Editors
8,480
edits
Priscellie (talk | contribs) |
Reinhartmax (talk | contribs) |
||
(18 intermediate revisions by 11 users not shown) | |||
|world=Roshar
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|
}}
{{update|sa4}}
}}
'''Rlain''' is a [[listener]] and member of [[Bridge Four]],{{book ref|sa1|46}}
== Appearance and Personality ==
}}
=== Appearance ===
Rlain has the marbling characteristic of [[singer|singers]]; his skin and beard (when he has one) are a unique pattern of red and black,{{book ref|sa3|14}} regardless of which form he takes. After Bridge Four is freed by [[Dalinar]], Rlain gets the glyphs for "freedom" and "Bridge Four" tattooed on his forehead with the rest of the crew.{{book ref|sa2|2}} This carries over to his other forms, blending into his skullplate in warform.
From his earliest times taking warform, he displays unusual adeptness at resisting its inclinations to violence and taking risks, preferring a more cautious and pacifistic approach.{{book ref|sa4|81}} He avoids engaging in physical violence in his resistance of Odium’s forces, and it concerns him that he hears the Rhythms more loudly in this form.{{book ref|sa4|81}}
=== Personality ===
Like the rest of his people, he considers touching the bodies of his fallen kinsmen to be a major taboo, a holdover from the ancient days when humans hacked apart singer corpses, searching for gemhearts.{{book ref|sa3|i|3}}
In Urithiru, he pretends not to notice humans' discomfort in his presence, and he habitually exaggerates his facial expressions and de-emphasizes the Rhythms in his speech to put them at ease.{{book ref|sa4|38}}{{book ref|sa4|74}} Sometime between the Battle of Thaylen Field and the Alethi campaign to Emul, he takes workform in hopes of looking less like the enemy. However, workform's vague visual similarity to slaveform causes humans to treat him like a parshman, which he finds intolerable, so he returns to warform.{{book ref|sa4|15}}
He struggles with reductive stereotypes and discrimination in general, no matter how much he tried to change for others. He is fully aware of how people around him stare at him and fear him, to the extent of many simply making up stories about him to try to justify their prejudice. He is also aware of how people on both sides of the war distrust him.{{book ref|sa3|55}}{{book ref|sa4|79}}{{book ref|sa4|109}} He has experienced various people trying to feel his carapace or look underneath it, and this leaves him very uncomfortable and irritated.{{book ref|sa3|55}}
He enjoys playing cards--particularly Towers and Runaround--and he's quite good, as his spy training and the listeners' cultural de-emphasis on facial expression make him excellent at bluffing.{{book ref|sa4|79}} ▼
He hates how he is seen as a symbol, a representation of his entire people, and wants to instead just be seen as a person.{{book ref|sa4|79}} All of this makes him feel like an outsider, and he feels that as the war goes on, he is only becoming more and more of an outsider.{{book ref|sa3|55}}{{book ref|sa4|79}} He hates it when people use racial slurs to describe the singers and listeners, though he doesn't speak up for them or for himself, simply saying "it's all right," when they apologize to him, as that is what they expect him to say. He sometimes accidently attunes the Rhythm of Irritation when he says it, betraying his true feelings on the matter.{{book ref|sa3|55}}
For a long time, he struggled with feelings of being a traitor to his people, not just to the Listeners, but also to Bridge Four.{{book ref|sa2|79}}{{book ref|sa4|42}}{{book ref|sa4|96}} Over time, he grew to love himself more and get over these feelings.{{book ref|sa4|96}}
He wants to be recognized for his own abilities, enough so to turn down an honorspren that chose to bond with him due to being forced to.{{book ref|sa4|15}}{{book ref|sa4|109}} He was overjoyed upon Tumi picking him of his own free will, based on being in awe of him for his actions and personal attributes.{{book ref|sa4|109}} This can be seen as an extension of his general desire to be seen as who he is.{{book ref|sa4|79}}
▲He enjoys playing cards--particularly Towers and Runaround--and he's quite good, as his spy training and the listeners' cultural de-emphasis on facial expression make him excellent at bluffing.{{book ref|sa4|79}}
He is gay, exclusively being attracted to other men, he described this as not being what he was expecting.{{book ref|sa4|79}}{{wob ref|14751}}{{wob ref|14647}}
== Attributes and Abilities ==
|side=right|size=300px}}
[[Teft]] in particular was inclined to worry about his loyalties,{{book ref|sa1|46}} as Rlain's addition to Bridge Four occurred in the middle of their secret plan to train in spear fighting and escape from the warcamps. Even Kaladin, despite his relative acceptance of Rlain, didn't feel comfortable giving him a spear. Instead, he assigned Rlain and the other non-combatants ([[Rock]], [[Lopen]], and [[Dabbid]]) to scavenge through the chasms with [[Syl]]'s aid while
Rlain went on bridge runs and chasm duty several times without issue, just as Kaladin had expected, even joining the other bridgemen standing at parade rest as Sadeas' armies crossed the chasms.{{book ref|sa1|53}} However, Teft, and likely much of the crew, continued to distrust him. During one chasm duty session, Kaladin began to scavenge from a listener corpse, and Rlain's attempt to stop him prompted Teft and Moash to restrain him in a chokehold. Curious, Kaladin ordered him freed, and Rlain gently but firmly pushed Kaladin away and took up a defensive position over the corpse. Rock and Lopen reported that he had done similarly before during their scavenging efforts.
