http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/TheStormlightArchiveOdiumForces

Main Character Index
Main Characters ^note
Urithiru ^note
Alethkar ^note
Heralds, Knights, and Spren ^note
The Fused^noteLeshwi, the Pursuer, Raboniel, and El
Races and People of Roshar
Other ^note

The various beings aligned with Odium. The Singers are the primary race that makes up the bulk of Odium's forces, including the Fused, ancient Singers endlessly resurrected in new bodies over the millennia. Voidspren are the other main component, particularly the Unmade, the nine most powerful Voidspren. Furthermore many humans have ended up siding with Odium.

WARNING! All spoilers before Rhythm of War are UNMARKED!

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Odium's Forces In General

A combination of various beings allied with Odium for various reasons. Known as the Voidbringers in Rosharan folklore, this name was eventually dropped when later revelations about Roshar's history made the name inaccurate. Odium has given the Singers their intelligence again, and they have begun to build a civilization under him. Several entire human nations have also allied with Odium, and he also has his Fused and Voidspren to wage war with.

The Legions of Hell: In Rosharan folklore they are viewed as an army of demons and they planet they were sealed on, Braize is also known as Damnation. While Braize is a barren waste and many of those allied with Odium have some similarities to demons, they are actually just powerful magical beings of a finite number whose nature and motivations are understandable, and not simply pure malevolence.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Throughout the Desolations, Odium, along with all his Voidspren and his Fused were sealed on Braize by the Heralds using the Oathpact. This lasted until the Heralds given in, after endless torture, whereupon Odium can return, called a Desolation. At the end of the Desolations, known as Aharietiam, only one Herald, Talenel'Elin, died and was sent to Braize to be tortured, with the rest of the Heralds remaining of Roshar. Taln was able to resist the torture on his own for millennia, until the time of the main story.

Odium

The Shard of Hatred, or Passion. An ancient enemy of Honor fought in the Desolations who has been sealed away for millennia, and whose return to Roshar drives the main plot of the series. The shard is held by Rayse, a cunning and loathsome individual trying to escape Roshar altogether and conquer the rest of the Cosmere, with no care for what he has to do to accomplish that.

See Rayse's character sheet here. At the end of Rhythm of War, Taravangian kills Rayse and becomes Odium's new holder. His character sheet can be found below.

Singers

In General

Also known as Parshmen, and also Voidbringers, the Singers are the original inhabitants of Roshar. When humans, then being the ones known as Voidbringers, sought refuge on Roshar, only to eventually wage war on the Singers and take their land, many Singers sided with Odium out of desperation and a desire for revenge. They waged war on humanity for millennia, but ended up lobotomized thanks to the sealing of Bao-Ado-Mishram. The now unintelligent Singers were enslaved by humanity for millennia, until Odium's return grants to them their intelligence again. Thanks to a combination of a desire to get revenge on humanity for their treatment, viewing Odium as their best shot to rebuild their civilization, and Odium outright forcing the Singers to side with him, the Singers have once again become the main race of Odium's forces.

Beneath Notice: As Parshmen they were this to humanity, with how essential their uncomplaining slave labor was to the economies of the various civilizations was only noticed after they leave.
Full-Circle Revolution: A risk for their new civilization. While their contempt for humanity thanks to the Singers horrible treatment by humans is understandable, their retribution against humans has the potential to make them just as bad. It is still debatable if they are yet, and a major part of Moash's motivation for defecting to the Singers is because he does consider them better, and wants to make sure they stay that way.
Shock and Awe: A potential form of power for regular Singer to take on, becoming a Regal, is Stormform, which gives them the power to cast lightning. While the lightning is not the most controllable it is deadly, with groups of Stormform Singer being able to cleave down Alethi infantry, helped by the Alethi not having developed tactics yet to deal with a lightning-casting enemies.

Venli

See Main Characters

Khen

A singer in the same group found by Kaladin as Sah. She participates in the Siege of Kholinar alongside Moash, later parting ways a couple months later to find her own way.

Action Survivor: Was initially just a mindless slave, and did not have any combat experience after gaining intelligence. Thanks to some haphazard training from Moash she is able to survive the entire Siege of Kholinar, despite being amongst the first wave thrown against the walls.
Journey to Find Oneself: Thanks to spending the first part of her life in a lobotomized state, and spending the time immediately after gaining intelligence being thrown into a war, she does not really known what its like to live. She leaves on a journey to correct this in Rhythm Of War.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Thanks to letting Kaladin travel alongside their group, Khen and everyone else in the group gets enslaved and used as cannon fodder during the Siege of Kholinar. Though unlike many others in her group, she actually manages to survive the siege.

Sah

"It's all right to dominate us when we won't fight back, but now it's not, because we can talk?"

Another singer in the group found by Kaladin. He is killed during the Siege of Kholinar.

And I Must Scream: He describes his time as a mindless Parshman this way, knowing that something was wrong, but not being able to figure out what it was or act to try and stop it.
Character Death: He gets cut down during the Siege of Kholinar.
Commonality Connection: Kaladin attempts to form one with Sah, thanks to both being slaves, although it does not go the best.
Kaladin: When they make a human into a slave, they brand him. I've been here. Right where you are.
Sah: And you think that makes you understand?
Kaladin: Of course it does. I'm one-
Sah: I have spent my entire life living in a fog, every day knowing I should say something, do something to stop this! [...] They may have taken your freedom, but they took our minds.
- Kaladin is eventually able to form something of a friendship with Sah, and Sah even offers him an opportunity to fight alongside them, but Kaladin is ultimately on the side of humanity, and will never change that, preventing the two of them from ever forming a true bond.
I Just Want to Be Free: After spending his whole life as an lobotomized slave, all he really wants is to just be able to live on his own. He's rather annoyed at most of his newfound freedom being spent following a bossy Voidspren, and being told what to do by an Alethi.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Allowing Kaladin to travel in his group get him enslaved and used as cannon fodder during the Siege of Kholinar. He does not survive the battle.
Papa Wolf: Has a young daughter named Vai who he will do anything to protect.
Violence is the Only Option: Has this view when it comes to securing a civilization for Singers to live on their own. He doesn't think the humans will ever let that happen, and will try to enslave the Singers again, thus the Singers must wage a war against humanity in self defense.

The Fused

In General

"They are the souls of those ancient. Those who gave of themselves to destroy."

— Rlain

The spirits of ancient singers, transmuted into Cognitive Shadows by Odium and given the power to return from the dead by possessing the body of common singers (expelling the original soul in the process). They are organized into nine distinct classes known as brands, each of which commands a different Surge. (No brand has access to Adhesion).

The Altered Ones, who have access to Transformation. They can use this surge to transmute materials in a fashion similar to a Soulcaster.
The Deepest Ones, who have access to Cohesion. They can meld with rock or stone and pass through it, but cannot take anything that is not a part of their own body with them when they do so.
The Flowing Ones, who have access to Abrasion. They can use this to suspend the effects of friction on themselves or other people or objects.
The Heavenly Ones, who have access to Gravitation. They can redirect their own personal gravity without expending Voidlight, but must use it to heal themselves or to Lash other things.
The Husked Ones, who have access to Transportation. They can teleport from point to point as a ribbon of light, leaving behind a hollow husk of carapace. However, they cannot take anything that is not a part of their own body with them when they jump in this way.
The Magnified Ones, who have access to Progression. They heal more quickly and efficiently than other Fused, and can rapidly grow weapons, tools, etc out of their carapace.
The Masked Ones, who have access to Illumination. They can change their personal appearance, and can even make themselves appear human (down to bleeding red if cut).

Boring, but Practical: Their millennia of experience with strategy, logistics, infrastructure, and engineering are at least as dangerous as their supernatural abilities.
Creative Sterility: Due to their immortality, the vast majority see no real need to change anything they do, as they feel they have already Seen It All and developed anything they could ever need. This is in direct contrast to humans of the True Desolation.
Raboniel: Surely you've noticed that the Fused have a problem. We think along the same old, familiar pathways. We don’t create because we assume we’ve already created what we need to. We are immortal, and so think nothing can ever surprise us—and that makes us complacent.
Famed In-Story: They all have extensive histories, triumphs, rivalries, and deeds that stretch back more than seven thousand years. They're a bit miffed that after the pause between Desolations, these histories have been forgotten.
Forever War: The Fused and their war for Roshar has lasted over seven thousand years. A great many of the Fused are completely mentally broken by the experience of endless deaths and rebirths and having no respite from the endless conflict. Even the sane ones are still mentally scarred by the unending conflict, to the point that Raboniel just wants an end to it all by any means, even if that involves creating a weapon that can permanently kill a Fused to end their madness and suffering.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Most of the Fused were once civilians who took up with Odium. This is helpful for the new singers, as the Fused have plenty of skills besides combat—Moash witnesses a Fused instructing singer lumberworkers, and deduces he must have been a woodworker thousands of years ago.
Grand Theft Me: As spren, they have no physical body, so they must steal one from a living singer. The singer's soul is ejected from the body in the process, instantly killing them.
Healing Factor: Just like the Radiants, they can use Voidlight to heal from all but the most grievous of injuries, which is another factor that makes them so difficult to put down.
Master of One Magic: They have access to only one Surge unlike the Radiants who have two, but many lifetimes of practicing with this one ability means they've become very good at what they do.
Morphic Resonance: Fused impose their own marbling (and sometimes specific carapace patterns) on whatever body they take, which with practice lets you recognize individual Fused between bodies.
Motive Decay: A major problem for all the Fused, who struggle not to forget what ideals drove them to war in the first place. Most fail, simply becoming obsessed with war and destroying humanity.
Mundane Utility: Moash is surprised to see a Magnified One make a carapace sawblade and show a singer how to use it effectively.
New Body, Old Abilities: Fused spirits maintain the Surge they can bind, regardless of their host.
Our Demons Are Different: Ancient souls, infused and empowered by Odium, who look like Darth Maul complete with carapace Spikes of Villainy, who resurrect from Physical Hell when killed via Demonic Possession? Yeah... they qualify just a bit. They are explicitly called demons in the opening of Rhythm of War.
Our Ghosts Are Different: Strictly speaking, they are not the souls of the original singers, but rather spren or Cognitive Shadows of who they once were. This means that even Shardblades cannot kill them, as spren who are cut by the blades will eventually recombine.
Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex: When the Fused are reincarnated through the Everstorm, their souls take over any willing singer bodies available, which might not match their usual sex.
Resurrective Immortality: Killing their physical body doesn't do anything in the long run, as they'll hop into a new one as soon as the Everstorm passes over a hapless singer.
Sanity Slippage: The passage of time and the endless cycle of life and death inevitably turns them insane and non-functioning.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Because of their Resurrective Immortality, the only way the Radiants could get rid of them in the past was sealing them away in Braize between Desolations or trapping them in gemstones like other spren.
Undying Warrior: As cognitive shadows under Odium's control, they have free rein of Roshar during the Desolations, inhabiting a new body the next Everstorm after they're killed, and return to Braize in between. This was a major motivator in creating the Oathpact. However, seven thousand years of this have left many of them exceedingly tired and/or utterly insane.
Weak, but Skilled: The Surges that the Fused use are more limited than the Radiants; Heavenly Ones, for example, can only Lash themselves once, limiting their speed in the air. But their powers are far more efficient, their core abilities not burning Voidlight. The Heavenly Ones rarely even touch the ground. And their millennia of experience give them a degree of control and expertise that human Radiants just can't match.
- The Fused have this turned back on them by the Alethi and other human troops as well. Even without any surges, human soldiers can match Fused by using non-magical tactics and discipline. Heavenly Ones, despite their flight, cannot break through shield walls, and Deepest Ones can't use any weapons beyond their own claws and thus an alert soldier can grab and cut off their hands.
We ARE Struggling Together: Most of the different brands don't really get along with each other. The Heavenly Ones, in particular, dislike the dishonorable tactics many of the other brands use.

