Difference between revisions of "Shallan Davar"

Shallan emerged from the carriage just as they moved near enough to determine that the caravan ahead was under attack. As they approached while the sun set, they encountered [[Tyn]]--the head of the new caravan's guard--who explained that the bandits who attacked them were still nearby. As this group began to attack again, Shallan turned with Bluth to confront the bandits following behind. Finding these men to be deserters from the Shattered Plains, Shallan appealed to their sense of honor and made promises of forgiven debts and pardons. She succeeded in convincing them, again with a Lightweaving to aid her, and these men charged off to join the battle. They proved victorious, but not without cost. Shallan found Bluth dead, among dozens of his comrades. He was however clutching the sketch Shallan had drawn of him earlier in the day, indicating that Bluth was inspired by Shallan's sketch to uphold a sense of honor that Bluth originally assumed he had abandoned, resulting in a surprising amount of dead bandits surrounding Bluth's body in the aftermath of the battle. It is assumed that the inspiration of honor from Shallan's sketch inspired Bluth to risk everything, including his own life, for the chance of becoming the person he saw as himself in Shallan's sketch. Shallan then spoke with the caravan's owner, [[Macob]], and they agreed to accompany one another to the warcamps at the Shattered Plains. Shallan then seized Tvlakv's slaves, claiming them as payment in exchange for saving his life. She purchased his wagons as well, despite his protests which were stifled by Shallan's tentative ownership of her own new band of mercenaries.{{book ref|sa2|20}}{{book ref|sa2|21}}

 

==== Tyn's Apprentice ====

Shallan easily earned the respect of most of her new mercenaries, including [[Gaz]] and [[Red (Roshar)|Red]], but struggled with the threatening pessimism of the band's leader, [[Vathah]], who was vocal in his doubt that she would keep her promises to them. On the fourth day of travel after the attack, Shallan was invited to dine with Tyn. They ate in private as Tyn revealed her belief that Shallan was actually another woman assuming the identity of "Shallan Davar" in order to pull off a scam. Though Shallan tried to convince Tyn of the truth at first, she eventually relented and invited Tyn to be part of a pretend scheme to blackmail Dalinar Kholin. Tyn took the younger Shallan under her wing and began teaching several skills, including acting and forgery, that would be useful to the girl she believed was a young, inexperienced con artist. Several days later, while the two women were practicing various accents, their caravan encountered four men on horseback. Tyn ordered Macob to halt, deciding that she and Shallan would confront the men alone in order to give Shallan a chance to practice some of the techniques they had spoken of. Prodded by Tyn, Shallan assumed the role of a [[Horneater]] princess as the men, including [[Kaladin]] and some members of [[Bridge Four]], approached. As Kaladin began to question them, Shallan began to tease the captain and ultimately demanded his boots in payment for a feigned offense.{{book ref|sa2|24}}{{book ref|sa2|28}}

Two days later, just shy of the warcamps, Shallan had the caravan pause for a break as they passed a [[lait]]. She found a quiet place and took time to think and relax as she sketched, despite brief disturbances by Gaz and Vathah. As she moved from drawing the local plant life, Shallan drew two strange images--one of [[Shalash|a woman]] kneeling over a broken statue and one of the crew of the ''Wind's Pleasure'' on a rocky beach. Tyn eventually interrupted and Shallan finally revealed that her supposed scheme was to assume the role of Adolin Kholin's betrothed. As she considered everything she would have to balance when arriving at the Shattered Plains--her actual betrothal along with Tyn's plans, all amidst Jasnah's research--she grew anxious but also excited.{{book ref|sa2|30}}

 

 

{{sidequote

While discussing their findings, Kholinar was attacked by the Voidbringers and the enthralled soldiers of the city. Shallan, accompanied by Adolin, searched for the lingering presence of two of the Unmade at the Oathgate platform.{{book ref|sa3|83}} On their way to the control building for the ancient fabrial, an undulating black mass blocked their path to the entrance. After finding her Shardblade could not destroy the mass, Shallan touched it as she did with [[Re-Shephir]]. Inside the mass, she was overwhelmed by Ashertmarn's voice as it attempted to convince her to engage in sensual self-indulgence. When Shallan was inundated by the various personalities she had created in the past, she heard Wit's voice in her mind and was advised to take control of them rather than fear them. As she felt herself nearly being consumed, the black mass soon evaporated and Adolin proclaimed that Shallan had defeated the Unmade, despite her feeling as if she had failed. As she entered the building, Shallan saw the black figure she observed previously when infiltrating the royal palace, and it identified itself as [[Sja-anat]]. The Unmade claimed they were not Shallan's enemy and warned her not to operate the Oathgate, as it was compelled to corrupt the [[Oathgate spren|spren]] of the platform so it would not function properly.{{book ref|sa3|84}} After Elhokar was seemingly murdered by [[Moash]], Shallan and her group were overwhelmed by enemy forces. At the urging of Adolin, Shallan began to activate the Oathgate platform. Unsure of what to do, Shallan asked Pattern whether they should trust Sja-anat, but the spren was unable to discern whether the Unmade was lying or not. Sja-anat insisted that Shallan should not use the fabrial but noticed that she still did not trust it, so the Unmade promised that they would refrain from killing them all while traveling through the Oathgate. In order to avoid being attacked by the deranged cultists, Shallan utilized the fabrial to transport Azure, Adolin, Kaladin, and herself along with their spren.{{book ref|sa3|85}} When they awakened, they found themselves in Shadesmar, and Azure grunted about her dislike for the strange realm.{{book ref|sa3|87}}

