Raboniel

Raboniel
by Raquel_kholin
Family Children Essu
Died	1175, Stabbed by Navani
Abilities	Fused
Titles	Lady of Wishes, Lady of Pains
Species	Singer
Homeworld	Roshar
Universe	Cosmere

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“Raboniel does not think like other Fused, Venli. She hears a much grander song. A skewed and twisted one, but one she seeks to sing without traditional regard for Odium's plans. ”

—Lady Leshwi to Venli

Raboniel is one of the Fused scholars on Roshar. She was one of the Nine until she decided it was too limiting. She organizes the operation for the Fused occupation of Urithiru, and with the help of Navani Kholin develops Warlight, as well the method to create Anti-Stormlight and Anti-Voidlight.

Appearance and Personality

by Marie Seeberger

For more images, see /Gallery.

“Humans never use what is around them to its fullest. They always impose their will far too strongly. ”

—Raboniel

Raboniel is a very tall, narrow-figured femalen Fused, with a topknot of red-orange hairstrands, carapace like a helmet and very long arms and fingers. She also has carapace along her arms and chest, and is broad-shouldered with the small breasts common for most femalen singers. She wears a variety of different fashions, including ornate robes, travel leathers for battle, garments similar to havahs, and Thaylen clothing, without regard for gender.

She has remained sane even after seven thousand years. However, she is exhausted from the unending war in which both the Fused and Radiant spren cannot be killed permanently. She is obsessed with ending the war to the point that nothing else matters to her. Raboniel showed immense grief upon her daughter's death.

“Raboniel is a scholar, but not the kind you would wish to work beneath. ”

—Lady Leshwi

Raboniel is scholarly and curious, and one of her interests is in the Radiants, their powers, and their connection to Urithiru. Instead of being angry when the Sibling's node defenses activate, she is fascinated by the defenses and excited by the prospect of discovering the tower's secrets. She enjoys matching wits with Navani and, to a lesser extent, Leshwi. She is very skilled in manipulation, as shown in how she persuades Navani into doing research under her. She is also ruthless in the pursuit of her desires, but is not emotionless like many believe.

Raboniel looks down on the humans, but at the same time admires their fabrial innovations, and she eventually realizes that she may have underestimated the humans. However, she disdains many aspects of human culture, including their art and gender roles. Although she covers her safehand to make Navani and the other humans more comfortable, she finds it annoying.^{[citation needed]}

Attributes and Abilities

Like other Fused, Raboniel cannot be killed by conventional means and she can heal using Voidlight. She is a type of Fused called the fannahn-im or "Ones of Alteration," meaning she can use the Surge of Transformation. She is able to turn weapons into dust and can breathe out an apparently toxic compound. She carries a small thin blade with her. Raboniel is able to attune unique Rhythms given to her by Odium. As a Fused, her soul is bound to Braize and she is unable to leave the Rosharan system.

As a scholar, Raboniel is perhaps the most knowledgeable of any Fused regarding fabrials and Lights. She also has a degree of cosmere awareness, including knowledge of arcane items from other planets. She is talented at picking up languages, and can speak Alethi as well as write in the women's script.

History

Heraldic Epochs

Raboniel had a daughter, Essu, and theorized that she and Essu working together might help them stay sane, but Essu went mad. Raboniel used to have the title Lady of Pains, but decided she did not like that title, and was then referred to as Lady of Wishes instead. During the last Return, she developed a disease intended to kill all humans on the planet; although it turned out to affect singers as well, she released it anyway. However, it did not work as expected, as fewer than one in ten humans was killed, and one in a hundred singers.

by Petar Penev

Leading the attack on Urithiru, flanked by the makay-im

Occupation of Urithiru

“We will end this war, Pursuer. Forever. We have spent far, far too long in an endless cycle. I will break it - and once I am finished in this tower, there will be no turning back, ever. ”

—Raboniel to the Pursuer

Raboniel was the one to suggest the Urithiru invasion to the Nine, saying that she could use her abilities to turn the tower's defenses against the Radiants and suppress their powers. She led a group, including Venli, Rothan, stormform Singers, and a group of Deepest Ones, in the invasion.

Upon arriving at Urithiru, Raboniel began to corrupt the Sibling with Voidlight. This caused her great physical strain, but she managed to activate the tower's defenses as planned. In the process, she also realized that the Sibling was not dead, only pretending to be, and began secretly listening in when the Sibling communicated with others, like Navani. She ordered her team to only kill people who resisted, and to gather the Radiants, and gave the Pursuer permission to kill Kaladin. When Ulim found Navani, Raboniel directed him to keep her alive, seeing her as a useful resource.