Leshwi

A highly ranked Fused, though lowly among the true elite. She commands the Heavenly Ones, Fused who can use the Surge of Gravitation.

Affably Evil: For someone who's working whole-hearted to bring about the subjugation and/or extermination of the human race, she consistently displays a level of civility and moral character that even some of the human characters struggle to match. She's so affable that she eventually stops being evil entirely.
Anti-Villain: The most sympathetic of the Fused. She only works with Odium to protect the singers.
Armor-Piercing Question: She receives one from Venli, who asks whether Odium will really allow the singers the peace she is fighting for.
Benevolent Boss: Especially so for a Fused, most of whom are the opposite trope. She's very lenient with her minions failing, treats Venli with kindness despite the latter's status as a "traitor", and even allows a few humans to work amongst her staff. Her loyalty to her underlings is fully reciprocated, to the point that when she changes sides during the occupation of Urithiru, all of the singers serving under her do the same without a moment's hesitation.
Dark Action Girl: One of the foremost battlefield commanders of the Fused and a very dangerous combatant in her own right. Kaladin is the only member of the Radiants who can consistently match her in direct combat. She eventually drops the "Dark" part.
Evil Counterpart: To Kaladin, something recognized by both of them. They have similar combat styles (wielding a spear and using Gravitation to fly), and like Kaladin, Leshwi has strong moral principles, an ironclad will, and is A Mother to Her Men. The main sticking point is, naturally, that they happen to be on opposite sides of the war.
Fantastic Racism: Downplayed, she considers singers superior but knows that humans have value and would rather rule them than kill them. Which for a Fused is shockingly liberal. It is also unclear how much of this is genuine racism on her part and how much is political calculation of what lenience she can get away with in front of other Fused. It is at least a little of both.
Heel–Face Turn: She allies with the Knights Radiant at the end of Rhythm of War after Venli shows her that the Reachers have forgiven the singers for siding with Odium.
Humble Hero: From the singer perspective, though "humble" is relative. She truly believes in creating a better world for singers as a whole, not just the Fused who rule them, and considers herself a servant of the common people.
Girls with Moustaches: Defied. While Leshwi's most recent body is malen, she has any facial hair shaved off when she can, even if a human has to do it. Venli notes it's the one bit of vanity Leshwi has when otherwise the physical body's appearance doesn't matter to her.
Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Her normal combat attire is a flowing gown with an extremely long train; so long that it drags on the ground whenever she's forced to fight indoors. Her flight and Healing Factor together mean that she doesn't have to care about practical battle gear.
Lady of War: Carries herself like a refined noblewoman whether she's politicking in the court of the Fused or commanding their forces on the battlefield. The fighting style of the Heavenly Ones demands speed and precision, and Leshwi's millennia of experience grant her flight a level of grace that none of the Windrunners can match.
Motive Decay: Inverted. She is one of the few Fused who still seems to primarily care about protecting the singers and creating a safe world for them, rather than allowing her hatred of humanity to consume her.
Noble Demon: Literally. Most notably, when facing an opponent in a one-on-one duel, she will allow them to retreat if injured as long as they stay out of the rest of the battle.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Raboniel notes that Leshwi takes great care to appear less competent than she really is. It lets her break conventions that other Fused cannot.
Out of Continues: After joining forces with the Radiants, she will no longer be allowed to return from Braize if she is killed again. While she is still immortal, Odium will subject her to an eternity of torture should she wind up in his grasp again.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Especially for a Fused, though this is admittedly a low bar.
Redemption Demotion: A Justified Trope. Once she turns against Odium, she effectively loses her infinite resurrections, as if she is killed and sent to Braize again, he will make sure she will never come back to Roshar as punishment.
Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex: She's reincarnated into a malen body after Moash kills her. This is largely ignored, aside from her keeping her face meticulously clean-shaven out of preference.
Utopia Justifies the Means: At her worst, she considers the war worth it for the world it will create for the singers when they win. This is moderate for a Fused, since she actually still has a motive.
Villainous Valor: Brave, principled, and willing to protect civilians even from other Fused.
Worthy Opponent:
- She recruits Moash because she was impressed that he was able to kill her.
- She respects Kaladin as an enemy and always seeks him out for a one-on-one duel if they are on the same battlefield.

Lezian, the Pursuer

The Pursuer

The first Fused to be killed by a human. Whenever he is killed, he ignores all else until he has killed his own killer.

Arc Villain: One of the key ones for Kaladin in Rhythm of War.
Can't Take Anything with You: The big limitation of his powers. Since he is effectively destroying and recreating his body, anything he was carrying would be left behind with his husk. It means he cannot carry spheres on him, and his gemheart only holds enough Voidlight for three jumps plus a bit of healing, meaning that he typically uses his third jump to retreat to a Voidlight stash. It also means he has no weapons, leading to him relying on grappling or broken shards of his carapace as improvised weapons.
Combat Pragmatist: One of his more terrifying traits. He makes brutal, sequential ambush attacks using Teleport Spam before fading away again. And when fighting Radiants, who can heal from wounds? He grapples them and paralyzes them by repeatedly severing their spine until they run out of Stormlight.
Cooldown: As a necessary condition to keep Lezian from being a completely unstoppable killing machine, his Teleport Spam is given a built in Power Limiter, namely that he can only use it four times before running out of Voidlight and needing to recharge. So when he goes in to battle, he keeps caches of charged spheres around (he can't carry anything with him) to recharge. Three jumps during the fight, then a fourth jump away to recharge. This is in stark contrast to all other Fused, whose abilities don't deplete their Voidlight (though healing does).
Counting Bullets: Kaladin pretty quickly figures out that Lezian can't take anything with him when he jumps and only has enough Voidlight for three jumps maximum, so every third jump he has to retreat to a cache of Void-spheres and recharge or he will be stuck in his current body, making him at least as vulnerable as a Fused can be. From that point on, Kaladin is constantly keeping track of which body Lezian is on during their fights.
Deader than Dead: After getting humiliated by Kaladin, the next time the Pursuer resurrects he's greeted by El, and gets used as a test subject to see if anti-Voidlight really will permanently kill a Fused. Given that Lezian's "soul ripped itself apart" upon contact, its pretty clear that it did, and the Pursuer isn't coming back.
The Dragon: He becomes this to Raboniel, who uses him as a weapon against Kaladin.
Godiva Hair: Due to how his powers work, the only clothes he can manage are his own hair.
Embarrassing Nickname: A very serious example. Kaladin starts calling him the Defeated One in their final duel to bait him, because he knows that for the Fused in general and Lezian in specific titles and legacy are Serious Business. After Lezian is defeated again in front of everyone and the legend of the Pursuer is permanently broken, "Defeated One" sticks.
The Friend Nobody Likes: None of the other Fused who offer commentary on him have anything positive to say. Though note that the Fused in question are all thoughtful and intelligent: many more consider him a hero.
Hate Sink: Hateful, brutal, disrespectful, and cruel, Lezian is perhaps the one Fused with zero redeeming qualities. And we get most of his characterization from the singers.
Humiliation Conga: Kaladin bests him in single combat while most of Kaladin's Radiant powers are sealed, and forces him to retreat instead of killing him. This completely destroys Lezian's fearsome reputation.
Immortal Assassin: Via his Resurrective Immortality, like all Fused. His ability to teleport makes him an effective assassin, and he makes a point of spending all his time hunting down and killing whoever killed his previous body when he comes back.
Implacable Man: Always chases anyone who has killed him with single-minded determination until he has avenged himself. Despite his Resurrective Immortality, no one has managed to kill him twice. Kaladin doesn't just kill him twice, but he also sends him running for the hills in full view of Urithiru, destroying his legend in the process.
Ninja Log: What his husks amount to. Very few people get enough practice fighting him to learn they have to stop stabbing the body he leaves behind, which he employs to brutal effect when breaking formations of troops.
Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Among the Fused who admire him for his heroic legend. He has no sense of formality and disregards the political games of the Nine, while forming a sharp contrast with the universally feared Raboniel.
The Power of Legacy: He is all about this, with his sole concern at this point being to fulfill his personal legend.
Red Baron: Known as the Pursuer and is seldom referred to by his given name.
Revenge Before Reason: He relentlessly seeks out anyone who kills him. It's terrifying, demoralizing, and tends to target the best of the enemy for assassination. It also leads him to ruin missions and ignore orders in pursuit of his goal. Worse, many of the other Fused consider him a hero and encourage him.
- However, given the millennia of resurrections and the insanity that comes with it, Venli notes that he's practically become more spren than anything else, driven by an idea, and that he simply has to follow out his traditions, regardless of any reason.
Teleport Spam: His main gimmick as an opponent. He can't carry weapons, so he uses the spikes from his own carapace. This also means he can't carry extra Voidlight, so he still has to regularly retreat to recharge.
Wrestler in All of Us: His Teleport Spam doesn't allow him to carry weapons, but it's great for getting in close, so he specializes in grappling. Given he's had a few thousand years of practice, he's unsurprisingly become very effective.
You Have Failed Me: At the end of Rhythm of War, Odium resurrects him just so El can use him as a test subject for spren-killing weapons.

Raboniel, the Lady of Wishes

Raboniel

Formerly one of the Nine, the leaders of the Fused. While Raboniel was rumored to have succumbed to the insanity of the Fused, she comes out of retirement to propose an attack on Urithiru.

