Difference between revisions of "Ellista"

Like most ardents[[ardent]]s, Ellista has a shaved head. She had never liked dealing with her hair, which leads her parents to joke that she became an ardent just so she could shave it off.{{book ref|sa3|i|2}}

She dislikes disruption and distraction and generally prefers to be left alone. She has a no-nonsense attitude and can be skeptical and judgmental. When she hears fellow ardents arguing about the [[Everstorm]] or discussing political happenings throughout [[Roshar]], she takes no interest. She believes that everyone is overreacting to the Everstorm.{{book ref|sa3|i|2}}

Ellista moved to the [[Jokasha Monastery]] at some point before [[Highprince]] [[Dalinar Kholin]] began receiving visions during {{Rosharan date|1173}}. She considers herself lucky to have a place in Jokasha, as it is a desirable location for many ardents[[ardent]]s. Before becoming an ardent, she thought that scholars did not bicker, but has since realized that was a misconception.{{book ref|sa3|i|2}}

After Queen [[Navani Kholin]] provides the key to the Dawnchant that she recovers through [[Dalinar's visions]], scholars in the monastery, including Ellista, begin to decode the old texts that they had in their possession. Ellista is glad to have Navani's information, but refuses to believe that the visions were real.{{book ref|sa3|i|2}}

The coming of the [[Everstorm]] distracts many ardents[[ardent]]s from their translation work, but Ellista persists.{{book ref|sa3|i|2}} She believes that she has found evidence that Dawnchant was once used as a unified written language across ancient [[Roshar]], supporting a theory posited by [[Jasnah Kholin]] in ''[[Relic and Monument]]''. She vehemently disagrees with earlier arguments (including those made by [[Fiksin]]) that written Dawnchant texts all originated in a single region. Through her studies, she has also been able to determine that the cataclysmic [[Desolation]]s caused Dawnchant to fall into disuse. Individual nations began to use the Dawnchant to phonetically record their spoken language, and later developed their own glyphs, abandoning Dawnchant altogether.{{book ref|sa3|i|2}}