Difference between revisions of "Venli"

'''Venli''' is a [[listener]] scholar in [[Narak]] and [[Eshonai]]'s sister. During the [[True Desolation]], she bonds with [[Timbre]] and becomes a [[Surgebinder]] of the [[Order of Willshapers]].

In any form she has, Venli seems to tend towards the fatalistic, putting the odds of things like the war ending or her own survival at rather low.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}{{book ref|sa3|109}} While she wishes she had the power to fight, she does not consider herself to be skilled in this regard, and being on a battlefield distresses her.{{book ref|sa3|i|6}}{{book ref|sa3|115}} On the other hand, she's highly ambitious, and by and large does not care about the plight of her people, so long as she gets what she wants -- power and recognition.{{book ref|sa3|i|11}} To that end, she can be extremely manipulative and deceitful; however, when those goals, and the respect they'd give her, are threatened, she grows angry.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}} She seems jealous of her sister and her position, and tries to take over once the two are both in stormform.{{book ref|sa2|i|11}} It remains unclear how much of Venli's ambition came from having Ulim, a Voidspren, inside of her gemheart for a long period of time.

In [[nimbleform]], Venli is agile and precise, as well as keen-minded. Assuming [[stormform]] makes her significantly stronger and tougher, almost enough to rival a person wearing [[Shardplate]]. It also lets her shoot red lightning from her hands.{{book ref|sa3|i|11}} Those abilities go away once the [[envoyform]] is thrust upon her, though she grows even taller. Instead of casting lightning, she gains the ability to speak and understand any language, writing and signals, both human and singer, on [[Roshar]]. She also mentions having other, lesser gifts, though those are unspecified.{{book ref|sa3|i|7}}

With envoyform being one of the forms of power, Venli has a [[voidspren]] in her gemheart; however, she's also bonded with [[Timbre]], a [[Reacher]], making her a [[Willshaper]]. Though this allows her to breathe in [[Stormlight]], it's uncertain if she has all the abilities that a human Willshaper would. As she has only just said the First Ideal, she's yet to be seen using any [[Surge]]s.{{book ref|sa3|120}}

Venli is the sister of [[Eshonai]], and though her age is unclear, it'sshe impliedis she'syounger theby oldera oneyear.{{book ref|sa4|83}} When the two were children, Venli would often stay at home and help their mother, [[Jaxlim]], while Eshonai travelled.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}} Both sisters wore [[workform]] at the time. At some point, Venli and [[Demid]] became mates, and though the relationship did not produce any children, they remained together even after changing into different forms.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}

Eventually, Venli settled into the role of a scholar. After the listeners first made contact with humans, she created a written script, recognizing the value of recording information on paper. Venli received a gemstone from [[Axindweth]] which contained [[Ulim]].{{book ref|sa4|52}} Over the next five years, she and her team wrote down all listener song and stories to be preserved and cross-referenced. Through this, they also discovered nimbleform. Venli took it on and joined listener leadership as its representative.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}

Afterwards, Venli became Odium's chief propagandist, first in [[Kholinar]], then in [[Marat]], telling the tragic tale of the listeners who, according to the new narrative, sacrificed themselves to free the [[Parshmen]] of their mindless slavery. During that time, she was kept apart from other singers to maintain her mystique; in lieu of contact with her people, she began chatting atwith her mute spren, whom she nicknamed [[Timbre]]. At Timbre's urging, she finally admitted that summoning the old gods was a horrible mistake, and that she wished she shouldcould be like her sister.{{book ref|sa3|i|7}}{{book ref|sa3|i|9}}{{book ref|sa3|i|11}}

* Venli will beis the focus character of ''[[Rhythm of War]]'', althoughwith the flashbacks will be split between her and [[Eshonai]].{{wob ref|13302}}

* Brandon has planned to kill off Eshonai and put more emphasis on Venli from very early on in the story's development, having always considered her to be the more interesting of the two sisters.{{wob ref|11666}}