Affably Evil: Raboniel is on the side trying to conquer humanity, but Navani is constantly reminding herself of this fact because of how pleasant and charming Raboniel tends to be. She does have some genuinely sympathetic motivations and moments, and respects her enemies as well.
Alas, Poor Villain: Raboniel's death is played very sympathetically, with her requesting her own Mercy Kill, while happy she is sane when she dies, along with her and Navani singing the rhythms together one last time. Afterwards Navani feels awful, and makes sure Raboniel's body is treated properly.
Alchemy Is Magic: Her brand of Fused can bind Transformation, giving her access to Soulcasting abilities similar to those of the Lightweavers or Elsecallers.
Arc Villain: She is the main antagonist of Navani's plot line in Rhythm of War.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: She has tried to exterminate humanity in the past, but is willing to co-exist with them as well. Having seen how much damage the war between humans and singers has done, her goal is to end it at any cost. She would prefer a singer victory, but she is so tired of war that she will accept a peaceful resolution as well, or even the humans winning, as long as the war just finally ends.
- Although she's primarily saying so to manipulate Navani into working with her, she genuinely feels the same call to science and discovery that Navani does; her statement that the humans stand to gain more from sharing knowledge than the singers do turns out to be true also, as while both sides gained the destructive knowledge of anti-Light, the humans gained knowledge of god-metals, Taldain sand, manipulating Light via sound, and every other scrap of "lost" scientific knowledge the Fused carried; coupled with their already far more advanced artifabrian industries, the humans came out far ahead in the exchange. Meaning that she genuinely considered humanity gaining the upper hand an acceptable trade for the general advancement of Light technology.
Came Back Wrong: Defied. after being hit with enough anti-voidlight to seriously by Navani, but not enough to permanetly kill Raboniel, she knows that we she comes back her soul will have been damaged to the point where Raboniel loses her sanity. She instead asks Navani to get more anti-Voidlight and finisher her off permanently.
Deader than Dead: Stabbed by a dagger charged with anti-Voidlight, which completely annihilates her soul beyond even Odium's capacity to restore.
Deadly Gas: In combat she can breathe it out, presumably as an application of her Soulcasting.
Death Seeker: Wants the war and her endless cycle of rebirths to end at just about any cost, and spends most of Rhythm of War trying to develop anti-Light weapons in order to force an end to the war by making it possible for Fused and Radiant spren alike to be truly killed.
Due to the Dead: After her death, Navani has her given the honours due a hero.
Evil Counterpart: As the Mad Scientist to Navani's Science Hero, she serves as her Fused equivalent, with each learning from the other during the Occupation of Urithiru. The main difference is that Navani's skills are mostly around various tools outside of direct conflict, while Raboniel concentrates on weapons.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The insane Fused who attends her is actually her daughter. One of the main reasons Raboniel is looking for something that can destroy Voidlight is to end her daughter's suffering.
Even Evil Has Standards: When Navani tells her that the Shardblade she is having used to try to cut away the barrier around the Sibling's pillar is that of her dead son, Elhokar, she noticeably stiffens and seems somewhat ashamed. Understandable, considering her own loved one.
Face Death with Dignity: After asking for a Mercy Kill from Navani, Raboniel simply mentions that she is happy she was sane at the end, before singing the rhythms with Navani one last time.
Final Solution: During the previous Desolation, she concocted a plague to exterminate humanity, although it was far less deadly than she intended. It "only" literally decimated the human population and also killed one in a hundred singers.
The Friend Nobody Likes: All of the Fused respect her for her skill and are glad she's on their side. Any who are the slightest bit thoughtful also find her terrifying, and her having revived gets quite a reaction.
Graceful Loser: Her primary reaction to being outsmarted by Navani is to be amused before asking Navani for a Mercy Kill.
Humans Are Special: Despite her Fantastic Racism, Raboniel commends certain things about humanity, as she confesses to Venli, in deliberate contrast against the Fused's immortality-induced Creative Sterility.
Raboniel: Do you know what the humans gain by being so forceful? By reaching to seize before they are ready? Yes, their works crumble. Yes, their nations collapse from within. Yes, they end up squabbling, and fighting, and killing one another. But in the moment, they are the sprinter who outpaces the steady runner. In the moment, they create wonders. One cannot fault their audacity. Their imagination.
Glad He's On Our Side: The Singers are very glad that she's pointed at their enemies. But a great many of them would also have been quite happy if she hadn't woken up this time.
I Lied: She sees no reason to keep any bargains she makes unless it benefits her. This includes, most notably, her promise to leave Urithiru after Navani is done helping her, though she at least seems to regret her duplicity on some level.
Mad Scientist: Her role among the fused, delving deep into scholarship to provide them with new and terrible weapons.
Manipulative Bastard: She is alarmingly good at this. She spends most of Rhythm of War matching wits with Navani and largely coming out ahead. She also keeps Kaladin from killing her by stating that she will find the most innocent person to be reborn as that she can. One with a daughter "just old enough to understand the pain of loss. But not old enough to understand why her mother now rejects her."
Mercy Kill: One reason she wants to help Navani discover anti-Voidlight is to put her insane daughter out of her misery. Later she asks Navani to do this for her as well, true-killing her rather than allowing her to die with a Damaged Soul and come back mad.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: She prefers her current title, Lady of Wishes. It replaces her original title, Lady of Pain.
Pragmatic Villainy: In comparison to the Pursuer, who prefers brutal repression, Raboniel's methods of leadership during the occupation of Urithriu are harsh, but fair, in order to reduce the amount of humans who would rebel while also ruling successfully.
Redemption Equals Death: Navani mortally wounds her after luring her into a trap and stabbing her with an anti-Voidlight weapon. Then Moash hurts her further when she tries to stop him from killing Navani. Afterwards, Navani uses an anti-Voidlight weapon to grant her a death at her own request.
The Unfettered: Raboniel considers her ultimate goal of ending the war, regardless of who wins to be more important than the lives of most people, and as a result doesn't have much in the way of moral limitations when it comes to accomplishing her goals.
Villain's Dying Grace: In her dying moments, she gives Navani her blessing and tells her where to find the notes she left behind. She even tries to fight off Vyre to buy Navani time to escape.
Villain Respect: She genuinely respects Navani's skills as a scholar, even if the woman herself can't recognize it due to Gavilar's gaslighting, and openly encourages her to see herself as a scholar as well. She also expresses genuine amazement and respect for humans as a whole, particularly the Alethi troops who managed to nearly recapture the Sibling's pillar using nothing but tactics, discipline, and adaptability.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Raboniel genuinely believes that a Singer victory is a good outcome for Roshar, and is willing to do whatever it takes to see it happen, although it's also revealed that she considers the destruction caused by the Forever War to be bad enough that it doesn't matter to her who wins anymore as long as the war finally ends. As a result of this she's even willing to ensure that deadly anti-voidlight gets into the hands of humanity, even though it disadvantages her own people, showing that she is genuine in her conviction to end the war, no matter what it takes.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Raboniel is one of the Fused who see their immortality as a curse. Or at the very least, has gone on too long. Knowing thousands of years of only pain and war have broken the minds of so many of her people. She herself is weary and tired of the whole ordeal. So much so that she sought a means to permanently kill Fused to free them from the endless cycle.
Wild Card: While she is one of Odium's Fused, she's disturbingly okay getting scores of singers killed in her pursuit of victory, to the point even the other Fused are cautious around her. She even proposes a way of killing Odium to Navani so the singers and humanity can find peace without their god's influence. That was ultimately a lie and she is on the singers' side, but she's also fine with humanity winning so long as it puts an end to the war.
Worthy Opponent: She and Navani come to respect one another greatly despite their opposing schemes. After some time with Navani working for her, she openly says that Navani does not need to call her by titles any longer, and says that she is to be recommended as her equal for her discoveries, something that Navani is aware is likely a very rare privilege.

El

The One Without Titles. A formerly high-ranking member of the Fused. He was demoted for proposing using humans as soldiers instead of exterminating them.

24-Hour Armor: Whenever he takes a new host, he replaces his carapace with metal inclusions, which he fuses to his body with Voidlight and "his own special talents".
Horned Humanoid: Horns curl out from El's head, unlike carapace.
Last Episode, New Character: While he's the author of the epigraphs for Rhythm of War's fifth part, he doesn't appear in person until one of Rhythm of War's last chapters.
Only Sane Man: He was demoted for seeing the potential of humans and advocating their use in Odium's cause. Under Taravangian's Odium his ideas are finally being recognized.
Red Baron: While he has been stripped of his title, he was once known as He Who Quiets, a title that has since been given to Moash.
Warrior Poet: He is the author of the epigraph in Rhythm of War's fifth part, and shows a very poetic style.
Wild Card: The most atypical Fused introduced so far, and the one put the most at odds with his fellow singers, who demoted him for his radical ideas. He even slays his fellow Fused Lezian simply to test the effects of anti-Voidlight, although apparently with Odium's blessing.
Worthy Opponent: He respects the passion of humans and looks forward to both fighting them and commanding them in battle.

Odium-Aligned Humans

Vyre

Vyre/Moash

"I'd join them in a heartbeat. If I were in charge, things would change. The lighteyes would work the mines and the fields. They would run bridges and die by Parshendi arrows."

Moash was originally a fellow bridgeman of Bridge Four alongside Kaladin, but his hatred and disgust at Alethkar's social structures combined with a desire for revenge against King Elhokar led him to betray Kaladin, and ultimately had to feel the Alethi warcamps in disgrace. Afterwards he was ambushed by a patrol of Fused, who captured him and made him a slave, but the order and discipline of Odium's forces made him prefer them to the Alethi, eventually leading to a full on defection. He has been granted the title of Vyre, He Who Quiets, as well as Jezrien's Honorblade, allowing him to use the powers of a Windrunner, becoming the only human amoungst the ranks of the Fused, and one of humanity's most notable traitors.

