Herald

Illustration by Isaac Stewart

The Heralds are servants of the Almighty worshiped in Vorinism. They were once considered deities by the people during the Heraldic Epochs, and are still revered in Vorin Kingdoms. Bound by the Oathpact, they would come from Damnation to fight the Desolations and then return for millennia of torture until the next Desolation. They founded the orders of the Knights Radiant to protect mankind against the Voidbringers.^{[citation needed]}

Characteristics

There are ten Heralds; five male and five female. Each represents an Ideal and is associated with one of the ten essences, numbers, gemstones, body focuses, Soulcasting properties, primary and secondary divine attributes, and orders of Knights Radiant.

The Heralds carried Honorblades, which were much like modern Shardblades, but far more powerful.

Investiture extends the lives of the Heralds. Though they've died many times, they are now what are known as Cognitive Shadows. They are not Shards, like Honor. In local religions, they're more like saints than gods.^{[citation needed]}

History

“	"The Heralds were sent to teach mankind," Lirin said. "They led us against the Voidbringers after we were cast from heaven. The Radiants were the orders of knights they founded."	”
–Lirin to Kaladin

The Heralds
Tarot card by Tara Spruit[1]

Eventually, following a victory in yet another Desolation and weighed down by the prospect of millennia of torture, nine Heralds chose to abandon their self-appointed burden, hoping that Talenel'Elin might be enough to uphold the Oathpact. They told the people that mankind had finally won; thus, the event was known for the past 4,500 years as the Last Desolation, or Aharietiam in Vorinism.

Appearances

It is not known what became of all nine Heralds who abandoned the Oathpact. However, Jezrien is first seen in the Prelude to The Way of Kings. Then, he is seen in the Prologue to The Way of Kings.

Nale was present in Kholinar during King Gavilar's assassination, accompanied by Kalak. Taln and Shalash were both seen in the epilogue of The Way of Kings.

Later, Nale found the budding Surgebinder Ym in an unknown city on Roshar. After a brief chase, Nale caught and killed him.

Taln first appears in Words of Radiance as a madman; he had been brought into Dalinar's warcamp. Much later, in an attempt to remove Taln from the temple complex, Amaram is attacked by Iyatil with her blow darts and Taln intercepts them. He stands tall, then enters Amaram's coach.

Brandon has confirmed that Shalash appeared in The Way of Kings, and that she was indeed Baxil's mistress in Words of Radiance.

Ishar was the first Herald to recognize the importance of Surgebinders and began organizing them into their respective orders.

Shallan sucked in Stormlight in Taln's presence in an attempt to recreate an Illusion and he referred to her as one of "Ishar's Knights."

Later still for Nale, he pursues Lift, but eventually abandons her when shown by her that the Everstorm had come, despite his efforts.

Jezrien is eventually killed by Moash in the Kholinar Palace gardens with a knife at the behest of the Fused.

Names & Attributes

#	Number	Herald	Primary/Sec Divine Attribute		Image
1	Jes	Jezrien	Protecting	Leading	King image
2	Nan	Nalan (Nale)	Just	Confident	Hooded man
3	Chach	Chanarach (Chana)	Brave	Obedient	Woman with something akin to a helmet
4	Vev	Vedel	Loving	Healing	Hooded woman
5	Palah	Paliah (Pali)	Learned	Giving	Woman with hair going all directions
6	Shash	Shalash (Ash)	Creative	Honest	Woman with large jewel on forehead
7	Betab	Battar	Wise	Careful	Woman with band around head, over hair
8	Kak	Kalak (Kelek)	Resolute	Builder	Man with uncovered hair, long bangs
9	Tanat	Talenel (Taln)	Dependable	Resourceful	Helmed man
10	Ishi	Ishar	Pious	Guiding	Old man with long beard

Present Day

In the present day, the Heralds are apparently going mad. In the Prologue of Words of Radiance, Jasnah overhears Nale and Kalak speaking with one another:

“

"I'm worried about Ash." "You're worried about everything." "She's getting worse," the voice continued. "We weren't supposed to get worse. Am I getting worse? I think I feel worse." "Shut up." "I don't like this. What we've done is wrong. That creature carries /my lord's/ own Blade. We shouldn't have let him keep it. He - " The two passed through the intersection ahead of Jasnah. They were ambassadors from the West, including the Azish man with the white birthmark on his cheek. ... The Azish man, the one dressed in black and silver, stopped and looked her up and down.

