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|spouse=[[Adolin Kholin]]<br />married {{Rosharan date|1174|2|10|5}}{{book ref|sa3|122}}{{ref|name=obtime}}
<!-- While Veil, Radiant, and Formless are technically not aliases, but Alters, they are included here due to all three being fused into this page. -->
|aliases=Veil, Radiant, Swiftspren,{{book ref|sa3|74}} little knife,{{book ref|sa2|54}} Kishi,{{book ref|sa3|78}} Formless,{{book ref|sa4|90}} Unulukuak'kina'autu'atai,{{book ref|sa2|28}} Chanasha Hasareh{{book ref|sa4|4}}
|titles= The Lightweaver, The Spy, The One Who is Three, Master Lightweaver{{book ref|sa4|20}}
|abilities={{tag+|lightweaver}}, {{tag+|Shardbearer}}
|bonded=[[Pattern]], {{nosnippet|[[Testament]] <small>(formerly)</small>}}
|world=Roshar
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|
}}
{{update|sa4}}
{{for|/Gallery|more images}}
Shallan is a slim, pale-skinned young woman in her late teens with auburn-red hair that reaches past the middle of her back and blue eyes. There are freckles on her cheeks and nose, although they aren't very noticeable.{{book ref|sa1|3}} She is five foot six inches tall in Rosharan measurements, which translates to roughly six standard feet.
As a child, Shallan was considered shy, quiet, and delicate, although she has always had a quick wit, and often uttered the first retort that came to mind.{{book ref|sa1|3}} Her brother, [[Balat Davar|Balat]], considered her incapable of handling herself and the family's affairs, having never lived away from the family estates.{{book ref|sa1|i|2}} Indeed, Shallan was initially naive and inexperienced, with little concept of money; for example, while trying to remain inconspicuous, she overpaid for some street food by two hundred fifty times.{{book ref|sa2|43}} However, when she left the family estates behind, she quickly opened up and gained confidence.
Appearance-wise, Radiant looks mostly like Shallan, but with blond hair and a bigger bust.
Radiant learned how to wield her Shardblade with Adolin, and is a capable Surgebinder like Shallan. She does not care at all about how other people think of her and easily dismisses people as stupid.
After Veil was reintegrated with Shallan, Radiant remained with the plan to eventually reintegrate as well.{{book ref|sa4|115}}
{{image|Shallan - I. The Magician .jpg|side=right|width=250px|Shallan using Illumination}}
=== Surgebinding ===
Because of her Nahel bond with her [[spren]], Pattern, Shallan possesses the ability to [[Surgebind]]. She has access to the surges of Illumination and Transformation. As with all Surgebinders, she has superhuman endurance, strength, and healing when she holds Stormlight. She has demonstrated her ability to Soulcast multiple times, though the full scope of her abilities remains yet to be seen.
▲Because of her Nahel bond with her [[spren]], Pattern, Shallan possesses the ability to [[Surgebind]]. She has access to the surges of Illumination and Transformation. As with all Surgebinders, she has superhuman endurance, strength, and healing when she holds Stormlight. She has demonstrated her ability to Soulcast multiple times, though the full scope of her abilities remains yet to be seen. {{book ref|sa3|116}}
; Transformation:
Shallan has the ability to project incorporeal images into existence. At the behest of Jasnah, Shallan focused on this surge rather than Transformation. Due to a lack of practice and experience, however, she could initially only create the images after sketching them first, and she was unable to make them move. She later discovered that she could use Pattern to project sounds and move her images when they were in them. After trial and error, Shallan learned that the range of the images she creates is limited to their proximity to a source of Investiture. As the user moves away from an image it will begin to blur and then dissolve when its connection is broken, increased focus on the part of a user can increase the range but not greatly.