Raboniel met with Navani and laid out her plans for Urithiru - Raboniel would gather the Radiants and allow all other humans to live in the tower, although they were all demoted to darkeyed status. She allowed the humans to continue trade, unlike most of the humans in Alethkar, but not to carry weapons. Navani agreed to these terms when Raboniel said that if she did not agree, the singers would kill all the Radiants and be less accommodating in their rule. During the occupation, she used fabrials with corrupted spren that were not suppressed by the Sibling.

After the initial negotiations, Raboniel largely focused on research and let the Pursuer make decisions. She was determined to discover the secret of anti-Voidlight, and directed and aided Navani in achieving this. Under Raboniel, Navani had access to a full lab and her group of ardents and scholars, although she was not given any servants. At the start of their partnership, Navani told Raboniel about the fabrial mechanics involved in the flying ship, including the use of aluminum to isolate planes of movement, and Raboniel explained to Navani that some spren manifested as Soulcasters.

by Connor Chamberlain

Holding a raysium dagger

Raboniel encountered Kaladin while continuing her corruption of the Sibling - they had a short conversation, but were interrupted by the Pursuer. When he defeated the Pursuer, Raboniel stabbed him to observe his Radiant healing and asked him questions about how his Surges were affected by the tower's corruption. She also met with Mraize, who presented her with a captured but still awake Lift in exchange for use of the Oathgates. Venli approached her after this conversation and asked to have Rlain released into her care, and Raboniel agreed reluctantly.

When Navani continued to stall instead of agreeing fully to work with her, Raboniel showed her a singer attempting to break the Sibling's shield with Elhokar's Shardblade, seemingly unaware that the blade had belonged to Navani's deceased son. Raboniel then ordered Navani to work on her own from then on and send messages through Raboniel to her scholars. She showed Navani a replica of the crystal pillar shield and explains the mechanics - a type of Soulcasting where the fabrial convinces the air around the pillar that it is glass. She also told Navani about Lifelight and Towerlight, explaining that the latter is why Urithiru is so interesting to her. She wanted to combine Stormlight and Voidlight but was unsure if it would be possible, comparing them to oil and water in their inability to mix. Navani corrected her, showing that with an emulsifier oil and water can be combined, which made Raboniel realize that she should not accept ancient teachings without question. She tasked Navani with experimenting with Light and gave her access to all the scholarly texts she requested, including those from Kholinar, and experimented on her own as well to no avail. She told Navani that if she was able to combine Stormlight and Voidlight, Raboniel would free Urithiru from singer rule, although Navani did not believe her. She also confided in Navani about her daughter, Essu, as a way to gain Navani's trust.

“I don't think you can comprehend how tired I am of this war, Navani. How tired all of us are. Your Heralds too.”

—Raboniel to Navani

Raboniel found the location to the node in the well by listening to Navani's conversations with the Sibling and attempted to corrupt it, but Kaladin managed to escape both the Pursuer and Leshwi to destroy it. She brought Navani food and wine and told her about the past, and the origins of the human-singer conflict, mentioning that her grandmother had told her about the arrival of the humans to Roshar. Navani mentioned no longer being interested in doing research, but Raboniel convinced her to continue. They began to work together - at Navani's request, Raboniel sang the rhythms of Honor and Odium, and Navani learned Honor's rhythm with the help of a fabrial. With Raboniel singing Odium's rhythm and Navani singing Honor's, they were able to combine Stormlight and Voidlight for the first time. Raboniel entitled the rhythm they created the Rhythm of War, then revealed her true purpose to Navani - creating Light that could act as anti-Investiture. They began to collaborate and co-authored a lab notebook called Rhythm of War in which they recorded their experimentation.

At Navani’s request, Raboniel gave her a raysium dagger and explained how it worked. She also told Navani that the dagger didn’t contain enough metal to trap a soul and would therefore not be dangerous if Navani tried to use it on her. Navani trapped half of a flamespren in the dagger, which led them to the realization that moving half the spren to a larger gemstone led to force multiplication. Raboniel also gave Navani sand from Taldain that measured the strength of Investiture. She told Navani about Braize and planetary travel, revealing that travel to other worlds happened through Shadesmar. Navani tried to persuade Raboniel to make a treaty to end the war without Unmaking the Sibling, but the Fused replied that her best chance of winning the war was to control Urithiru, although they both expressed sorrow at the situation. She then, along with two nimbleform singers, played instruments - the nimbleforms using plates and bows that could replicate the tones of Honor and Odium, and Raboniel playing the drums - to create a musical version of the Rhythm of War, and gave Navani the title Voice of Lights.