”

Speculation

Following is a list of things which could be reasons why certain Heraldic images get chosen. Further, at Tor, re-reads of TWoK, WoR and Ob contain dedicated "Heraldic Symbolism" subsections for each chapter which detail such things. Within, the re-readers speculate as to why specific Herald(s) were chosen.

• Herald themselves (mentioned, talked about, or actually has an appearance).
• Some object associated with a Herald (example: a specific Herald's Honorblade.
• Member of order (ex: Kaladin=Windrunners=Jezrien), Characters portraying divine attribute behavior (example: Loving and Healing).
• Characters portraying the inverse of divine attribute behavior (example: Hating and Destroying).
• Herald of <concept> - things associated with that concept. Known examples: 1) Shalash: Herald of Beauty 2) Nalan: Herald of Justice 3) Jezrien: Herald of Kings 4) Taln: Herald of War 5) Ishar: Herald of Luck.
• Roles associated with a Herald. Known Examples: 1) Chana: Guards 2) Taln: Soldiers/war 3) Ishar: Ardents/religion 4) Vedel: Physicians.
• Essences: Essence, body focus, soulcasting properties ... (this one is a stretch as I never really could pinpoint this well enough).
• Jester/Masked face: This can be tied to chapters with Wit in them or tied to concepts related to him, the biggest one (I think) being storytelling.

Note: The "Four Lifetimes" chapter's Heraldic symbolism in Oathbringer, shows the different roles/lives Kaladin has filled: Surgeon (Vedel), Soldier (Taln), Guard (Chana), and Leader/Windrunner (Jezrien).

“	"There's only one thing you're missing, which you may have implied, and that's the gemstones. Also, there's a little bit more to #5 that will be explored further later in the series." "Your "Four Lifetimes" analysis is spot-on. Congratulations."	”
–Peter Ahlstrom

Theory

So, every Herald has some madness related to his or her divine attributes.

Nale, Herald of Justice, is following the law by the letter. Not the spirit, but what is written down.

Ash, Herald of Beauty, who should be Creative, is destroying artwork depicting her.

Kalak, whose order is the adventurous Willshapers is rather paranoid now.

Jezrien, who should be a leader, is getting drunk and speaking gibberish on Gavilar's "Last Supper". (This person is described as having a long black and grey beard, so he could also be Ishar.)

Q&A w/Brandon

Q. Did Ishar deceive Nalan on purpose or was he just wrong - he had wrong information?

A. All the Heralds are insane.

... It manifests in different ways. Do not trust anything any Herald says. Ever.

... Nale trusts Ishar too much.

Q. Okay, but so did he do it on purpose, or ... ?

A. Um ... So "on purpose" is a difficult thing when you're referring to someone with the psychology that Ishar has.

Q. Did he know what it was - that it was a lie?

A. ... I'll RAFO that until I get to him, but the answer is kind of a yes and a no. So, there is part of him that knows and there is part of him that doesn't want to believe it. And yet the things he's been doing lately in Roshar are done because he knows what's coming.

Q. Now that we have canon art of Ishar, Shalash, Jezrien, and Vedel, what Rosharan nationalities would you say they resemble the most?

A. Jezrien and Vedel would be seen as Alethi, most likely. Shalash would be seen as Azish, while Ishar would be seen as Shin, probably.

Q. Wait, but if Ishar looks like he’s from Shinovar, how did the Tukari accept him as the God-Priest?

A. That's a RAFO - but is a question you're supposed to be asking.

Q. Were the Heralds alive for the human exodus from Ashyn?

A. Yes. They were not Heralds then, but they all made that trip. I believe. You can't nail me down on that one, because it's possible that Ash was born after, but I don't think so.