Due to size, the page has been split. WARNING! All spoilers before Rhythm of War are UNMARKED!

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

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Bridge Four

Kaladin's bridge crew, he was assigned to this group by Gaz in order to get him killed. It takes a while, but this backfires. Hard.

Badass Crew: Bridge 4 is a crew of slaves, criminals, deserters, and murderers who rise to become the champions of the Bridgemen. They're badass enough to charge and hold off the Parshendi army and impressive enough to not only succed but for Dalinar to make them his new elite squad.
Blue Is Heroic: They prove their valor and selflessness when they choose to sacrifice their chance at freedom to save the Kholin army and are associated with the color blue; blue is the color of the markings on their Parshendi armor and the color of their uniforms when they replace the Cobalt Guard. It's only fitting since they seem to be becoming the new Order of Windrunners, who are represented by the color blue.
Four Is Death: Prior to Kaladin joining — and even for a while after — Bridge 4 had the highest casualty rate of bridge crews.
Hidden Depths: All of them have their secrets that only come out when they get close together. They don't think they want to give them up otherwise, seeing as it's all they have left.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Many of them became full Windrunners up to the Third Ideal in the time between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War.
Praetorian Guard: After proving their mettle in the Battle of the Tower, Dalinar promotes them to the elite guard of the Kholin royalty, particularly because he knows that he can be absolutely sure that none of them have any love for Sadeas.
Tattoo Conceals Scars: Once Dalinar has granted their freedom, Kaladin arranges for them all to get tattoos to cover up the slave brands on their foreheads. Apparently this is a common practice for freed slaves in Alethkar as a way of communicating their status to others. Kaladin's lingering issues cause his tattoo to melt away while his brands remain intact.
Themed Tattoos: The forehead tattoo includes a glyph that reads "Bridge 4" as a sign of their loyalty to each other. Even the members who weren't actually slaves, and therefore not branded, insist on getting the tattoo as a show of unity.
True Companions: Due to Kaladin simply treating them as actual people.
Took a Level in Badass:
- From the highest mortality rate among bridge crews to Dalinar Kholin's Praetorian Guard by the end of The Way of Kings.
- And again in Words of Radiance when their association with Kaladin lets them use stormlight.
- Throughout Oathbringer they become proper Knights Radiants, independent of Kaladin.

Kaladin

See the Main Characters section

Teft

"I ain't grouchy, I just have a low threshold for stupidity."

An old slave who insists there is nothing special about him.

Character Death: Vyre/Moash kills him in Rhythm of War with Jezrien's Honorblade.
Cool Old Guy: While it takes some character development, Teft eventually becomes much more traditionally heroic, and the older and wiser member of Bridge Four. By the time of Rhythm of War Kaladin compares how Teft looks when he's hovering above to a wise god straight out of the stories.
Crazy-Prepared: He teaches the bridgemen to keep large sapphires on their person to smash in case Kaladin needs a sudden infusion of Stormlight. He continues this practice in the final chapters of Words of Radiance, despite the fact that Kaladin is back in the warcamps, weeks away.
Cult: A former member of one who awaited the return of the Knights Radiant. It's only when he saw Kaladin inhale Stormlight that he believed, though.
Cult Defector: He was born into the Envisager cult but reported them to the citylord at age eight, some time after his mother died in a cult activity. Tragically, the citylord had all the others executed, leaving Teft an orphan.
Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Despite his insistence that his past isn't important, he obeys instantly when Kaladin gives him an order filled with military jargon.
Defiant to the End: He goes out mouthing off to Vyre, even after Vyre killed his Spren.
Empowered Badass Normal: Like the rest of Bridge Four, he begins developing Windrunner abilities after Kaladin manifests his. Then he becomes the second fully-fledged Knight Radiant Windrunner at the end of Oathbringer.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Teft's troubled life his left him with a lot of emotional guilt to the point it's the focus of his Third Ideal.
Teft: I will protect even those I hate, even if the one I hate most is myself.
It's All My Fault: Blames himself for the death of the Envisagers, even though they were already doing a fine job of killing themselves.
The Lancer: Teft's much more grouchy attittude contrasts with Kaladin's more overtly heroic attitudes when it comes to giving advice on leadership. Though despite whatever Teft says he is deeply loyal to Kaladin.
Lovable Coward: He claims that every good sergeant is a coward, since it's his job to keep the officers from getting everyone killed.
Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Kaladin hears Teft's voice urging him onward just before he completes his Fourth Ideal. As heavily Invested individuals are known to linger a while after death, it's implied that this was Teft, showing up to give Kaladin a final push to save himself and his father.
Off the Wagon: After struggling to stay clean from using firemoss, he relapses hard after encountering Re-Shephir, the stress of it making him feel he needs the firemoss to take the edge off. Kaladin and Rock end up finding Teft in a drug den, having sold his own coat to get more firemoss.
Rank Up: He's the first of Kaladin's squires to become a full Windrunner. This makes him Kaladin's Number Two.
Recovered Addict: He was kicked out of the army and into the bridge crews due to his addiction to firemoss. He was clean afterwards, if only because he wasn't able to get a fix due to his enslavement. He has an implied relapse during Words of Radiance, which is made explicit by Oathbringer.
Sergeant Rock: He won't speak of it, but he clearly has experience as a sergeant, breaking down recruits and building them up as soldiers. For the bridgemen, he can skip the "breaking down" step, since there's not much lower they can go.
Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Moash kills him in an attempt to break Kaladin into joining Odium. It doesn’t work.

