Kaladin

Kaladin
by Exmakina
Family Parents Lirin, Hesina Siblings Tien
Born	Late 1153
Abilities	Windrunner
Titles	Kaladin Stormblessed
Profession	Soldier Bridgeman (formerly) Apprentice Surgeon (formerly)
Groups	Bridge Four
Birthplace	Hearthstone
Nationality	Alethi
Homeworld	Roshar

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“I don’t know what I am either. A bridgeman? A surgeon? A soldier? A slave? Those are all just labels. Inside, I’m me. A very different me than I was a year ago, but I can’t worry about that, so I just keep moving and hope my feet take me where I need to go.”

—Kaladin to Sylphrena

Kaladin, nicknamed Kal, renowned as Kaladin Stormblessed, is a darkeyed Alethi male Surgebinder who is on the path to becoming one of the first Knights Radiant since the Recreance on Roshar. He was born in Hearthstone to a family of second nahn, Lirin and Hesina, in late 1153, and two years later his younger brother Tien was born. Lirin started teaching Kaladin surgery at age eight. He eventually wanted to send him to Kharbranth to train as a surgeon, but Kaladin secretly harbored a childish desire to become a soldier for some time as well. The family had a more or less happy and peaceful time until the Citylord Wistiow died in 1166, and his replacement Brightlord Roshone accused Lirin of thievery of a substantial amount of money. Knowing there wasn't enough evidence to win an inquest, Roshone applied pressure on the family by turning the townspeople against them, therefore impoverishing the family. The conflict came to a climax when Lirin failed to save the life of Roshone's son Rillir. For revenge, Roshone made sure Tien was conscripted to Brightlord Amaram's army, and in order to protect his younger brother, Kaladin also volunteered to join the army in 1168.

Only a few months later, Tien died in battle while Kaladin could do nothing but watch. Extremely depressed by this, Kaladin obsessively threw himself to his spear fighting practices. He was soon renowned as the best spearman in Amaram's army, and promoted to the rank of squadleader and given his own squad. In Kaladin's final battle in Amaram's army in 1172, a Shardbearer tried to kill the Brightlord. Instead, Kaladin fought and killed the man and saved Amaram's life, but lost almost all of his soldiers in the process. Disgusted by the Shardplate and Blade that had been used to kill so many of his friends, Kaladin refused to take them up, and gave them to one of the few surviving members of his squad. Amaram, however, wanted the Shards for himself, and had Kaladin's men killed and Kaladin branded as a slave.

Kaladin spent eight months under various slavemasters, and tried to escape ten times. After his last failed escape attempt, he was branded with the shash glyph and sold to another slavemaster named Tvlakv. Tvlakv took him to the Shattered Plains and sold him to Brightlord Sadeas's army, in late 1173, where Kaladin was assigned to Bridge Four to work as a bridgeman.

Kaladin grew more and more despaired during his time as a bridgeman. He eventually came close to committing suicide, but was convinced by the honorspren Sylphrena to try one last time to protect the bridgemen. He spent the subsequent period trying to win the loyalty of the bridgemen, and, once he did, to find a way to save their lives. He tried to establish training regiments, and alternative methods of carrying the bridge. After he caused a battle to be lost in a disastrous attempt to carry the bridge sideways, he realized that the purpose of the bridgemen was to be bait to the Parshendi arrows, and decided if they wanted to live, they would have to escape. He started training the Bridge Four as spearmen so they could fight when they escaped. In the Battle of the Tower, when they had the chance to easily escape, he and Bridge Four saved the lives of Dalinar Kholin and his men. In return for their sacrifice, Dalinar freed all the bridgemen from slavery, and offered them a job as soldiers in his army, to be trained and led by Kaladin.

Kaladin was granted the rank of captain, a first for a darkeyes, and given command of a thousand former bridgemen. Along with training his men, Dalinar gave Kaladin the responsibility to protect himself, the King, and the other members of Kholin family.

Appearance and Personality

Kaladin is a fairly tall man. He is muscular and has multiple scars on his body. He has tan skin. He has shoulder-length wavy black hair typical of an Alethi and dark brown eyes with an Template:Wp that appear faintly colored amber when he is holding Stormlight. His face is square and firm with strong lines and a proud chin. He prefers to be clean-shaven but during his slavery he grows a long, scraggly beard. He is branded on his forehead with a sas nahn glyphpair indicating his slavery and a shash glyph meaning dangerous.