She conversed with Venli about regret and the reason for the war. She then released Venli from her service, as the Sibling's corruption was almost complete, and gave her the news of the surviving group of listeners who escaped through the chasms before the Everstorm, as well as a requisition writ for supplies.

Navani, descending into feverish and obsessive research, was able to create a tone that repelled Voidlight using the bow and plate system. Although she tried to hide her breakthrough from Raboniel, the Regals could hear a difference in the tones and Raboniel came to investigate Navani's progress. Finding the new plate, Raboniel played it, realized what Navani had done, and convinced her to engage in collaboration again.

Later, when Raboniel revealed her plan to use Anti-Stormlight to kill the Radiants' spren, Navani used a fabrial trap to stop Raboniel, and then, with what remained of the weapon Raboniel used to kill her daughter, stabbed Raboniel. However, since there wasn't enough Anti-Voidlight Raboniel was left in a weakened state.

When Navani was subsequently attacked by Moash, Raboniel latched onto his foot and clawed at him to buy time for Navani. Navani later returned and killed Raboniel, treating her with the utmost respect. She left a note on Raboniel's body saying it is not to be disturbed.^{[citation needed]}

Relationships

Essu

Essu is Raboniel's daughter, gone mad from the stresses of being a Fused. Raboniel loves her deeply. Essu tends to follow her mother around and sometimes mimics her actions. Watching Essu's descent into madness over time was a very painful experience for Raboniel, and her first action with the anti-Voidlight is to kill her daughter as a mercy. Navani sees that Raboniel truly grieves her daughter's death.^{[citation needed]}

by Esther Schrader

Working with Navani

Navani

“Haven't I led you to a weapon? Haven't I given you the secrets you needed to make it this far? Within reach of something that could kill a god? All because we worked together. Let's take this last step as one. ”

—Raboniel to Navani

Raboniel is impressed with the scholarly work that Navani has done, and she requests that Navani help her in developing Warlight. Originally, Navani resists and stalls, but Raboniel sees through her efforts. Venli remarks that Raboniel seems to enjoy the challenge of manipulating Navani. With both their efforts, they manage to develop not only Warlight, but also Anti-Stormlight and Anti-Voidlight. Raboniel is appreciative of Navani's scholarship and compliments her often and genuinely, although Navani usually deflects the praise.

Raboniel demands that Navani address her with the title of "Ancient One" or "Lady of Wishes," but in the course of their research together, she drops the requirement, saying that Navani's scientific discoveries have made them equals. As they spend more time together, Navani gets better at understanding the rhythms.

Navani was touched by Raboniel's relationship with her daughter Essu, as they were both mothers who had lost children, and Raboniel's grief over her daughter humanized her in Navani's mind.

Leshwi

“Leshwi had set up a method for Venli to clandestinely deliver notes about Raboniel. Venli found the whole thing a baffling part of Fused politics. Raboniel knew that Venli was spying, and Leshwi knew that Raboniel knew, yet they both pretended the subterfuge was unknown. ”

—Venli

Raboniel believes Leshwi to be one of the cleverest and most capable Heavenly Ones, calling her dangerous, and Leshwi sees Raboniel similarly. She is afraid of Raboniel due to her intelligence, ability to manipulate others and the fact that she is more capable of creating long-term plans than many of the Fused. Raboniel, however, is "fond" of Leshwi, although she believes her to be softhearted. Leshwi offers Venli to Raboniel to act as Raboniel's Voice, with the motive of gaining information on Raboniel through Venli, and although Raboniel sees through this scheme, she accepts Venli for the position.

Venli

Upon initially meeting Venli, Raboniel is curious about her, calling her a "traitor to her own kind." Venli acts as Raboniel's Voice, and Raboniel also gives Venli information on the Surges and the different types of Fused and Radiants. Raboniel recognizes Venli's ambition and curiosity and encourages those attributes as worthy Passions. She mistakenly believes that Venli wishes to become a Fused, and advises her that no mortal has been granted that honor since the original Fused. She also counsels Venli about regret and ambition and gifts her a scout report that informs her that the singers who escaped into the chasms before the Everstorm have survived.

Notes

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