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Difference between revisions of "Dalinar Kholin"
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He can be somewhat egalitarian in his assessment of others, in particular soldiers, and will often promote men based not on eye color or social status, but rather on the ability they display.{{book ref|sa3|3}} This extends beyond the [[Vorin]] ranks system, as Dalinar is willing to give a chance to people he doesn't normally associate with fighting, like [[Parshmen]] or women, if he considers their skills valuable or if they are recommended to him by someone trustworthy.{{book ref|sa2|46}}{{book ref|sa3|117}} This doesn't mean he's entirely free of bias, however, and when the worlds of the court and the military collide, he can often end up referring back to the established social order, possibly without fully realizing it.{{book ref|sa2|62}} His respect for parshmen and parshendi likely has some root in his childhood of being raised by a Parshman nurse, due to his mother dying and his father never being fit to raise him.{{book ref|sa1|26}}
He feels extreme guilt and self-hatred for various aspects of his past life; such as the burning of Rathalas and killing of his wife, which mentally broke him enough that it laid the foundation of his change in character;{{book ref|sa3|105}}{{book ref|sa3|115}} or over the fact that he didn't properly follow the Codes of War on the night of Gavilar's assassination, leading to him blaming himself for his death.{{book ref|sa1|12}} He feels that he must honestly admit his past mistakes, and take full responsibility for them, for he believes that taking responsibility is the first step towards becoming a better man.{{epigraph ref|sa3|13}}{{epigraph ref|sa3|14}}{{epigraph ref|sa3|15}}{{book ref|sa3|119}}▼
He admits that he is a hypocrite, but believes that sometimes a hypocrite is simply a person in the process of changing, and feels that that interpretation applies to himself.{{book ref|sa3|38}}▼
▲He feels extreme guilt and self-hatred for various aspects of his past life; such as the burning of Rathalas and killing of his wife, which mentally broke him enough that it laid the foundation of his change in character
Due to this, he feels great shame at how he went to the Nightwatcher to remove his memories so that he would stop feeling pain. He believes that the person he became due to that was a falsehood, a mere pretense of being a better person.{{book ref|sa3|100}} His loss of memory, and the return of it, is in fact a major motivation in his views on the importance of pain and taking responsibility, for he learned what it was like to lose them.{{book ref|sa3|118}}{{book ref|sa3|119}}
▲He admits that he is a hypocrite, but believes that sometimes a hypocrite is simply a person in the process of changing, and feels that that interpretation applies to himself.{{book ref|sa3|38}} He believes that he is still going through important growth and change, and has yet to reach his complete self.{{book ref|sa3|38}}
He follows the Alethi Codes of War with an ardent zeal, due to a variety of reasons; he does not believe that one gains from following the codes, but that it stops oneself from becoming that which they loathe; he also feels a deep guilt for not following them on the night of Gavilar's assassination, and blames his death on himself.{{book ref|sa1|66}} These codes have deeply influence the way that he leads, such as his belief that a leader should never order his followers to do anything that he would not himself do.{{book ref|sa1|65}} His belief in the inherent goodness of the Codes was enough that, once he became the Highprince of War, he attempted to enforce the Codes on all warcamps on the Shattered Plains.{{book ref|sa1|69}}
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