Dalinar Kholin

Dalinar Kholin
by Exmakina
House Kholin Spouse "Shshsh" Children Adolin, Renarin Siblings Gavilar
Born	ca. 1123
Abilities	Surgebinding (Tension/Adhesion) Shardwielding
Titles	Highprince of War The Blackthorn
Groups	Knights Radiant (Bondsmith)
Nationality	Alethi
Homeworld	Roshar

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Dalinar Kholin, the Blackthorn, is a lighteyed Alethi on Roshar, a Highprince of Alethkar and the uncle of King Elhokar Kholin and Jasnah Kholin. His brother is the late King Gavilar. Brightness Navani is Gavilar's widow, with whom Dalinar has a romantic relationship. His sons are Adolin Kholin and Renarin Kholin. He is a member of the Order of Bondsmiths and he is the leader of the reformed Knights Radiant.

Appearance and Personality

Dalinar is an aging but powerfully built man, with the face of a warrior. He has black hair that is peppered with grey in the temples. He chooses to wear his Shardplate in its original slate grey color without any adornment or decoration. His Shardblade is called Oathbringer. He rides a Ryshadium stallion named Gallant.

Dalinar considers himself wholly a soldier and general with no talent for back-room politicking. After Gavilar's assassination, Dalinar blamed himself and since then has worked to protect Alethkar and Gavilar’s son Elhokar in hope of earning some kind of redemption.

Dalinar's Calling is to be a leader, and his chosen Glory is determination. His devotary is the Order of Talenelat.

History

Early Adulthood

In his youth, Dalinar deeply respected his elder brother Gavilar, although he was also envious of him at times. He and Gavilar reunited Alethkar's warring highprinces after centuries of strife. Dalinar had been the warrior, a genius of the battlefield, slaying their leaders and best Shardbearers, and bending their surviving opponents to Gavilar's rule. His prowess in battle earned him the nickname 'Blackthorn' and a reputation of being one of the greatest warriors and generals who ever lived. He won many Shardplates and Shardblades in battle; one set he won during the first year of the War of Reckoning which he then gave to Elhokar, so that he could reward one he thought worthy in order to help the war effort.

Dalinar had befriended Navani and desired her hand, but stepped aside for Gavilar's sake and watched his brother court and marry her. Soon after Dalinar married another woman, he fathered Adolin and Renarin. His wife passed away four years before Gavilar was assassinated, in 1163 . Sometime after, he sought the Old Magic, whose curse wiped away all of his memories of her. Now whenever someone says her name, Dalinar only hears the sound of the wind. If he ever encounters the name in any other manner, he is unable retain it in his mind.

In later years after the unification of Alethkar, Gavilar began to lose his thirst for battle. He began reading a book called The Way of Kings, trying to convince Dalinar and the other highprinces to be peaceful and follow the Alethi Codes of War. Like the other highprinces, Dalinar resisted his brother's ideas, finding them unpalatable and strange - even un-Alethi. To try and change his brother's mind, Dalinar convinced him to go on an expedition, a hunt for a chasmfiend. He suggested this hoping to remind Gavilar of the good times in their youth, to reawaken his brother's warrior spirit. In 1166 Dalinar and Gavilar set out on their expedition. In an unmapped forest south of the Shattered Plains, Dalinar met a Parshendi patrol.

At first Dalinar didn't believe what he was seeing, but soon accepted that the Parshendi were intelligent and organized, unlike their parshmen cousins. Dalinar brought Gavilar to meet them, and within days the Alethi and Parshendi were communicating very well. A year later, the Parshendi signed a formal treaty with Alethkar in the Alethi capital of Kholinar.

War of Reckoning (1167-)

Dalinar fights a chasmfiend during a hunt

Within hours of the treaty signing, the Parshendi sent Szeth to assassinate Gavilar. When the Alethi king was assassinated, in the middle of the feast, Dalinar was in a drunken stupor, completely unable to help his brother. After his brother's death, Dalinar blamed himself and underwent a radical change in personality. Gavilar's last words were to Dalinar, stating that he must find the most important words a man can say. Dalinar recognized the quote from The Way of Kings and began molding himself after the teachings from the book, as his brother had done.

Dalinar also began to adhere to the same Alethi Codes of War that Gavilar had attempted to convince the highprinces to follow. Had Dalinar been following the first Code, "Readiness", then he would have been sober enough to aid his brother against the assassin. After the death of Gavilar, Dalinar joined forces with the new king, Elhokar, and the other highprinces to pursue the Parshendi to the Shattered Plains under the Vengeance Pact.

At first, Dalinar threw himself into the fighting against the Parshendi with abandon, his guilt driving him. But as his grief faded, so did his thirst for battle and war. Dalinar and his camp followed the Codes when no other Alethi highprince would. He studied the words of Nohadon, the author of The Way of Kings, seriously, convinced that he must now become an example to Alethkar and lead them towards peace and honor. At the same time, Dalinar started having fits during every highstorm.

During these fits, Dalinar lost awareness of his surroundings, experiencing visions of the past as though he were living them himself. The visions seemed to be from the Almighty, leading Dalinar to believe that the Almighty was telling him to unite the Alethi highprinces. In most of these visions Knights Radiant appeared. When Dalinar began to make important decisions based on these visions, his son Adolin questioned the wisdom in trusting dreams. Dalinar expressed his belief that the visions were true and Adolin questioned his father's sanity.