After practicing her abilities, Shallan learned how to make her illusions move without the aid of her spren. She was also shown to use Illumination without drawing her images beforehand as seen when she conjured images from a play she watched as a child and, later, an army to fight the [[Odium|Odium's]] forces. In addition to this, Shallan learned how to produce sounds without the aid of Pattern as seen when she was able to alter her voice whilst disguised as Veil. During the [[Battle of Kholinar]], Shallan was capable of making more solid illusions. While the reason for this is unknown, Jasnah commented that Shallan's projections appeared to have some substance to them as if they had more stormlight than usual while Shallan briefly wondered if she mixed her Soulcasting abilities with this Surge.{{book ref|sa3|121}}
When combining her Illumination abilities with Dalinar's own abilities, Shallan was shown to be able to construct a visual map of Roshar entirely out of stormlight even though she had not visited the entire continent.{{book ref|sa3|8}}
; Resonance:
Like all Knights Radiant,{{wob ref|3625}} Shallan possesses a [[resonance]]. Shallan has the ability to deliberately Memorize a scene{{book ref|sa1|7}} after which she can paint or draw it with remarkable accuracy.
{{image|Horses.jpg|height=300px|side=left|Shallan's sketches of horses}}
}}
Kaladin roused Shallan early in the morning and they set off once more, hoping for the sun to give more help with their orientation. It didn't take long before they began to irritate one another once again, but as the conversation progressed, they slowly began opening up to one another. When Kaladin admitted his suspicions of Shallan, she shared Jasnah's theories concerning the Voidbringers and swore to him that she intended no harm to the Kholins. Unfortunately, the rising sun revealed that they were again headed in the wrong direction, so Shallan set about drawing their path once again. They began relying on her sketches to make slow, steady progress through the chasms. The process helped her to realize that the Shattered Plains were symmetrical, which Kaladin reinforced by explaining he had once seen them as symmetrical in a
Kaladin pushed Shallan into a crack in the chasm wall, where they hid just out of reach until the monster relented and began to simply wait. With the highstorm only a few hours away, Kaladin decided to run as a distraction--giving Shallan an opportunity to escape with her important knowledge of Jasnah's research and now the Plains' symmetry. Shallan allowed him to leave, but not before offering up Pattern as a Shardblade. She darted from the crevice after Kaladin drew the chasmfiend's attention and was able to reach her satchel, containing what little Stormlight she had left. As Kaladin struggled to survive against the attacking beast, Shallan used illusions of herself and Kaladin to distract it and buy him precious moments. When the beast finally snapped at the true Kaladin, he drove Pattern deep into its head, slaying the creature. Shallan rushed to his side to help free him from the dead monster's maw.{{book ref|sa2|71}}{{book ref|sa2|72}}
Noticing that she had let Veil slip while she was drunk, Shallan berated herself for dropping the disguise and letting herself feel the pain of her past she was hoping to avoid. As Pattern attempted to remind her that Veil was just a disguise, Shallan shared her fear that she may have killed her brothers and fabricated the memories she had with [[Balat Davar|Balat]] as she conversed with him over spanreed. Worried over Shallan's mental stability, Pattern reassured her that her brothers were still alive and questioned if she could still differentiate between her lies. Assuming her Veil personality in order to hide from Pattern's questions, Shallan assured Pattern that she could still tell. Pattern, however, noticed that Shallan was still lying and expressed his confusion over the reason she chose to assume her Veil persona. Veil simply replied by saying that she needed to go deeper with her disguise, making Pattern even more anxious over the deliberate lies Shallan continued to place over herself.
As Veil interned the All's Alley, she ordered and drank [[Horneater white]], the strongest drink they had, impressing the others at the bar. Hoping to prevent Veil from becoming too drunk, the barkeep attempted to stop her from drinking any more of the alcohol, but Veil stopped him and used that opportunity to ask about the murders, using the excuse that she was searching for the murderer that killed her little sister in the Alethi warcamps. Refusing to share any information on the murder, he directed Veil to a group of thugs that might have the answers she was searching for. In order to learn more information about the murder, Veil stabbed one of the thugs in the hand for pushing her out of his chair and threatened them by revealing her association with the [[Ghostbloods]].
