Jasnah Kholin
Jasnah Kholin, scholar, atheist, and the first known Elsecaller in living memory. Survived the assassination attempt on the Wind's Pleasure by passing into Shadesmar, returns to the Physical Realm ragged and burn-scarred a continent from her allies, and confirms that the storm is wrong this time — that the records she relied on may no longer apply. SA:WoR:Epilogue
The Alethi king's daughter. Notable by her absence from the feast at the time of the assassination. SA:WoK:Prologue superseded at SA:WoR:Epilogue
Known facts
- scholarThirty-four years old; would already hold the cap of a master scholar were it not for her vocal denunciation of religion.SA:WoK:Ch 3
- heresyShe is the only member of a faithful royal house who openly professes heresy and denounces the devotaries.SA:WoK:Ch 3
- soulcasterShe wears a Soulcaster as a piece of jewelry on her freehand: two rings and a bracelet linked by chains, holding three large cut gems — a smokestone, a diamond, and a ruby — across the back of her hand. Hers is a greater Soulcaster, capable of any transformation, where most are limited to a few.SA:WoK:Ch 5
- appearanceTall and slender, with clear skin, narrow black eyebrows, and thick onyx hair worn partly up around a small scroll-shaped golden ornament with two long hairpins, the rest curled and falling to her shoulders. Squarish face with discriminating pale violet eyes.SA:WoK:Ch 5
- wardship-requestsTwelve young women have asked her for a wardship this year alone; Shallan is the only one who chased her past the first few stops.SA:WoK:Ch 5
- veil-servant-bribeBribes Palanaeum servants to warn her the moment Shallan sets foot back in the Veil — she will not be ambushed in her alcove a second time.SA:WoK:Ch 8
- kills-four-muggers-with-soulcasterLeads Shallan in a palanquin late at night through a poor quarter of Kharbranth and gets out alone in an alley to bait four would-be muggers. She Soulcasts all four into smoke, fire, and crystal in the same moment — a deliberate act of removal — and uses the moment as a teaching exercise for her ward: *Am I a monster, or did I just stop four murderers from walking the streets? You will spend the week researching it.*SA:WoK:Ch 36
- researches-the-true-voidbringersHas spent years compiling references that point to a single conclusion: the Parshendi and the parshmen are descendants of the Voidbringers. A new Desolation is coming.SA:WoK:Ch 71
- first-shadesmar-encounterOn the night of her father's assassination, Jasnah is pulled for the first time into Shadesmar — a bead-sea under a dark sky, where shadowed figures with prismatic skin watch her and one of them bows in respect. She escapes by forcing her power into a bead and commanding it to rise. The experience becomes the seed of her years-long, secret research into Shadesmar and the spren.SA:WoR:Prologue
- shadesmar-research-six-yearsJasnah tells Shallan she has spent six years researching Shadesmar and the spren and still barely understands them. She has visited the Cognitive Realm enough to know that some kinds of spren are clever enough to build cities and that an old, unspecified wrong done by humans long ago has left many of them unwilling to confide in her.SA:WoR:Ch 1
- bonded-ivoryJasnah's Cryptic companion is named Ivory; their bond is the source of her ability to Soulcast without a fabrial. He and the other Cryptics regard his having bonded her as a betrayal of his kind.SA:WoR:Ch 3
- parshmen-revolt-theoryJasnah tells Shallan that her research has convinced her the Voidbringers were captured and enslaved as the parshmen, that a Desolation is now coming, and that the parshmen will turn against humanity as their cousins the Parshendi already have — sharing some unknown long-range form of communication.SA:WoR:Ch 6
- jasnah-apparently-killedJasnah is seen by Shallan thrown to the passageway floor of the Wind's Pleasure in a bloodied nightgown, a second knife driven into her chest by an assassin in the same cabal that sent Kabsal. The crew is bound on deck and executed one by one; Tozbek is heard begging for his wife's life.SA:WoR:Ch 7
- kept-shallans-portraitJasnah kept the first portrait Shallan ever drew of her — the one given to her on the day Shallan was accepted as her ward — folded into the bottom of the trunk in her cabin, with her most important things, despite her professed disdain for the visual arts.SA:WoR:Ch 13
- jasnah-survived-via-shadesmarJasnah survived the assault on the Wind's Pleasure by escaping bodily into Shadesmar; she emerges back into the Physical Realm a week from civilization, ragged, burn-scarred, in an improvised bandolier and pack, with her Shardblade summoned in less than a heartbeat.SA:WoR:Epilogue
- jasnah-elsecalls-into-physicalJasnah uses Elsecalling to cross from Shadesmar back into the Physical Realm, appearing within a ring of spun light that fades almost the moment it forms.SA:WoR:Epilogue
- takes-command-of-thaylen-city-defenceJasnah volunteers — over Navani's silent reservations — to take field command of the bulk of Alethkar's mobile force in defence of Thaylen City against the two hundred troop transports bearing forty thousand singers across the sea. Dalinar will send Stonewards to reseal walls and Edgedancers to heal alongside her.SA:WaT:Ch 20
- ends-relationship-with-wit-by-letterBefore marching for Thaylen City, Jasnah leaves Wit a written letter formally ending their relationship — drafted because she does her best thinking in writing and did not want a confrontation to derail her, and because she has come to believe it was the right thing.SA:WaT:Ch 61