The Ace: Though not to the same extent as Kaladin, Moash excels at every new task set to Bridge 4. He is eventually recognized as the best of Bridge 4.
Arch-Enemy: Kaladin's most personal foe, taking over from Meridias Amaram, with some competition from the Pursuer in Rhythm of War. Moash was once loyal to Kaladin, but betrayed him to try and kill the King Kaladin was protecting, Elhokar, later killing Elhokar right in front of Kaladin. Now Vyre, he tries to corrupt Kaladin and drive him past the Despair Event Horizon, with the intent of Kaladin killing himself at the end of it, including mudering Kaladin's closest friend Teft, and tossing his body in front of Kaladin to try and break him.
Ascended Extra: In The Way of Kings he had a clear personality, but was just one of many bridgemen. Come Words of Radiance he gets a sub-plot based around him, expanded characterization, and a brief POV segment. Come Oathbringer he gets an entire POV storyline showcasing his Face–Heel Turn, and becomes one of the series more prominent villians.
Blinded by the Light: In Rhythm of War, when the Sibling awakens and activated Urithiru's defenses, he is left completely blinded by the Towerlight suffusing the structure and forcing him to feel pain and emotion again. By the time he is able to escape and is recovered by the Fused, he cannot heal his blinded eyes anymore, even with Light.
Blind Obedience: To the Voidbringers. Moash follows all of the orders given to him by the Fused and is too dead inside to care even when his questions as to the reasoning behind those orders are ignored.
Bodyguard Betrayal: Ultimately, he chooses to betray and kill the King he swore to protect.
Boomerang Bigot: Twice. He hates lighteyes, despite eventually becoming one himself... and, upon joining with the singers, comes to view humans as a petty destructive force who are inferior in almost every way to the singers.
Cool Sword:
- In Words of Radiance, Kaladin gives him a set of Plate and Blade, making him a full Shardbearer.
- In Oathbringer he gains an even cooler sword: Jezrien's Honorblade.
Despair Event Horizon: When he realizes that even the end of the world isn't enough to break down the Alethi's systems of castes and oppression, Moash concludes that humanity is a failed broken species and loses all hope that the world could change for the better.
Dirty Communists: Moash wants to achieve social equality for humanity by destroying the caste system on Roshar and is willing and even eager to use murderous violence to achieve this end. He is extremely black and white on this front as he comes to think that anything short of total equality means humanity is hopelessly corrupt and even ends up serving an even more oppressive and hierarchical race out of disgust for mankind's seeming inability to put aside their differences completely.
Empty Shell: After killing Elhokar, Moash is left feeling nothing but hollow numbness, especially with Odium feeding off of his emotions. He eventually starts seeking out simple, dull, repetitive work to do, and it is implied that he has effectively become the human equivalent of a parshman dullform.
Evil Counterpart: To Kaladin, as both initially start out obsessed by revenge, but while Kaladin pulls out in time, Moash doesn't. Most evident in Oathbringer, his path mirrors Kaladin's almost step for step, but he keeps making all the wrong choices. By the end of the book he has been granted the powers of a Windrunner, just like Kaladin, but rather than gettting them thanks to becoming a Knights Radiant opposing Odium, Moash gets the powers from possesing Jezriens Honorblade, and is instead fighting for Odium, now called Vyre, "He Who Quiets".
Face–Heel Turn: The Voidbringers eventually set him free and allow him the ability to go to Kholinar and aid in the defense of the city; Moash chooses instead to aid the Voidbringers against humanity anyway.
Foil To Kaladin. They're extremely similar when it comes to backstory and temperament - both are darkeyes with family that were victimized by Roshone, both have chips on their shoulders and a tendency to lash out, and they're both angry and vengeful. The difference is, Kaladin can let go of his grudges or push past his worst traits for the greater good - and Moash can't.
Freedom from Choice: Moash comes to see himself and all other humans as broken beings who will always bring ruin through their choices and chooses to serve the Voidbringers as an alternative, noting that it feels good simply to be told what to do. The Parshendi song about dullform and his commentary on giving up "the cost" of freedom implies that Vyre has effectively turned into a human equivalent of dullform.
From Nobody to Nightmare: He was just one of many bridgemen with a storng grudge against lighteyes getting thrown into the meatgrinder on the Shattered Plains. After surviving that any many more ordeals, he ends up becoming Odium's most lethal enforcer and one of Alethkar's biggest enemies.
Gravity Master: Jezrien's Honorblade grants him control over the surge of Gravitation.
Happiness in Slavery: He is perfectly content with serving the Voidbringers through hard labor. While pulling sledges across the country, Moash takes the time to admire the scenery and pacing while praising the Voidbringers for being fair masters who provide him plentiful food and rest along with a pair of sturdy gloves. Zig-zagged when he starts taking orders from Odium and stops feeling anything at all.
He Who Fights Monsters: Moash initially turns to the assassination plot against Elhokar because he has no legitimate means of obtaining justice. However, his quest for vengeance eventually breaks him and turns into more of a monster than his vision of Elhokar ever was.
Hero Killer: Kills Elhokar just before he says the First Ideal and becomes Radiant; kills Jezrien, the leader of the Heralds and patron of the Order of Windrunners; kills Teft's honorspren, Phendorana; and Teft himself.
Humans Are Bastards: He eventually comes to the conclusion that humanity is a petty broken species that will never change for the better and only ruin everything it touches.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: His murder of Elhokar is terrible, but his reasons are still understandable. It's when he kills Teft just to hurt Kaladin, and wants to kill Navani just for being related to Elhokar, that it becomes clear that the man who once served in Bridge Four is never coming back.
Kick the Dog: Many, many moments in Rhythm of War, but an especially petty example is when, while trying to kill Navani, he tells her that Elhokar died sniveling and cravenly begging for his life, when in reality he died trying to save his son and starting to speak the oaths to become a Radiant, but died mid-oath.
The Kingslayer: He personally kills Elhokar by driving a spear through his eye. Later on, he also kills Jezrien, the King of the Heralds, and does so with a weapon that slays him permanently.
Laughing Mad: His reaction when he realizes that the Voidbringers have brought him to a lumberyard like those of Sadeas' warcamp is to break into hysterical laughter. When he is told that he will be tasked with running ladders towards the enemy lines (just as he had run bridges for Sadeas), he laughs until he collapses.
Legacy Character: The Singers give him the name Vyre after he kills Jezrien, meaning "He Who Quiets", which title was previously held by El.
Little "No": Spoken in response to Jezrien's mad ramblings. Moash is too far in with Odium at this point to have any other reaction to killing even a divine being.
Manipulative Bastard: He is ruthless in exploiting Kaladin's weak points, which he knows from their close friendship, to drive him to despair.
Meaningful Name: It is revealed by Leshwi that "Moash" is a name which originated with the Singers during Roshar's ancient past. This is fitting, since Moash chooses to abandon humanity and throw his lot in with the Singers.
Meaningful Rename: After killing the Herald Jezrien, Moash is gifted with Jezrien's Honorblade and renamed Vyre, He Who Quiets.
Misanthrope Supreme: After coming to view the Voidbringers as superior to humanity, Moash willingly chooses to join the Singers and fight against his own kind.
My God, What Have I Done?: Is horrified when he realizes what his desire for revenge led him to do and also at the realization that he's too far in and needs to keep going. Eventually, he loses the ability to have this reaction as Odium eats his emotions and takes away any mental anguish he may feel. This brainwashing breaks when Navani blasts him with Towerlight and he is horrified that he killed Teft.
Not in This for Your Revolution:
- He may talk big, but it's clear that he only joins the Diagram to take revenge against Elhokar.
- Zig-zagged with his motivations for joining the Singers. While he comes to admire their efficiency, equality, and drive, especially when compared to humans, part of his interest in helping them overthrow humanity is the opportunity to get revenge on various people who wronged him, as well the benefits of Odium taking away his emotions. What respect he does possess is also steeped in the Singers fitting into his Humans Are Bastards philosophy by providing a, to him, better option.
Not Quite Flight: As the wielder of Jezrien's Honorblade, he gains control over the surge of Gravitation and shows the ability to release the bonds of gravity to rise into the skies like a Windrunner.
Powered Armor: Breifly possesses a set of one as a full Shardbearer during Words of Radiance, but he ends up losing it when he's captured by the Fused in Oathbringer.
Revenge: He tells Kaladin that his motivation is revenge against the Lighteyes. In Words of Radiance, it turns out that he wants revenge against Elhokar, who unintentionally killed his grandparents.
Revenge Myopia: He seeks revenge against Elhokar, even knowing that it was Elhokar's incompetence and not any truly evil intent that lead to Moash's grandparents dying, and in doing so, contributes to the suffering and death of far more innocents than his grandparents.
Rule of Symbolism: When he becomes a lighteyes, his eyes turn the same color as Amaram's, representing exactly what Kaladin has done wrong in enabling his revenge. Later he is injured by a blast of Towerlight, which temporarily removed Odium's influence on him and led him to despair. When Odium's influence returns his eyes no longer heal, leaving him blind.
The Sociopath: Not originally. But when Odium begins to eat his emotions he loses all capacity for guilt, remorse, and even anger and boredom. The supernatural nature of the condition allows him to retain his empathy while feeling nothing, removing most of the ordinary downsides of sociopathy. When Odium's influence is removed, for whatever reason, he is immediately overcome with horror at what he has done.
That Man Is Dead: He outright says in Oathbringer that the man known as Moash is dead, and accepts an Honorblade to become Vyre in service to Odium.
Took a Level in Kindness: Initially, Moash is the most vocal and stubborn of Kaladin's detractors who riles the bridgemen against him. After Bridge 4 begins plotting escape under Kaladin's leadership though, he begins supporting and defending Kaladin's decisions, is less belligerent, and is named a lieutenant in the crew. Once he turns on them for a chance to kill Elhokar, he becomes slowly more hateful and embittered toward the lighteyes, as well as himself for his betrayal. He also acts in defense of the parshmen who are being mistreated in the Voidbringer army, to the point that it draws the attention of the Fused, who laud him for his passion.
- Despite losing it most of his kindness hard in Rhythm of War, he still keeps his respect for the Singers, and while now an enemy of Kaladin, Moash's old affection for him manifests in one, very twisted, way. That being that he feels that Kaladin goes through such anguish that he would be better off dead.
The Unfettered: Under Odium's influence, he even describes himself as this directly.
Unwitting Pawn: In his quest to get revenge on Elhokar, he is recruited by a band of patriots working to stabilize Alethkar. They are actually followers of Taravangian's Diagram, and while they claim they just want to kill Elhokar to put Dalinar on the throne, they're actually trying to kill both of them to destabilize the region so Taravangian can take over.
Vengeance Feels Empty: He notes that killing Elhokar has given him no satisfaction or pleasure and that he only feels tired.
Victory Is Boring: Even after killing a king and then the Herald King himself, Moash feels nothing inside and spends weeks being ignored while clearing rubble from the Kholinar palace. A large part of this is the result of Odium having fed on his emotions.
Villain Respect: Has quite a bit for Kaladin even after becoming Vyre. Vyre considers it a fact of life that Kaladin cannot be killed in combat, and is unsuprised when Kaladin begins to become a major issue for Odium. Kaladin is also the only person whom can stir up the old emotions Moash cast aside when he became Vyre, albeit briefly.
Wound That Will Not Heal: In Rhythm of War, he is blinded by the Towerlight of the re-activated Sibling. Once he manages to get free of the defenses of the tower, he is completely blinded. Even after the Fused carry him out of the debilitating influence of Urithiru, no amount of Stormlight will restore his vision.

Taravangian

King Taravangian

"Sometimes, you must tear down a structure to build a new one with stronger walls. And we are going to need strong walls in the coming years. Very, very strong walls."

The king of the small city-state Kharbranth. He is thought somewhat dull by his peers. However, he is well-liked due to funding hospitals throughout the city for those who can't afford medical care. Or at least, that's how he appears on the outside. He is in truth the mastermind behind The Diagram, a secret group following the titular document that Tarvangian wrote, believe it will guide them on a path that will preserve humanity after Odium's arrival. This ultimately leads Taravangian into making a deal with Odium to spare his city of Kharbranth in exhange for becoming loyal to Odium. He is afflicted by a mixed blessing and curse from the Nightwatcher that changes how intelligent and empathetic he is on each particular day.