}}
Rlain stayed with Bridge Four as they moved into Urithiru along with much of the Alethi army. He continued training and working with them, but the gulf between him and the other soldiers persisted. When he was on duty and guarding Dalinar, other [[Kholin princedom|Kholin]] soldiers viewed him with active suspicion.{{book ref|sa3|9}}
Alongside those external problems, he continued to deal with his grief over the genocide of the listeners. After the mass transformation into stormform, the casualties from the [[War of Reckoning]], and the transformation of the survivors into hosts for the Fused, Rlain believed he was the last of his people, which weighed heavily on him.{{book ref|sa3|55}} After one particularly difficult day, Kaladin engaged Rlain in conversation, inviting him to explain his feelings, so he and Bridge Four could help shoulder his burdens. Rlain resolved to try.{{book ref|sa3|55}}
As Rlain's bridgeleader within Bridge Four, Kaladin readily accepts him into the crew, names him "Shen," and refuses to allow the other bridgemen to mistreat him. However, Kaladin maintains some private reservations, refusing to arm him or train him in the spear. In the desperate days in Sadeas' crews, Kaladin is also forced to prioritize his people's lives over Rlain's wellbeing, and he creates armor from listener carapace and bones for himself, and then the entire bridge crew of 27, despite knowing how it will distress Rlain.
Rlain continues to serve under Kaladin after the bridge crews are transformed into a military unit for the Kholin army. Kaladin defends Rlain's right to a Bridge Four tattoo and its signifiers of freedom, but he persists in his reluctance to allow him a spear, to Rlain's deep disappointment.{{book ref|sa1|46}}
{{sidequote
|side=left|size=400px}}
Though Kaladin still struggles to overcome deep-seated biases, including thinking "Shen" looks like an evil spren from stories when sitting in the shadows{{book ref|sa2|52}} and feeling discomfort at seeing warform Rlain giving humans orders as they implement his system to accelerate crop growth,{{book ref|sa4|15}} Kaladin makes a concerted effort to listen to him, trust his judgment, and see him for who he is. This determination is put to the test when Odium's forces invaded Urithiru, and Rlain elects to fight the resistance from within, rather than remain hidden at Kaladin's recommendation. However, Kaladin gives Rlain his trust.{{book ref|sa4|42}}
=== Renarin ===
{{quote
|Rlain sipped his drink and wished Renarin were here; the quiet, lighteyed man usually made a point of speaking with Rlain. The others jabbered excitedly, but didn’t think to include him. Parshmen were invisible to them -- they’d been brought up that way.
|Rlain's musings while watching the others train{{book ref|
}}
Months after Renarin joins Bridge Four, he still feels like an oddity among their number. He voices these insecurities to Rock, who helps him realize that Rlain feels the same way, but to a far greater extent, often isolated within their number due to his nature and history. From then on, Renarin makes a special point of sitting and talking with him frequently, being a friend to him, and making him feel like one of their number in truth. Rlain greatly appreciates this and misses Renarin when he is not around.{{book ref|sa3|37}}{{book ref|sa3|55}} In the weeks that follow, Rlain became fiercely defensive of his friend, and when Kaladin encourages the others to be tolerant of Renarin's choice to learn to read, Rlain reiterates to himself his appreciation for Kaladin's attempts at understanding.
Eventually, when [[Sja-anat]] asks Renarin for any potential candidates for bonds, Renarin immediately suggests Rlain.{{book ref|sa4|114}} With that vote of confidence, the enlightened [[mistspren]] [[Tumi]], sent to evaluate [[Mraize]] for a bond, also spends several weeks observing Rlain's heroic qualities during the occupation of Urithiru, though he must be careful to avoid coming to Odium's attention. In the chaos of the uprising, in recognition of Rlain enjoining the humans and singers in shared purpose, Tumi names Rlain Bridger of Minds, rejects Mraize, and bonds him, making him the second-ever Enlightened Truthwatcher.{{book ref|sa4|114}} Rlain wishes to seek out the surviving listeners with Venli, Leshwi, and their people, but he establishes that he needs to stay, at least until Renarin returns.
Rlain and Renarin share the capacity for [[Shard#Future_Sight|future sight]] through their
[[Renarin]] develops romantic feelings towards Rlain,{{wob ref|14549}} and it is possible Rlain returns these feelings. Sanderson explains that the characters have not yet reached the same conclusions that their emotions have.{{wob ref|14549}}
=== Other Members of Bridge Four ===
==== Rock ====
As non-combatants, Rock
==== Teft ====
|