- arrives-thaylen-as-first-female-alethi-generalJasnah arrives at the defence of Thaylen City fully armored at the head of an Alethi division — the first female Alethi general in many generations — defers tactical command to local generals and her own officers, and presents her presence as the change she has always wanted to see.SA:WaT:Ch 61
- honor-guard-comprised-of-former-slavesJasnah's personal honour guard at Thaylen City is composed entirely of former Alethi slaves trained and paid as proper soldiers in her employ — part of her ongoing project to make freedom *real* for those her decrees emancipated. She has studied the historical precedents (the Azirian decree of Kasaakam the Magnanimous, the post-Bav-uprising nahn elevations of 637 in Jah Keved) and knows how badly such freedoms tend to stick.SA:WaT:Ch 61
- hypothesis-empty-fleet-against-thaylen-cityBy examining her own premises, Jasnah arrives at the heretical hypothesis that the fleet approaching Thaylen City carries *no army.* If Odium never raised the troops Fen feared, a costume-dressed fleet sailing slowly toward the harbour would still pin the coalition's resources into a battle that was never coming — and pull them away from Azimir and the Shattered Plains.SA:WaT:Ch 73
- confirms-thaylen-fleet-is-a-feintA Windrunner team led by Red, using a Lightweaver for cover, swims beneath the Odium fleet and confirms what Jasnah had theorised: the ships' holds are filled with chunks of stone, the decks crowded with warform-shaped laborers. There is no invading army. Jasnah orders the Thaylen Radiants stripped out to reinforce the Shattered Plains over Fen's anguished hesitation.SA:WaT:Ch 78
- do-the-most-good-philosophy*My moral philosophy is to do the most good I can in any situation,* Jasnah tells Fen as she orders a city stripped of its defenders on a *should-be safe.* She names a fallacy she sees in Fen's objection — assuming an enemy has planned for every choice you could make — and writes the orders for the relief regardless.SA:WaT:Ch 78
- redeploys-radiants-from-thaylen-to-narakCornered by Fen's refusal to commit conventional troops, Jasnah compromises: the Radiants of Thaylen City are routed through the Oathgate to relieve Sigzil on the Shattered Plains while Fen keeps her standing army at home. Jasnah sends her bodyguards along with them.SA:WaT:Ch 89
- jasnah-signed-aesudan-assassination-contractTaravangian produces — in front of Fen — a signed contract for the assassination of Aesudan, Elhokar's wife and Jasnah's own sister-in-law, bearing Jasnah's signature.SA:WaT:Ch 114
- loses-debate-to-taravangian-at-thaylen-cityIn the round temple before Fen, Taravangian uses Jasnah's own past against her — producing the assassination contract she signed against Aesudan, naming her hunt of thieves in Kharbranth, and replaying her own voice from a private council saying *sometimes you have to think about yourself first.* Trapped in the truth that she would sacrifice Thaylenah to stop him but would never sacrifice Alethkar the same way, she fails to deny it — and Fen takes his deal.SA:WaT:Ch 116
- acknowledges-her-moral-philosophy-is-a-shamCornered by Taravangian, Jasnah privately admits to herself that she has always been two women — the cold philosopher who claimed to seek the greatest good for the cosmere, and the Alethi queen who in practice has always put family, kingdom and world in that order. She did not kill Aesudan or him because she loved them too much, not because her philosophy forbade it — a recognition that leaves her sitting numbly through the rest of the negotiation.SA:WaT:Ch 116
- philosophy-of-aspiration-collapsed-after-thaylenahDefeated in argument by Taravangian in front of Fen, Jasnah sits against the temple wall and acknowledges that the Philosophy of Aspiration she has built her life on has failed her — the *greater good at any cost* either makes her dishonest or makes her no better than Taravangian himself — and that she has no better foundation to fall back on. Histories warned of the danger of bargaining with Voidbringers; she ignored them and lost.SA:WaT:Ch 123
Events
- SA:WoK:Ch 7 Returns to the alcove from the Palanaeum, displeased
- SA:WoK:Ch 8 Rejects, then returns to interrogate the satchel, then accepts the wardship
- SA:WoK:Ch 29 Debates the Almighty with Taravangian; critiques Shallan's sketch and self-censorship
- SA:WoK:Ch 33 Walks into the alcove behind them with a parshman and a basket of books; cuts Kabsal apart in three sentences
- SA:WoK:Ch 36 Soaks in the fabrial-warmed pool while Shallan reads aloud; later kills four men in the alley to teach a lesson; allows Shallan to brush her hair afterwards
- SA:WoK:Ch 42 Permits Shallan a day of her own; smiles when Shallan chooses study
- SA:WoK:Ch 45 Rushes in at the door, calls for help, presses on the wound
- SA:WoK:Ch 48 Tries to save Shallan with a flesh-Soulcasting; sees the device fall and understands the theft
- SA:WoK:Ch 50 Strides into the room and explains the poison and Kabsal's plot in an even, ice-cold voice
- SA:WoK:Ch 51 Delivers the cold accounting of consequences and the morning's passage home
- SA:WoK:Ch 71 Confirms her thesis and acknowledges the threat from the Ghostbloods
- SA:WoK:Ch 72 Re-accepts Shallan; sets the terms
- SA:WoK:Ch 74 Recognises the mark and burns it
- SA:WaT:Ch 129 Jasnah stands apart in the meeting room, quiet since her return, still feeling the failure at Thaylen City.
- SA:WaT:Ch 146 Kneels at the wall of crystal with her hand pressed to it, hair undone and exhausted; agrees to Soulcast Dalinar to stone, walks Renarin down to the highprinces, and tells him afterward — voice frail — that everything she had striven to achieve has collapsed.
- SA:WoR:Ch 7 Shallan sees Jasnah's body thrown to the passageway floor in a nightgown, bloodied at the breast, before slamming her own door against the killers.