Affably Evil: Unless it's one of his extremely intelligent days where he suffers from a Lack of Empathy, Taravangian normally respects and sympathizes with his enemies, feels remorse for his terrible actions, and only commits evil acts because he thinks it's the only way to save the world from Odium. That being said, Taravangian is willing to use his affability to manipulate people, and his noble intentions may not be as noble as they appear.
A God Am I: A twisted example, in which Taravangian considers the man he was on his day of near-omniscient intelligence to be a god, and what he wrote during that time to be virtually divine scripture. When he sees Odium casually recreate the Diagram in far greater detail, it completely breaks his resistance. He eventually becomes a god in truth.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Taravangian is a monster whose plans have a gigantic bodycount, who has minimal scruples in executing those plans, and who will manipulate anyone to accomplish those plans. However he does have scruples, loved ones, moments of kindness, alongside his goal being to save civilzation from Rayse, the Shardbearer of Odium. Rayse, by contrast, is genocidal, spiteful, tyrant who has no redeeming features or goals beyond power, and will drench not just all of Roshar, but the entire Cosmere in blood if he gets the chance. Next to that, Taravangian comes off sympathectially.
- However, this gets possibly Subverted when Taravangian kills Rayse and becomes the new Odium, he almost immediately steps into the role of conquerer that Rayse did, and furthermore is far more intelligent and dangerous than Rayse was, that it might have been better for the Cosmere for Rayse to live. That a Taravangian not restricted by dealing with an existential threat is quite a scary thing. However Taravangian still does desire to make society better under his rule, while Rayse just spread wanton destruction under his.
Bait the Dog: Throughout the first book he doesn't look like much more than a kindhearted and simple king. Then at the end it turns out he's the mastermind of a giant conspriacy, being the one who ordered Szeth's assassinations and slaughters that resulted throughout the interludes. Downplayed when it becomes clear that not all his intial kindness was faked.
Big Bad: Officially usurps this role when he kills Rayse and becomes the new Shardvessel for Odium.
Big Bad Friend: Dalinar is floored to find out the kindly old man he's been talking with is actually a schemeing mastermind behind many catastrophes, including the Assassin in White going after Dalinar. Taravangian becomes Big Bad in full when he kills Rayse, Dalinar set for another realization that the Odium he thought he was dealing with is no longer the Odium he is.
The Chessmaster: Taravangian is much smarter than he appears, and he created an immeasurably complex set of documents referred to as the Diagram which contains contains spot-on predictions for events all over the world and is practically a one-stop book of prophecy, although it gets less accurate the further from the day it was written. He created it during the smartest day he ever had, and its ultimate goal is to become powerful enough to stike a deal with Odium to Save Roshar. Taravangian mostly works off it, but can still comeptently handle events on an average day.
- In Oathbringer, a day comes when he gains intelligence closer to that day than ever before. He is able to recreate the Diagram on the walls and floors of his room in Urithiru, and then update it based on new information. Most importantly, he stops outright trying to disrupt Dalinar's efforts to play peacekeeper, and instead decides to try and usurp control over the coalition instead, which almost ends up working.
- Ultimately however, his planning actually pales in comparison to Odium, as Odium's abilites to see the future vastly outweigh the Diagram, and Taravangian ends up forced to take a less favorable deal than he wanted.
Les Collaborateurs: He doesn't believe Odium can truly be beaten and is out to preserve as much of the world as he can. At the end of Oathbringer, Taravangian makes an alliance with Odium, promising him help in exchange for sparing Kharbranth. He intended to originally make a deal for mankind's survival, but Odium met with him on a stupid day and, the survival of his city-state was the best offer he could get.
Conlang: In-universe example of an auxiliary language. During his most brilliant day, when he wrote the Diagram, he invented an entirely new language because all existing ones were too imprecise to write the Diagram with.
Dead Person Impersonation: After accidentally managing to fake his own death at the same time he kills Rayse and becomes the new Odium, Taravangian decides that appearing as Rayse is a useful guise. He then attends a meeting with Wit, as Rayse would, and when he accidentally acts out of character, he gives Wit Laser-Guided Amnesia to maintain the deception.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: At the end of Rhythm of War he is able to outsmart and kill Odium, or more specifically Odium's shardbearer Rayse, something that Taravangian himself thought was impossible. He admittadly did have some help from rival god Cultivation and the semi-divine Sja-Anat, but it was still mostly Tarvangian who pulled it off.
Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: During Rhythm of War he is able to successfully feign weakness in front of Odium, getting Odium to show how elaborate his predictions of the future are, as a taunt. This is exactly what Taravangian wanted, as it lets him see that the predictions have a blindspot created by Renarin Kholin.
Disproportionate Retribution: During an interlude in Oathbringer he has his smartest day since writing the Diagram, and is very intent on using it to the fullest. When a choir of children begin to annoy him, his first response is to order them killed, simply for irritating him on such an important day. He does back down when its clear his subordinates won't follow the order, but he feels no remorse about it, at least in his smart state.
Dragon Ascendant: At the end of Rhythm of War, he uses Nightblood to kill Rayse and becomes the new vessel of Odium.
Dumb Is Good:
- Despite seeming stupid, he is unusually kind and compassionate for a king. He notes that his compassion and his intelligence seem to be inversely linked, so that he's kinder on his stupider days. Also defied: he specifically notes that this isn't the case for most people.
- On an average day in Oathbringer, he expressed the belief that this was the price the Nightwatcher gave him; he can have the wisdom and acumen to help his people, just not both at once.
- Somewhat Subverted as it becomes clear that the intelligence dichotomy between his "smart" and "stupid" days isn't simplay as smart and stupid. On his supposedly "stupid" days, he is actually an empathic genius, able to perfectly read people's emotions, and is very good a manipultion even manipulating Odium himself. By contrast is smart self is terrible with emotions, and his manipulations are much less successful.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He has grandchildren he adores and wants to ensure they never learn of the Diagram, or what he's done to realise its designs. He also has a close and affectionate relationship with Adrotagia, his second-in-command, going back to their youth.
Evil Genius: Provide he isn't one one of his dumb days, and even then he has moments of brilliance, Taravangian is the head of an entire conspriacy formed off of his predictions of the future, and who comes up with dangerously effective schemes to climb to ever higher positions of power.
Evil Old Folks: He's a Well-Intentioned Extremist old enough to have grandchildren.
Faking the Dead: At the end of Rhythm of War, in the Physical Realm he is attacked by Szeth and tries to go for Nightblood, while at the same time in the Cognitive Realm, which Szeth can't see, Taravangian attacks and kills Rayse with Nightblood. This causes Taravangian to ascend to become the new Odium, while Rayse's unrecongizably charred corpse drops into the physical realm. Szeth assumes that Rayse's corpse is Taravangian's after a bungled attempt to use Nightblood. Taravangian seeing all this, and realizing he accidentally faked his own death decides that being "dead" is useful, and opts to impersonate Rayse.
Friendly Enemy: He and Dalinar have many civilized conversations about philosophy with each other. They keep this going even after Dalinar knows Taravangian's true colors, although both become more focused on convincing the other that their philosophy is correct.
I Am a Monster: Szeth calls him one, and he doesn't object to it at all. His viewpoint chapters indicate that he really does agree.
Taravangian: Yes, but I am the monster who will save this world.
Insufferable Genius: When he is in his intelligent mode, he is supremely arrogant in his intelligence. He's also dangerous in his intelligence and the arrogance associated with it. Being too self-assured in his intellect can be just as deadly as being too stupid, after all, which is why his staff has a limit, set up by him on one of his more balanced days, to how smart he can be before cutting him off from making policy decisions and interacting with people. He even tries to fool it on particularly intelligent days by deliberately failing certain questions, but his friends and subordinates are smart enough to catch on to the deception.
- His hyperintelligent sociopathy is, in some ways, fortunate for his advisors. When supremely intelligent he doesn't have the empathy to treat his advisers as intelligent in their own right. Which means he doesn't respect them enough to not be obvious when faking his test results, scoring exactly below the threshold rather than a more sophisticated deception. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for everyone else, they aren't having it.
Irony: Jasnah thinks he is a great king for maintaining peace and prosperity without war, while other kingdoms think he's weak for the same reasons. He's actually working to plunge the entire world into war to put himself on top. Jasnah would be especially horrified to know that he's doing this in an attempt to weather the coming Desolation.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Despite the Diagram being entirely based around countering Odium, it doesn't actaully have any plans to defeat Odium, just to try to bargain with him to preserve something of human civlization on Roshar. While Taravangian ends up dissastified with what he got from his deal with Odium, he forces himself to have this attitude, as defying Odium is far too dangerous. At least until he realizes that he actually can fool Odium, and begins to plan to kill Odium outright, which actually ends up succeeding.
Kick the Dog: When a group of singing children annoy Taravangian on a smart day, he tries to order them killed.
Kill the God: At the end of Rhythm of War he runs Rayse through with Nightblood, completely destroying Rayse, and rendering him into nothing more than a charred corpse.
Kindhearted Simpleton: On his dumb days, his thought are much slower but he has much higher empathy than his other days, feeling more guilt for his actions, and is unwilling to do things his smarter selves would. Downplayed given that he still possesses some of his ruthlessness even with his empathy, and is fully willing to manipulate people, even if more remorseful and kinder about it than otherwise.
Lack of Empathy: He gets less empathetic and more ruthless the more intelligent he gets, as mentioned under Dumb Is Good. On one of his more intelligent days, he sees nothing wrong with ordering the deaths of a choir of children that was distracting him rather than just telling them to stop singing. Luckily, he took precautions to limit his authority on those kinds of days, so the people he surrounds himself with don't act on those kinds of orders.
- Subverted in the end. It’s Passion and Intelligence that are alternating. His dumbest day is when he kills Odium, making him the best candidate to be the new Odium.
Leonine Contract: In more ways than one. Taravangian believes he MUST make a deal with Odium to save anyone, while Odium only has to make an exchange if he thinks the price is right. Second, Odium can tell how intelligent Taravangian is on any given day, so Odium only shows up to negotiate on his stupider days, putting Taravangian at a huge disadvantage.
Loophole Abuse:
- At one of his moderately intelligent days, he created a series of tests to keep him from making any decrees when too far along either end of the intelligence scale. In Oathbringer, he purposefully pretends that he can't understand a question in order to bypass this, though one of his advisors figures it out.
- His entire plan is predicated on one of these. He'll make a deal with Odium so that everyone he rules will be spared, and then take control of the entire world. Odium derails the entire Diagram simply by saying no, because he's not an idiot. It's possible that Taravangian could have made the deal work on one of his smarter days... which is why Odium came to him on one of his stupider ones. He then agrees to Odium's offer to spare his city, its residents, and those married to said residents.
Manipulative Bastard: While he mostly relies on planning for his schemes, he can manipulate comptently, and keeps up a facade of being nothing more than a kind old man.
- Though, his smart self is not skilled with manipulation, as he lacks emotional intelligence, and views everyone else is stupid, resulting in his manipulation being surface level. His advisors specifically keep him isolated on his smart days specifically because he can't maintain his facade. Ironically enough his lack of manipulatioon skills is best shown he tries make his advisors thinks he is not too intelligent, which he does by scoring just below the too dangerous threshold, and not bothering to do anything else, resulting in his advisors seeing right through it.
- His dumb self, while sometimes slow to comprehend what he should do, is actually quite skilled at manipulation thanks to his high emotional intelligence allowing him to get accurate readings on everyone else's emotions. This is actually good enough to allow him to fool none other than Odium himself.
Murder Is the Best Solution: Taravangian's solutions to problems usually start with killing people, often well beyond necessity. On his more intelligent days he does things like ordering a choir of children to be killed (rather than just requesting they stop singing) or decreeing that all unintelligent people should commit suicide for the good of society. Even his more empathetic days aren't immune, as shown when he and Dalinar discuss a problem in The Way of Kings where three men are guilty and one man is innocent, but there's no way to tell who. Dalinar eventually reveals that Nohadon solved it by imprisoning all four, and Taravangian's response is that he is a coward and the true, moral response would be to kill all four.
Necessarily Evil: He fully admits to being a monster, but only because he believes it's the only way to save mankind from Odium.
Never Learned to Read: Inverted; Unlike most Vorin men, who are supposed to leave reading to women, he casually mentions in an interlude that he learned the womens' script years ago. His smart self is even skilled enough with writing to create his own language.
Not So Omniscient After All: The Diagram is supposed to accurately predict everything and come up with the perfect plan to spare the world from Odium's wrath, and everything Taravangian is doing is following this Diagram slavishly due to this perfection. Unfortunately, the Diagram isn't perfect, there are several things it incorrectly predicts or fails to predict, and the fact that there are multiple different interpretations means that even when the Diagram is accurate, it's flawed in that it can easily be misinterpreted.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He proves willing to sacrifice his life for his cause. He reveals his hand while he is in Dalinar's power, after having made himself useless as a hostage and disassociating himself from all his friends and family so that he can't be used against them. He points out that this is proof of his sincerity; Dalinar, on the other hand, says that he's just trying to martyr himself and become known posthumously as the one who did everything to save what he could. Dalinar believes that, despite what he says, Taravangian wants to be proven right in his extreme measures. When push comes to shove, when he kills Rayse and becomes Odium and therefore gains the power to end the war with minimal trouble... he decides to continue with Rayse's plan to conquer the Cosmere. Meaning that Dalinar was right, he really did only want power in the end, just not in the way that most warlords and dictators do.
Dalinar Kholin: I think you saw a chance to be an emperor, and you took it. You wanted power, Taravangian—so you could give it up. You wanted to be the glorious king who sacrificed himself to protect everyone else. You have always seen yourself as the man who must bear the burden of leading. [...] Because you like it. [...] Because you want to be known as the one who saved us.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Zigzagged Trope. Most people consider Taravangian somewhat slow and unskilled at politics, which he deliberately plays to. In reality, he is at the head of a large conspiracy that has manipulated many major events on Roshar. However, he used the Old Magic at some point, with his IQ changing at random each day: he can be intelligent or not, day by day. The deception comes in that he never allows people to interact with him when he's at his most intelligent. He also doesn't let people see his least intelligent side.
Room Full of Crazy: On his most intelligent day, he created "the Diagram" by drawing on every available surface in his chamber. The transcribed version includes notations indicating where a passage of text was located in the room. During Oathbringer, he creates an updated version in Urithiru based on developments that have occurred since the original.
Secretly Selfish: Dalinar accuses Taravangian of being this, of wanting to be the glorious king who sacrificed himself to save everyone else. When Taravangian kills Rayse and becomes Odium, he realizes that he could save the entire world by simply doing nothing... but instead decides to continue with and improve on Rayse's conquest plans, believing that only he can fix the Cosmere.
The Sociopath: On his more intelligent days he has a callous disregard for human life, is manipulative to his advisors, and has a self centered dispositon based on his perceptions of how much smarter he is than everyone else.
Surrounded by Idiots: Smart Taravangian views himself as a genius reigned in by his less intelligent advisors who just won't recognize his brilliance. In truth this is actually a good thing thanks to being a sociopath who will order children executed just for annoying him on his smart days, and who his advisors need to hide from the public, lest he do something blantantly amoral that will blow his benevolent image.
Take Over the World: His initial goals are to conquer the entire world, as the Diagram said that he could negotiate with Odium to spare his people, and if he ruled the whole world, he could argue that all of mankind were his. Odium, however, saw this coming and simply refused to negotiate while Taravangian was smart enough to actually get that concession out of him.
Too Clever by Half: He makes an insanely complicated plan to stop Odium and save the world. It's stopped by Odium simply walking in and reading the plan himself on one of his stupider days...
- ...which was part of Cultivation’s plan to use him as a pawn to kill Rayse.
Totalitarian Utilitarian: Taravangian has quite a few thoughts on how to make society better, and they all happen to involve him as the absolute soveriegn making all the decisions. He can't act on many of them though, as his main efforts go to trying to ensure their is a society left after Odium's arrival. This changes when he kills Rayse, Odium, and becomes the new Odium. Taravangian immediately focuses on using his newfound power to "fix" the Cosmere. Which just so hapens to require him taking it over.
The Unfettered: Taravangian views civilzation as doomed without him, and therefore he will do what he feels he needs to, and whatever damage he does to society in pursuit of his goals is justified. This view extends to whatever cause Taravangian thinks is right, whether or not he really needs to take action to fix things.
Villainous Friendship: With his right-hand-woman and closest friend, Adrotagia. They've been close since their youth and call one another by their childhood names, Vargo and Adro.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Taravangian is willing to go to any length to save the world. But what makes him truly dangerous in this regard is that he goes to such lengths so that others won't have to. Thus far, he's released Szeth to go on an incredible killing spree, reduced the nation of Jah Kaved to burned-out anarchy, and countless other crimes. When he becomes Odium, he decides to use his newfound power to save everyone, with some rather sinister implications.
The Diagram: Q: For what essential must we strive? A: The essential of preservation, to shelter a seed of humanity through the coming storm. Q: What cost must we bear? A: The cost is irrelevant. Mankind must survive. Our burden is that of the species, and all other considerations are but dust by comparison.
Would Hurt a Child: His smart self nonchalantly orders a choir of singing children executed just because their singing annoys him. His advisors don't go though with it, and Taravangian promptly blows it off with just telling them to shut the children up. This is averted with his more moral dumb self, who actually remembers that incident and is horrified by it.
Xanatos Gambit: Taravangian sets this as his focus for strategy once he becomes Odium's Shardvessel, prioritizing win-win situations and Loophole Abuse over Rayse's preferred high-risk-high-reward strategy. Time will tell how this plays out.

