Tindwyl
also known as The Terriswoman at the Assembly
A Keeper of Terris, tall and lean and unflappable, in her fifties, ears stretched by a Terris weight of earrings, wearing a bright but utilitarian blouse and skirt. Sazed's acquaintance from his own people, with a Feruchemical strength sufficient to snap her own bonds offhand. Her Keeper specialty is biographies of generals, kings, and emperors; she has come to Luthadel uninvited because Sazed mentioned the king's predicament, and she means to make Elend presentable as one. MB1:WoA:Ch 14
A tall, middle-aged Terriswoman of lean build, hair in a waist-length braid, dressed in a bright blue blouse and red skirt with a Terris weight of jewelry. She stands quietly at the back of the Assembly chamber watching Elend — the first Terris-person Vin has seen come to Luthadel without first coming to thank her for killing the Lord Ruler. MB1:WoA:Ch 10 superseded at MB1:WoA:Ch 14
Known facts
- biographies-specialtyA Keeper whose chosen area is the recorded lives of generals, kings, and emperors. The Keepers all carry the same collective archive in their copperminds, but each one studies and understands only a slice of it deeply; the rest sits in metal until another Keeper draws it forth. Her slice is biography — the lived patterns of rulers rather than the theories of rulership.MB1:WoA:Ch 14
- came-uninvited-on-sazeds-letterCame to Luthadel on her own initiative after Sazed wrote her months ago describing Elend's predicament — without being asked to, and over Sazed's own characteristic deference. She did not bother to bid the king good night when she left their first interview.MB1:WoA:Ch 14
- extends-mentorship-to-vinHas expanded her work beyond the king to take Vin in hand as well — declaring she means not to turn Vin into a queen for Elend but to help her become whoever she is. Drags her to a dressmaker on Kenton Street with Allrianne as fashion advisor and Spook as packman, gets her into a royal-blue gown rebuilt with thinner skirts, a higher hem, sleeve pockets for personal items, and an unrestrictive waist so she can still move and fight.MB1:WoA:Ch 25
- has-borne-childrenTindwyl tells Elend, in passing, that she has raised a number of daughters of her own — the first hint that the Terriswoman who has been training him as a king has a private history of her own.MB1:WoA:Ch 28
- was-a-terris-breederTindwyl spent the bulk of her life as one of the Lord Ruler's selected Terris mothers: a Breeder. She had her first child at fourteen and bore, by Sazed's last count, over twenty children by twenty different fathers under the Breeding masters' fertility regime — often twins or triplets — and was only released from the program in the last decade of her childbearing years. The Synod had deliberately placed her there: she was a Feruchemist the imperial breeders had been told to avoid, and her presence ensured future generations of Feruchemists would quietly survive their program.MB1:WoA:Ch 30
- chooses-to-stay-with-sazedTindwyl tells Sazed she intends to ride out to Straff's and Cett's camps to give them the same coaching she has given Elend Venture, and then, having said so, sets it aside. She says she has had enough of men and of childbearing for the Terris cause to last her, names Sazed outright as the one Keeper who ever pushed the Synod toward action rather than hiding — "that man went on to free us all" — and asks him for an excuse to remain. Sazed, astonished, asks her to stay. She agrees.MB1:WoA:Ch 37
- rejects-prophecy-as-foolishnessTindwyl tells Sazed in plain language that although she values historical research she considers prophecy itself foolishness, refuses to perpetuate what she sees as the lies of dead religions, and — having been raised fifteen daughters — declares any teenage girl, Vin included, structurally unstable.MB1:WoA:Ch 45
- refuses-to-leave-luthadelDespite Sazed's plan, Tindwyl does not ride out with Vin and Elend. She sees them off at the keep, hands Elend a wrapped package Sazed wants delivered to the Keeper Synod in Tathingdwen, and stays behind in the city that is about to fall.MB1:WoA:Ch 49
- survived-breeders-on-stubborn-hopeTindwyl tells Sazed that hope, not stubbornness, is what kept her alive through her years in the hands of the Breeders; she has stayed in Luthadel because hope, in her view, is never wasted, and leaders who accept the devotion of others must accept dying with them.MB1:WoA:Ch 50
- dies-defending-tin-gateTindwyl is killed at Tin Gate commanding the soldiers Dockson assigned her, then leading survivors toward Keep Venture when her gate fell. Her body is found frozen in a snowbank by Sazed near morning.MB1:WoA:Ch 54
Events
- MB1:WoA:Ch 14 Snaps her bonds offhand, fixes Elend's posture with one hand on his shoulder, names herself a Keeper of biographies and an acquaintance of Sazed's, and offers — and is accepted — as his trainer in kingship.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 16 Has a seamstress and six fitted white uniforms waiting in Elend's study, has his hair cut to match, sets a wooden coronet on his head, and outlines the next several months of kingship training — dress, posture, speech, weaponry — that she intends to give him.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 20 Sits in a stiff chair at the back of the room with perfect posture, watching the crew silently throughout Elend's argument and saying nothing until they have all left.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 20 Stands him through another long lesson on bearing, speech, and guilt, then trick-tests his feelings for Vin and quietly tells him to keep her.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 23 Waits inside Sazed's guest chamber when he returns from the council, collected and neatly dressed as always. She tells him he should be in the Eastern Dominance on the Synod's orders, that he is chasing phantoms in the mist out of fear of becoming irrelevant, and — though she calls him their soul of what it means to be Terris — that he keeps disobeying the leadership. As she leaves she briefly takes his hand.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 25 Walks unannounced into Vin's bedroom — early enough to surprise Vin into crouching on the footboard with twin obsidian daggers — and announces a shopping trip for a dress in plain, unbothered terms.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 25 Watches Vin through the fitting, talks her into the royal-blue gown, designs the modifications with the elderly dressmaker, and turns the conversation to Vin's reasons for setting dresses aside, her doubts about marrying Elend, and her instinct to underestimate herself. Lays a hand on her shoulder; tells her she is more than she is willing to accept.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 25 Waits inside the shop while Vin speaks, nods with satisfaction afterward, and tells her she has been optimistic rather than dishonest — and that she must now either give up on the city or believe what she said.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 28 Stands by the bookcase calling Elend's deposition clause one of the most foolish things she has seen a leader do, urging martial law and sequestration of the Assembly; backs down only when he refuses to be called a fool again.