Leshwi
A leader among the Heavenly Ones — tall, marbled in red, black and white, with long crimson-and-black hair and a trailing white-and-red robe — high enough that the other Fused defer to her, but not so high that she stays out of the duels. She and Kaladin hold roughly the same rank in their respective armies, and treat each fight as a personal contest. SA:RoW:Ch 5
A sane, hovering Fused high enough in rank that the others defer to her. Her angular face is marbled in red, white, and black; her long black-and-crimson hair falls like reeds, her trailing robes ripple beneath her in the air. She is the same Fused Moash killed during the attack on the Shattered Plains — reborn into a new body offered to her in sacrifice. SA:OB:Ch 54 superseded at SA:RoW:Ch 5
Known facts
- reborn-into-new-body-after-being-killed-by-moashTells Moash she is the same Fused he killed during the attack on the Shattered Plains, reborn into a new body offered to her in sacrifice — the Fused, she implies, are bodyless without such a host — and confirms that her companions spared him in the hope she might want personal vengeance once reborn. She did not.SA:OB:Ch 54
- reborn-after-cord-killed-herHas been reborn in a new singer host since dying at Thaylen Field — Cord's Shardbow shot ended the previous body — and resumes her recurring duel with Kaladin as if no time has passed.SA:RoW:Ch 5
- spares-sigzil-for-kaladinWithdraws her killing spear from Sigzil's chest at Kaladin's eye-meet, accepting his bow in place of the squire's life — the Heavenly One duel-honour can be paid in deference as well as in blood.SA:RoW:Ch 6
- prior-claim-on-stormblessedLeshwi forces the Nine to grant her prior claim on the Windrunner Stormblessed over the Pursuer's tradition — ostensibly to avenge her own death by his hand, in truth (as Venli notes) to protect him.SA:RoW:Ch 14
- shelters-stormblesseds-family-from-the-pursuerTipped off by Venli, Leshwi uses her seniority over the Pursuer to take Kaladin's captive family — Lirin, Hesina, and the child — into her own custody in occupied Urithiru, moves them to a safe location, and spreads the rumour that she has had them killed so the Pursuer will not look for them.SA:RoW:Ch 53
- watches-raboniel-from-fearLeshwi tells Venli that she and her allies among the Fused watch Raboniel not to outmanoeuvre her but because they are frightened of her — to Raboniel the games of men and singers are petty things, and so are their lives, and they want a world left when she is done.SA:RoW:Ch 83
- turned-her-troops-on-the-pursuers-soldiersAfter hearing Venli confess her Radiance, Leshwi rose into the air, drew her side sword, and flew into the Pursuer's soldiers — calling her own Heavenly Ones and Regals in after her against the warforms who had been ordered to kill the helpless Radiants.SA:RoW:Ch 109
- chose-the-listener-pathRather than fight against her own kind any longer, Leshwi and the four other freed Heavenly Ones left the war entirely — accepting Venli's route to the listeners beyond the Shattered Plains under Navani's promise of refuge.SA:RoW:Ch 114
- stormlight-fails-after-days-among-listenersAfter several days sheltering with the listeners east of the Shattered Plains, Leshwi's flight Light gives out — something that should not happen to a Heavenly One outside combat use of Lashings. She and her companions are reduced to walking in crem and sand, and she reads it as Odium beginning to disown them.SA:WaT:Ch 56
- mourns-her-lost-godhoodWedged in the chasms in wet clothing, Leshwi tells Venli she does not know if she can continue: she was a demigod for millennia, and now she shivers. *Can I ever be free,* she asks, *if I cannot soar?* Venli reframes her — promises her a place among the listeners, not a god among them but *something better: free* — and reminds her that to any Fused patrol they meet, Leshwi is still their last camouflage.SA:WaT:Ch 78
- feels-odium-demanding-her-returnSitting with the Five in the chasm, Leshwi closes her eyes and tells Venli what she hears: *sorrow, anger. He demands my return.* She lets Venli put a hand on her shoulder — once a heresy — and admits there might be relief in giving in.SA:WaT:Ch 101
Events
- SA:OB:Ch 54 Hovers high above the conquered town in trailing red robes and interviews Moash in the chill air, recognizes him as the human who killed her in her last body, asks where he learned the Surges, names his passion as vengeance, and orders him freed.
- SA:OB:Ch 121 Drifts down through the broken ceiling and humms approval over Moash's work, then summons him up to Hnanan.
- SA:OB:Ch 122 Lands in a ring of nine Fused around Moash, presents the Honorblade in both hands, and renames him Vyre, He Who Quiets.
- SA:RoW:Ch 5 Picks Kaladin out of the formation, smiles, offers her spear; chases him along the airship's flank to study its construction, then exults away after he breaks his thrown spear on the rocks.
- SA:RoW:Ch 6 Defeats Sigzil in a clean one-on-one, spear through the chest, gem siphoning his Stormlight; meets Kaladin's eye, withdraws her spear in time to spare the squire, accepts a bow in return, and raises her spear to Kaladin next.
- SA:RoW:Ch 6 Spars with Kaladin over the hills he played on as a boy, trades a matching shoulder wound for a shoulder wound, then hums in disgust at the horned Fused below and nods him toward the burning manor; calls the duel a draw with a downturned spear.
