Renarin Kholin
Dalinar's younger son — and, in the windowed room atop Urithiru, the fourth of the new Knights Radiant. His bonded spren, Glys, has named him a Truthwatcher: *I see.* Stormlight has already healed his eyes — no more spectacles — and the screams that broke him in the duel arena when he summoned his Shardblade are the same wrongness Shallan feels with dead Blades, not madness. On the Oathgate dais he wrote zeros on the wall in a Stormlight-fed vision of the Everstorm coming for them. SA:WoR:Ch 89
Dalinar's nineteen-year-old younger son. Wears spectacles, speaks with deliberate pauses, and suffers a blood weakness that keeps him from sustained sword practice. SA:WoK:Ch 12 superseded at SA:WoR:Ch 89
Known facts
- gains-shardblade-from-adolinRenarin receives Salinor Eved's Shardblade from Adolin after the duel, completing the set of Shards he already carries Plate for — though he takes the weapon with visible reluctance.SA:WoR:Ch 14
- apprentice-to-zahelAdolin secures the ardent Zahel as Renarin's swordmaster at the warcamp sparring grounds — beginning, late, the training in Plate and Blade most lighteyed boys of Renarin's rank had by the age of ten.SA:WoR:Ch 16
- froze-with-summoned-bladeOn his first plateau action Renarin insists on going to help defend a bridge, summons his Blade near the fighting — and then simply stands there. Adolin's guards pull him out. Afterward Renarin tells Adolin privately that it wasn't his usual fit; he calls himself a coward.SA:WoR:Ch 26
- epileptic-blood-weaknessRenarin reveals to Kaladin that his "blood weakness" is epilepsy — myoclonic seizures since childhood, with one-sided weakness during episodes; he chews bitterleaf for it.SA:WoR:Ch 41
- joins-bridge-fourRenarin persuades Kaladin to enroll him as a soldier in Bridge Four — treated as a recruit, not a prince's son — patrolling alongside the bridgemen so he can know what it is to serve under arms.SA:WoR:Ch 41
- steps-into-duel-without-plate-to-help-adolinWhen Adolin is being surrounded four-on-one and the highjudge will not stop the fight, Renarin runs out from the preparation room in his Kholin uniform — with only his summoned Blade and no time to fetch his Plate — to draw Abrobadar off his brother. It is his first time holding a Blade in real combat.SA:WoR:Ch 56
- writes-zeros-on-the-oathgate-wallIn the muraled chamber under the Oathgate dais, Renarin huddles against the wall with a rock in his gauntleted hand and scratches the same sequence of zeros over and over, sobbing that he can see the future itself, asking the Almighty why he has been cursed, repeating *we're dead, we're dead, we're dead.*SA:WoR:Ch 85
- is-a-truthwatcherIn the windowed room atop Urithiru Renarin steps into the lit room, no spectacles, and names himself the fourth Radiant. *I thought it was me. My mind. But Glys, he says... Truthwatcher.* Kaladin asks what his order does. *I see.*SA:WoR:Ch 89
- visions-show-possible-futures-not-certain-onesRenarin tells Rlain what Wit has confirmed for him: no one — not even the gods — actually knows the future, so each stained-glass window shows only *one* of several possible outcomes. Of the possible futures, *truth is just the lie that happened*. The same Cosmere precept the Bondsmiths' backward sight already implies, run forward.SA:WaT:Ch 30
- holds-feelings-for-rlainRenarin privately holds feelings for Rlain — a thing Drehy, who watches for guys watching other guys, has noticed and gently raises with him in the fields. Renarin worries Rlain is *not even human*, that Aunt Navani wants grandchildren and *normal*, and concludes he simply can't ask. Drehy does not push: tells him *no one is normal* and that the choice is his to make in his own time.SA:WaT:Ch 30
- arm-precedes-itself-with-spren-glow-when-pointingObserved by Shallan in Shadesmar above Urithiru: when Renarin points, a soft red afterimage of his arm and hand — Glys — *precedes* the gesture by a fraction of a second, an overlapping second version of him moving before he does. Rlain has the same precursor-glow when he points. A visible sign that the bondee of an Enlightened spren is partly being moved from elsewhere.SA:WaT:Ch 31
- light-shows-soulsRenarin's Surge gives him something other than ordinary Lightweaving: a sphere of Stormlight cupped in his palms, asked nicely, will cast images in the light that show him a person's soul and possible futures. The vision is clearer when offered to the subject directly — Rlain, staring into the sphere, sees himself standing astride human and singer worlds, half-uniform, half-robe.SA:WaT:Ch 62
