Yalb
| Yalb | |
|---|---|
 by botanicaxu
| |
| Profession | Sailor |
| Nationality | Thaylen |
| Homeworld | Roshar |
| Universe | Cosmere |
Yalb is a Thaylen sailor from the The Wind's Pleasure crew.[1]
Appearance and Personality
Yalb is a young sailor who usually wears an open-fronted vest and a pair of loose trousers.[2] Yalb has a lazy contentedness and a smirk.[3] He speaks with a thick rural Thaylen dialect, has an affable voice[3] and speaks with the gentle flirtation of a sailor. [1] Yalb is probably of a pagan religion as he mentions the “Passions.”[4]
History
He traveled on The Wind's Pleasure with Shallan and was selected by the captain to accompany her to the Kharbranth Conclave where she would meet Jasnah for the first time. He earns her trust, and she asks him to wait for her, giving him a ruby mark.[1] When she comes out of the Conclave and lets him know Jasnah rejected her, he convinces her to try a third time and helps her find a book merchant. While she was shopping, he came into the shop and helped her get a much better price for the books.[4] His crew is selected by Jasnah for taking her and Shallan to the Shattered Plains. Yalb helps the latter go underwater to see a santhid, a rare sea animal.[2] They later picked up a new member for the crew at Amydlatn, who was actually a member of the Ghostbloods with the mission of killing Jasnah. Many sailors were killed by him and the rest likely drowned when Shallan set the ship on fire to try to save them. Yalb’s whereabouts are unconfirmed but Shallan considers him dead.[5]
Abilities
He has a talent to cheat at “game of kabers” and uses it to beat lawmen like the city guards of Kharbranth.[4]
Relationships
Shallan
Like all sailors, he has a flirting way with Shallan that makes her blush, even though she is of much higher rank than he is.[1] He translated the driver’s city information for her and later confronts the driver for wanting to increase the price and split the earnings with him. She treated him as a master servant, and instead of being offended he laughed. She gave him a ruby mark out of gratitude and asked him to wait for her.[1] He later convinces her to try one more time to become Jasnah’s ward and helped her find a bookstore and a good price for the books. She pays him with a portrait of him with the porter. By the end they do seem to be fond of each other.[4] She kept a sketch of him and his figure was used by her when creating the army to fight Odium; he was displayed with a glowing Shardspear.[6]
Quotes
“Merchants are like fish. Where you find one, you’ll find others. ”
— Yalb to Shallan in Kharbranth when looking for a bookstore [4]
Trivia
Chapter 8 in WOK is written to make Yalb shine. In another type of story, he'd be one of the main characters.[7]