- SA:WoR:Epilogue Steps out of Shadesmar via Elsecalling onto the hill where Wit waits, then walks with him toward the nearest town.
Relations
- foreshadowsShallan Davar — Shallan has come to Kharbranth chasing Jasnah Kholin for six months, intent on becoming her ward. SA:WoK:Ch 3
- relatedThe Davar Soulcaster — Jasnah's Soulcaster is visually identical to the broken one Shallan and her brothers found in their dead father's coat. SA:WoK:Ch 5
- mentionsKabsal — Has requested an audience with Jasnah several times, hoping to convert her SA:WoK:Ch 7
- relatedShallan Davar — Writes a formal letter of appeal asking Jasnah to reconsider the wardship SA:WoK:Ch 7
- relatedShallan Davar — Accepted as Jasnah's ward at last; will divide her time between her own education and Jasnah's studies SA:WoK:Ch 8
- relatedShallan Davar — The alley killings + research assignment as Shallan's first deep moral lesson SA:WoK:Ch 36
- relatedShallan Davar — Soulcaster falls from Shallan's pouch as Jasnah is about to Soulcast her blood — the theft is exposed mid-rescue SA:WoK:Ch 48
- fulfillsKabsal — Confirmed assassin target — the long-game poisoning of every alcove visit SA:WoK:Ch 50
- relatedShallan Davar — Ends the wardship cold; arranges passage home; reduces her to sas nahn SA:WoK:Ch 51
Backreferences
- summarySA:DS:Ch 2
- summarySA:DS:Ch 8
- summarySA:DS:Ch 9
- summarySA:OB:Ch 8
- factKurth
- summarySA:OB:Ch 9
- summarySA:OB:Ch 13
- summarySA:OB:Ch 15
- factBrightness Radiant
- summarySA:OB:Ch 25
- summarySA:OB:Ch 29
- summarySA:OB:Ch 32
- summarySA:OB:Ch 34
- summarySA:OB:Ch 36
- factElsecallers
- summarySA:OB:Ch 37
- summarySA:OB:Ch 41
- summarySA:OB:Ch 42
- summarySA:OB:Ch 47
- summarySA:OB:Ch 51
- summarySA:OB:Ch 53
- factJochi
- factJochi
- factEthid
- factEthid
- factEthid
- factNatata Ved
- summarySA:OB:Ch 56
- factThe False Desolation
- factDovcanti
- factMasha-daughter-Shaliv
- summarySA:OB:Ch 58
- summarySA:OB:Ch 61
- summarySA:OB:Ch 62
- summarySA:OB:Ch 64
- summarySA:OB:Ch 65
- factNoura
- summarySA:OB:Ch 67
- summarySA:OB:Ch 74
- summarySA:OB:Ch 82
- summarySA:OB:Ch 89
- summarySA:OB:Ch 96
- summarySA:OB:Ch 99
- summarySA:OB:Ch 104
- factLift
- summarySA:OB:Ch 105
- summarySA:OB:Ch 107
- summarySA:OB:Ch 111
- summarySA:OB:Ch 115
- summarySA:OB:Ch 116
- summarySA:OB:Ch 117
- summarySA:OB:Ch 118
- summarySA:OB:Ch 119
- summarySA:OB:Ch 120
- summarySA:OB:Ch 121
- summarySA:OB:Ch 122
- summarySA:RoW:Prologue
- factAsh
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 7
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 9
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 10
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 13
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 14
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 16
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 17
- factJasnah's Abolition Proposal
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 18
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 19
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 20
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 21
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 22
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 23
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 24
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 26
- factBeryl
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 27
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 32
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 34
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 47
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 50
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 54
- factMagnified Ones
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 71
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 89
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 90
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 98
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 99
- factthe contest-of-champions contract
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 101
- factDieno enne Calah
- summarySA:WoK:Prologue
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 3
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 5
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 7
- factShallan Davar
- factThe Davar Soulcaster
- factKabsal
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 8
- factShallan Davar
- factSoulcaster
- factThe Passions
- summarySA:WoK:I-2
- factNavani Kholin
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 28
- factDalinar Kholin
- factDanlan
- factThe Voidbringer Illustration
- factThe Voidbringer Illustration
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 29
- factThe Assuredness Movement
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 33
- factKabsal
- factAkinah
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 36
- factThe Parshendi
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 39
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 42
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 45
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 48
- factKabsal
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 50
- factKabsal
- factBackbreaker Powder
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 51
- factShallan Davar
- factSas Nahn
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 60
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 71
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 72
- factShallan Davar
- factVeristitalian
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 74
- factThe Three-Diamond Faction
- summarySA:WaT:Prologue
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 6
- factKaladin
- factDami