Kaladin is a natural leader who makes people want to listen to him. Men of his squad in Amaram's army called him lucky and believed they would be protected because they were in Kaladin's squad. During his time in Bridge Four, he takes men who no longer care about anything and organizes them into an extremely loyal and well trained squad of spearmen. Dalinar Kholin remarks his men think very highly of him. He has a strong protective instinct, especially over those who are defenseless. He joins the army so he can look after his younger brother. As a squadleader, he strives to protect the men in his squad. He specifically recruits youngest members with the least training to his squad by bribing other squadleaders so he can take care of them.

Kaladin shows a deep sense of loss when those under his protection die, and has a tendency toward depression in various forms. By the time he joins Bridge Four, he has lost so many people he falls into a deep depression. He thinks himself cursed because he always survives when others did not. At his lowest points, Kaladin falls into apathetic despair and becomes suicidal. He is also prone to seasonal depression, feeling a sense of heavy melancholy during the weeks of the Weeping.

As a soldier who has been raised as a surgeon, Kaladin has many conflicts about killing. He knows sometimes there is no way but to kill, but his father's about the sanctity of life are engrained too deep within him. He constantly question if it is possible to protect by killing. He carries a powerful hatred for all lighteyes during his time in Sadeas' army, fueled by the betrayals of Roshone, Amaram, Katarotam, and others. However, by the time of Dalinar's rescue and the granting of his freedom, he is beginning to show a willingness trust Dalinar. At his lowest points, Kaladin falls into apathetic despair and becomes suicidal.

History

Early Life

Kaladin was born in 1153 and raised in the town of Hearthstone in Sadeas's princedom. His parents are Lirin and Hesina, his brother is Tien. From an early age he was trained as a surgeon by his father. He was talented and learned quickly. His parents wanted him to train in Great Concourse of Kharbranth with the sponsorship of the local citylord Brightlord Wistiow for the promise Kaladin would return to Hearthstone after his training was done. He was friends with the citylord's daughter Laral Wistiow to whom Kaladin's parents wanted him to eventually marry. However, Brightlord Wistiow died in 1166 and Lirin forged the document that would give the money set aside for Kaladin's training to them. Lirin was alone with Wistiow at the time so this couldn't be proven, which made Wistiow's replacement Brightlord Roshone an enemy to Lirin which led to Kaladin's family becoming destitute and eventually Tien being conscripted into service in Brightlord Amaram's army. Kaladin promised his father that he would protect Tien and bring him back home in four years, then enlisted in the army as well in 1168 .

Surgery on Sani

In 1164, at age ten, Kaladin helped his father perform a surgery on a fifteen-year-old girl named Sani, who had badly injured her safehand. He was late to the surgery because he was with Jam, who had been showing Kaladin and Tien the quarterstaff fighting his father had been teaching him. Lirin admonished Kaladin for his tardiness when his son came to the surgery room, but said they would discuss it after the surgery. Lirin told him to wash his hands, claiming it was the wisdom of the Heralds that water repulsed rotspren and deathspren. Although Kaladin immediately went to wash his hands, he answered his father by saying that he'd heard that the Heralds were demons from an ardent. Lirin told him he was mixing Heralds with the Knights Radiant, and Radiants weren't demons, but betrayers. Once that done, the two removed the makeshift bandages on Sani's hand, and Kaladin saw they would have to amputate the girl's third finger. Lirin did the actual amputating, while Kaladin helped him as a nurse. They finished the surgery, able to save Sani's other four fingers, applied antiseptic and bandages. When they were finished, his father told Kaladin he still had to work on his nerves, and it was alright to care, as long as it didn't interfere with his ability to perform surgery. He asked why Kaladin was late, and Kaladin told him about Jam. The conversation shifted to Jam's father, and then surgery, with Kaladin trying, poorly, to impress they needed soldiers, and Lirin claiming they needed surgeons more. Eventually his father told Kaladin there were two kinds of people in the world; those who save lives, and those who take lives. After the conversation died down, Lirin quizzed Kaladin on surgery. He praised him when Kaladin answered perfectly, and announced he would like to send him to Kharbranth when he turned sixteen years old to train as a much better surgeon than Lirin.

