Nale

Nale
by Isaac Stewart
Titles	Herald of the Almighty, Herald of Justice, Patron of the Skybreakers
Aliases	Nalan, Nin, "Darkness"
Homeworld	Roshar

Nalan's Symbol

Nale is one of the ten Heralds of The Almighty on Roshar.

In the Vorin tradition he is referred to as "Nalan".

He was associated with the number Nan, the essence Vapor, and the attributes Just and Confident.

He was the Patron of the Order of Skybreakers of the Knights Radiant.He was also the last of any of the Heralds to accept the patronage of their Order.

Appearance and Personality

Nale has dark skin and a crescent-shaped scar on his cheek. He appears to be the man who killed Ym and the one who hunted Lift, who referred to him as "Darkness." He wears dark clothing with polished silver buttons which gleam in the streetlight.

He has some sort of connection or obsession with order and will go to extreme lengths to ensure he doesn't break any laws of the land he is in. He also hunts down new surgebinders for some unexplained reason. He tried to kill both Lift and Ym, but only within the boundaries of the law. Thus, in order to kill Ym, he first found him guilty of a murder he committed in his youth. Similarly, with Lift, he appointed himself a lawman under Azir law and filled out the paperwork required to execute her for her crimes of thievery. After she was pardoned by the new Vizier of Azir, Gawx, Nale was frustrated as he was forced to release her and could not pursue her any longer.

When one of his underlings slit Gawxs throat he was annoyed with him purely due to the fact that he had not yet first filled out the relevant paperwork to kill the child.The underlings assertion that they are above the law is then rebuffed by Nale, who claims that nobody will ever be above the law and that he will be punished for killing Gawx.

He was seemingly impressed with Szeth's steadfast adherence to his Shin traditions, despite knowing that his Truthlessness is in error, and so gave Szeth a new blade and mission.

History

At an unspecified time before the setting of the stormlight archive, Nalan had met with The Almighty and agreed to take part in the Oathpact.99 desolations later he, along with 8 other heralds, abandoned their oaths, instead leaving their honorblades at their meeting place after Aharietiam.

4,500 years later, Nalan succeeded in hunting down Ym.He did this in accordance with the law, executing him due to a crime he had committed many decades prior, but he was actually specifically targeting certain individuals in order to stop what he thought would be the return of the desolations.

After hunting down Ym Nalan next focused his efforts on Lift.He had tracked her down for a while until finally cornering her in Azimirs royal palace, during a time when Lift had snuck in using the viziers debates as a cover.He goes to great lengths to only act in accordance with the local law, having filled out all relevant paperwork in order to act out as a magistrate and execute her for her thievery.He manages to catch Lift with the help of several men acting under his command until she is helped by one of the viziers, who thinks that his intent to kill a child thief is rather extreme.

In his capture of Lift he is shown to be a very capable and calm individual, bursting into the room she is in order to have her "escape" into a side-chamber where his affiliate was waiting.He then uses a strange animal to suck out all of the stormlight from Lift, and only moves through the palace with her after his men take out the spheres from their wall brackets (making sure they replace them afterwards), effectively staying in a dark zone the whole time that he drags her through a well-lit palace.When Gawx is made the new Prime of Azir and pardons Lift, Nale lets her go without even a hint of dis-satisfaction or annoyance, which she finds eerie about him due to the great lengths he took to track her down.

Both Nale and at least one of his underlings use shardblades, but it is unknown if this is his own personal honorblade that he has reclaimed or if it is a normal shardblade.

During the events of the Stormlight Archive, a person claiming to be Nalan revived Szeth after his confrontation with Kaladin above the Shattered Plains. Nalan recruited Szeth into the Skybreakers, as well as giving Szeth a new sword, one that is understood to be the Awakened Nalthian blade Nightblood.

Attributes and Abilities

Surgebinding

It is confirmed by Lift that he is still capable of using his surgebinding abilities, which she refers to as him "also being awesome". As the patron of the Order of Skybreakers it is likely that Nale can bind the surges of gravitation and division, but chooses not to use his abilities blatantly in the presence of others, likely in order to keep a low profile.

Justice

It is likely that like the rest of his order Nale is capable of dividing the guilty from the innocent.

Swordsmanship

Nale is likely a capable swordsman.At one point he had used an honorblade for many desolations to fight.He managed to survive Aharietiam. After this he left behind his honorblade, but as of the events of the Stormlight Archive has either taken it back or acquired another Shardblade.

Relationships

Jezrien

He has apparently kept in some contact with the old king, as he seems to mention his current state to the viziers of Azir.

Minions

Like Shalash Nale hires a number of minions to help him in tracking down his quarries.These minions wear uniforms similar to his but of a lesser quality.He goes to great lengths to explain his motives to his minions, ensuring that one of them understands he should have only acted within the confines of the law with relation to Gawx.

He seems to have trained these minions well, as they are disciplined, capable of taking care for a Larkin well, know how to keep a "dark" perimeter around Lift at all times and one of them has even been granted a shardblade. This seems to insinuate that at the very least he trusts them with knowledge of how surgebinding works using stormlight, and that he keeps them more informed than Shalash does her own minions.

Quotes

“"It was forty years ago," Ym whispered.

"Justice does not expire." The man shoved the Shardblade through Yms chest.

Experience ended.”

— Nale killing Ym, a nascent surgebinder, and his thoughts on doing so, for a crime committed in his youth.

“The tall Azish man with the white mark on his cheek, like a crescent. Black uniform with a double row of silver buttons down the coat’s front, a stiff silver collar poking up from a shirt underneath. His thick gloves had collars of their own that extended halfway back around his forearms.
Dead eyes.This was Darkness himself.”

— Lifts thoughts upon recognising Nale.

““That was poorly done,” Darkness said to the minion, tone emotionless. Lift barely heard him. So much blood. “You will be punished”
”But…” the minion said, “I had to do as I threatened…”
”You have not done the proper paperwork in this kingdom to kill that child,” Darkness said.
”Aren’t we above their laws?”
Darkness actually let go of her, striding over to slap the minion across the face. “Without the law, there is nothing. You will subject yourself to their rules, and accept the dictates of justice. It is all we have, the only sure thing in this world””

— Nale disciplining one of his minions for killing Gawx without taking into account the law first.

Notes

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