Taravangian
King of Kharbranth. An elderly, kindly man with a wispy white beard and a drooping thin white mustache, who dresses in his realm's royal orange and white and wears a squat cylindrical hat. Treats Jasnah Kholin with deference and stays in the corridor when his granddaughter is trapped behind a fallen rock, refusing to hide like a coward. SA:WoK:Ch 5
Known facts
- trapped-granddaughterHis granddaughter was caught behind a stone that fell from the ceiling during the recent highstorm. He stays in the open corridor until she is freed, refusing his bodyguard's urging to retreat.SA:WoK:Ch 5
- takes-the-throne-of-jah-kevedOf the world's powers spanreed-warned about the Everstorm, only Taravangian of Kharbranth — and now, apparently, of Jah Keved — listens. Initial reports tell Dalinar he stumbled into the throne of the broken kingdom unexpectedly.SA:WoR:Ch 89
- mothers-deathbed-visionRecounted to Gavilar his mother's prophetic last words, ten years before — a vision of standing above the world hearing the warning of the Desolation, the Everstorm, and the Night of Sorrows — the same warning the Stormfather had been giving Gavilar in his visions.SA:WaT:Prologue
- claims-credit-for-destroying-rayseInsists to Cultivation that he, not she, destroyed his predecessor — a refusal of her framing that her millennia of cultivation merely *raised him up* to replace a more dangerous Vessel.SA:WaT:I-2
- divided-mind-may-be-by-cultivations-designSuspects Cultivation gave him the curse-and-boon for so many years precisely to produce a man who could legitimately Connect to the power of Odium yet be partly disabled by the two warring sides inside him — a brake she could trust to slow him down.SA:WaT:I-4
- sees-shards-of-the-cosmereCultivation lifts his sight to the cosmere and shows him the other Shards in their realms of influence. He counts what is there and what is not: the other gods fear and avoid Roshar's three, only one of them holds two Shards (and cannot use the second properly), and two Shards are missing entirely — one he eventually understands, the other being Valor, hidden even from his eyes.SA:WaT:I-4
- lets-each-half-rule-in-turnResolves the standoff inside himself by promising Cultivation he will *try* — and decides his method will be to let the calculating half and the feeling half each rule in turn for a short time, testing which of them holds when confronted with the same questions.SA:WaT:I-4
- building-a-command-staff-of-long-lived-trustablesDecides — with intellect ruling — that to enact his plan he needs a command staff of long-lived people whose betrayals he can predict before they betray him. El is the first. Dova is the second.SA:WaT:I-6
- kharbranth-hospitals-as-cover-for-rattlesLoves Kharbranth without flinching — including the secret rooms in its charity hospitals, where patients were killed in pursuit of Death Rattles in the era when those were his only window onto the future. He still considers it justified by the city's resulting peace and the wider plan.SA:WaT:I-8
- emotion-and-intellect-both-conclude-for-warDiscovers, with feeling allowed full rein, that emotion reaches the same conclusion as intellect: his family will never be safe unless every kingdom is under his control. Both halves of him now agree the war must be pressed. Cultivation was wrong.SA:WaT:I-8
- mind-and-heart-become-oneAtop a mountain in Shinovar, with Cultivation sitting in counsel, Taravangian resolves the long divide between the Diagram-mind he had once a day and the Odium emotion he wears now. The two halves vibrate to a single tone — and for the first time in his Ascension, mortal cunning and divine passion answer to one will.SA:WaT:Ch 70
- confesses-conquest-is-want-not-needIn private confession to himself, Taravangian sets aside his stated reasons — that the cosmere needs one god, that he is acting to protect his people — and admits the underlying truth: conquest is a *want*, not a need. He has carried the king's burden of difficult choices long enough, and he intends to claim the reward of unbounded greatness for himself.SA:WaT:Ch 70
- respects-jasnah-and-dalinar-as-near-equalsEven as a divinity, Taravangian holds only two mortals as near-equals worth respecting — Jasnah Kholin and Dalinar Kholin — and their opposition is the single force capable of making him question his course. The wisdom that gives him pause is plain: if those one respects disagree, the conclusion warrants reconsideration.SA:WaT:Ch 70
- mind-and-heart-aligned-on-conquestOn a mountaintop overlooking Shinovar the new Vessel of Odium aligns the divine mind and the divine passions into a single will. After examining the people who oppose him and conceding — alone, in the privacy of his own soul — that conquest is not a duty he is forced to but a thing he wants, the questioning ends and the two halves of him vibrate as one.SA:WaT:I-10
- respects-dalinar-and-jasnah-almost-as-equalsEven ascended, holds Dalinar Kholin and Jasnah Kholin in higher regard than any other mortals — almost as equals — and treats their continued opposition as the only thing on Roshar that can still make him hesitate.SA:WaT:I-10
- avatar-in-gold-vestments-with-caneCoalesces a public avatar in radiant gold vestments with a small cane at his side, eyes beaming with sunlight — the image he means to wear for the rest of the cosmere as Odium.SA:WaT:I-10
- ascends-by-killing-rayse-with-nightbloodTaravangian tells Jasnah he Ascended on the night Szeth came to kill him: Szeth arrived bearing the sword that bleeds darkness at the very moment Taravangian was interacting with the previous Odium; he slew Rayse and Ascended. He names this as Cultivation's fault and plan, calling himself *a dupe in a larger game.*SA:WaT:Ch 91
- can-be-in-many-places-at-onceTaravangian's elevated status lets him be in more than one place at the same time — he confronts Jasnah and Fen simultaneously and notes that Fen is *much less logical* than Jasnah because she does not believe him.SA:WaT:Ch 91
- revealed-to-dalinar-as-the-new-odiumInside the Spiritual Realm visions, Taravangian shows himself to Dalinar as the new vessel of Odium — a force as wide as the horizon, voice resonating like a thousand drums, the old man's form swallowed in the scope of a god. He tells Dalinar he gave him a chance to surrender his pain to the predecessor and refused it, so the torment they walk through now is the consequence of that refusal.SA:WaT:Ch 99
- contract-binds-only-his-empire-not-other-humansIn debate at Thaylen City, Taravangian makes plain to Fen what Jasnah confirms: Dalinar's covenant binds Odium to prevent acts of war between his regions and theirs for a thousand years, but it does not bind humans to keep the peace with each other — leaving room for the human kingdoms to keep doing what they have always done.SA:WaT:Ch 112
- controls-every-major-port-except-thaylen-cityOver the nine days since taking up Odium, Taravangian has signed contracts with every former Azish protectorate or the key cities within them — Steen, Dawn's Shadow, New Natanan, Sesemalex Dar, Tukar — adding them to his ports in Jah Keved and his new conquest at Karanak. He now controls every major port on Roshar save Thaylen City, leaving any other coalition harbour merely in Alethkar and Herdaz.SA:WaT:Ch 114
- had-the-thaylen-council-prepared-for-coupTaravangian reveals to Jasnah that the city of Thaylenah was never out of his reach: agents on the Thaylen Council from his Diagram days had removed aluminum panels from part of the council chamber so a Deepest Ones strike team could murder loyalist members during a recess, leaving four of his own behind to instigate a tribunal removing Fen from power. The Fused-detection fabrials the council relied on were a lie, sold by artifabrians who serve him.SA:WaT:Ch 123
- offers-jasnah-rule-over-roshar-as-fusedStanding over a broken Jasnah in the Thaylen temple, Taravangian tells her his attention will turn outward to the cosmere in time and that he needs someone to rule Roshar in his absence. He offers to make her Fused — and therefore immortal — when she is ready, and frames it as the greater good: *die in obscurity, or live for centuries to influence me to treat people better.* She cannot bring herself to refuse out of hand.SA:WaT:Ch 123