Wistiow's Death

In mid 1166, Kaladin told Laral Wistiow, daughter of the Citylord and Kaladin's friend, that Lirin wanted to send Kaladin to Kharbranth. At age twelve, he was becoming interested girls for the first time, and he was attracted to Laral. She was angry that he hadn't told her about his father's intentions for two years and made her think he would join the army to win a Shardblade and become lighteyes. She tried to convince him to join the army by saying the Alethi had a noble heritage of soldiery. Kaladin's answer wasn't very enthusiastic, which prompted Laral to say that she hated speaking with him when Kaladin was moping around. Tien joined the two, and showed Kaladin a rock he had found, as was the younger brother's habit, to make Kaladin feel better, and somehow succeeded in boosting Kaladin's morale. Once Tien left, Kaladin and Laral saw a group of older boys who usually worked at farms, and, at Laral's prompting, went to meet them to see them. They found out the boys were talking about darkeyes becoming lighteyes by winning Shardblades. One of the boys, Jost, claimed his father had won a Shardblade in the wastescum skirmishes in the north but it was stolen by someone else when his father was unconscious. Kaladin pointed out there weren't any Shardbearers in those battles. At Laral's provocations, Jost grew angrier and challenged Kaladin to a fight with quarterstaffs. At first, Jost easily overwhelmed Kaladin, but once he grew angry because he was in pain, Kaladin felt an exhilaration and almost beat the older boy, but stopped at the last instant because he didn't want to hurt him. The other boy didn't have the same inclination, so he beat Kaladin to the ground. Laral left for her home without saying anything or helping Kaladin up. Kaladin asked Jost to teach him how to fight, but the older boy refused by saying that Kaladin should be what he is. Kaladin met with Tien, and he walked towards home thinking about what he wanted to be. When they got home, Lirin told Kaladin that Brightlord Wistiow was dead, and he had left them a goblet full of spheres so Kaladin would study to be a master surgeon in Kharbranth, then return home.

Roshone's Arrival in Hearthstone

Two months, in which he had barely seen Laral, after Wistiow's death, Kaladin attempted to heal a five year old girl named Miasal on his own. He was thirteen, but thought he was well trained. The girl had compound fracture in her leg after a fall, a bleeding head wound, and was bleeding due to a severed artery in her lower leg. Kaladin cauterized the wound and tied off the artery, but he was too late as the little girl died due to blood loss. An hour later, his father found Kaladin in front of the surgery room crying to himself. Lirin told him he was proud of Kaladin's work and there was nothing he could have done to stop the girl's death. Kaladin told Lirin he didn't want to be a surgeon, but Lirin answered he would have to learn when to care.

Amaram's Army

Kaladin concept art by Ben McSweeney

Despite Amaram's promise that Tien would work as a messenger boy, he was sent to battle after a few months where he was put in front of the advancing enemy to soften their attack. Kaladin tried to come to his help but he could only watch as his brother was killed by the enemy. In his depression, Kaladin started obsessively training with the spear. His drill sergeant was surprised with how fast Kaladin mastered the spear and soon he was known as one of the best spearman in Amaram's army. He was promoted to the rank of squadleader, earning the nickname Kaladin Stormblessed for the first time. Kaladin's squad always lost fewest men of any squad in the army, which was credited to Kaladin's luck and his bribing the army's surgeons.

Sometime during his time in the army, Kaladin attracted the honorspren Sylphrena who gave him the ability to Surgebind.

In his final battle in the army, Kaladin killed a Shardbearer to save the life of the army's leader Amaram. The Shardbearer killed all but a few of Kaladin's men. Kaladin was disgusted with the thought of wearing the Shardplate and Shardblade that caused the death of so many of his men, so he tried to give the Shards to one of his subordinates. However, Amaram, on the advice of his advisors and Restares, laid claim to the weapon and armor for himself claiming it was for the greater good, then executed all witnesses and branded Kaladin a slave as what he called was a mercy in 1172 .

