Difference between revisions of "Kaladin"

Kaladin sent a letter to his parents informing them of Tien’s death and his decision not to return to Hearthstone.{{book ref|sa1|47}} He spent the next year driving himself to exhaustion every day on the practice yard, vowing vengeance and to never letletting another person die because of his lack of skill. He became the best spearman in his company and was rumored to be the best in the entire army.{{book ref|sa1|63}} He eventually met [[Tarah]], who coaxed Kaladin out of his single-mindedness, claiming it would burn him out. The two became romantically involved, but separated after some time, for which Kaladin blamed himself.{{book ref|sa1|62}} He later joined the Takers under Tukk’s leadership.{{book ref|sa1|2}} There, Kaladin met [[Durk]] who became a mentor figure to him.{{book ref|sa1|46}} Eventually, every member of the Takers are killed except for Kaladin.{{book ref|sa1|2}} At the age of eighteen, Kaladin was promoted to squadleader, marking him the youngest one in the army and becoming known as Kaladin Stormblessed.

In {{Rosharan date|1172|10}}, Kaladin fought his final battle in Amaram’s army. Prior to the battle, Kaladin met with a Squadleader [[Gare]] and two of his sergeants. Kaladin bribed Gare to transfer [[Cenn]], a young and inexperienced soldier, to Kaladin’s own squad, whom he entrusted to his sergeant [[Dallet]]. He also bribed the surgeons to give priority to his men. While bribing the surgeons, the money pouch stuck to his hand by what Kaladin assumed to be a [[windspren]], although it iswas actually his first meeting with [[Sylphrena]]. After consulting with Dallet, Kaladin went to the front lines to prepare for battle.{{book ref|sa1|47}}

Once the signal to march was given, Kaladin’s well-disciplined squad used non-standard tactics to avoid taking any casualties. However, the larger battle didn’t go nearly as well. When the larger body of Amaram’s forces broke, Kaladin’s squad was left in the middle of the enemy. During the chaos, Kaladin single-handedly defeated six men to save Cenn, who had been stranded alone without the rest of the squad.{{book ref|sa1|1}} After treating Cenn, Kaladin saw an enemy battalionlord and decided to kill him, hoping such a feat would get him transferred to the [[Shattered Plains]], where Kaladin believed the real fight and honorable men can be found. Kaladin and two of his subsquads executeexecuted their plan flawlessly, with Kaladin himself landing the killing blow on the enemy battalionlord.{{book ref|sa1|47}}

Immediately after, an unknown enemy, a full [[Shardbearer]], later revealed to be [[Helaran Davar]],{{book ref|sa2|52}}{{book ref|sa2|73}} appearsappeared and cutscut through Amaram's army, killing Cenn, Dallet, and two more of Kaladin's men. Helaran continued on to attack Amaram, whose honor guard has abandoned him. Enraged, Kaladin and his twenty remaining men chased after Helaran. Helaran killed sixteen of Kaladin’s men before Kaladin finally managed to kill him, saving Amaram’s life. Amaram and [[Coreb]], one of Kaladin's men, urged Kaladin to claim Helaran’s Shards, as it was his right to do so by ancient tradition. However, Kaladin was disgusted by the thought of wielding the same Blade that claimed the lives of so many of his friends. Instead, Kaladin gave the Shards to Coreb and walked away.{{book ref|sa1|47}}

A few hours later, Kaladin was called to Amaram’s warcenter, where he met Amaram and a group of his men along with the four surviving members of his squad. After a short conversation, Amaram and his men ambushed Kaladin, killing the surviving member’smembers of Kaladin’s squad while Kaladin himself was restrained. Amaram apologized but said this was the only way to ensure secrecy. He informed Kaladin that he had thought it over for hours before finally being convinced by [[Restares]] that the best interests of Alethkar would served if he wielded the Shards himself. As an act of mercy and gratitude, Amaram spared Kaladin’s life and branded him with the “sas nahn” [[glyphpair]] to mark him as a slave to be sold.{{book ref|sa1|51}}