 

==== Journey through Shadesmar ====

While in Shadesmar, Shallan and Kaladin found themselves accompanied by their now fully-sized spren as well as [[Maya]], the dead spren tied to Adolin's Shardblade.{{book ref|sa3|88}} [[Syl]] pointed out that the spren represented the Oathgate on the platform they stood on were corrupted and Shallan came to the colclusion that this was due to Sja-anat, but the Unmade managed to keep its promise not to kill them despite their current predicament. Stranded on an island and surrounded by the hostile denizens of the [[Cognitive Realm]], the group were unsure of what to do. Azure, being the one most familiar with navigating the strange realm, explained that Shadesmar was the inverse of the Physical Realm, so they would need to travel to what would be nearest body of water in their world in order to find land in the Cognitive Realm. Because Kaladin's abilities drew in too much stormlight and attracted the hostile spren, Shallan had to use her abilities to maneuver through the world. Pattern explained that Soulcasting would not work the same way in the Shadesmar. She instead discovered that she can read the impressions of the objects in each sphere that surrounds them and shape the surrounding spheres into various structures based on that impression. Shallan used the soul of the Oathgate control room to shape various copies of the building, and they slowly made their way to land. While traveling, Pattern pointed out that the flames representing the souls of their companions on the other side were no longer going out as quickly as when they first entered, so some may have surrendered.{{book ref|sa3|89}} Shallan and her party soon arrived to the next piece of land and recovered after their hardships. Now faced with the dilemma of having a lack of supplies, the group struggled with what to do next. Azure explained that [[lightspren]] were known to act as guides for humans traveling through Shadesmar, so they should try to locate them and travel to the nearest spren city where they could trade stormlight for supplies.{{book ref|sa3|93}} A corrupted spren appeared in Shadesmar and, in the voice of Sja-anat, warned Shallan that Odium sent some of his minions to Shadesmar in search of them, and he was growing suspicious of the Unmade. Due to Shallan's previous misdirections, he believed that she was an [[Elsecaller]] rather than a Lightweaver. The spren soon left after Shallan's companions attempted to attack it. They eventually settled at a lighthouse where they met [[Riino]], the lightkeeper. Shallan felt useless due to her inability to scout the area as Kaladin did in his initial exploration of the lighthouse. Veil was still broken from her experience with Grund, so she was unable to sneak through the buildin. However, the other personality was beginning to return as Shallan discovered she could not draw with her usual skill and instead produced drawings reminiscent of Veil's style. Shallan mulled over Wit's words and pondered over how she could keep her personas in check, but she failed to come up with a solution. While the others discussed where they would go to next, a ship without a sail soon arrived at the lighthouse.{{book ref|sa3|97}}