As a slave, Kaladin made ten escape attempts with ten successive groups of slaves. Sometimes he managed to escape but they always caught him again. After one of his escape attempts, he was branded with a shash glyph, meaning dangerous. He was eventually bought by a slaver named Tvlakv. Tvlakv brought Kaladin to the Shattered Plains and sold him to Sadeas's warcamp. Kaladin tried to convince the lighteyed woman, Brightness Hashal, who was responsible for the acquisitions of slaves to make him a spearman but was sent to the Bridge Four to work as a bridgeman in 1173 .

Bridge Four

“Shen is one of us now. I don’t care what he was before. I don’t care what any of you were. We’re Bridge Four. So is he.”

—Kaladin to the men of Bridge Four

File:Kaladin fullbody.jpg

Kaladin as a bridgeman by Exmakina

During his time in Bridge Four, Kaladin grew more and more depressed. He eventually stopped caring about anything and Syl left Kaladin saying she would try to get back because she couldn't bear seeing Kaladin as he was. The last man from Kaladin's first bridge run died, and between that and Syl leaving, Kaladin came to the point of suicide. He went to the Honor Chasm at night. Before he jumped down, Syl came back with a leaf of blackbane, a deadly poison, hoping to make Kaladin feel better without understanding what she was bringing. Kaladin found this oddly sweet. She convinced Kaladin to try to protect the men of Bridge Four, saying there was nothing Kaladin could do to make their situation worse. Kaladin went back to the bridge sergeant Gaz, bullied and bribed him to become the bridgeleader and so Gaz would stay out of his way. That night, he learned the name of every men in Bridge Four. Next morning, Kaladin started training for bridge runs. He tried to get others to practice as well, but was ridiculed for the effort, though soon Teft and Rock started training with him. Kaladin started bringing back the wounded back at this point. Kaladin, Teft and Rock started collecting knobweed sap to use on the injured and to sell it so they could have money for supplies. Kaladin told Rock to cook meals every night and soon every man in Bridge Four accepted Kaladin as their leader and started training with him.

The training cut down their losses in bridge runs but Kaladin didn't feel it was enough. They started practicing carrying the bridge sideways so they could use it as a shield from the arrows. This, however, undermined the strategy of the army in the Tower and caused the army to lose the battle. As punishment, Kaladin was strung up on the side of a building facing east during a highstorm to be judged by the Stormfather. During the highstorm he had a vision of an inhuman, smiling face of darkness that was as large as he could see. His Surgebinding abilities allowed Kaladin to survive the highstorm but he was still severely injured. It took him ten days to recover, which was found to be miraculous and people started calling him Stormblessed again. Lamaril was executed and his replacement Brightlord Matal's wife, Brightness Hashal, informed Kaladin that Bridge Four would always work in chasm duty from then on. Kaladin realized that the bridgemen were bait to the Parshendi and knowing no matter how much they cut their losses it would never be enough, he proposed that they escape and started training the Bridge Four as spearmen.

During a highstorm, Kaladin dreamed he was the storm. In the dream, he followed the path of the highstorms, travelling from east to west. He raged forward just ahead of the stormwall, soaring above Roshar. He saw many places including a city that Sigzil later confirms as Sesemalex Dar. He also saw a Shin man that appeared remarkably like Szeth-son-son-Vallano. Interestingly this man appeared to see Kaladin as well. Once he reached the western ocean, he heard a voice calling Kaladin Child of Tanavast. The face he saw when he was strung up in the highstorm appeared again and was revealed to be the source of the voice. The face informed Kaladin that the Oathpact was broken and Odium reigned. Kaladin woke up, finding himself surrounded by the men of Bridge Four trying to restrain him from walking out into the highstorm.

Later that day, Bridge Four got a new member, the parshman Shen. Kaladin made sure he was accepted by the rest of the men. While talking with Syl, he asked if she knew about Odium which made Syl run away without looking back. Strolling confused about what happened in the warcamp, Kaladin stumbled upon a prostitute being beaten by a lighteyes. Adolin Kholin and a few of his soldiers came and save her. Adolin told Kaladin to deliver a message and called him bridgeboy which made Kaladin indignant. Syl returned with no explanation about where she went.

