Coppermind:Welcome/Featured Article/Kalak
Featured Article: KalakEdit
“I am a blur. A smear on the page. A gaunt stretch of ink, made all the more insubstantial with each passing day. ”
—Kalak
Kalak, also known as Kelek'Elin in Vorinism, is one of the ten Heralds of the Almighty on Roshar, and the patron of the Order of Willshapers. Like all Heralds but Taln, he abandoned the Oathpact at Aharietiam. Currently, he lives in the honorspren city of Lasting Integrity, acting as their High Judge. He also leads the Sons of Honor under the name Restares.
AppearanceEdit
Though not from Alethkar, Kalak appears Alethi. He's a short man, with thinning, wispy hair, a round face, and a small nose. When he wishes to appear serious, he puts on a set of violet robes; ordinarily, however, he dresses more casually. Vorin artwork tends to present him as a young man, though in person, he looks more like a city administrator.
PersonalityEdit
“They deserve better than you, son. They deserve better than me. I could never judge them for refusing to bond men. How could I?”
—Kalak
Back in the early Desolations, he was known for being decisive and authoritative, and he would often be approached whenever problems appeared for counsel. However, as Desolations wore him down, he became terrified of dying and returning to Braize to be tortured. By Aharietiam, he has vivid, painful memories of the torture that sometimes cause him to briefly lose his grip on reality. When given the choice to abandon the Oathpact, he's aware of and terrified of the consequences. However, by this point his fear of torture far outweighs his sense of duty.
By the True Desolation, this develops into paranoid and erratic behavior. Kalak vacillates often, and finds making even the simplest decisions difficult. He often follows what the crowd wants instead of his own internal moral compass. He seems to have trouble focusing, or at least paying attention to time, even when others are waiting for him. He believes humans are dangerous; he's unsettled by their presence, with Bondsmiths, and people associated with them, seeming to provoke the strongest reaction. A visit into a human city makes him jittery to the point where he runs away at the sight of another person. It's likely that he prefers to live in Lasting Integrity for this reason. Even there, however, unexpected commotion can quickly make him panic. In this state, he is near-insensate, crying, covering his ears and curling on the floor. He recovers extremely quickly, though, and with no outward sign that he's been disturbed.