Ishar
also known as Tezim, Ishi
A Herald whose Thaylen temple — the most ancient in the city — has been pressed into service as an overflow hospital for wounded from the Everstorm, its marble floor lined with pallets and painspren. SA:OB:Ch 59
A warlord ruling Tukar who claims to be an aspect of the Almighty — the immediate reason Navani doubts Tukar or Emul will look up from their war long enough to notice the Desolation. SA:OB:Ch 8 superseded at SA:OB:Ch 59
A Herald whose argument the others repeat — that so long as a single Herald remains bound to the Oathpact, the cycle of Desolations might yet be ended. SA:WoK:Prelude superseded at SA:OB:Ch 8
Known facts
- declares-himself-herald-of-heralds-and-rejects-allianceReplies to Dalinar's outreach with a single thundering mandate styling himself *Tezim the Great, last and first man, Herald of Heralds and bearer of the Oathpact* — and orders the eastern kingdoms to open their gates to his soldiers and submit, declaring that no one but he is Radiant.SA:OB:Ch 24
- holds-honorblades-in-shinovarIs now in Shinovar and, by Dalinar's reckoning, in possession of the remaining Honorblades — each as dangerous as the one Szeth used to terrorise Roshar. He believes himself the true champion in Dalinar's contest, or perhaps the Almighty himself, and was able to raise an army in Tukar before relocating.SA:WaT:Ch 6
- kills-spren-by-bringing-them-physicalHas been pulling spren from Shadesmar into the Physical Realm in twisted half-flesh bodies that cannot survive, permanently killing them — per Sigzil's reports relayed to Kaladin by Dalinar.SA:WaT:Ch 6
- bears-heralds-darkness-via-oathpactIshar tells Kaladin he founded the Oathpact so that he could siphon a share of each Herald's pain onto himself. The others would, he claims, be as catatonic as Taln is were it not for him; Taln is in that state precisely because Ishar does *not* bear his darkness. He calls himself the conflux of all their sorrows.SA:WaT:Ch 33
- rejects-tezim-name-claims-ascended-to-almightyFollowing Navani's Bondsmith Ascension and the Spiritual Realm glimpse that briefly restored his lucidity, Ishar declares that *Tezim died* in that moment — he no longer needs the name — and that he can now simply be Ishar, *who Ascended to the position of the Almighty*.SA:WaT:Ch 33
- took-some-of-each-heralds-painStanding in for Honor in his absence, Ishar offered at Aharietiam to take *some* of the pain from each Herald who left their Blade — *I first bore Surges. I initiated the Oathpact. I am the Bondsmith. I can bear some of your pain.* Dalinar watches him do it, and wonders if it explains the Ishar he knows in his own time.SA:WaT:Ch 77
- found-the-songs-to-open-the-portal-off-ashynThe arts that will carry the surviving humans of Ashyn across the void to Roshar are Ishar's work. Jezrien names him to Makibak as the one who *found the songs,* and through that portal a new home — and, eventually, the men who would become Heralds — will arrive.SA:WaT:Ch 107
- ishar-drew-on-odiums-pool-to-play-god-in-shinovarNale explains around the monastery fire that the *Unmade* who corrupted Shinovar and turned the Honorbearers against Szeth is not an Unmade at all — it is Ishar. Honor's power refused him, Cultivation's pool at the Peaks is kept by her spren, but Odium's power — which Ba-Ado-Mishram had once used in the same way — *dislikes him,* and a fraction of it can be drawn by another god. The Herald of Wisdom has held that fraction for centuries, Nale says, and it is what the Honorbearers of Shinovar have actually been following: a true divinity who could show them visions of the wars to come.SA:WaT:Ch 119
- built-human-fused-honorbearersCenturies before the present day, Ishar stepped into the Well of Control to take onto himself a portion of Odium's power, then used it to forge two new kinds of soldier — physical spren in possession of Surges, and "human Fused" whose souls could be recalled to new bodies, painfully rebuilt over days. Each Honorbearer was made one of these reborn but for Sivi, who refused him; the wider army he intended never came.SA:WaT:Ch 128
- connected-himself-to-shinovar-and-became-the-spren-of-the-landSome three or four centuries ago, in the aftermath of the Shin invasions out of Shinovar, Ishar Connected himself to the land — Nin tells Kaladin he became its spren. That bond, plus the long-standing sense of grandeur in him, hardened until he began to believe he *was* the Almighty; thereafter Shinovar's native spren were driven off and the people prayed to him without knowing it.SA:WaT:Ch 129
