Renarin Kholin

Renarin Kholin
by Exmakina
House Kholin Parents Dalinar, mother Siblings Adolin Relatives Gavilar, Navani, Jasnah, Elohkar
Born	1154
Abilities	Surgebinding (Illumination/Progression) Shardbearer
Groups	Knights Radiant (Truthwatchers) Bridge Four
Nationality	Alethi
Homeworld	Roshar

“ I am not the first hero’s son to be born without any talent for warfare. The others all got along. So shall I. ”

— Renarin Kholin

Renarin Kholin is a lighteyes of the Alethi House Kholin on Roshar. He is the second son of Dalinar, and the younger brother of Adolin. This makes him the nephew to Gavilar and Navani and cousin to Elhokar and Jasnah. This makes him second in line for the princedom of House Kholin, after Adolin as primary heir.

History

Early Life

Renarin grew up with his family in Kholinar as the second son of the highprince. While Adolin began sword training at a young age, Renarin did not, as a result of his "blood weakness" making him unfit for combat.

On the Shattered Plains

Renarin's role in the war for vengeance against the Parshendi is a minimal one, and this is a fact of which he seems very aware and unhappy. His father and brother were warriors and Shardbearers on the front lines of conflict, but there was very little for a second son to do who was not allowed to fight.

Appearance and Personality

While very little of his appearance is explicitly described, it is assumed that he bears a physical resemblance to Adolin. His hair color contains both blonde and black, like his brother's, though Renarin has more black than blonde. He is also distinguished in the fact that he wears spectacles, though due to the process of Stormlight healing, his eyesight is repaired and he stops wearing them. Like all officers in the Kholin army, Renarin wears his uniform while out in public, though because of his physical weakness, his uniform has never seen battle. He has blue eyes.^{[citation needed]}

Renarin is soft-spoken and thoughtful, and tends to pause and consider responses before giving them. This can occasionally make him seem calculating or unnerving to those with whom he speaks, though those close to him know him to be otherwise. He is shown to be non-confrontational, such as his attempts to avoid Wit's mockery through silence and his attempts to keep Adolin from starting fights. He has a small box that he fiddles with on occasion.

Despite his subdued personality, Renarin shows courage and a desire to be useful, even in situations where he does not have experience or extensive training, such as riding out to help when a chasmfiend attacks despite great risk to himself. He is also the first to enter the ring to help defend Adolin in Shardbearer duel, despite his lack of training and being unable to put on his Shardplate in time. During this fight, he uses his Shardblade through the onset of a minor seizure and the screams of his shardblade. Through these events, Renarin shows that he values the lives of his family over his own, being willing to put himself in great danger if it might help the people he loves.

Renarin shows an inquisitive streak as well, especially in regards to fabrials. On multiple occasions he inspects fabrials around him and asks questions about their functions. Despite this, he is not interested in joining the ardentia to become an engineer. He seems to enjoy being knowledgeable upon specific subjects, and will speak about them if asked, for example, Adolin mentions that Renarin is very well versed in wines.

• Images of Renarin
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  by User: Fyrebeam
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  by User: Exmakina
  Cleaning glasses
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  by User: Exmakina
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  by User: Exmakina
  In uniform
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  by User: Sheep
  In Bridge Four uniform
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  by User: Sheep
  Portrait sketch
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  by User: Sheep
  Holding box and Shardblade
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  by User: Sheep
  In Dalinar's suit of Shardplate
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  by User: Sheep
  With Glys

Character Relationships

Renarin is very close to Adolin, and respects him greatly. The brothers show a high level of trust and friendship. Renarin also has a very strong relationship with his father, and he wishes to be a son of whom Dalinar can be proud. He shows a high level of respect and obedience to his father's wishes, and occasionally acts as a mediator should his brother and father have a disagreement.

Outside of his family, Renarin is not shown to have many relationships, however the King's Wit has taken particular note of him. Wit teases Renarin whenever they meet, though it is good-natured, and Wit tells Dalinar that he teases Renarin to try to help him overcome some of his nervousness and shyness.

More recently, Kaladin and the other members of Bridge Four have become the primary bodyguards of the Kholin family, Renarin included. Renarin appears to trust Kaladin greatly, asking to become a member of Bridge Four under his command. In turn, Kaladin shows great intuition in understanding Renarin's condition and motivations, allowing him to train with the other members of Bridge Four.

Despite the imminent possibility of her becoming his sister-in-law by marrying Adolin, Renarin has very few interactions with Shallan Davar until the Battle of Narak. During the battle he is taken by a vision while working with Shallan, and she regards him as an annoyance who gets in her way.

Attributes and Abilities

Renarin has a "blood weakness" which prevents him participating in activities of great physical stress, including combat. The weakness affects him in episodes, during which he grows pale and his limbs go weak, to the point of trembling or possible collapse. When speaking with Kaladin, Renarin reveals that his weakness is epileptic, with the seizures manifesting as a loss of control of a limb or a little bit of twitching, occasionally experiencing weakness along one side of his body. Kaladin guesses that these are myoclonic seizures.

Renarin recently inherited Dalinar's Shardplate, and was given a Shardblade won in a duel by Adolin. Though he has had very little training with Blade and Plate up to this point, he undergoes training under Zahel. He also trains as a member of Bridge Four under Kaladin's leadership, though it is unsure whether or not he is trained with or carries a spear. Renarin uses his Shardblade only under great duress or when asked directly, because, as a manifestation of his Nahel bond, he hears the screams of the Blade's dead spren when he holds it.

He is also a surgebinder and a fledgling member of the Knights Radiant. He claims to be a Truthwatcher, bonded to a spren named Glys. Though we see very little of his surgebinding on screen, he should have access to the surges of Illumination, which he shares with Lightweavers like Shallan, and Progression, which he shares with Edgedancers like Lift.

In the days leading up to the True Desolation, Renarin began seeing visions of the future which caused him to write glyph messages and numbers counting down to the arrival of the Everstorm. During the battle for Narak itself, he is taken by one of these visions again, and his participation in them seems to be involuntary, if not painful. Considering the Vorin sensibilities regarding men writing, it is likely that his writing of the glyphs are against his will also. Because he is seeing the future, an action explicitly forbidden by the Vorin church for ties with the Voidbringers, Renarin believes himself to be cursed by the Almighty.

This page or section deals with theories or speculation.

Please read carefully and note that this is not necessarily canonical.

It is unknown whether or not Renarin's visions are related to his Surgebinding or not. While visions of the future seem as though they could fall under the realm of Illumination, we do not see Shallan using her powers of Illumination this way. In addition, while other Surgebinders have been shown to use their powers unconsciously or unintentionally, there are no other instances of a Surgebinder using powers actively against their will. In this, Renarin's visions seem to be closer to Dalinar's highstorm visions, which cannot be avoided or escaped and during which he loses complete control of himself, than the result of a Surge.

Trivia

• Renarin is on the autism spectrum, though only 'slightly.'
• Renarin "sees a spren that nobody else sees." As of Words of Radiance, this spren is almost certainly Glys.
• In the original draft of The Way of Kings Prime, Renarin was the one who wrote the Diagram.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

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