==== A New Job ====
==== Encounter with Re-Shephir ====
As Shallan attended another meeting led by Dalinar, she drew an image of the spren she encountered while in the theater. Pattern informed her that this was not a typical spren like he is but it was, instead, a spren of [[Odium]]. Bored by the political conversation, Shallan drew an image of Sadeas and discovered that his appearance was similar to that of Brightlord Perel, confirming her belief that the murderer was copying any violent acts performed in Urithiru. While idly flipping through her drawings of the recent murder victims, [[Malata]], the [[Dustbringer]] accompanying [[Taravangian]], attempted to make small talk with the Lightweaver, but Shallan found the conversation unpleasant due to her indifferent attitude and overfamiliarity when conversing with her.{{book ref|sa3|27}} As she began to plan her next move in her search for the murderer, the room quieted as Ialai Sadeas and Meridas Amaram entered. While initially shocked by their sudden appearance, Dalinar attempted to invite Ialai to attend the meeting, but she quickly rejected his invitation and announced Amaram's delegation as regent and heir to the title of House Sadeas. After Adolin insulted the highprince, Dalinar asked his son to leave the room and Shallan quickly followed. When she caught up with the young prince, he expressed his displeasure at Ialai's announcement, and Shallan unexpectedly shared her belief that Amaram may have killed
{{sidequote
}}
Prowling through the Breakaway markets, Shallan, disguised as Veil, became increasingly concerned by the strange spren that seemed to creep over the people in Urithiru. Despite being aware of their ignorance, she was frustrated by the common populace's lack of concern while the void creature inconspicuously observed them.
{{image|Midnight Mother 2.jpg|width=500px|side=right|Shallan confronting Re-Shephir in Urithiru}}
In response to the intruders, the Unmade created copies of Bridge Four in order to repel them from its domain. As Shallan watched the creature, she had the vague impression that she was familiar with the Unmade and knew why it was committing murders. While Adolin and Bridge Four's attempted to drive the creatures back, Shallan made her way closer to the spren despite Adolin's insistence that she retreat. As the Unmade continued to create increasingly distorted copies of the residents of Urithiru, Shallan used her Illumination abilities to conjure a glowing radiant force consisting of copies of people she drew in her sketchbook, seemingly driving the Unmade's creations back.{{book ref|sa3|29}} Making her way closer to the Unmade, the black form began to back away and revealed a bowl-shaped room where the rest of its form resided in. Realizing that she had a strange connection with Re-Shephir and that the midnight creatures were no longer intimidated by her light, Shallan began to hesitate and asked Adolin whether they should retreat or continue to fight the Unmade. Adolin responded by telling her to persist and fight as if there was no other option. At Adolin's advice, Shallan ordered Bridge Four and Adolin to clear away for her to reach the central mass while Renarin watched her back. Using her Illumination abilities, Shallan conjured various versions of herself to take the brunt of the midnight creatures' attacks. While they distracted the Unmade, she made her way into the dark mass and gingerly pressed herself into the Unmade.{{book ref|sa3|29}} As Shallan connected with Re-Shephir, she learned that it was an ancient spren created by the splintering of a greater being. After being ordered to cause chaos, the Unmade became interested in men and eventually found itself attracted to the violence they committed.
Following the encounter with the Unmade, [[Palona]] began to pry Shallan for information about her battle with Re-Shephir while they sat in Sebarial's sitting room. As Shallan explained the nature of the spren, she realized that she sympathized with the creature, noting that it killed simply to mimic human behavior and possibly better connect with them. Palona urged Shallan to search for the rest of the Unmade to prevent them from escaping imprisonment as Re-Shephir did, but Shallan explained that she did not feel as though the other Unmade were imprisoned like her. While she continued to recover from her fight with the Unmade, Adolin barged into the room to inform Shallan that someone had arrived to the tower. As Adolin began to reassure her that it was good news, [[Jasnah]] and several other people entered the room, much to Shallan's surprise.{{book ref|sa3|32}}
==== Jasnah's Return ====
After Jasnah's arrival to Urithiru, Shallan remembered that she was Radiant but also a scholar. Resuming her scholarly nature, she hoped to discover how Jasnah had survived the shipwreck during their journey to the Shattered Plains. After failing to find the princess, Shallan made her way back to the pits where she battled Re-Shephir after making several inquiries. When she reunited with Jasnah, the scholar quickly shared her thoughts on the fused gemstones discovered after the Unmade's escape from the pit. Jasnah shared that she and her mother speculated that the crystal pillar was actually a large [[fabrial]]. After discussing the moral implications of trapping spren in gemstones, Jasnah ordered Shallan to sketch images of the gemstone pillar, reminding Shallan that she was still expected to carry out her duties as Jasnah's ward.
