Szeth
| House / Order | Skybreakers |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | Shin |
| Status | Alive |
| Origin | Shinovar; Urithiru |
| Born | Shinovar |
| Died | |
| Weapon | Honorblade of Jezrien (formerly); Nightblood; Skybreaker spear |
| Fate | Skybreaker of the new Knights Radiant, bonded to the highspren and wielder of Nightblood |
| Portrayed by |
Szeth, full name Szeth-son-son-Vallano, known and feared across Roshar as the Assassin in White, is a major character in The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. A Shin man declared Truthless by his people, Szeth is bound by an absolute oath to obey whoever holds his Oathstone, committing atrocities he abhors. He later becomes a Skybreaker of the Knights Radiant and the wielder of the sentient, world-threatening sword Nightblood.
Szeth's arc is a study in obedience, guilt, and the search for a law worth following. Believing himself damned, he kills on command -- including the assassination of King Gavilar Kholin that opens the series -- while his conscience screams against every death.
Background
Szeth was born in Shinovar, the land beyond the mountains where Rosharan ecology gives way to grass and soil familiar to readers. Among the Shin, who revere stone and consider walking on it sacrilege, Szeth was declared Truthless -- stripped of honor and bound to obey the holder of his Oathstone without question, on pain of damning his soul. He was given the Honorblade of Jezrien, granting him Windrunner-like powers, and passed from master to master as a weapon.
Biography
The Way of Kings
The novel opens with Szeth, under orders, assassinating King Gavilar Kholin of Alethkar -- the act that destabilizes the kingdom and sets the series in motion. Throughout the book he is passed among masters and forced to murder rulers across Roshar, each killing deepening his anguish. His Oathstone eventually falls into the hands of Taravangian.
Words of Radiance
Sent to kill Dalinar Kholin, Szeth battles Kaladin at the Battle of Narak. Defeated and cast into the storm, Szeth is presumed dead but is recovered and revived. He takes up the sentient sword Nightblood, an Awakened weapon from another world that devours its wielder's Stormlight and soul, and resolves to find justice for the lies told about him.
Oathbringer
Szeth joins the Skybreakers, the order of Knights Radiant devoted to law and oaths, seeking an external code to replace the broken one that ruined him. He bonds the highspren Nin / and pledges himself to follow a just law, ultimately swearing to follow Dalinar Kholin as the embodiment of the law he will serve.
Rhythm of War and Wind and Truth
Szeth contends with his guilt and the dangerous influence of Nightblood. In Wind and Truth, he returns to Shinovar with Kaladin on a journey of healing and reckoning, confronting the truths of his homeland and his own past as part of the climactic events of the contest of champions.
Character
Szeth is honest to a fault -- "I do not lie; it is one of the few freedoms left to me" -- disciplined, and tormented by the gulf between his actions and his conscience. He is one of the deadliest warriors alive, yet defines himself by obedience rather than will. His search is for a law and a truth worthy of his absolute commitment, and his healing requires confronting the lie at the heart of his exile.
Powers and abilities
- Main article: Skybreakers
Originally Szeth wielded the Honorblade of Jezrien, granting the Surges of a Windrunner -- Adhesion and Gravitation -- powered by Stormlight. As a Skybreaker he wields the Surges of Gravitation and Division, the latter allowing destructive disintegration. He carries Nightblood, a sentient sword capable of destroying nearly anything but lethally hungry for Investiture.
Relationships
- Nightblood -- the sentient, soul-devouring sword he wields, eager and naively cheerful.
- Taravangian -- a former holder of his Oathstone who directed many of his killings.
- Kaladin -- his battlefield foe turned reluctant companion on the road to Shinovar.
- Dalinar Kholin -- the leader he swears to follow as the embodiment of law.
- Nin (Nale) -- the Herald who leads the Skybreakers and recruits him.
Quotes
I am Truthless. I do not lie. It is one of the few freedoms left to me.
I have killed kings, and I have killed friends. I am death itself, prophesied to destroy the world.