Ki
| Ki | |
|---|---|
| Abilities | Skybreaker, Shardbearer |
| Bonded With | Winnow |
| Titles | Master Skybreaker |
| Groups | Knights Radiant (Skybreakers) |
| Homeworld | Roshar |
| Universe | Cosmere |
“I have decided to take you as my squire. In all honesty, there was an argument among us over who would have the privilege. ”
Ki is a master Skybreaker on Roshar during the Era of Solitude.[1] She is bonded to the highspren Winnow and takes Szeth as her squire during his training.[1] She is formally referred to as Master Ki.
Appearance and Personality
Ki is a tall and imposing woman with golden hair.[2] Like all Skybreakers, she wears the clothes of the local lawkeepers, so in Marabethia she chooses to wear a colorful skirt-like wrap and a cloth tied around her chest. She also wears the patterned shoulder cloak[2] of a Marabethian high judge.[1]
Ki is a calm and orderly woman who is well-suited to the Skybreakers.[2] She is appreciative of skill and thoroughness, seeking to make those hopefuls that impress her into her squires.[1] She also seemed to have a decent sense of humor, seemingly amused by Szeth's assertion that he had won the lashing drill because of a loophole.[3] She is also reverent of Nale[2] and obedient to his orders.[3]
Attributes and Abilities
As a Skybreaker of the Fourth Ideal, Ki has access to the Surges of Gravitation and Division.[2] This allows her the ability to make use of the basic and reverse lashings,[4] as well as the ability to degrade objects.[5] She also has the ability to take in Stormlight, allowing her to recover from all but the most severe of injuries.[6] She also almost certainly has access to a Shardblade, although this has not been confirmed.
History
Early Life
At some point in her life, Ki was recruited to the Skybreakers. She eventually bonded the highspren Winnow.[1] After years of training and the completion of some sort of personal quest, Ki swore the first four Ideals of the Skybreakers, reaching the rank of master.[2] She operated out of the Skybreaker fortress near the Purelake and seems to have primarily worked as a trainer to nascent Skybreakers.
Training Hopefuls
In 1174, one evening after Szeth arrived at the Skybreakers' fortress, Winnow proclaimed to Ki during her prayers that the highspren were already watching him.[1]
The next day, when Szeth began his training with the Skybreakers, Ki administered the First Ideal to him and the other hopefuls, leading them through speaking the Words.[2] She also pardoned the trainees for any past violations of the law or misdeeds. After the ceremony, Szeth asked her if she had sworn the Fifth Ideal herself. Ki explained to him and the others that the Fifth Ideal had not been achieved in centuries and that only the Third Ideal was required to become a full Skybreaker. She then explained all five Skybreaker Ideals to them. Szeth also asked her why he was training with the other new initiates when Nale had treated him differently. Ki explained that Nale had believed that Szeth might achieve the Third Ideal immediately due to his past, but in the Herald's absence Szeth would have to start from the beginning. She lashed Szeth into the sky as the Skybreakers moved the hopefuls to the location of their test.
When the Skybreakers arrived at the Marabethian town where the test was to take place, Szeth asked Ki several questions about the escaped prisoners they had been charged to apprehend.[1] She explained that the city's high minister, Kwati, had written the Skybreakers asking for aid to apprehend these escaped murderous criminals. She told Szeth that they had received writs ordering their deaths and his task was to apprehend an execute the escapees. Ki also told him that the reason they had not been previously executed is that the local Reshi culture was typically non-violent. Ki also asked Szeth why he walked on stone, as she had never seen another Shin break that prohibition. Szeth told her that if stone was truly holy, it would have killed him long ago.
While the test occurred, the city's high minister tried to make small talk with Ki, with limited success.[1] After Szeth had ascertained that the high minister had mistreated the prisoners, he asked Ki if they had a writ for this man's execution. Ki told him that it was the first one they obtained, and Szeth executed the man with Nightblood and knelt before Ki. Despite being shocked by the effects of Nightblood, she praised Szeth and gave him her canteen to sate his thirst. Afterwards, Ki decided to take Szeth as her squire and debated with the other Skybreakers for the privilege. She won the argument and took Szeth as her squire after he swore the Second Ideal. She also answered Szeth's questions about why the Skybreakers had not acted earlier against the corrupt high minister, explaining that he had not violated a law until he had failed at his responsibility to hold the prisoners.
Szeth's Master
When the Skybreaker squires performed the lashing combat drill with the powdered bags, Ki was also present.[3] She shared a look with Warren when Szeth claimed he had technically won the contest as the waters of the Purelake had washed his uniform clean of powder. Ki was impressed by the skill Szeth had displayed in the drill, as she had not realized how practiced he was with lashings. When Nale interrupted their conversation, ordering that the Skybreakers accompany him on a journey, Ki asked if Nale intended them to leave that very night, to which Nale responded affirmatively.
Ki accompanied Szeth and Nale and most of the other Skybreakers on their journey to Marat, flying southward for three days.[7] Upon their arrival in Marat, she landed and conferred briefly with Nale and the other masters before flying to a nearby town with all the Skybreakers except for Szeth and Nale.