{{image|Jasnah_vs_Amaram.jpg|side=left|height=250px|Shallan watching Jasnah speak with Amaram}}
[[Kaladin]], two of his squires, [[Elhokar]], [[Adolin]], Shallan, and her retinue arrived in Kholinar in order to open the [[Oathgate]] and defend the city from the Fused. The group met at the shop of a tailor named [[Yokska]] and learned that the [[Aesudan|queen]] had been acting erratic due to the supposed influence of a dark spren. Due to the disruption of the entire chain of command, a new [[Azure|highmarshal]] of the Wall Guard assumed control, bringing some semblance of order to the city, and a strange group known as the [[Cult of Moments]] now ruled the city. While the conversation occurred, Shallan, through random acts designed to embarrass and injure herself, learned that the spren in Kholinar have taken a strange appearance. The king later tasked Shallan, accompanied by Kaladin, to send a letter to the queen with the use of her Lightweaving abilities. Before sneaking into the palace, Shallan shared her Veil persona with her retinue, much to their shock.{{book ref|sa3|62}} Inside the palace, Veil discovered the royal guards were not acting like themselves and was soon stabbed by the captain when she demanded that she personally deliver Elhokar's letter to the queen. When the guards moved to dispose of her body, Veil pretended to be dead but slowly healed herself using Stormlight. While playing dead, she noticed a strange black [[Sja-anat|figure]] with glowing circles for eyes in a mirror that should have held her reflection. Veil was deposited in a waste room holding several corpses and sneaked out of the palace using Illumination to disguise herself. Still in shock from her near murder, she sent Pattern to retrieve Kaladin so they could return to the safe house.{{book ref|sa3|63}}
After recovering from her experience in the palace, Shallan and her companions regrouped in Yokska's kitchen and discussed their next plan. Tasked with finding a way to infiltrate the Cult of Moments, Shallan, disguising herself as Veil, scrounged for information. During her exploration of the city, Veil encountered an urchin named [[Grund]] that had been abandoned because of his physical disfigurement. In exchange for information, Shallan gifted food to the boy and others willing to provide intel.
{{sidequote
Despite her charitable actions, Shallan unwittingly caused the death of Grund after the boy was attacked by the [[Grips]], a group that had been stealing the food given to him.{{book ref|sa3|80}} Following the murder of the urchin, Shallan was scarred by the experience and was left revisiting traumatic memories from her past. In an attempt to ease the pain, she shifted through several personas using Illumination in an attempt to search for a personality that could repair the damage she had habitually caused. She soon came to the conclusion that the past actions she took to aid others only left things worse in her wake. Huddled in [[Muri]]'s abode, Shallan encountered Wit. Through his retelling of [[The Girl Who Looked Up]], Wit advised her not to regret her actions and to accept herself if she wished to take control of her personas. Shallan later regrouped with her companions, and Kaladin soon arrived with [[Azure|Highmarshal Azure]] and her army.{{book ref|sa3|82}}
While discussing their findings, Kholinar was attacked by the Voidbringers and the enthralled soldiers of the city.