Meridas Amaram

Brightlord Meridas Amaram

"This is for my men. You can't begin to understand the weights I carry, spearman."

The lord Kaladin formerly served under. He is a member of the Sons of Honor, a conspiracy amoung the elites of Alethkar to bring about the return of Odium, believing it will also bring the Heralds back, and with it return Alethkar to its lost glory. After Odium's return his guilt over his actions leads him to betray Alethkar and side with Odium, in exhange for Odium taking his pain away.

Arch-Enemy: Amaram is this to Kaladin, being the one responsible for his enslavement and the deaths of his original squad, all to protect his own reputation. Kaladin finally gets a chance to settle the score in Oathbringer.
Berserk Button: Of all things, Your Mom insults really rile him up.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: One of the most well-respected of brightlords, and one of the few Alethi brightlords who Dalinar truly respects. Adolin, slightly more Genre Savvy than his father, correctly notes that Amaram's sterling record sounds entirely too much like a man who spends a lot of energy on keeping up appearances. Adolin is very correct.
Body Horror: His bonding with Yelig-nar causes crystals to burst out of his body and even through his Shardplate, including on his back, an entire side of his face, consuming his feet, and down his arms. Kaladin's view after destroying the chest piece (and thereby the entire suit of Shardplate) is very nasty.
The highprince's entire chest had collapsed inward. There was no sign of ribs or internal organs. Instead, a large violet crystal pulsed inside his chest cavity, overgrown with dark veins. If he'd been wearing a uniform or padding beneath the armor, it had been consumed.
Broken Pedestal: Kaladin once looked up to Amaram as a true lighteyes, honorable and just unlike Roshone. Then Amaram revealed his true colors, and Kaladin left with an undying hatred for not only his former commander but towards all lighteyes that hasn't fully gone away to this day.
Bullying a Dragon: Tries to summon his Shardblade against Jasnah for insulting him. Jasnah coolly begins preparing to Soulcast and daring Amaram to give her a reason to kill him.
Cool Sword: His Shardblade, which he stole from Kaladin.
Dark Secret: He never earned his Shardblade. He stole it from Kaladin and sold him to slavery on a false charge.
Demonic Possession: In the final fight against Kaladin, he intentionally becomes possessed by the Unmade Yelig-Nar so he can become powerful enough to fight a Knight Radiant.
Dirty Coward: Turns out to be one of the moral variety in Oathbringer. Feeling guilt over his actions, he decides to side with Odium on the promise of that guilt going away, rather than making any attempt to atone or better himself.
The Dragon: He briefly becomes Odium's after the latter uses the Thrill to corrupt him, and then Dalinar refuses to become Odium's champion.
Dual Wielding: Dalinar gives him Oathbringer once the Blade is found, since as the new Highprince of Sadeas he's its rightful heir. He uses both it and Helaran's Blade in the final battle.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He nearly draws his Shardblade on Jasnah after she calls his mother a whore.
Evil Counterpart: He's basically what would happen if Dalinar couldn't take responsibility for his crimes.
Fantastic Racism: At first he was surprised that a Herald might have dark skin and self-consciously chides himself for assuming they'd all look like Alethi. He's convinced that the Herald's dark eyes must be some sort of disguise though: so in other words he can overcome his Fantastic Racism but is still blinded by his Fantastic Classism. The assumption is somewhat justified though, as Shardblades and Surgebinding gradually turn the irises of a darkeyes that gains them light, and the Heralds are literally legendary in their Surgebinding prowess and have been for millennia. However, the connection between a Herald and their Honorblade is entirely different from the Nahel bond between a Radiant and their spren and does not have this effect.
Faux Affably Evil: A complicated example, as Amaram's initial politeness isn't feigned, he feels guilt over his actions, and believes the evil acts he performs are necessary. However his affability is fundamentally based on him viewing himself a righteous, and come Oathbringer when his image gets hit on account of his crimes being exposed, as well as his guilt beginning to catch up to him, Amaram begins to become less affable. This ultimately comes to a head when he betrays humanity to Odium, in exchange for Odium taking away his guilt, abandoning his good intentions in the process.
Hypocrite: For all his talk of making hard choices to fight Odium, he ends up joining Odium. Admittedly, Nergaoul was less than a mile away and pumping him with enough Thrill to drive his entire army insane, but still. He had previously praised Dalinar for his mistaken belief that Dalinar had killed Sadeas, and turns on him for that exact reason.
I Did What I Had to Do: Insists that stealing Kaladin's Shardblade was necessary for the fate of the world, as he can utilize it far more effectively. Eventually, he comes to regret his actions. That is, he regrets enslaving Kaladin rather than killing him.
It's All About Me:
- Kaladin thinks this is his attitude. He's shocked to learn Amaram is actually a Well-Intentioned Extremist who genuinely believes his actions serve the greater good. However this trope still ends up applying as Amaram is convinced that he is important to the survival of the world, and his good intentions are subordinate to his own view of himself that he is in the right.
- Apparently Kaladin isn't the only one who thinks this. Jasnah is positively dismissive of him for the same reasons.
Karmic Death: Amaram killed Kaladin's original squad for knowing his Dark Secret. As he prepares to murder Kaladin, Amaram is killed himself by a member of Bridge Four, Kaladin's new squad. The squad-mate in question was Rock, the only member of Bridge Four who refused to kill in the past.
Knight Templar: For the majority of the story, he was convinced that what he was doing was for the good of all of Roshar, even if it would actively usher in another Desolation. He finally drops this when he fights Kaladin in Oathbringer, embracing Odium's power.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Wit uses this trait as a basis for his "Reason You Suck" Speech. His plans - which involve triggering another Desolation to return the good old days - show that Wit was entirely correct.
Wit: You are what lesser cretins like Sadeas can only aspire to be.
Loophole Abuse: Like all good Alethi men, he can't read, but he understands the simplified glyphs used in their place for things like showing directions or labeling objects. Amaram has taken to stringing them together in sentences (rather than just singly and in pairs), creating a crude pictograph language.
My God, What Have I Done?: Part of his breakdown in Oathbringer. As Kaladin notes, he keeps trying to justify everything he did, but if he was truly beyond guilt, he wouldn't bother.
Amaram: Anyone would have done what I did, even Dalinar himself.
Kaladin: Didn't you tell me you'd given up that grief?
Amaram: Yes! I am beyond guilt!
Kaladin: Then why do you still hurt? (Amaram flinches) Murderer. You've switched sides to find peace, Amaram. But you won't have it. He'll never give it to you.
Never My Fault: Dodges his guilt by claiming it was necessary. This makes him susceptible to Odium's offer to accept the blame for Amaram's misdeeds, claiming he was the one who drove him to it. Amaram accepts Odium's offer, unlike Dalinar, who admits Odium may have influenced him, but the choices were still his own. It is being forced to acknowledge that he still does feel guilty about it all that drives him into a complete breakdown.
Amaram: I hurt, once. Did you know that? After I was forced to kill your squad, I... hurt. Until I realized. It wasn't my fault. None of this is my fault.
Nice to the Waiter: At least, when nothing important is at stake. Shallan, after disguising herself as one of his servants, is surprised to learn that he knows his servant's name, that she has the night off, and her current relationship status.
Not So Similar: He thinks Dalinar is the same as him to the point of modeling his miltary career after the highlord's, but he's very wrong despite the surface similarities. Dalinar never intentionally hid what he was and what he did, which became public knowledge, unlike Amaram who tries to cover up every single flaw that might tarnish his public image. Likewise, Dalinar eventually became who he pretended to be and accepted his flaws, while Amaram's fake personality remained just that while he pushed away all responsibility for his crimes onto other people.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Amaram says, and to an extent believes, that what he does is for the greater good of humanity. However this gets thrown out the window in Oathbringer when he sells out humanity to Odium, so Odium will take away his guilt, showing that Amaram's self-image of himself as good is more important to him than actually doing anything good.
Oh, Crap!: His reaction when he realizes Dalinar knows what he did with Kaladin.
One-Winged Angel: When he swallows a gemheart and becomes a champion of Odium, Amaram's body begins to rapidly be replaced by spikes and plates of raw amethyst that makes him resistant to Shardblades. He also gains access to nine of the Ten Surges (presumably except for Adhesion as it is not an Odium Surge) through Voidbinding, and takes to Dual Wielding Oathbringer and Helaran's Shardblade, essentially making him a combination of every single kind of human enemy at that point in one person.
Painful Transformation: His gradual transformation after bonding with Yelig-nar seems to be rather excruciating, driving him to a Screaming Warrior.
Precision F-Strike: Jasnah is so far the only person to have managed to get a genuine angry rise out of him when she insults him directly, due to their former closeness, or at least, his perception that they were close.
Jasnah: From what I understand, (your mother) spent the seven months she was with child entertaining every military man she could find, in the hopes something of them would stick to you.
Amaram: You godless whore.
Rank Up: Named the new Highprince Sadeas by Ialai after Torol's death.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted. Kaladin thought he was this for a long time, but when Kaladin refuses the Shardblade he won, he promptly has his spear team killed and Kaladin himself Made a Slave so he can have the Shardblade himself.
Redemption Rejection: Though Amaram sides with Odium, Dalinar offers him the opportunity to change back sides and redeem himself, telling him that everyone can change. Amaram refuses, saying he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
Sincerest Form of Flattery: When Amaram is exposed as a liar and a murderer by Dalinar, he's shocked and angered because he based his persona and miltary career on Dalinar's own, and thought they were peas in a pod.
Slave to PR: He's dedicates a lot of his energy into emulating Dalinar and making himself out to be the perfect, honorable brightlord. Everyone, even Kaladin was fooled by it initially with only Adolin ever suspecting the man was hiding something.
Superpower Lottery: After bonding with Yelig-nar, Amaram gains access to all Ten Surges, or perhaps their Voidbinding equivalent. This grants him the ability to slick himself through Abrasion, use Lashings for Not Quite Flight, use Tension to transform stone into mud and back again, and Division to set anything he touches, from the ground to the very air, ablaze. Unfortunately, this is coupled with a Painful Transformation.
Too Good to Be True: Adolin's opinion about his reputation. After all, even his father, the greatest man he's ever known, has flaws open to the world. Adolin turns out to be correct.
Universally Beloved Leader: He is one of the few Alethi nobles known to all to be perfectly just, honourable and morally upstanding. Subverted not only because he most definitely isn't, but because this is exactly the reason why Adolin believes Kaladin's accusations against him - he figures that anyone who looks that squeaky-clean must be making an effort to look so good.
Unskilled, but Strong: Subverted originally, as he is an expert with his (stolen) Shardblade. But during his fight against Kaladin he becomes possessed by Yelig-Nar, making him this trope. He gains nine different types of magic (in contrast Kaladin has two, both of which Amaram also has) but has no training with them, so he can't use them to their maximum potential.
Villainous Breakdown: On being forced to acknowledge that he still feels guilty for what crimes he has committed, Amaram loses all attempts to keep his composure and flies into a rage to try and kill Kaladin once and for all.
Amaram: Everything I've done, I've done for Alethkar. I'm a patriot!
Kaladin: If that's true, why do you still hurt?
Violence is the Only Option: This is Kaladin's stance towards punishing Amaram for his crimes, while Dalinar thinks exposing him and ruining his public image is enough. Kaladin turns out to be right, as Oathbringer reveals.