In one of the next bridge runs, Dunny died. Kaladin was frustrated, and started rescuing members of the other bridge crews. Teft talked about how when Kaladin ran point, Parshendi arrows always missed them. Kaladin remarked his behavior as strange. One week later, Bridge Four found an emerald broam along with a number of smaller denominations. Kaladin decided they couldn't get the emerald broam out of the chasm but they would find a way to recover the other spheres. They attached the sphere pouch to an arrow and Rock shot it at under one of the permanent bridges to be recovered later. Teft faked throwing a punch to Kaladin and Kaladin instinctively drew in Stormlight and used Full Lashing in front of Teft and Lopen. Kaladin confronted Syl about it and asked how he could get rid of it. They argued and Syl ran away, her feelings hurt. In the evening, Kaladin met Hoid while walking around the warcamp. Hoid gave Kaladin a Trailman's flute and asked him to look after his apprentice, Sigzil, and that he was graduated to a full Worldsinger. He also told Kaladin a story about Wandersail which made Kaladin think about responsibility. Kaladin decided to use Surgebinding to help Bridge Four and that he was not cursed.

He went back to Teft and they started practicing how to use Surgebinding consciously. Teft also taught Kaladin about the Immortal Words. They ran into Brightness Hashal and his husband, Hashal informed them that Bridge Four would be on bridge duty every day from then on while doing chasm duty at nights. While doing chasm duty, Kaladin found a Parshendi corpse and cut his carapace armor. He used Full Lashing and tied the armor to the permanent bridge they had used before. The next chasm run, Kaladin wore the armor and ran ahead of the bridge crews wearing the Parshendi armor. Parshendi were angry because Kaladin had disturbed the corpse of one of their kind and focused all their archers on Kaladin. He managed to dodge them with his abilities and bridge crews managed to set their bridges without casualty. Others volunteered to run with Kaladin and they decided that five men should run before the bridge crews every time. While they were resting, a group of Parshendi soldiers ambushed Bridge Four but Dalinar Kholin came to their rescue. Kaladin told Leyten to make a set of armor for every man in Bridge Four, not just those running in front.

Battle of the Tower

In the Battle of the Tower, Sadeas abandoned Dalinar and his army in the Tower Plateau and escaped taking all of his bridge crews. Kaladin told Lamaril that they would follow behind the army with their own bridge claiming they were too tired. He thought they could fool the army into thinking they were dead by falling further and further behind. When he and Bridge Four saw Dalinar's army surrounded by the Parshendi, they decided they couldn't leave all those people to die while there was something they can do about it. Bridge Four charged to the plateau to set their bridge. Kaladin used Reverse Lashing to draw the volley of the Parshendi archers who were firing on Bridge Four. He wasn't ready for this however, and it left him unable to even stand up. Rest of the Bridge Four carried Kaladin back and returned to set the bridge. Kaladin had a flashback to when Tien was killed. Remembering gave him strength and Kaladin ran back to the fight. He took the Second Ideal of the Windrunners and almost held back dozens of Parshendi by himself, defending the bridge. Bridge Four joined him and they managed to hold the bridge until Dalinar's army arrived. Kaladin went to get Dalinar out from his fight with Eshonai. In the end, Kaladin and the Bridge Four managed to save Dalinar and over twenty-six hundred of his men. Dalinar, in his gratitude, bought all the slaves in the bridge crews from Sadeas with his Shardblade and free them. Kaladin accepted becoming bodyguard with the rank of captain for Dalinar and training the former bridgemen for Dalinar's army.

Bodyguard

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Kaladin as a bodyguard by fanartist ktep

Kaladin promoted Moash, Skar, Teft, Sigzil and Rock to lieutenants, a rank which is the equivalent of sergeant in companies made solely of lighteyes, because he needs a rank between squadleader and captain to form command structure for a thousand men.

Attributes and Abilities

Surgery

Kaladin has been taught surgery by his father, Lirin, from an early age. As a youth, he helped his father save people in Hearthstone. Lirin thought Kaladin was very talented and wanted him to go to the Great Concourse of Kharbranth. After Kaladin joined the army, he used his skills as a surgeon to save his fellow soldiers and bridgemen.