Rock

Rock (Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor)

"Airsick lowlanders."

A member of Bridge Four. He was originally Sadeas' chef, but he developed a dislike for the man and garnished all his food with Chull Dung. All of it.

Actual Pacifist: Though he's willing to shoot a bow at a length of wood, he's not willing to hurt anyone. Though he is willing to use a substantially sized log against Kaladin during practice.
Affectionate Nickname: He refers to Shallan as "cousin," a nod to her Horneater blood.
Badass Pacifist: He's a shockingly good brawler considering that he refuses to fight for real. He used to be a fourth son (the warrior), but two of his brothers died and his role was reassigned. When he meets back up with his wife, she points out that by that logic he should let his role be reassigned again since he's the last of his brothers, but he insists on staying a cook.
Batman Grabs a Gun: At the end of Oathbringer, he grabs Amaram's grandbow and uses it to shoot Amaram's gemheart, killing him and saving Kaladin. Note that grandbows are designed to be used by someone wearing Shardplate, so he shouldn't have been able to draw it. He's very shaken up afterwards, and refuses to accept the Shards he won.
Culture Clash: With the Alethi.
Drinking Contest: When Dunny insults him, he tries to challenge Dunny to an alil'tiki'i duel. This is apparently the traditional form of dueling on the Peaks, and involves seeing who can still sing intelligibly after drinking the most mugs of beer. As an added bonus, soon everyone is so drunk that they'll probably forget why they were fighting in the first place!
Extreme Omnivore: The nickname "Horneater" that his people have earned is not an embellishment. Rock has difficulty finding Unkalaki alcohol in the low lands, with most tavern owners worried that it'd melt through the cups.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Downplayed example. His people's language sounds Hawaiian and they live on volcanoes.
Gentle Giant: He's very strong, and could be a good fighter. However, he's an Actual Pacifist.
The Heart: He's a compassionate man who encourages the Bridge Four men to open up about their personal issues and work through them. He and his cooking are definite contributors to the group's cohesiveness.
King Incognito: He's the third brother of his peak's nuatoma, their equivalent to a highprince. With his brothers dead, he's the nuatoma, and as the first Horneater to win a Shardblade he's effectively the uncrowned king of the Horneater Peaks.
Manly Tears: When he's reunited with his family.
Revenge Is a Dish Best Served: Gets sent to the bridge crews after his first attempt to serve Sadeas a meal. Turns out chull dung has a rather more distinctive taste than he realized, though it didn't help that he used an impressive amount.
See the Invisible: He can see Syl all the time, unlike most of Bridge Four, who only see her sometimes. He can also see many other spren that are invisible to most people. According to Dawnshard, this is because he is "Sighted" due to living around Cultivation's Perpindicularity.
Super-Strength: Rock is incredibly strong, even more so than his massive stature would indicate, as he is able to wield a Shardbow, something that should only be possible for a Shardbearer. According to Cord in Dawnshard, he has "the blessings of the spren" who allowed him the strength to draw enormous bows.
The Big Guy: Near seven feet, he's the tallest member of Bridge Four. Kaladin is only a few inches shorter, but cannot match Rock's muscular bulk.
Team Chef: For Bridge Four. Rock's stew is one of the first things that starts to bring Bridge Four together.
Uncertain Doom: Early in Rhythm of War, he returns home to face judgment for killing Amaram despite not being a soldier, with the implication that he could be facing execution. At the end of the book, Kaladin tries to contact Rock to invite him to Teft's funeral, but he is simply told that he will not be seeing Rock again.
Uneven Hybrid: As a Horneater, he has a bit of Parshendi in his distant ancestry.
The Unpronounceable: His real name (see above), which is why everyone calls him "Rock", since it's the name of a kind of rock where he comes from. When we get a passage from his point of view, it's shortened to 'Lunamor'.