Voidspren

Ulim

"You don't get to choose to be free, Venli. Just which master to follow. "

A Voidspren given to Venli by a mysterious human woman. He tells her of a new kind of storm that will grant her people forms of power...

The Corrupter: Played on Venli's pride to convince her to take increasingly immoral steps to summoning the Return.
Demonic Possession: Takes up residence in Venli's gemheart, making it all the more easy to manipulate her into summoning the Everstorm.
Jerkass: He may flatter Venli with promises of power and greatness, but it doesn't take much for him to start demeaning her and the rest of the listeners.
Manipulative Bastard: Spins a whole web of lies and false promises to convince Venli to do what he wants her to do, and making sure to really play on Venli's ego should she actually begin to doubt what she's doing.
Small Role, Big Impact: He has only made a few fleeting appearances in the present day storyline, and a decent sized appearance in Venli's flashbacks, but his manipulations of Venli are heavily responsible for the return of Odium to Roshar and the Listeners getting nearly wiped out.

The Unmade

In General

"The Unmade are a deviation, a flair, a conundrum that may not be worth your time. You cannot help but think of them. They are fascinating. Many are mindless. Like the spren of human emotions, only much more nasty. I do believe a few can think, however."

— From the Diagram, Book of the 2nd Desk Drawer: paragraph 14

The most powerful of Odium's Voidspren, set upon the world to cause chaos and destruction. There are nine of them in all, represented by Odium's Champion having nine shadows.

Book Burning: One of their jobs appeared to be to destroy information; Yelig-nar broke into Nohadon's chancery and slaughtered his wordsmen, while Re-Shephir was found in a destroyed library. This is implied to be part of the reason why the modern world knows so little about the Heraldic Epochs.
Eldritch Abomination: They are near-mindless masses of hate driven to cause as much chaos as possible, have horrific forms, and often cause dramatic effects on their surroundings merely by being awake.
It Can Think: They are all generally assumed to be mindless, but it soon becomes clear that it's more complicated than that. Sja-anat and Ba-Ado-Mishram are both intelligent, and Yelig-nar is implied to be the same. Ashertmarn is supposedly mindless but whispers to people by name. Nergaoul and Re-Shephir both have an animalistic cunning and curiosity, but nothing more.
Meaningful Name: Befitting their natures as demonic entities/eldritch abominations, their names tend toward Semitic demons/gods (Moelach/Moloch) or Lovecraftian horrors (Yelig-nar/Yog Sothoth) or both (Nergaoul/Nergal/Shub-Niggurath).

Yelig-nar

Yelig-nar, Blightwind

"Yelig-nar, called Blightwind, was one that could speak like a man, though often his voice was accompanied by the wails of those he consumed."

— Traxil, line 33

The first confirmed Unmade, he appears as a man-shaped cloud of dark air. He can bond with a person and turn them into a full Surgebinder.

All Your Powers Combined: He has access to all nine of Odium's surges.
Body Horror: The effects of Yelig-Nar on a body that can't handle it are...not pleasant. The entire body gets swallowed up into Yelig-Nar, while being converted into a mass of crystals, with the crystals growing suddenly and abruptly right through the skin. What exact happens if a body actually can handle Yelig-nar hasn't been seen yet.
Bond Creature: He is one of the few Voidspren capable of bonding with humans. This requires them to swallow a gemstone, which simulates a parshman gemheart. He bonds first with Aesudan, then with Amaram, and the process makes crystals sprout from their flesh like armor.
Book Burning: The first Unmade known to destroy books and kill scribes as part of his efforts to cause chaos.
Gem Tissue: He rather rapidly, and forcefully converts the organic matter of his hosts into this.
Nature Spirit: His name and description imply an affiliation with the Essence of Air.
Torso with a View: Yelig-nar can rapidly consume its hosts, leaving their chest a hollow cavity full of amethyst.

Sja-anat

Sja-anat, the Taker of Secrets

"Radiant. My name is Sja-anat. And I am not your enemy."

An Unmade mentioned in one of Dalinar's visions, later appears in Oathbringer. She can transform regular spren into voidspren.

A God Am I: She gets a viewpoint chapter in Rhythm of War where she casually refers to herself as a god.
Ambiguously Evil: Thus far she seems to be the Token Good Teammate of the Unmade, and hasn't really done anything harmful. However for some reason she was the most feared Unmade by the ancient Knights Radiant. Her interlude makes it clear that her motives are to gain her own freedom, however it does not clarify what she is exactly willing to do to get that freedom.
The Corruption:
- Known for touching spren and making them "act strangely." They look like alien versions of themselves, like painspren that are green hands instead of orange and have sharp claws, but they don't have any other obvious effects on the Physical Realm. She can also corrupt spren in fabrials, including Oathgates.
- She's not supposed to have the ability to corrupt true spren like honorspren or the ones that control Oathgates, but she somehow managed to corrupt a Truthwatcher spren, which Renarin bonded. It only works if the spren volunteer.
Dark Is Not Evil: The jury is still out on Sja-anat herself, but her corrupted spren don't seem to act any differently than normal spren. Renarin even managed to bond a corrupted Truthwatcher spren and gain mostly-normal Radiant abilities.
Enigmatic Minion: She is noted as being one of the most intelligent and individualistic of the Unmade, and her motives for manifesting in Kholinar and making overtures to Shallan are completely unknown.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: She has the ability to take the form of a human woman with black hair and archaic clothing, though the illusion quickly dissolves into a shadow monster with white eyes.
Godzilla Threshold: The old Radiants recommended fleeing the city if you saw so much as a single corrupted spren. In modern times, nothing she does seems to warrant such a response. Granted, when Shallan, Kaladin and the others catch a glimpse of her in Shadesmar, she is a massive monster, thus fitting the original definition of a Godzilla Threshold. One of her claws is described as being the size of a small mountain.
I Know You Know I Know: Her relations with Odium take this form. He knows she is betraying him, she knows he knows it, but as long as he can't prove anything, she won't be punished.
Insistent Terminology: She hates that her transforming of spren is called "corruption" by the humans. To her, the change she induces is "enlightenment".
Mirror Monster: She often appears in mirrors, and this seems to be her primary way of communicating. Rhythm of War states that she can only be fully seen in either the Physical or Cognitive realms through reflective surfaces since she exists in both planes of reality simultaneously.
Mother of a Thousand Young: As the "Creator and the Corrupter," she can create twisted children enslaved to her will.
Token Good Teammate: She claims to be trying to help the Radiants, but she did corrupt the Oathgate. However, she did it on direct orders from Odium and she did try to convince Shallan not to use the portal. Regardless, none of her corrupted spren ever harm humans, and Renarin's corrupted spren, while a bit weird, is not evil.