{{image|Odd Bunch by Marie Seeberger.jpg|side=left|width=300px|Aboard the ''[[Honor's Path]]''}}
==== Journey through Shadesmar ====
While in Shadesmar, Shallan and Kaladin found themselves accompanied by their now fully-sized spren as well as [[Maya]], the dead spren tied to Adolin's Shardblade.{{book ref|sa3|88}} [[Syl]] pointed out that the spren represented the Oathgate on the platform they stood on were corrupted and Shallan came to the conclusion that this was due to Sja-anat, but the Unmade managed to keep its promise not to kill them despite their current predicament. Stranded on an island and surrounded by the hostile denizens of the [[Cognitive Realm]], the group was unsure of what to do. Azure, being the one most familiar with navigating the strange realm, explained that Shadesmar was the inverse of the Physical Realm, so they would need to travel to what would be the nearest body of water in their world in order to find land in the Cognitive Realm. Because Kaladin's abilities drew in too much stormlight and attracted the hostile spren, Shallan had to use her abilities to maneuver through the world. Pattern explained that Soulcasting would not work the same way in the Shadesmar. She instead discovered that she can read the impressions of the objects in each sphere that surrounds them and shape the surrounding spheres into various structures based on that impression. Shallan used the soul of the Oathgate control room to shape various copies of the building, and they slowly made their way to land. While traveling, Pattern pointed out that the flames representing the souls of their companions on the other side were no longer going out as quickly as when they first entered, so some may have surrendered.{{book ref|sa3|89}} Shallan and her party soon arrived at the next piece of land and recovered after their hardships. Now faced with the dilemma of having a lack of supplies, the group struggled with what to do next. Azure explained that [[
As the group boarded the ship helmed by the [[Reachers]], Shallan continued drawing during their voyage to [[Celebrant]]. At the urging of Syl, Kaladin conversed with Shallan and they discussed their attempts at dealing with their past. He complimented her ability to ignore her past trauma, but she remarked that it was not a good skill to have despite his admiration of her. When Kaladin tried to continue their conversation, she became unresponsive as she no longer wanted to think about it.{{book ref|sa3|99}} The group soon arrived at Celebrant and they agreed to split up to prepare for their voyage to either [[Thaylen City]] where they hoped to somehow activate the Oathgate from the Cognitive Realm or the [[Horneater Peaks]] where they could travel to the Physical Realm using [[Cultivation's Perpendicularity]]. Shallan, Pattern, and Azure were tasked to find passage for the journey.{{book ref|sa3|101}} Using Pattern as a translator, Shallan learned that no ship was sailing towards Thaylen City or the Horneater Peaks as [[Voidspren]] accompanied by the [[Fused]] sailed warships near there and demanded tribute from those hoping to sail there. They then approach a [[peakspren|stone-like spren]] that was sailing east towards [[Freelight]]. Just as Shallan and Azure found a ship that could take them, the Fused caused a commotion and set Captain Ico's ship on fire. They learned that Voidspren have recently appeared in Shadesmar and seized control of the city. Patten overheard the Fused speaking and translated what he heard to Shallan and Azure. They discovered that the Fused were seeking out Radiants bonded to an honorspren and inkspren, the latter due to them thinking that Shallan was an Elsecaller. Because of this, Shallan used Illumination to disguise Azure, Pattern, and herself as
{{image|Oathgate_by_Artem_Demura.png|width=300px|side=right|Shallan and her companions standing before the uncorrupted [[Oathgate spren]]}}
==== Battle of Thaylen Field and Aftermath ====
With the arrival of Shallan and her group, Dalinar noted that he sensed the presence of all the Orders of the Knight Radiants on the field despite there only being nine individuals standing with him. Because Odium had withdrawn from the battle, they were now confident that they could fight against the remnants of his army. Using the renewed Stormlight Dalinar summoned, they were each assigned a task to complete on the battlefield. Shallan is ordered to use her Lightweaving abilities to summon an army that would attract the Voidbringers while the rest of them completed their tasks.