The bearded parshman
also known as The bearded parshman
The tall awakened parshman who was Kaladin's card-game opponent in Hearthstone — now the de facto guardian of Kaladin in the runaway band, walking him on a rope at the head of the column with his small daughter at his other hand. Speaks in low, flat anger about being raised in a fog, watching his daughter's mother sold for being good breeding stock, and never being able to find the word to stop it. SA:OB:Ch 17
Bearded leader-figure among the Hearthstone runaways, marbled red and white-skinned with hairs in his beard each unnaturally thick. Tries to remember Herdazian cards from years of carrying drinks at his masters' tables, and gets the rules wrong. SA:OB:Ch 14 superseded at SA:OB:Ch 17
Known facts
- lost-his-daughters-mother-to-the-breeding-tradeHis daughter's mother was sold away from him while he could only watch — slave-bred parshmen who bear healthy children are considered good breeding stock. He has spent his life knowing he ought to say something to stop these things and unable to find the word.SA:OB:Ch 17
- refuses-the-promise-that-talking-buys-freedomTells Kaladin flatly that the Alethi will spend a fortune working out what gave his people their minds back and find a way to reverse it — that they will strip his sanity from him and set him to carrying water again. Will not accept that he and his deserve freedom now *because they have become like humans* and deserved slavery before *because they were different*. Wants no part of his liberation depending on a human's choice to grant it.SA:OB:Ch 20
Events
- SA:OB:Ch 17 Walks Kaladin on his rope at the head of the column with his daughter holding his other hand — accepts a stumbling first lesson on Herdazian card strategy, rounds on Kaladin when called a *runaway slave*, and at the end of the chapter holds the cut end of the rope between his fingers and says nothing.
- SA:OB:Ch 20 Lashes a stone axehead to a branch under Kaladin's correction, tells him *I hate being taught things I should already know*, and stalks off when Kaladin dares him to consider a future without war — the same hatchet he just made now obviously going to become a spear.
- SA:OB:Ch 23 Among the parshmen filing into the bunker ahead of the highstorm.
- SA:OB:Ch 31 Walks beside Kaladin into Revolar with his daughter on his shoulder, marvels at *our own city,* presses Kaladin on whether he would fight on the side of the oppressed, and turns a betrayed look on him as Kaladin snatches the Stormlight from Khen's pouch and Lashes himself into the air.
- SA:OB:Ch 51 Pulls a sledge in the same crew as Moash, visibly shaken when Moash mentions killing a Fused in passing.
- SA:OB:Ch 54 Works the lumberyard at Moash's side, hauling ladder-bundles and bitterly admitting to Khen that the Fused took his daughter and sent him off to die; later accepts a ladder-rod from Moash to learn to fight with.
- SA:OB:Ch 14 Tries and fails to remember the rules of his masters' card game in front of Khen, then later stands forlorn over the deck, alone at the rim of the camp.
Backreferences
- summarySA:OB:Ch 14
- summarySA:OB:Ch 17
- factVai
- summarySA:OB:Ch 20
- summarySA:OB:Ch 23
- factHesh
- summarySA:OB:Ch 31
- factVai
- factYixli
- summarySA:OB:Ch 51
- summarySA:OB:Ch 54
- summarySA:OB:Ch 69
- summarySA:OB:Ch 70
- summarySA:OB:Ch 73
- summarySA:OB:Ch 84
- summarySA:OB:Ch 91