Lopen

The Lopen

"You'll be wanting me, gancho!"

A cheerful one-armed Herdazian bridgeman, who begged to join Bridge Four for the simple reason that Kaladin was the only one picking bridgemen, so whoever got picked must be special.

Abdicate the Throne: Briefly reigns as king of Alethkar while sheltering Elhokar but peacefully returns the throne after Elhokar emerged from hiding.
An Arm and a Leg: Completely useless as a bridgeman due to his injury. He makes a pretty good waterboy, though.
A Day in the Limelight: He's one of the Windrunners assigned to accompany Rysm in Dawnshard and is the novella's second POV character.
Determinator: Downplayed example, but from the moment he found out about Kaladin's powers, he was constantly trying to breathe in Stormlight. By the end of Words of Radiance, it finally worked, and his arm started to regrow.
The Heart: Lopen might not be good for active duty, but his sunny disposition does a great job keeping everyone's spirits up. It's probably why his Second Ideal went through so easily.
Innocently Insensitive: While Lopen doesn't mean harm, his more mean-spirited jokes can hurt his loved ones far more than he realizes. He vows to overcome this part of him as part of his Third Ideal.
Jerkass Realization: Realizing that his endless stream of jokes can sometimes come off as abrasive and mean-spirited, and, more importantly, his utter horror at that realization, is what finally lets him swear the Third Ideal.
I will protect others, even from myself.
The Load: He was intended as this by Gaz. Kaladin has him carry the water instead, and his insufferably cheerful demeanor helped keep Bridge Four's morale up.
Massively Numbered Siblings: Cousins rather than siblings, but the same idea. In the second book, it seems like every night he's brought a new cousin to join Bridge Four, and in his viewpoint chapter he casually mentions about a dozen of them standing guard at his mother's house.
N-Word Privileges: Lopen apparently has Roshar's biggest collection of one-armed Herdazian jokes. He'll have to start coming up with some two-armed Herdazian jokes, though.
The Nicknamer: Has some shades of this.
The Pollyanna: Doesn't seem to have a problem losing an arm or being a slave.
Rags to Royalty: He was technically the true king of all Alethkar for about 25 minutes. Not that anyone would believe him, of course. His family had Elhokar temporarily abdicate the throne to Lopen so they could honestly say "King Elhokar isn't here," while hiding him. The legality of this is questionable, but Lopen certainly believes it.
Rank Up: He's the second of Kaladin's squires to become a full Windrunner. This comes with being promoted to third in command, just under Teft.
Spell My Name with a "The": Some of his cousins call him The Lopen because he's the only Lopen they know. When he finally gets a passage told from his point of view, it turns out that he thinks of himself as "The Lopen" too.
Stepford Smiler: Downplayed; Lopen genuinely is a cheerful guy, however he secretly harbors doubts about humanity's chances of winning the war he hides because he knows how much he lightens everyone's spirits.
Throwing Off the Disability: Through the healing effect of Stormlight, Lopen is eventually able to regrow his missing arm.

"Shen"/Rlain

Rlain

"Am I Bridge Four?"

A Parshman bridgeman given by Gaz as an "experiment." Though he initially uses the name Shen, he eventually reveals his true name and that he was a Parshendi listener and spy.

All of the Other Reindeer: Even by Bridge 4 standards. Even his companions tend to treat him as a rogue element.
Bizarre Human Biology: As a Parshendi, he can assume a number of different forms depending on what is needed for the given task.
Dark Is Not Evil: Becoming a corrupted Truthwatcher technically makes him a Voidbinder, but Rlain is still firmly on the side of good.
Defector from Decadence: After seeing what has become of Eshonai as a stormform, Rlain rejoins Bridge Four and teaches the Alethi how to fight storm form Parshendi.
Hidden Depths: He's actually a Parshendi who has assumed dullform (which looks more or less like a parshman) to spy on the human camps. Eventually reveals his true name and shifts to warform after his people become Voidbringers.
Interclass Friendship: When Prince Renarin joins Bridge Four, he makes a point of speaking with Rlain. They bond over their shared insecurities and outsider status and quickly strike up a strong friendship, with some implied romantic feelings.
Missed the Call: The Sibling was ready to accept Rlain as their Bondsmith, but Rlain didn't make it to the crystal pillar in time and Navani got the bond instead.
The Mole: Acted as this in the Alethi armies for the Parshendi Council of Five by adopting dullform to appear as a regular parshman. Defected from Decadence after his placement undercover meant that he was able to avoid the corruption that turned many of the others into stormform Regals.
The Quiet One: As expected from a parshman. He is far more talkative when he returns to warform and fights alongside Bridge Four.
Token Heroic Orc: He is the only known member of the Shattered Plains' Parshendi to not be (at least temporarily) influenced by Odium. He resents this treatment because his human comrades tend to exclude him from anything related to their Windrunner training out of fear that him bonding with a spren would turn him into a Voidbringer, and they often seem just a bit too proud of themselves for allowing him to serve with them.