{{book ref|sa3|119}} Despite losing her original sketchbook, Shallan managed to summon every single person she ever sketched in her lifetime, Patten noting that this was likely due to Dalinar momentarily bringing the [[Realms|three realms]] together. When she felt herself weakening, she created Veil and Radiant to aid her as she created more illusions. In order to maintain the attention of the enthralled soldiers, Shallan crafted realistic deaths for her illusions to satisfy the [[Thrill]] of her enemies. While her illusions were successful, she felt as if a part of her was being destroyed as each one of them was killed by the soldiers. As Shallan nearly consumed all the renewed gemstones, Lift appeared to her asking for help. At Lift's request, Shallan used Illumination to transform a rock into a ruby, so Lift and Szeth could fool the Fused hoping to escape with the gemstone. Shallan, Veil, and Radiant began to falter as more of the Fused destroyed their illusions. When she began to run out of stormlight, Jasnah appeared and [[Soulcast|Soulcasted]] the air into a wall of flames to protect her ward. As they used that diversion to run away, Jasnah gave Shallan some tips for Soulcasting. She mused that Shallan may have actually Soulcasted her illusions to give them weight or it may have been due to their high concentration of stormlight. They soon arrived at Navani's camp, and Shallan used that opportunity to recover while the scribes received updates from Urithiru. During her period of switching between Shallan, Veil, and Radiant, Shallan confessed to Pattern that she thought she might be better than she was before. While Veil surveyed the area, Pattern noted the appearance of enemy reinforcements carrying ladders from their ships. When they attempted another assault on the city, the Thrill seemingly vanished and the remaining enemies retreat back to their ships. Due to Lift's and Szeth's actions, they managed to capture the Unmade Neragoul within the ruby gemstone, effectively severing the last thing empowering their enemies.
Seeing Shallan was exhausted from the battle, Jasnah and Navani attempted to get her a palanquin to recover. During periods of switching between herself and her personalities, Shallan experienced an identity crisis, unable to determine which version of her was really herself. When Adolin approached Shallan, he immediately realized that Shallan was not acting like herself. Noting his concern, Shallan reclaimed her core personality and assuaged his worries. After he left, Shallan's personalities began to bicker about their relationship with both Kaladin and Adolin, and she quickly suppressed her other personas.
=== The War Continues ({{Rosharan date|1174}}-{{Rosharan date|1175}}) ===
During the year following the Battle of Thaylen City, Shallan spends her time building the Lightweaver order of Radiants and doing spy work for the Ghostbloods. In particular,
{{image|The Three by ML Malandrino.jpg|side=left|height=200px|Shallan and her alters with Formless in the background}}
Shallan is able to spend the majority of the time in a "balance" between herself and her two personas. She claims that she is able to remain stable with Radiant and Veil to help, but she senses that there are other personas that may come to the surface if the current system proves inadequate. Those around her, including Veil and Radiant, are worried for Shallan, and her mental health, wondering how best to help her. This comes to a peak when traveling through Shadesmar with Adolin to talk to the
After Adolin's trial with the
== Relationships ==
Shallan first met [[Wit]] as a child while attending the [[Middlefest Fair]] when he comforted her after she became distraught while thinking about the state of her family and the seemingly dark dealings her father was involved in. Since then, Shallan is shown to think highly of the court jester and seems to be one of the few people on Roshar able to tolerate him. She was even excited to see him again when they encountered one another in the Shattered Plains as seen when she affectionately hugged him much to the surprise of Adolin and Kaladin.{{book ref|wor|55}}
When Shallan began to doubt herself while in Kholinar, Wit comforted her despite his assurance that he is not the kind man she believes him to be.
=== Followers ===
== Trivia ==
* Shallan did not exist in [[The Way of Kings Prime]].{{wob ref|10198}}
* Shallan is bisexual. Brandon has said that, while he didn't consciously write her as bisexual originally, he thinks it was in his subconscious. When fans pointed out how some of her thoughts about Jasnah in particular suggest she is bisexual, he agreed and added that he felt like it is "something that was there that [he] hadn't vocalized."{{wob ref|9474}}{{wob ref|4826}}
* Shallan is the first person to utilize an Oathgate in centuries.
* Shallan never actually witnessed a proper bridge run. Due to this she did not draw the depiction of one in the Way of Kings Leatherbound.{{wob ref|14093}}
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