- taravangian-is-now-vessel-of-odiumWit confirms to Navani what the body burned by Nightblood concealed: the husk found near where Taravangian was thought to have died was almost certainly all that remained of Rayse. Taravangian has taken the Odium Shard, and is to Wit's thinking the worst conceivable Odium vessel — patient, caring in his fashion, with millennia ahead of him to learn to use the Shard Rayse never mastered.SA:WaT:Ch 125
- champion-is-an-innocent-dalinar-must-murderTaravangian frames the contest's outcome plainly for Dalinar: it will not actually be a fight. To save Alethkar and protect the cosmere from Taravangian's influence, Dalinar must kill Gavinor — the murder of an innocent. That is the contest as designed.SA:WaT:Ch 130
- makes-gavinor-his-champion-and-freezes-himOn the roof of Urithiru at the contest hour, Taravangian presents Gavinor as his appointed champion — twenty years trained alone under a god's eye — then snaps his fingers and freezes the boy mid-strike. The oath Gav swore gave him power over him. The only rules left are: kill the innocent he loves, or forfeit and die, and either way Dalinar rises again as his general.SA:WaT:Ch 136
- ascends-by-taking-honor-into-odiumDespite a lifetime of claiming he wanted no power for its own sake, Taravangian takes up the abandoned strength of Honor in addition to Odium — and Ascends. The combined god names itself Retribution. A few small pieces of Honor split off and flee as he draws the rest in.SA:WaT:Ch 143
- secretly-saves-kharbranth-in-spiritual-realmIn the moment Cultivation looked away to kill him, Taravangian summoned his new power and pulled the population of Kharbranth — his daughter, his grandchildren, Adrotagia — out of the city and into a perfect Spiritual Realm copy he keeps going indefinitely, having wiped from their minds any memory of Cultivation's killers. The city he allows to be destroyed; the people he saves and visits in secret, the one thing even Retribution refused to sacrifice.SA:WaT:Ch 147
Events
- SA:WoK:Ch 29 Sits with Jasnah in the Conclave debating the Almighty; haunted by something
- SA:WaT:Ch 89 The face the Shard now wears — *the new Odium* — confronting Jasnah in person.
- SA:WaT:Ch 91 Walks into the temple on a golden scepter-cane, less bowed than Jasnah remembers him, and tells her *we never truly were* allies, then invites her to argue Fen out of joining the Dawnsinger cause.
- SA:WaT:Ch 99 Resolves out of a horizon-wide shadow above Dalinar and re-forms into the old king's shape — but now with a voice that vibrates like a thousand drums — to confirm that he is the new vessel of Odium and that the visions of pain are Dalinar's for refusing to surrender them.
- SA:WaT:Ch 108 His body — wispy-bearded, balding, small and unassuming — is what Odium wears for the negotiation. *Tell him I apologise for the necessity of altering his memories,* he says.
- SA:WaT:Ch 112 Opens the debate by claiming Jasnah has been working for him all her life; ends his first move by telling Fen he holds the city in the palm of his hand.
- SA:WaT:Ch 114 Lays out his offer of empire to Fen with the dossier of every-major-port contracts and the unsigned threat to crush the city — then produces, from a pocket, the Jasnah-signed assassination contract on Aesudan.
- SA:WaT:Ch 116 Seated with cane across his knees, Taravangian runs the round-temple debate from first move to checkmate — producing forged-from-memory contracts, replaying Jasnah's own voice from a private council, and acknowledging each of her good points with a small nod.
- SA:WaT:Ch 123 Conjures a black-smoke chair and his golden scepter in the Thaylen temple after Fen has gone, demonstrates that he cannot read Jasnah's mind, reveals the Deepest Ones strike team and his Thaylen Council agents, and offers her Fused immortality in his service.
- SA:WaT:Ch 130 Tall now, without his old back-crook, in yellow robes and a simple golden crown, Taravangian presents Gavinor as the champion *worthy of him* and lays out what the contest will actually be: the murder of an innocent.
