Sadees
| Sadees | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Abilities | Shardbearer | ||||
| Titles | King of Alethkar, The Sunmaker | ||||
| Nationality | Alethi | ||||
| Homeworld | Roshar | ||||
| Universe | Cosmere | ||||
“ All wars are games. The greatest kind, with the pieces lost real lives, the prizes captured making for real wealth! This is the life for which men exist. To fight, to kill, to win. ”
— The Sunmaker[1]
Sadees, also known as the Sunmaker, was an ancient king of Alethkar who reigned about 500 years before the True Desolation,[2] and was the first to unify the kingdom after the fall of Alethela.[1]
Appearance and Personality
Little of the Sunmaker's personality is known. He was an ambitious man, constantly going above and beyond on tasks others thought impossible.[3] He was a lover of battle and considered it to be a great game.[1] There was a streak of cruelty to his conquests, with Sadees killing thousands to achieve his dream of a unified Roshar.[4]
Nothing is known of the Sunmaker's physical appearance, beyond the fact that he refused to wear a crown.[5] He wielded a hooked Shardblade known as Oathbringer.[6]
History
Early Life and Defeat of the Hierocracy
Little is known of Sadees's early life. At some point, the Sunmaker bonded the Shardblade known as Oathbringer.[6] At age seventeen,[7] he began his campaign to unite the highprinces of Alethkar into a single nation.[1][6] Sadees used two tactics to help achieve his aim. He made use of an entire company of cavalry, with legendary speed and maneuverability.[8] The Thrill also drove his soldiers to victory.[9] After completing this task and claiming a mandate from the Almighty, Sadees crowned himself king of a united Alethkar.[10] The Sunmaker led the overthrow of the Hierocracy.[11] He questioned the ardents about their claims of prophecies from the Almighty, going through their correspondence.[11] The Sunmaker proclaimed that the ardents had been lying, so Vorinism was broken into devotaries.
Later Conquests and Death
With the Hierocracy defeated, the Sunmaker turned his attention to a conquest of all of Roshar.[12] He began with a conquest of Herdaz, which he successfully completed.[3] He then turned his attention westward. It is uncertain whether he conquered Jah Keved, or if that kingdom even existed then. What is known is that he conquered his way to Azir in western Roshar,[4] then under the rule of Prime Aqasix Snoxil.[13] Upon reaching Azir, the Sunmaker claimed that as the the Azish did not properly respect eye color they needed to be conquered and civilized.[13] He sacked the capital of Azimir and took the kingdom more easily than he'd assumed he would.[4] Unable to leave a city behind with a force of fighting men, Sadees instituted a policy of genocide against the Azish. He issued arbitrary decrees, such as ordering all men with hair beyond a certain length be executed. Other times he ordered each of his soldiers to kill a specific number of captives each day. It is said that the highstorms blew up piles of skulls in Zawfix. During his time in Azir, Sadees had one in ten people in Azir killed. As his conquest continued, Sadees suddenly fell ill with an unknown disease and died.
Legacy
Upon the Sunmaker's death, his empire did not last long. He had never bothered to choose an heir, and his ten sons could not decide among themselves whom to elevate.[3] The sons quickly turned to infighting and the empire collapsed in less than a generation.[4] These ten sons founded the princedoms in Alethkar, crowning themselves the highprinces of a fragmented kingdom. As the kingdom became insular, the highprinces' influence beyond their own borders decreased greatly.[9] However, the Sunmaker's conquests had a lasting impact on Alethkar. His campaigns forged the modern trade routes between Alethkar and Azir, Herdaz, and Jah Keved.[14] His contact with other kingdoms brought science and culture to Alethkar. This influx triggered an Alethi cultural revolution. His defeat of the Hierocracy and the division of the Vorin Church into devotaries prevented the ardents from gaining the same amount of power or wealth they once enjoyed.[11]
In modern Alethkar, Sadees is revered as a cultural hero. To be compared to the Sunmaker is considered to be a great compliment. The Sunmaker Mountains in central Alethkar were named after him.[15][9] King Gavilar Kholin revered the Sunmaker.[1] He was Gavilar's inspiration when Gavilar himself united the highprinces.[3] In fact, one of the titles associated with the reestablished kingship of Alethkar is heir of the Sunmaker.[16] When Dalinar Kholin was determined to forge a coalition against the Voidbringers, he tried to avoid using conquest as a tool, as he considered the Sunmaker to be a tyrant and wished to do better.[14] Memories of the Sunmaker made the other nations of Roshar hesitant to trust Dalinar and the Alethi.[4]
![[15]](#cite_note-Alethkar_Color.jpg-15){kind=link}
Notes
- ↑ a b c d e The Way of Kings chapter 24#
- ↑ JordanCon 2018
— Arcanum - 2018-04-21# - ↑ a b c d Oathbringer chapter 19#
- ↑ a b c d e Oathbringer chapter 42#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 49#
- ↑ a b c Oathbringer chapter 11#
- ↑ The Way of Kings chapter 29#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 75#
- ↑ a b c Oathbringer chapter 16#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 34#
- ↑ a b c The Way of Kings chapter 18#
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 2#
- ↑ a b Oathbringer chapter 65#
- ↑ a b Oathbringer chapter 100#
- ↑ Map of Alethkar
- ↑ Oathbringer chapter 105#