- SA:RoW:Ch 11 Returns to her High Chamber in Kholinar from the battle in the north — accepts a new recruit, rejects the human tailor, and tells Venli of Lezian's death. Later descends in alarm: something dangerous is happening, and the war is about to change.
- SA:RoW:Ch 14 Hovers behind Venli at the Nine's council, makes prior claim on Stormblessed over the Pursuer's tradition, alone challenges Raboniel's tower-seizure plan — then volunteers her staff and herself to attend it, the better to keep watch.
- SA:RoW:Ch 53 Meditates on the fifteenth floor with long robes drifting beneath her, hears Venli's report about a conscious Windrunner in the tower with Exultation, and breaks her own subterfuge to descend and seize Stormblessed's family out of the Pursuer's reach.
- SA:RoW:Ch 60 Pressed into helping the other senior Fused catalogue and pack away each of the Blackthorn's possessions — including pairs of his socks — a detail that tells Venli someone very high in the singer hierarchy means to dissect everything this man owned.
- SA:RoW:Ch 70 Caught unaware in long formal robes, accepts Kaladin's invitation to single combat above the market, declines to press the advantage when his powers obviously fail him, pins him against a wall to declare the duel a sham, offers him the chance to surrender into a deal with the Lady of Wishes — and when he cannot trust her god is content to drop to the ground for a duel without Surges, only to find he never agreed to one and has slipped past her over her own head toward the well.
- SA:RoW:Ch 83 Walks the corridors with Venli, floats down to eye level in the atrium, and tells her the Fused watch Raboniel because they are frightened of her.
- SA:RoW:Ch 104 Hovers above the atrium watching Kaladin duel the Pursuer, will not interfere; explains to Venli that the Pursuer has burnt all his husks and now refuses to flee only because of the watching wall of singers, Fused, and painted humans.
- SA:RoW:Ch 106 Lands beside Venli in silent vigil for Stormblessed, cuts Lirin's hands free of his bonds, and tells the Pursuer his legacy died when he ran. Steps out to acknowledge Kaladin after the kill and is shoved aside.
- SA:RoW:Ch 107 Tells Venli she would need Raboniel's authority to countermand the Pursuer's order, then hums to Destruction and grabs Venli's face when she begins to glow with Stormlight.
- SA:RoW:Ch 109 Falls to her knees before Venli in joyspren-bursting wonder, asks after the honorspren Riah, then rises and flies into the Pursuer's soldiers — calling her own troops in after her. Later submits to Rlain's command of the withdrawal.
- SA:RoW:Ch 111 Lands beside Rlain as stormforms close in, names the approaching rhythm as the Rhythm of Executions and tells him these soldiers come from Odium himself. Salutes him; they will fight.
- SA:RoW:Ch 114 Bows to Kaladin in respect; declines his offer to fight, choosing the listener path with her four other Heavenly Ones.
- SA:WaT:Ch 56 Walks with Venli, Jaxlim, and Thude through the listener camp on bare-wrapped feet, hears their demand that she renounce Odium, and slips at one point into one of the old rhythms.
- SA:WaT:Ch 72 Travels with the party along with her band of Heavenly Ones, accompanying Venli on the trek under the chasm slit.
- SA:WaT:Ch 78 Set down by Thundercloud upstream of the dam; mourns her lost godhood and admits she doesn't know what she is doing here.
- SA:WaT:Ch 89 Joins the listeners in the water, admits that Odium's call swept her into compliance until she shook it off, and offers to keep the Heavenly Ones back so her presence does not give the party away.
- SA:WaT:Ch 91 Kneels before El in agony with the rebel Heavenly Ones, and afterward flies Venli down into the chasms whispering *that's El — he is the only one — not to be trifled with.*
- SA:WaT:Ch 101 Sits in the circle with the Five, counsels them that resisting Odium alone is impossible, and accepts Venli's hand on her shoulder.
- SA:WaT:Ch 118 Flies overhead with three other Heavenly Ones, putting on a convincing show of fighting the human air defences while Venli's ground assault clears Narak.
- SA:WaT:Ch 137 Floats beside El humming to Joy, meets Venli's eyes with an open, excited smile as the deadline arrives.
Backreferences
- summarySA:OB:Ch 54
- factFused
- factFused
- summarySA:OB:Ch 121
- factHnanan
- summarySA:OB:Ch 122
- factHonorblade of Jezrien
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 5
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 6
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 11
- factVenli
- factVenli
- factEnvoyform
- factNimbleform
- factDul
- factMazish
- factShumin
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 14
- factFused
- factLeshwi
- factRaboniel
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 31
- factRaboniel
- factRothan
- factThe Pursuer
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 53
- factVenli
- factLeshwi
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 56
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 60
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 74
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 79
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 83
- factLeshwi
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 92
- factVenli
- factRaboniel
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 104
- factVenli
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 106
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 107
- factVenli
- factMalal
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 109
- factVenli
- factLeshwi
- factLeshwi
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 55
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 56
- factLeshwi
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 72
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 78
- factLeshwi
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 89
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 91
- factEl
- factEl
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 101
- factLeshwi
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 112
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 137