- takes-rlains-hand-confronting-mishramStepping into Shallan's confrontation with Ba-Ado-Mishram, Renarin takes Rlain's hand for support — and Shallan, who has studied eyelines, is certain the Unmade is staring at the gesture. The two of them, together, declare themselves *children of Sja-anat* and offer to find Mishram before the enemy does.SA:WaT:Ch 76
- trained-to-soldier-to-stop-needing-adolinReliving the corridor confrontation as a Radiant, Renarin tells Glys the reason he had wanted to wear Plate and become a soldier was never to *be like* his brother. It was *to not need him.* He will always love Adolin for showing up that day, and always quietly resent that he could not do it for himself.SA:WaT:Ch 79
- organises-spiritual-realm-into-stained-glassReturned to the Spiritual Realm proper, Renarin discovers he can impose order on the chaos by force of will — turning the shifting futures into a gallery of stained-glass windows he can walk among and step through into specific scenes. He hides Glys inside himself for safety and uses one of the windows to reach Rlain directly.SA:WaT:Ch 84
- takes-rlains-hand-in-the-narak-visionSitting in a vision of one of Rlain's old Narak meeting rooms, Renarin pushes past his own awkwardness — half on a remembered Drehy line — to ask whether a singer can be in a romantic relationship with a human, and to say it is worth trying. Rlain rests his hand on top of his to the Rhythm of Excitement, and Renarin feels the rhythm pulse through him.SA:WaT:Ch 84
- renarin-cleans-odium-tainted-visions-with-pure-lightRe-entering the day his first Truthwatcher visions struck him, Renarin discovers that holding up his own Light inside the stained-glass gallery scours Odium's shadow from the panes — revealing not a single foretold future but a dozen possible Renarins. *The future always begins with the now,* he tells Glys; if his order's name is *Truthwatcher,* there must be a way to see by a purer Light.SA:WaT:Ch 121
- renarin-chooses-the-future-with-rlain-and-kisses-himAmong the cleaned panes — Renarin-the-ardent, Renarin-the-scholar, Renarin-the-general at an Urithiru turned over to farms — Renarin chooses the single window where he stands beside Rlain in Kholinar in singer clothing. He steps through into a present vision, takes Rlain by the face, and kisses him — committing to a life of trying to blend the two worlds his father's contract cannot. *We change the future,* he tells Glys, *by changing today.*SA:WaT:Ch 121
- frees-ba-ado-mishram-with-rlainTogether with Rlain in the small stone chamber, Renarin lifts the gemstone of Mishram's prison and — over Shallan's shouted protest — slams it down, shattering it and releasing Ba-Ado-Mishram from a captivity that had broken the singers and warped the Spiritual Realm for two thousand years.SA:WaT:Ch 140
- refuses-throne-establishes-senateWith Dalinar dead and Navani sealed inside a crystal that has frozen her alive, Renarin refuses the Alethi throne for himself and for Adolin in front of Sebarial and Aladar, and instead — with Jasnah's help and on the model of her writings — institutes an elected senate for Urithiru under a Ministerial Exemplar, expecting his aunt, when she wakes, to lead without ruling.SA:WaT:Ch 146
Events
- SA:WoK:Ch 12 Quiet beside Adolin, eyes hidden behind spectacles
- SA:WoK:Ch 13 Rides in unarmored to ask if he can help; Dalinar bellows him back
- SA:WoK:Ch 15 Stays near Dalinar through the post-fight conversations
- SA:WoK:Ch 17 Rides beside his father to and from the king's palace; talks him down from outrunning the storm
- SA:WoK:Ch 18 In the barrack outside the vision, watches the soldiers restrain his father and tries to cover for him
- SA:WoK:Ch 21 Sent off with Adolin to the first island for the lighteyed sons; one cup of blue, then orange
- SA:WoK:Ch 26 Stands quietly beside Dalinar at the maps in his Kholin blue and silver coat
- SA:WoK:Ch 52 Stands by the new heat-fabrial in the hearth; gently sides with Adolin
- SA:WoK:Ch 54 Mentioned as the son for whom Dalinar would buy a Plate-and-Blade
- SA:WoK:Ch 61 Present in the sitting room before leaving Dalinar and Navani alone
- SA:WoK:Ch 65 Remembered as the son Dalinar leaves behind without the Plate he never delivered
- SA:WoK:Ch 69 Present at the council
- SA:WoK:Ch 75 Kneels over Dalinar in the wreckage of the top room
- SA:WaT:Ch 54 Laughs with Rlain over the chasm edge, then panics when he spots Ba-Ado-Mishram's face in the stones.
- SA:WaT:Ch 65 Pushed aside by Mraize and tackled while reaching for the dying Rlain; pulled out of the vision with him.
- SA:WaT:Ch 74 Coordinates the glass-pillar window with Glys, hops down to argue against Shallan going in.
- SA:WaT:Ch 76 Steps into the vision beside Rlain to face Mishram and takes his hand for support.
- SA:WaT:Ch 86 Recounts confronting Mishram in a vision and agrees they must reach her prison before the Ghostbloods do.
- SA:WaT:Ch 129 Renarin meets Shallan in the dark expanse when the visions break and joins her in the corridor that opens to Melishi's chamber.
- SA:WaT:Ch 131 Renarin prods Melishi's desiccated corpse, refuses to magnify the Bondsmith's sins beyond what they are, and reads the painted glyphs only after Glys sounds them out.
- SA:WaT:Ch 132 Renarin takes Rlain's hand by the gemstone, lays out each option — patch and hide, take to Urithiru, die here like Melishi — and offers no easy answer.
- SA:WaT:Ch 135 Watches Shallan fight the Ghostbloods in silhouette, then turns to Rlain and yields the call on Mishram to him as a singer.
- SA:WaT:Ch 141 Sheltered by Rlain in the black smoke of the prison chamber as Mishram looms over him with red-blazing eyes.
- SA:WoR:Ch 22 Sits silent beside Adolin opening and closing a small metal box in his hand over and over; talks of his aunt's new heating fabrial.
- SA:WoR:Ch 23 Inside the king's chambers among the gathered family.
- SA:WoR:Ch 26 Helm off on a boulder, staring at the ground, after his guards pulled him back from the bridge fight he had insisted on joining.
- SA:WoR:Ch 26 Rides home beside Adolin on the smaller of their two horses, in Plate without his spectacles, and tells Adolin he didn't have a fit — he was a coward.
- SA:WoR:Ch 32 Stands talking with Adolin about the woman Parshendi messenger, and is noted to seem more at ease since he finished bonding his Blade and no longer has to carry it.
- SA:WoR:Ch 32 Cries out for his father and tries to join the fight; Moash catches him by the shoulder and hauls him with the king's retreat.
- SA:WoR:Ch 33 Slumps in a corner chair with his Shardblade discarded at his feet like refuse.
- SA:WoR:Ch 33 Reads aloud from the back of the king's bedroom door: a thirty-eight-day countdown ending in a phrase that warns of all nations' end.
- SA:WoR:Ch 38 Sits behind his father in spectacles and gently keeps Adolin in his seat when Sadeas tries to provoke him.
- SA:WoR:Ch 41 Comes to Bridge Four's barracks at night and asks Kaladin to enroll him as a recruit.
- SA:WoR:Ch 44 First Shardplate session under Zahel: learns to eat with armored fingers and to take hits while wearing it.
- SA:WoR:Ch 46 Washes Bridge Four's dishes at the basin in his bridgeman uniform, sitting at the back of the group.
- SA:WoR:Ch 50 Among the Kholins whose quarters share the corridor where the bridgemen find the new countdown.
- SA:WoR:Ch 51 Stands door watch in his Bridge Four uniform; gives up his own Shardplate so Adolin can wear it under Dalinar's banner.
- SA:WoR:Ch 53 Stands by the door in his own Plate, reminding Adolin that everyone hates him a little more now than they did an hour ago.
- SA:WoR:Ch 56 Waits with Adolin in the staging room in his Kholin uniform, urges him to give Sadeas no outs, and dispatches a runner after the missing chain.
- SA:WoR:Ch 56 Runs onto the sand in his Kholin uniform with a wobbling Shardblade and no Plate to draw Abrobadar off his brother.
- SA:WoR:Ch 57 Sits in the sand with his summoned Shardblade in front of him, dismisses the Blade when Relis charges in for a kill, and is found unhurt and quietly crying once the bout is over.
- SA:WoR:Ch 66 In his Bridge Four uniform at the welcome, fidgeting with his little box and speaking quietly with his brother.
- SA:WoR:Ch 68 Marching with Bridge Four in their uniform; Leyten coaches him on how to hold the bridge.
- SA:WoR:Ch 71 Sits apart with his fabrial box, joining the vigil for Kaladin. Salutes his father like any other bridgeman when Dalinar arrives.
- SA:WoR:Ch 76 Stands quietly at the back of the Bridge Four knot in his uniform — still awkward among the men, but tolerated now.
- SA:WoR:Ch 81 Stands in Shardplate in the corner of the scholars' tent under orders to protect them, fascinated by Pattern.
- SA:WoR:Ch 83 Stands in his Shardplate without his spectacles, reads something west Shallan cannot see, and names the Everstorm aloud — admitting that he should be with his father and feels useless to her.
- SA:WoR:Ch 84 Cuts the back wall of the central mound open and slides his Blade into the Oathgate keyhole — dismissing the weapon between with a strangely relieved sigh.
- SA:WoR:Ch 85 Kneels against the chamber wall with a rock in his gauntleted hand, scratches the same sequence of zeros over and over, screams a prayer asking the Almighty why he has been cursed to see the future, and repeats *it's come, we're dead.*
- SA:WoR:Ch 86 Still on his knees in Shardplate scratching zeros on the chamber wall as Shallan works around him.
- SA:WoR:Ch 89 Steps from the stairwell into the lit room, trembling, no spectacles. Stormlight has healed his eyes; the screams from his summoned Blade in the duel arena were not madness; Glys has named him. *Truthwatcher. I see.*
Relations
- relatedDalinar Kholin — Younger son; rides quietly at his brother's side SA:WoK:Ch 12
Backreferences
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 51
- summarySA:OB:Ch 2
- summarySA:OB:Ch 4
- summarySA:OB:Ch 8
- summarySA:OB:Ch 9
- summarySA:OB:Ch 10
- summarySA:OB:Ch 15
- summarySA:OB:Ch 27
- summarySA:OB:Ch 29
- factThe Unmade
- factRe-Shephir
- summarySA:OB:Ch 30
- summarySA:OB:Ch 40
- summarySA:OB:Ch 42
- summarySA:OB:Ch 52
- summarySA:OB:Ch 53
- factUrithiru Gemstone Archive
- summarySA:OB:Ch 55
- summarySA:OB:Ch 59
- factQueen Fen
- summarySA:OB:Ch 66
- summarySA:OB:Ch 94
- factEvi
- summarySA:OB:Ch 96
- summarySA:OB:Ch 104
- summarySA:OB:Ch 105
- 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
- factHrdalm
- summarySA:OB:Ch 122
- summarySA:RoW:Prologue
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 6
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 8
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 9
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 10
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 19
- factThe Honorspren Envoy
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 34
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 50
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 54
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 91
- factTumi
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 12
- factDalinar's Forgotten Wife
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 17
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 18
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 21
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 26
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 52
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- summarySA:WoK:Ch 75
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 6
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 13
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 28
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 30
- factBa-Ado-Mishram
- factRenarin Kholin
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 31
- factRenarin Kholin
- factEnlightened
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 32
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 44
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 49
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 54
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- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 63
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- summarySA:WaT:Ch 67
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 74
- factRenarin's scaffold
- factVasher
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 76
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 79
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 84
- factBa-Ado-Mishram
- factRenarin Kholin
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 86
- factBa-Ado-Mishram
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 87
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 114
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 116
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 118
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 121
- factRenarin Kholin
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 126
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 128
- factHoid
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 129
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 131
- factBa-Ado-Mishram
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 132
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 135
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 138
- factBa-Ado-Mishram
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 140
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 141
- factDalinar Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 142
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 143
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 146
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 147
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 4
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- factKaladin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 14
- factAdolin Kholin
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 16
- factRenarin Kholin
- factZahel
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 18
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 22
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 25
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 26
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 32
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- factWall numbers
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 37
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- factRenarin Kholin
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 44
- factIvis
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 46
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 49
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 51
- factAdolin Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 53
- factAdolin Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 56
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 57
- factKaladin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 66
- factAdolin Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 68
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 71
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 80
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 81
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 83
- factThe Everstorm
- factThe Everstorm
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 85
- factRenarin Kholin
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 86
- summarySA:WoR:Ch 89
- factRenarin Kholin
- factTruthwatcher
- factGlys