Nergaoul

"Nergaoul was known for driving forces into a battle rage, lending them great ferocity. Curiously, he did this to both sides of a conflict, Voidbringer and human. This seems common of the less self-aware spren."

— From Hessi's Mythica, page 121

The Unmade that produces the Thrill, the supernatural thirst for combat and conquest that has shaped Alethi culture for centuries.

Blood Knight: The ultimate blood knight, a pure expression of war and bloodlust.
The Corruption: On an individual level, of course. Nergaoul makes war and violence literally addictive with an area of effect that can cover a whole nation. But it also applies to cultures over the long term, since the effects of the Thrill over centuries can make a society very warped. Most of the more horrible parts of Alethi culture can be blamed on Nergaoul.
Fantastic Drug: The Thrill is like this, with the side note that you don't even have the option to refuse it. It starts out as just a desire for combat and worthy contest, but over time it devolves into a thirst for one-sided slaughter.
Irony: The Thrill was intended by Odium to drive armies to fight and to craft the ultimate champion to serve him. The same Thrill in turn made Dalinar into the unstoppable conqueror and Determinator that would let him resist Odium's attempt to corrupt him, and ultimately let Dalinar imprison Nergaoul.
Meaningful Name: "Nergaoul" sounds similar to "Nergal", a Babylonian war god. Fitting that he would cause wars just by being awake.
More than Mind Control: Beyond even the corruption above. If someone feels sufficient hate, Nergaoul can seize control completely and force them to attack. It does this during the civil war in Jah Keved to cause the various highprinces' armies to butcher one another well past the point where they would have stopped and fled, and to devastate the capital city of Vedenar, so that Taravangian is the only surviving heir and can take over the kingdom. It also does this to Sadeas's army during the final battle in ''Oathbringer'', exploiting their resentment of their lord's murder. The effect on the defenses is devastating.
Non-Malicious Monster: Oddly enough, he doesn't hate. He just loves fighting, and wants everyone else to love it too. Even when people drive him off with other emotions, like friendship or love, he's not angry, just confused and kind of sad.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Dalinar seals him away in a perfect gemstone at the end of the Battle of Thaylen City. The gemstone is then placed in an aluminum box and dropped into the middle of the ocean for good measure.

Moelach

"There is one you will watch. Though all of them have some relevance to precognition, Moelach is one of the most powerful in this regard. His touch seeps into a soul as it breaks apart from the body, creating manifestations powered by the spark of death itself. But no, this is a distraction. Deviation. Kingship. We must discuss the nature of kingship."

— Diagram Book of the 2nd Desk Drawer: Paragraph 15

The Unmade behind the Death Rattles, the prophetic visions seen by the dying. In Words of Radiance, he begins moving west for an unknown reason, and Taravangian is worried he might decide to sleep again.

The Corruption: Indirectly, through temptation. Nothing forces you to kill people or otherwise exploit the visions it grants. But it's very useful and the situation is desperate... It leads Taravangian to begin euthanizing hundreds of patients at his hospital in a desperate effort to gain information on the coming Desolation.
Meaningful Name: "Moelach" sounds like "Moloch", who was a demon that people sacrificed children to—and his Death Rattles encourage people to kill anyone weak in an attempt to receive more knowledge of the future.
Psychic Dreams for Everyone: It's unknown why some people are affected by his power when they die and some are not. Either way, over the past few years many people have heard the dying whisper strange things.
Vagueness Is Coming: His Death Rattles cause the dying to see the future, though they often sound like utter nonsense since they are taken out of context.

Dai-gonarthis

Dai-gonarthis, the Black Fisher

"Let me no longer hurt! Let me no longer weep! Dai-gonarthis! The Black Fisher holds my sorrow and consumes it!"

— Death Rattle

An Unmade of unknown power and purpose, mentioned only in a Death Rattle.

Ambiguous Situation: In-universe, it's noted that it's not completely clear if Dai-gonarthis is an Unmade or not. Only the eight others are confirmed. However, the Death Rattle that speaks of him fits the pattern of the others.
Despair Event Horizon: Apparently exists to avert this, maliciously. It appears to those in despair offering to take away their pain. As we have seen when Odium does the same, this is actually a very bad thing.
Emotion Eater: Implied by the Death Rattle describing it, and fitting with Odium's pattern of gaining converts by consuming and manipulating their emotions.
Meaningful Name: "Dai-gonarthis" is similar to "Dagon," a god of fish and the sea.
Nature Spirit: His title implies an association with water and the ocean, which would be the Essence of Blood.

Re-Shephir

Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother

"Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother, giving birth to abominations with her essence so dark, so terrible, so consuming. She is here! She watches me die!"

— Death vision

The Unmade who created the Midnight Essence that Dalinar saw in one of his visions. Connected to the Essense of Smoke. She can create creatures out of it and mimic human appearances to some extent.

Arch-Enemy: She is terrified of Lightweavers because one bound her away centuries ago. She is also implied to be some sort of corruption of the Surge of Illumination, which is why Shallan and Renarin could sense her presence (as they both have Lightweaving) while Dalinar couldn't.
Living Gasbag: Re-Shephir, and her creations, are essentially smoke wrapped up in a preternaturally tough balloon capable of sprouting bone teeth and spines.
Book Burning: She is discovered in Urithiru in an ancient destroyed library, implying that she is part of the reason that Shallan couldn't find any records in the city.
Copycat Killer: She sends her puppets to mimic murders and other acts of violence in an effort to both understand humanity and fulfill her charge to sow chaos.
Creative Sterility: Despite her interest in humans, she can't create them on her own, and has to build copies based on what she sees.
Shallan: I... know you. I know what you're doing. You try to imitate us. But you fail. You're a spren. You don't quite understand. Your imitation is pathetic. Here. Let me show you how it's done.
Evil Counterpart: To the Lightweavers, who also craft illusions out of images they draw and remember. Unlike Lightweavers, whose illusions have no substance, her creations have a physical presence, but unlike Lightweavers, she cannot create creatures based on "lies."
This thing was ancient. Created long ago as a splinter of the soul of something even more terrible, Re-Shephir had been ordered to sow chaos, spawning horrors to confuse and destroy men. Over time, slowly, she'd become increasingly intrigued by the things she murdered.
Her creations had come to imitate what she saw in the world, but lacking love or affection. Like stones come alive, content to be killed or to kill with no attachment or enjoyment. No emotions beyond an overpowering curiosity, and that ephemeral attraction to violence.
Shallan: (thinking) Almighty above... it's like a creationspren. Only so, so wrong.
Evil Is Sterile: Despite her desire to create all she can really do is imitate what she sees.
Mother of a Thousand Young: She creates shadow-puppets out of smoke that are solid enough to fight and kill.
Nature Spirit: She is associated with the Essence of Smoke.
Tragic Monster: Shallan realizes that she just wants to understand humanity, but is hampered by Odium's will forcing her to cause chaos and destruction.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's utterly terrified of Lightweavers due to one of them turning her into a Sealed Evil in a Can before.

Ashertmarn

Ashertmarn, the Heart of the Revel

"Give it all to me. Give me your passion, your hunger, your longing, your loss. Surrender it. You are what you feel."

An Unmade that causes people to indulge in excess in all things, until they don't care about anything at all.

Body Horror: He takes the form of a massive, beating black heart. Shallan notes that it's not a human heart, and theorizes that it's Parshendi.
Cult: He inspires this, forming cults dedicated to revelry regardless of the circumstances.
Emotion Bomb: Those who have fallen the deepest under its influence simply crawl around it in circles, lost in overpowering emotions.
The Hedonist: Is this in itself, and encourages this in those under its influence. It ultimately renders them comatose as the emotions overwhelm them completely.
It Can Think: He's supposedly mindless, but he addresses Shallan by name and sets a trap by faking a retreat.
While Rome Burns: All of the above is probably one of the worst things that could happen in a city under siege.

Ba-Ado-Mishram

"Ba-Ado-Mishram has somehow Connected with the parsh people, as Odium once did. She provides Voidlight and facilitates forms of power. Our strike team is going to imprison her."

— From drawer 30-20, fourth emerald

The Unmade who provided the parshmen with their powers after the Last Desolation. Binding her is what turned them into slaves.

The Ghost: Being sealed away for entire series thus far makes it rather difficult for her to put in any proper appearance.
Inadequate Inheritor: Her trying to fill Odium's shoes didn't turn out so well. While Odium never won, at least he never caused the entire singer species to be lobotomised.
The Leader: She was apparently a "highprincess among the Unmade," and a commander of their forces.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- When she was bound, it crippled the Identity and Connection of the parsh connected to her, rendering them nearly mindless. This in turn led to their enslavement, and that enslavement has made peace with the restored parsh essentially impossible.
- In Rhythm, something about this changed the entire world. It altered the Pure Tones of Roshar, which is what damaged the parsh but also the Sibling. It's also hinted that this act is what caused spren to start becoming deadeyes, as this did not happen before the Recreance.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Sealing her is what led to the enslavement of the parshmen, and ended the False Desolation.
Super-Empowering: She was the one responsible for giving the parshmen their forms and powers. Sealing her away apparently was much more violent than expected, and ripped all the forms from the parshmen, instead of just their forms of power.
Sympathy for the Devil: No less a person than Kalak, a Herald who fought her for thousands of years, begged the new Radiants to find and free her, thinking her imprisonment was too cruel a fate even for an Unmade.

Chemoarish

Chemoarish, the Dustmother

"Chemoarish, the Dustmother, has some of the most varied lore surrounding her. The wealth of it makes sorting lies from truths extremely difficult. I do believe she is not the Nightwatcher, contrary to what some stories claim."

— From Hessi's Mythica, page 231

An Unmade with little known about her.

The Ghost: On top of having the least known about her of any Unmade, she hasn't made any form of an appearance.
Nature Spirit: Her title "Dustmother" implies that she has an association with the Essence of Fire, the same one the Dustbringers use.

Characters / The Stormlight Archive Odium's Forces

Singers

Khen

Sah

The Fused

Leshwi

The Pursuer

Raboniel

El

Odium-Aligned Humans

Vyre/Moash

King Taravangian

Brightlord Meridas Amaram

Voidspren

Ulim

The Unmade

Yelig-nar, Blightwind

Sja-anat, the Taker of Secrets

Nergaoul

Moelach

Dai-gonarthis, the Black Fisher

Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother

Ashertmarn, the Heart of the Revel

Ba-Ado-Mishram

Chemoarish, the Dustmother

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / The Stormlight Archive Odium's Forces

Edit Locked

Singers

Khen

Sah

The Fused

Leshwi

The Pursuer

Raboniel

El

Odium-Aligned Humans

Vyre/Moash

King Taravangian

Brightlord Meridas Amaram

Voidspren

Ulim

The Unmade

Yelig-nar, Blightwind

Sja-anat, the Taker of Secrets

Nergaoul

Moelach

Dai-gonarthis, the Black Fisher

Re-Shephir, the Midnight Mother

Ashertmarn, the Heart of the Revel

Ba-Ado-Mishram

Chemoarish, the Dustmother

Previous

Index

Next