Tanalan's Heir

Tanalan's heir was remembered by Dalinar as having been a weeping child holding a Shardblade after he'd killed Tanalan, who lay broken and dead, the child's soft voice pleading.
When Gavilar reminded Dalinar that he said he'd dealt with the heir, and asked him about having supposedly done so, Dalinar told his brother that the heir was then a child.
Gavilar replied that the heir was still a descendant of the old regime and was old enough to be a threat.
Dalinar replied that he could then barely lift the Blade, so he gave the child to his mother, whom he told to hide the boy.
According to Gavilar, the Rifters had later demanded Dalinar's Blade back, claiming that Tanalan's heir had returned, and that he deserved the Blade, as Dalinar had never won it in a true contest.
According to Havar, rumor had it that the Rifters wanted to set up their own highprince in Tanalan's heir, also named Tanalan.
==Appearance==
He has violet eyes.
==Characteristics==
According to Dalinar, Tanalan's voice had the typical nasal accent of the Rifters.
==The Rift==
Tanalan wouldn't abandon the walls around the Rift to try to control ground beyond bowshot.
He doesn't see what the Blackthorn hopes to accomplish there. He says that they have nothing to say to one another.
When Dalinar tells him that his troops look good, brave, and arrayed against a stronger force, yet determined, Tanalan tells him that they have strong motivation, because the Blackthorn murdered many of their fathers.
When Dalinar tells Tanalan that he knows his own reputation, and that he's never lost a battle, the younger man says that it's better to die trying to bring him down than to surrender.
Dalinar then tells Tanalan that he'd better be sure of that, because if he himself wins there, he's going to have to make an example. Further, that he'll break Tanalan. That his sorry, weeping city will be held up before all who would defy his brother. He reinforces this by telling Tanalan that he should be absolutely certain he wants to fight him, because once it starts, Dalinar will be forced to leave only widows and corpses to populate the Rift.
Further, he tells Tanalan that he is good at only one thing: destruction. But, against his better judgment, he offer Tanalan an alternative; they should find an accommodation that will spare Tanalan's city.
However, