Szeth

Szeth-son-son-Vallano
by Ben McSweeney
Family Parents Neturo
Born	1138
Abilities	Windrunner, Shardbearer
Birthplace	Valley of Truth
Nationality	Shin
Homeworld	Roshar

Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, was a Shin from Roshar. He was the son of Neturo, who was son of Vallano.

Appearance and Personality

He was short, bald, and had large, round eyes like most Shin, which normally were dark green, but changed to pale sapphire when he summoned his Shardblade.

History

Early Life

Szeth was bound to his Oathstone. Whoever owned his Oathstone owned Szeth. Szeth was obliged by his honor to do as the owner commanded with the exception of killing himself or giving up his Shardblade.

He was named Truthless at approximately 27 years of age and was traded to the Thaylen merchant Vstim shortly afterwards.

Assassin in White

At some later point Szeth came into Parshendi possession by as of yet unknown means. When he was 29 years of age, he was given orders to murder King Gavilar of Alethkar during the Alethi-Parshendi treaty-signing celebrations, in public, and be seen doing it with live witnesses. A fierce battle between Gavilar and Szeth commenced. Fooled into believing Gavilar was a bodyguard in the beginning, Szeth was forced into chasing after the escaping target, instead of fighting a protracted battle. However soon after, he realized the target was simply a decoy, since Gavilar would be much safer in his own Shardplate, fighting with his Shardblade, instead of fleeing for his life. Doubling back, Szeth abandoned chase and returned to kill Gavilar. In the ensuing battle, Gavilar almost succeeds in killing Szeth with a Shardplate enhanced punch, but ultimately fails and falls to his death upon a piece of wooden debris, impaling him in a spot where the Shardplate had been broken. Before dying, Gavilar had two last requests: to tell his brother to say the most important words a man could say, and to protect a mysterious black orb that shone dark light. Szeth honored both requests, scrawling a message to Dalinar into the wood with Gavilar's own hand and blood.And Eventually he also hid away the black orb somewhere in Jah Keved.

He wore traditional white Parshendi assassin attire on the night he killed Gavilar, which led to him being known as the Assassin in White. Parshendi customs bade assassins to wear white, for if someone were to be assassinated, they were owed a fair warning.

Vengeance Pact

Following Gavilar's death, the Parshendi threw away Szeth's Oathstone as they fled Kholinar. As the Alethi believed that Szeth had fled with the Parshendi they did not attempt to track him down and instead began the Vengeance Pact, waging war on the Parshendi. Meanwhile Szeth was eventually picked up by Avado. The travelling merchant took him to Jah Keved in fear of possible Alethi retributions against strange foreigners in the wake of their king's death. Over the course of more than 5 years, the Oathstone changed possession many times before landing in the hands of Took, a transient worker. Took was robbed and killed after a night of drinking in Ironsway, a town in the Bavland, and Szeth's Oathstone went to Makkek. With Szeth under his control, Makkek set out to gain wealth, first by killing his fellow robbers, and then establishing a gambling den in Bornwater.

On one of Makkek's missions, this time to eliminate a rival who had opened his own gambling place, Szeth infiltrated the local lord's mansion where his target Gavashaw resided. There he met a mysterious stranger who knew of Szeth and his role in Gavilar's death, revealing in detail of Szeth's powers, and also of a new master they both now served, revealing his Oathstone taken from Makkek. Gavashaw and Makkek had both been killed.

Taravangian's Assassin

The stranger gave Szeth a list of high ranking targets, all of whom were to be eliminated with the same skill displayed over five years ago in Kholinar. Szeth set out to do his work. His second last goal was King Hanavanar of Jah Keved whom he killed along with his two Shardbearer guards.

King Taravangian, the last one on Szeth's hit list, turned out to be his secret employer. Widely known as the dim witted, elderly, yet kind king of Kharbranth, Taravangian actually ran a secret hospital hidden in the king's palace. It was built in a large room with wide railings on the sides. Its purpose was to slowly kill the incredibly sick, elderly, or just undesired remnants of society by slowly draining the blood out of them, thereby protracting their death out of public eyesight. Taravangian did this because some of the dying spoke during the last moments of their life, which he thought might provide valuable insight about the coming Desolation. So in order to prepare for it, he began collecting their death throes.

Attributes and Abilities

Surgebinding

Szeth was a Surgebinder who had Windrunner powers. He is not bound to an honorspren like the other known Windrunner, Kaladin . Szeth seemed to possess a relatively informed knowledge of the Windrunner order of the Knights Radiant, knowing the name of the order as well as their name for the powers they possessed: the three Lashings.

Shardblade

Szeth possessed a Shardblade that was long and thin, edged on both sides. It was smaller than most others.