Sigzil

"I am not a foolish jester or storyteller. I do not 'give tales.' I spread knowledge of cultures, peoples, thoughts, and dreams. I bring peace through understanding. It is the holy charge my order received from the Heralds themselves."

An Azish Worldsinger.

The Apprentice: Formerly, to Hoid. He still thinks back often to Hoid's teachings.
Berserk Button: He is a Worldsinger. Not a storyteller. There's a difference, which he will expound greatly upon.
Mr. Exposition: Of a sort. He's a Worldsinger, meaning he can give information on a wide variety of cultures. He doesn't like to brag about it, however.
Never Learned to Read: He's the only bridgeman besides Kaladin who can read glyphs. Since he trained outside Alethkar, it's quite possible he can read and write actual letters, but the bridgemen are uncomfortable enough with the glyphs.
Shorter Means Smarter: Sigzil is small and fine-boned like most of his people, and as a Worldsinger he is also perhaps the most well-educated and knowledgeable of Bridge 4. Eventually he becomes the scribe for the Bridgemen army.
The Stoic: Probaly the most levelhead member of Bridge Four, he is calm and reserved, especially compared to the other members.
Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: The first thing he does when he finds out about Kaladin's abilities is draw up some scientific tests to find out his exact limits. He's stymied by the imprecise nature of Stormlight.
Sigzil: My master taught me to ask questions and find precise answers. But how can I be precise? I would need a clock for the timing, but they are too expensive. Even if we had one, I don't know how to measure Stormlight!
Kaladin: With chips. The gemstones are precisely weighed before being encased in glass.
Sigzil: And can they all hold the same amount? We know that uncut gems hold less than cut ones. So is one that was cut better going to hold more? Plus, Stormlight fades from a sphere over time. How many days has it been since that chip was infused, and how much Light has it lost since then? Do they all lose the same amount at the same rate? We know too little. I think perhaps I am wasting your time, sir.
Troll: He picked up some traits from his master. When testing Kaladin's Full Lashings, he makes Rock hang from the things they stick to the wall even though it's completely unnecessary.
Kaladin: If you need a baseline, why not just use how long the stone remains there on its own?
Sigzil: Well, that's less fun.

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."

One of the bridgemen on Bridge Four. Has betrayed Bridge Four and sided with Odium.

See Vyre on the page for Odium's Forces

Skar

One of the bridgemen on Bridge Four. Kaladin identifies him as a killer, and makes him a lieutenant.

The Ace: The best spearman in the squad, short of Moash and Kaladin himself.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: He starts sinking into despair in Oathbringer, as he's one of the last bridgemen to breathe Stormlight. Even people he's been teaching learn it before him.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The end of Oathbringer reveals he and Drehy managed to not only survive the fall of Kholinar, they successfully rescued Prince Gavinor from Odium's forces.
Refuge in Audacity: Attempting this is how he ended up on bridge duty. He originally applied for a position in an elite spear unit, but was turned away until he could equip himself. Considering how much armor and weapons cost, he decided the best way to accomplish this was to steal the needed equipment from the unit's quartermaster. Unfortunately, the unit was less than impressed with his ingenuity.
Tuckerization: He’s based off of, and named after, a friend of Brandon’s, Ethan Skarstedt, who also has a military background.

Drehy

One of Kaladin's top bridgemen.

Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Shallan's brief encounter with him in Shadesmar reveals that he has fun being a rebel and really doesn't want to be in charge. He obeys orders, but he adds his own "flair."
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The end of Oathbringer reveals he and Skar managed to not only survive the fall of Kholinar, they successfully rescued Prince Gavinor from Odium's forces.
Straight Gay: He starts courting a man in Oathbringer. No one in Bridge Four cares except Sigzil, and even he is only annoyed that Drehy hasn't filled out the proper paperwork.
Tuckerization: He’s based off of, and named after, one of Brandon’s college friends, Ryan Dreher, who is also gay.

Leyten