Men began to speak of Dalinar the same way they'd spoken of Gavilar, namely that he was becoming weak and feeble. Despite Dalinar's history as a powerful general, the battle against the Parshendi marks the first time that Dalinar lost the Thrill. This loss of the Thrill during battle caused Dalinar to question why he was fighting this war and whether alternative methods of settling the Alethi dispute with the Parshendi would yield better results. The highprinces viewed Dalinar's wish for a more peaceful resolution as a sign of weakness rather than wisdom. When Dalinar explained to the king that he is not afraid of battle, but would prefer to approach it in a different manner, Elhokar listened to him for the first time, and Dalinar finally felt that he was making progress.

Dalinar's adoption of the Codes caused the other highprinces to deride and underestimate him, as he no longer possessed the thirst for battle that had made him one of the most feared generals in Alethkar. Despite heroic acts such as saving Elhokar's life from a chasmfiend, Dalinar had lost most of his influence over the conquered highprinces, as rumors of his fits during highstorms circulated.

Dalinar was charged by his nephew King Elhokar to investigate a suspected assassination attempt on the king's life. This involved the girth strap on his saddle being cut so that he would fall from his horse in battle, and weakened gemstones being placed in Elhokar's Shardplate so that the armor would easily crack and break. Dalinar failed to uncover anything of use and thought that Elhokar was becoming unhealthily paranoid, so Elhokar named Highprince Sadeas the Highprince of Information, and requested him to investigate instead. This accelerated Dalinar's loss of power and suspicion was cast upon him for the assassination attempt. Sadeas, who was a good friend to Dalinar and Gavilar during the reunification of Alethkar, confuted this and defended Dalinar and his loyalty to Elhokar.

Dalinar had grown deeply frustrated by the war at the Shattered Plains, as the war changed from seeking vengeance on the Parshendi to gathering gemhearts in order to gain wealth for themselves. Dalinar believed the war on the Parshendi has become nothing but a game to the highprinces and sought to unite them as the Highprince of War. However, Elhokar refused to give him the title unless Dalinar could prove that it was possible for the highprinces to productively work together.

One by one, the highprinces rejected Dalinar's pleas that they join forces. His plans to try and change Alethkar met with dead ends. The realization that even those close to him thought that he has lost his wits resulted in Dalinar going through a period of self-doubt, and he considered abdicating his position as highprince to Adolin to save House Kholin from being destroyed by his foolish decisions. At the suggestion of his son Renarin, Dalinar enlisted his sister-in-law and scholar Navani to investigate whether the dreams were real or a result of an addled mind. Navani concluded that the gibberish that Dalinar spoke during the fits was actually Dawnchant, a now-dead language that Dalinar couldn’t have learned, therefore giving proof that his visions were real. Dalinar’s resolve to unite Alethkar strengthened.

After Sadeas declared publicly that there was indeed a plot against Elhokar, Dalinar asked Sadeas to ally with him and Sadeas agreed. However, Sadeas only agreed to ally in order to try and kill Dalinar. Sadeas withdrew from a battle that they entered together, leaving Dalinar, Adolin, and their men stranded and surrounded by an overwhelming number of Parshendi troops. Dalinar almost died facing a Parshendi Shardbearer. He and Adolin were rescued by Kaladin and the other members of Bridge Four, but not before the majority of the Kholin army had died.

After Kaladin rescued him, Dalinar promised to free Bridge Four from their slavery at the hands of Highprince Sadeas. When Sadeas refused to sell Bridge Four, Dalinar offered his Shardblade in exchange for all of Sadeas' bridgemen. Sadeas accepted. Dalinar appointed Kaladin as the captain of all the bridgemen, who would be trained as soldiers to replenish Dalinar's armies. Bridge Four was appointed as the honor guard for Dalinar and his family. He also gave Kaladin his cloak, to mark him as a Kholin soldier. Dalinar also gave his son Renarin Kholin his Shardplate. By relinquishing both of his Shards, Dalinar kept his promises to Kaladin and Renarin, proving himself an honorable man.

Dalinar realized that the assassination attempt on Elhokar was a fabrication and confronted his nephew. The king admitted cutting the girth strap but maintained that he had nothing to do with the weakened gemstones. Dalinar emphasized his loyalty by attacking and then not killing Elhokar, stating his love for his nephew and desire to protect him. Dalinar unequivocally commands Elhokar to name him the Highprince of War and Elhokar agrees to do it. Dalinar also told Elhokar that he was now in a relationship with Navani, Elhokar's mother, and that he had better get used to it.

Another highstorm passed and Dalinar experienced another vision in which he realized that the Almighty, who had spoken to him in his visions had been unable to hear what Dalinar was saying the whole time. Dalinar realizes that he had misinterpreted the visions and that the Almighty had not been calling him to specifically unite Alethkar or specifically to trust Sadeas. The Almighty’s words in the visions were a recording and not a conversation with him. The Almighty said to Dalinar that he, God, was dead and that Odium had killed him.

Attributes and Abilities

Shardwielding

Before giving them up, Dalinar possesses a set of Shardplate and a Shardblade named Oathbringer. He is considered extremely skilled at using them.

Dalinar's Army

Officers

• Ashelem - Archerlord
• Bashin - Huntmaster
• Havarah - Bridgelord
• Ilamar - Cavalrylord
• Moratel - Lesser officer
• Perethom - Infantrylord
• Tarilar - Scoutlord
• Teleb - Highofficer

Trivia

• Dalinar was originally from the first book that Brandon wrote, when he was fifteen. Brandon used him other books, such as the unpublished Dragonsteel, before eventually using him in The Stormlight Archive. Brandon has said that he didn't get the character "right" until he re-wrote The Way of Kings from scratch after The Way of Kings Prime.

See Also

• Dalinar's visions