Spearman

“I could have beaten him. I probably could have beaten all four of them. I’ve always been good with the spear. No, not good. Durk called me amazing. A natural born soldier, an artist with the spear.”

—Kaladin to Sylphrena

Kaladin is naturally talented at fighting with spears and similar polearm weapons. He first demonstrated his talent by almost beating an older boy in a quarterstaff fight although Kaladin had never used a weapon before and Jost was being trained with a quarterstaff by his father for some time. Once he joined Amaram's army, he learned the quickest among all the training men in his cohort. He almost did it without instructions, which surprised his drill sergeant Tukks, although Tukks' advice helped refine and channel his ability. After Tien's death, Kaladin spent a year training, driving himself to exhaustion each day. Over time, he grew to be reputed as the best spearman in Amaram's army. In the army, he preferred a shortspear that is a hand longer than the spears other men used with two leather knife sheaths attached to it. Teft claims he has never seen anyone fight like Kaladin, a sentiment that has been shared by others in the past. The rest of Bridge Four are amazed by his skill as well.

Surgebinding

Kaladin has a Nahel bond with the honorspren Sylphrena which gives him the ability to Surgebind. He has access to the Surges of atmospheric pressure and gravity. As with all Surgebinders, he has superhuman speed, strength and healing when he holds Stormlight. He has so far demonstrated the ability to use Reverse Lashing and Full Lashing, but not Basic Lashing. Kaladin is in the process of becoming a Knight Radiant from the Order of Windrunners. He has currently taken the first and second Ideals of his order.

Kaladin is currently immune to the Thrill although that does not mean he never felt it. This may be because of his Nahel bond.

Quotes

“Perhaps you should pray to the Almighty for guidance. I hear he has a fondness for slavers. Keeps a special room in Damnation just for you.”

—Kaladin to Tvlakv

“Authority doesn't come from a rank. [It comes] from the men who give it to you. That's the only way to get it.”

—Kaladin to Sylphrena

“Men are unreliable in many things. But if there’s one thing you can count on, it’s their greed.”

—Kaladin to Sylphrena

“Death isn’t better. Oh, it’s easy to say that now. But when you stand on the ledge and look down into that dark, endless pit, you change your mind. Just like Hobber did. Just like I’ve done. I think you’ve seen it too.”

—Kaladin to Teft

“Tradition is the blind witness they use to condemn us, Teft. It’s the pretty box they use to wrap up their lies. It makes us serve them.”

—Kaladin about lighteyes

“Soon you’ll hardly be a spren at all. You’ll be a little translucent philosopher. We’ll have to send you off to a monastery to spend your time in deep, important thoughts.”

—Kaladin to Sylphrena

“Storm you! Look at that! Who cares for them? Not Sadeas. Not their fellow bridgemen. I doubt even the Heralds themselves spare a thought for these. I won’t stand there and watch while men die behind me. We have to be better than that! We can’t look away like the lighteyes, pretending we don’t see. This man is one of us. Just like Dunny was. The lighteyes talk about honor. They spout empty claims about their nobility. Well, I’ve only known one man in my life who was a true man of honor. He was a surgeon who would help anyone, even those who hated him. Especially those who hated him. Well, we’re going to show Gaz, and Sadeas, Hashal, and any other sodden fool who cares to watch, what he taught me. Now go to work and stop complaining!”

—Kaladin about members of other bridge crews

“I’ve been here before! What happened last time? I’ve learned! I won’t be a fool again! I owe you nothing, Kholin.”

—Kaladin yelling before helping Dalinar's army

Trivia

• Kaladin was originally named Merin. One of the reasons for the name change was that Merin sounded too much like Template:Wp. Another was it sounded too much like a female name. Brandon also felt that the character had changed so much that he couldn't think of him as Merin anymore.
• In the original manuscript of The Way of Kings, Kaladin saves the life of Elhokar from a Shardbearer and accepts the Shardblade. They try to take it away from him, but Dalinar insists that he be given it.
• Brandon stated that Kaladin may get a second flashback book.
• Kaladin speaks the Second Ideal of the Windrunners in modern Alethi.