Redin
| Redin | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 by Dragontrill
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| Profession | Assassin | ||||||
| Nationality | Veden | ||||||
| Homeworld | Roshar | ||||||
| Universe | Cosmere | ||||||
| First Appeared | Words of Radiance | ||||||
“I have been sent by His Highness, Highprince Valam, ruler of these lands. It has come to his attention that dark rumors persist in these lands. Rumors regarding the death of a lighteyed woman. ”
—Redin, to Lin Davar[1]
Redin is an illegitimate son of Highprince Valam of Jah Keved on Roshar. He purportedly acts as Valam's assassin and executioner.[1]
Appearance and Personality[edit]
Redin is tall and has a long, slender face. He tends to purse his lips, giving him an angry or annoyed appearance.[1] He has heterochromia, with one eye of 'intense' blue and one that is dark brown.[1] He is seen wearing dark clothing, including a maroon coat (presumably the color of House Valam) with ruffles at the cuffs.[1]
He is terse and unflappable when carrying out Valam's orders, and is rumored to be brutal when necessary.[1]
Redin's heterochromia likely indicates that his mother was darkeyed.[2] Since eye color determines social status in Vorin nations, the few people that have heterochromia are treated awkwardly.[3][1] Redin's status as an illegitimate son would have been nearly impossible to hide, and Valam makes no attempt to do so.
History[edit]
In late 1169 or early 1170, Redin visited the Davar mansion while Lin Davar was entertaining Brightlord Tavinar and questioned Lin about the circumstances of his first wife's death.[1] He had authority to perform an inquest because House Davar owed fealty to Highprince Valam.[4] Redin was obviously suspicious of Lin, who seemed to both plead with Redin and become extremely angry with him, although Redin's smooth demeanor prevented Lin from becoming truly enraged.[1] After Lin proved to be recalcitrant, Redin openly asked witnesses to come forward within earshot of the Davar children.[1] Although none of them spoke up, they remembered this offer years later when Lin was spiraling out of control.[5]
“I won’t lie here and let Taravangian coax my own servants into poisoning me. Do it, boy! Or can’t you do a single thing that—”
—Valam's last words to Redin[6]
Redin was present at Valam's deathbed at the end of the Veden civil war in late 1173, standing guard over the newly-crowned king. King Valam stated that Redin was his only living child at that point, indicating that Redin's older half-sister Sudi Valam had recently died. Although Valam had figured out Taravangian's machinations to seize power in Jah Keved, he announced Taravangian as his heir and successor to the Veden throne after realizing that it was inevitable. He asked Redin to stab him through the heart as he did not want to wait for someone to poison him; Redin wavered and hesitated but eventually complied, killing Valam before storming out of the room. Mrall and Taravangian noted that Valam's final request was particularly cruel; not only did Redin have to kill his father, but the patricide was also likely to disqualify him from any future claim to the throne.[6]
Relationships[edit]
Highprince Valam[edit]
Valam typically addresses Redin as "bastard". He treats Redin with obvious disdain even though he regularly deploys him as a valuable resource to maintain control over his vassals.[6][1] Despite his reputation of being "ruthless", Redin seems to have a soft spot for his father and always seeks his approval; Taravangian thinks Redin looks "helpless" when Valam is on his deathbed.[6]