- he-loved-alaswha-and-will-fight-for-rosharAsked by Kaladin if humans really came from another world, Ishar confirms it — they called it Alaswha, and he loved it once. The ten Heralds are the last pieces of that lost homeland here on Roshar; he tells Kaladin he is not eager to lose a second world, and intends to fight, however poorly his methods read.SA:WaT:Ch 130
- wrote-down-derethils-wandersail-three-thousand-years-agoIshar tells Kaladin that he wrote down the tale of the Wandersail some three thousand years ago, when Derethil — by then so old his grandson walked him — recounted it. Much of it, he suspects, is the embellishment of an old man whose fishing boat got lost in a storm. The top room was empty save for a corpse, and he is trying to fill it.SA:WaT:Ch 131
- shields-himself-with-solid-stormlightAgainst the column of light that rises from Szeth as he speaks his Fifth Ideal, Ishar simply raises a hand — and a near-solid shield of Stormlight extends from his palm to block the glare. His own eyes burn with their own Stormlight when he lowers the shield. He has, he tells Kaladin, prepared countermeasures against Dalinar's tricks this time. He always learns.SA:WaT:Ch 134
- pushes-the-heralds-darkness-through-bondsTouching Kaladin, then Syl, then Nale, Ishar leaves cords of light running back to himself and forces the full weight of the Heralds' cumulative madness into each. A wave of his hand drops the six Honorbearers the same way without touch — *bear your own madness now, Nale. I stand at the crux of the Oathpact. Feel what it is to be me, then question me.*SA:WaT:Ch 135
- dark-cloud-pushed-from-the-heraldsThe wave of Wind-accepted Light that runs back along Ishar's tether to Kaladin pushes a black smoke out through his pores — and, through him, lifts an unacknowledged darkness from the other Heralds that he had absorbed from Odium long ago and unknowingly bled into all of them. It does not heal their old wounds, but it clears a path that healing might one day take.SA:WaT:Ch 140
- reshapes-oathpact-to-refugeIshar alters the workings of the Oathpact so that the surviving Heralds are drawn, in mind, to a place beyond the enemy's reach where they can rest and recover. Time around the refuge runs strangely on account of the new shape of the two combined Shards — months pass there while years pass on Roshar.SA:WaT:Postlude
Events
- SA:WaT:Ch 46 Stands at the centre of the portal in a plain blue robe with the beard barely greyed, arms thrust wide, holding the way between Ashyn and Shinovar open by force of will while thousands flee through.
- SA:WaT:Ch 55 Sits in the fire-lit council with white beard and haggard eyes, repeats his palms-up gesture, and pushes for war if it cannot be avoided with Makibak's rebels.
- SA:WaT:Ch 58 Shakes his head over their failure to bring soil, then warns Dalinar-as-Kalak that *his idea* is an idea of gods and cannot be rushed.
- SA:WaT:Ch 62 White-bearded, urgent about his plan; the architect of the binding to come.
- SA:WaT:Ch 64 Spins the lines of light, intricate Bondsmith work far beyond Navani's understanding; held back to swear last.
- SA:WaT:Ch 65 Channels Honor in and out of the vision; swears the final binding oath that seals the Oathpact.
- SA:WaT:Ch 77 Proposes the cracked Oathpact, offers to take a portion of each Herald's pain, lays down his own Blade.
- SA:WaT:Ch 115 Meets Tanavast in the tent with the other Ashyn-survivors and presents the plan involving the distant world that can collect souls; sworn first to the new bond as the Heralds are made.
- SA:WaT:Ch 122 Sits slumped against the corpse of a fallen thunderclast after the battle, the first Herald to ask Honor what *complete victory* even looks like, and the one who voices the plan that becomes the Oathpact.
- SA:WaT:Ch 129 Ishar stands in the shadow of the stone formations, white-haired and bearded, an Honorblade driven into the ground at his feet, and calls to Szeth that he is *worthy of his presence.*
- SA:WaT:Ch 130 Ishar greets Szeth as the first of his new Heralds, names himself the Voice that has been in his head, and orders his Honorbearers to humble him before he can ascend.
- SA:WaT:Ch 131 Ishar parries each story with an older one — confirms he wrote the Wandersail down himself — and finally dismisses Kaladin's children's rhymes, *the adults are trying to save the world.*
- SA:WaT:Ch 132 Ishar cuts Kaladin down with weaponised contempt, offers to share a grief that would break any mortal, and bellows for Szeth to fight when Syl tells him the spren are afraid.