After Notum released Syl, Shallan and her companions jumped off the ship and into the sea of beads while Azure stayed behind to help the honorspren fend off the Fused. Using a bit of the stormlight she carried, Shallan created a room underneath the beads so her group could breathe. They stayed within the space for a short amount of time, allowing the ship and the Fused to pass, before resurfacing. The group were unable to find Syl, but Pattern reassured them that spren did not need to breathe so they were most likely safe. They soon made their way towards a patch of land where they found Syl safe and sound. The honorspren reported that the Fused were gone, so it was safe for them to continue moving. No longer in danger, Kaladin [[Lashing|lashed]] the rest of the group, and they began to fly towards the island of [[Thaylenah]] where they hoped to access the Oathgate and return to the Physical Realm.{{book ref|sa3|110}} In order to preserve stormlight, they hike the rest of their trek to Thaylenah and continue without breaks at the insistence of Kaladin. Using Shallan's mapmaking skills, they soon arrive at Thaylen City and see its Oathgate platform in the distance. There, they witness the uncorrupted, gargantuan form of the [[Oathgate spren|spren of the Oathgate]] and thousands of the Voidpsren surrounding their only avenue of escape.{{book ref|sa3|112}} Half a dozen of the Fused and a [[Nergaoul|mass of red light]] soon appeared to guard the control building. Shallan and her friends remained unsure of what to do as they were clearly outnumbered and lacked enough stormlight to defend themselves and activate the Oathgate. Kaladin insisted that Shallan should create illusions and rush to the Oathgate platform while he fend off the remaining enemies. As [[Odium]] summoned the mass of red light to possess Amaram's army in the Physical Realm, they were left with only six of the Fused, so Kaladin initiated his plan.{{book ref|sa3|115}} On her way to the Oathgate platform, Shallan Lightweaved several figures from her sketchbook to accompany Adolin and their spren as they drew the attention of the remaining Fused Kaladin was unable to distract. She then rushed to complete her task of activating the Oathgate and attempted to convince the Oathgate spren to allow them to travel to the Physical Realm. They informed that they were unable to accept her request as [[Honor]] ordered them to prevent travel between the two realms using the Oathgate before his [[splinter#known splinter|death]].{{book ref|sa3|116}} When Adolin failed to distract the Fused, one of them charged at Shallan and she somehow managed to manifest the physical form of a bead she carried that held the mind of a wall. Pattern and Adolin, wounded from one of the Fused, returned to Shallan, and they soon realized that the were running out of stormlight. Desperate, they jumped into the sea of beads and regrouped with Syl and Kaladin, who was also out of stormlight.{{book ref|sa3|117}} As Kaladin failed to say the [[Ideals|Fourth Ideal]] necessary to protect his friends, they began to lose hope.{{book ref|sa3|118}} In the Physical Realm, Dalinar temporarily [[Ascension|Ascended]] and summoned [[Perpendicularity|Honor's perpendicularity]], giving Shallan and her friends an opportunity to leave Shadesmar.{{book ref|sa3|119}}

 

{{image|Radiant_by_Petar_Penev.jpg|height=450px|side=left|Shallan and her illusions fighting during the Battle of Thaylen Field}}

WIth the arrival of Shallan and her group, Dalinar noted that he sensed the presence of all the Orders of the Knight Radiants on the field despite there only being nine individuals standing with him. Because Odium had withdrawn from the battle, they were now confident that they could fight against the remnants of his army. Using the renewed stormlight Dalinar summoned, they were each assigned a task to complete on the battlefield. Shallan is ordered to use her Lightweaving abilities to summon an army that would attract the Voidbringers while the rest of them completed their tasks.{{book ref|sa3|119}} Despite losing her original sketchbook, Shallan managed to summon every single person she every sketched in her lifetime, Patten noting that this was likely due to Dalinar momentarily bringing the [[Realms|three realms]] together. When she felt herself weakening, she created Veil and Radiant to aid her as she created more illusions. In order to maintain the attention of the enthralled soldiers, Shallan crafted realistic deaths for her illusions to satisfy the [[Thrill]] of her enemies. While her illusions were successful, she felt as if a part of her was being destroyed as each one of them were killed by the soldiers. As Shallan nearly consumed all the renewed gemstones, Lift appeared to her asking for help. At Lift's request, Shallan used Illumination to transform a rock into a ruby, so Lift and Szeth could fool the Fused hoping to escape with the gemstone. Shallan, Veil, and Radiant began to falter as more of the Fused destroyed their illusions. When she began to run out of stormlight, Jasnah appeared and [[Soulcast|Soulcasted]] the air into a wall of flames to protect her ward. As they used that diversion to run away, Jasnah gave Shallan some tips for Soulcasting. She mused that Shallan may have actually Soulcasted her illusions to give them weight or it may have been due to their high concentration of stormlight. They soon arrived at Navani's camp, and Shallan used that opportunity to recover while the scribes received updates from Urithiru. During her period of switching between Shallan, Veil and Radiant, Shallan confessed to Pattern that she thought she might be better than she was before. While Veil surveyed the area, Pattern noted the appearance of enemy reinforcements carrying ladders from their ships. When they attempted another assault on the city, the Thrill seemingly vanished and the remaining enemies retreat back their ships. Due to Lift's and Szeth's actions, they managed to capture the Unmade Neragoul within the ruby gemstone, effectively severing the last thing empowering their enemies. {{book ref|sa3|120}}

 

 

== Relationships ==

=== House Davar ===

Shallan grew up as the only daughter in the minor noble family. After first manifesting her [[Surgebinding]] abilities, her mother and her lover attempted to kill her, forcing to Shallan to fatally wound her mother out of self-defense. While her brothers were unaware of the Shallan's part in the death of her mother, her father was aware that his daughter killed her. Shallan's father, [[Lin Davar]], took responsibility for the murder of [[Shallan's mother]], showing that he did care for her daughter. After dealing with public scrutiny and the slow decline of his family, Lin Davar became an abusive father and would often beat his sons and servants, even blaming Shallan for his actions.{{book ref|wor|88}} Fed up with her father's abuse, Shallan and her brothers arranged his death and eventually successfully murdered their own father.