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 28 Stays behind after the crew disperses to apologise to Elend for treating him as a child, explain that Vin's silence is insecurity, let slip that she has raised daughters of her own, and press him with the king's eventual question — his people or the girl.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 31 Sits with Elend's party in the chamber, signaling cues to him from the audience and visibly displeased when he abandons the prepared speech she helped him write.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 32 Sits with the party through Cett's address and groans quietly when Elend honestly admits the Soothing.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 34 Sits in on Elend's research session without contributing — the line she will not cross is between teacher and political agent. Cuts at Sazed when she finds out he helped author the city's code; Elend orders her to apologise to him or leave, and she leaves.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 35 Helps Vin into the maroon dress in Keep Venture and tells her that Elend has reached the point where she has little left to teach him. Declines to come to the dinner.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 36 Finds Sazed among the refugees, asks to be shown the discovery that sent him running across two dominances for, and walks out with him to study it.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 36 Walks out of the warehouse with Sazed from Breeze's viewpoint at the start of the scene.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 37 Sits beside Sazed the whole night, transcribes the Wednegon biography passage from her own coppermind, presses him on why he never argues his own case, and at sunrise asks him for an excuse to stay rather than ride out to the besieging armies.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 41 Works alongside Sazed in his rooms, relaxed enough to sit back with rings showing in her ears, and is the one who notices the contradiction at the heart of Kwaan's record.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 41 Greets Elend with her customary bite, tests whether he has reverted to his old softness, then tells him plainly that he lost the throne because he is a good man and that great leaders in her histories simply would not have ended up in his position to begin with.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 45 Working with Sazed in the study, she is the one who pulls out the askew sheet and asks who tore the corner; she taps her own pewtermind and bulks instinctively at Vin's sudden arrival.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 45 Sent out into the hall by Elend, eavesdrops through the door, and comes back in admitting she did the work too well — that the Assembly should have left him on the throne.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 49 Confronts Elend in the keep's covered way, calls him a fool and a coward for leaving, and tells him plainly that Vin is chasing a delusion. Leaves a wrapped package for the Synod in Tathingdwen and refuses to ride out herself.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 50 Working with Dockson at Marsh's map; pulls Sazed under a balcony pillar to admit she stayed for neither hope nor stubbornness, and tells him she loves him for bending without breaking.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 51 On the wall as the drums roll, names what Sazed is seeing in the koloss camp — they always whip themselves up like this before a charge — and is assigned to Tin Gate under Keep Venture, where the men will listen to a Terrisman.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 54 Found dead in a snowbank near morning, frozen, killed leading her Tin Gate soldiers toward Keep Venture after her gate fell.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 10 Stands at the back of the chamber in blue and red, jewelry visible, watching Elend rather than the crowd — and not approaching Vin afterwards as every other Terris-person who has reached the city has done.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 10 Waits patiently in the back of the chamber through the recess, still watching the stage; Vin flags her to Elend, who points out that being watched is part of being king and that no Terriswoman is likely to assassinate him.
- MB1:WoA:Ch 13 Brought in bound by the palace guards, stands at the head of the table unimpressed by her own captivity, and asks for the rest of the room — and only the rest of the room — to leave.
Backreferences
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 3
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 4
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 10
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 12
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 18
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 21
- factAlendi's Logbook
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 28
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 31
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 32
- factVin
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 36
- factElend Venture
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 49
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 56
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 57
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 62
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 66
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 68
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 75
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 78
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 14
- factKeeper
- factElend Venture
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 16
- factElend Venture
- factElend Venture
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 20
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 21
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 23
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 25
- factVin
- factKenton Street
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 28
- factElend Venture
- factTindwyl
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 30
- factTindwyl
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 31
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 32
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 34
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 35
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 36
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 37
- factThe Deepness
- factTindwyl
- factKing Wednegon
- factDarrelnai
- factThe Breeders
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 41
- factThe Kwaan Plate
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 45
- factTindwyl
- factHelenntion
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 46
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 48
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 49
- factTindwyl
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 50
- factTindwyl
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 51
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 52
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 53
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 54
- factTindwyl
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 55
- factHarmony
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 56
- summaryMB1:WoA:Ch 57
- summaryMB1:WoA:Epilogue
- factElend Venture