- SA:WaT:Ch 133 Ishu shouts from across the field that Szeth need only obey, that he will stand alone if he must, that all of them are worthless — and the volume drives the Honorbearers' boots harder into Szeth.
- SA:WaT:Ch 134 Raises a hand against the light of Szeth's Fifth Ideal, extends a near-solid shield of Stormlight from his palm, and then steps forward with his own Stormlight burning in his eyes, claiming countermeasures.
- SA:WaT:Ch 135 Tethers cords of light from his hand into Kaladin, Syl, Nale, and the Honorbearers in turn — and pushes the Heralds' darkness through every cord at once, dropping each in place.
- SA:WaT:Ch 138 Muses to himself that he made a fool's choice to think any mortal could deserve to be a Herald, and revises the plan: dissolve the Oathpact, bring the spren through, make them his army.
- SA:WaT:Ch 139 Crashes forward in a Bondsmith pop of speed to put a hand at Kaladin's throat, threatens that everyone he loves will die — and is met, unflinching, by a hand on his shoulder and an old soldier's promise.
- SA:WaT:Ch 140 Thrown against a rock pillar by the surge of Light along his own tether, the dark cloud he had hidden inside himself for ages erupts out of him in black smoke and he slumps to the stones, dazed, perhaps unconscious.
- SA:WaT:Ch 142 Groans back to consciousness as Kaladin shakes him awake, sees Szeth fighting the whisper-shades, whispers *Oh. Oh no. What have I done?* — and finds himself empty of Light, his Surges gone.
- SA:WaT:Ch 143 Calls back to Nale, helpless — *I cannot. The sword will consume me if I touch it. There is no Stormlight. It has taken it all.*
- SA:WaT:Ch 144 Reads the sky and names every part of the catastrophe — Stormfather dead, Honor consumed, Cultivation fled, Retribution coming for the spren — then accepts the Wind's suggestion and prepares to reforge the Oathpact with a vision-hidden refuge for the Heralds' minds.
- SA:WaT:Ch 145 Touches Kaladin's temples to perform Vedel's method, warns that even sealed away he may still lose himself, and vanishes with the rest as his Blade leaves the ring.
Relations
- member-ofThe Heralds SA:WoK:Prelude
Backreferences
- summarySA:ED:Ch 9
- summarySA:ED:Ch 19
- summarySA:OB:Ch 8
- factTukari
- summarySA:OB:Ch 59
- factBattah
- summarySA:OB:Ch 64
- summarySA:OB:Ch 64
- factBinder of Gods
- summarySA:OB:Ch 65
- summarySA:OB:Ch 65
- summarySA:OB:Ch 106
- summarySA:OB:Ch 121
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 17
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 17
- factThe Emul Offensive
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 71
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 77
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 98
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 101
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 107
- factNightblood
- factVespan
- factMela
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 2
- factKaladin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 4
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 5
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 6
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 13
- summarySA:WaT:I-1
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 22
- factSzeth-son-son-Vallano
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 28
- factHonorbearer
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 33
- factIshar
- factIshar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 42
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 46
- factThe Heralds
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 50
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 55
- factMakabaki
- factElodi
- factMakibak
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 58
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 62
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 63
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 64
- factThe Oathpact
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 65
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 71
- factThe Heralds
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 77
- factJezrien
- factIshar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 90
- factThe Oathpact
- factThe Oathpact
- factSzeth-son-son-Vallano
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 95
- factThe Heralds
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 103
- factthe Wind
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 107
- factJezrien
- factIshar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 109
- factNalan'Elin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 110
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 114
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 115
- factThe Heralds
- factTanavast
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 119
- factIshar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 120
- factThe Knights Radiant
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 122
- factThe Heralds
- factThe Oathpact
- factTanavast
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 126
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 128
- factThe Heralds
- factIshar
- factSzeth-son-son-Vallano
- factKaladin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 129
- factIshar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 130
- factIshar
- factSzeth-son-son-Vallano
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 131
- factHoid
- factIshar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 132
- factNightblood
- factKaladin
- factHonorbearer
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 133
- factShinovar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 134
- factIshar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 135
- factIshar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 138
- factKaladin
- factSylphrena
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 139
- factKaladin
- factKaladin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 140
- factIshar
- factKaladin
- factFifth Ideal of the Windrunners
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 142
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 143
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 144
- factThe Oathpact
- factHerald of Second Chances
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 145
- factKaladin
- summarySA:WaT:Postlude
- factIshar
- factKaladin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 63