Twelve young women asked Jasnah for a wardship during the year 1173 alone.{{book ref
*Jasnah doesn't get along well with Highprince Sadeas's cousin, [[Lalai]].{{book ref
*Jasnah has never met Shallan's stepmother, [[Malise Gevelmar]], even though she revealed that she knew Malise had married Shallan's father when she met Shallan in Kharbranth.{{qa ref|977|90|Has Malise Gevelmar ever met Jasnah?}}
*Jasnah will probably get a flashback book of her own.{{qa ref|612|7|Have we met all the main point-of-view characters yet?}}
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