- SA:WaT:Ch 131 Taravangian stands by Dalinar on the rooftop, narrates the kidnapping with awful calm, and lays out the contest's actual shape — a murder masquerading as a duel.
- SA:WaT:Ch 136 Appears beside Dalinar mid-fight to offer an unfamiliar Blade, coaches Gav like a doting tutor, then freezes the lad in place to force the moral choice.
- SA:WaT:Ch 137 Streams red darkness at the far railing as his storm thickens around him, urging further conversation — *relatable, not reasonable.*
- SA:WaT:Ch 140 Speaks calmly from within his storm as the perpendicularity opens, taunting Dalinar that Honor's power will reject an oathbreaker — and finds himself, for the first time in their long acquaintance, with no good reply.
- SA:WaT:Ch 142 Accepts Dalinar's challenge, red lightning crashing behind him, and seethes when Dalinar suddenly backs down — relieved enough that he reveals it.
- SA:WaT:Ch 143 Stunned, then exultant at his sudden freedom from the contract. Lashes out and unmakes the Stormfather in spite, then — claiming all his life he never wanted power — reaches timidly for Honor's abandoned strength and takes it, Ascending into Retribution.
Relations
- relatedOdium — Dalinar confirms in the Spiritual Realm visions that Taravangian is the new vessel of the Odium shard. SA:WaT:Ch 99
- relatedRetribution — Taravangian, already Vessel of Odium, reaches for the abandoned power of Honor and Ascends into the combined Shard that names itself Retribution. SA:WaT:Ch 143
Backreferences
- summarySA:OB:Ch 12
- summarySA:OB:Ch 24
- factAdrotagia
- factMalata
- factQueen Fen
- summarySA:OB:Ch 27
- factSpark
- summarySA:OB:Ch 28
- summarySA:OB:Ch 29
- summarySA:OB:Ch 42
- summarySA:OB:Ch 58
- summarySA:OB:Ch 59
- factQueen Fen
- summarySA:OB:Ch 65
- summarySA:OB:Ch 86
- summarySA:OB:Ch 96
- summarySA:OB:Ch 100
- summarySA:OB:Ch 103
- summarySA:OB:Ch 107
- factBattah
- factNan Urian
- factMrall
- factMaben
- summarySA:OB:Ch 111
- summarySA:OB:Ch 113
- factCoalition of Monarchs
- summarySA:OB:Ch 120
- summarySA:OB:Ch 121
- summarySA:OB:Ch 122
- factHonorblade of Jezrien
- factDukar
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 14
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 16
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 17
- factDieno enne Calah
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 18
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 19
- factThe Emul Offensive
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 21
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 27
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 40
- factTshadr
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 47
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 50
- factSavrahalidem
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 71
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 98
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 101
- factVessel
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 5
- summarySA:WoK:Ch 29
- summarySA:WaT:Prologue
- summarySA:WaT:I-2
- summarySA:WaT:I-4
- factValor
- factValor
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 35
- factNightblood
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 45
- summarySA:WaT:I-6
- factBattah
- factBattah
- factBattah
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 47
- summarySA:WaT:I-8
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 70
- factTaravangian
- factTaravangian
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:I-10
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 89
- summarySA:WaT:I-12
- factKharbranth
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 91
- factTaravangian
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 99
- factDalinar Kholin
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:I-14
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 108
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 112
- factTaravangian
- factPhilosophy of Aspiration
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 114
- factJasnah Kholin
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 116
- factJasnah Kholin
- factJasnah Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 123
- factJasnah Kholin
- factTaravangian
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 125
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 130
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 131
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 133
- summarySA:WaT:I-18
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 136
- factGavinor Kholin
- factTaravangian
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 137
- factDalinar Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 140
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 142
- factDalinar Kholin
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 143
- factDalinar Kholin
- factThe Stormfather
- factTaravangian
- factThe Sunmaker's Gambit
- factRetribution
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 145
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 146
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 147
- factTaravangian
- factTaravangian