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 11
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 13
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 14
- factHoid
- factHoid
- factHendit
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 16
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 18
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 20
- factJasnah Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 21
- factDieno enne Calah
- factthe Sibling
- factDalinar Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 22
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 23
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 26
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 37
- factMay Aladar
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 39
- factAdolin Kholin
- factBeamlin Dorset
- factTalig
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 44
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 47
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 50
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 61
- factJasnah Kholin
- factJasnah Kholin
- factJasnah Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 70
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 71
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 73
- factJasnah Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:I-10
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 78
- factJasnah Kholin
- factJasnah Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 88
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 89
- factJasnah Kholin
- factThe Crzmak Stability
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 90
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 91
- factTaravangian
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 101
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 105
- factVenli
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 108
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 112
- factTaravangian
- factPhilosophy of Aspiration
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 114
- factJasnah Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 116
- factJasnah Kholin
- factJasnah Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 121
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 123
- factJasnah Kholin
- factTaravangian
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 125
- factThe Shattered Plains
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 127
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 129
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 134
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 137
- factThe Five
- factEl
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 142
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 146
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Prologue
- factJasnah Kholin
- factLiss
- factGangnah
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 1
- factJasnah Kholin
- factShallan Davar
- factShallan Davar
- factCognitive Realm
- factSurgebinding
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 3
- factJasnah Kholin
- factThe Knights Radiant
- factShallan Davar
- factIvory
- factHonorspren
- factVoidspren
- factHonor
- factCultivation
- factThe Ten Surges
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 6
- factJasnah Kholin
- factShallan Davar
- factUrithiru
- factLightweavers
- factIllumination
- factWind's Pleasure
- factExhaustionspren
- factDouble Eye of the Almighty
- factWords of Radiance
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 7
- factJasnah Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 11
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 13
- factJasnah Kholin
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 14
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 15
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 17
- factLightweaving
- factThe Book of Endless Pages
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 24
- factBethab
- factSebarial
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 28
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 30
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 34
- factShallan Davar
- factThe Three-Diamond Faction
- factPattern
- factTyn
- factTyn
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 35
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 36
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 37
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 38
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 42
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 43
- factMraize
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 47
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 49
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 52
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 55
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 60
- factShallan Davar
- factOathgates
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 65
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 67
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 70
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 74
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 75
- factDalinar Kholin
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 77
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 78
- factThe Parshendi
- factDalinar Kholin
- factShallan Davar
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 80
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 87
- factGraves
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 88
- summarySA:WoR:Epilogue
- factHoid
- factHoid
- factJasnah Kholin
- factJasnah Kholin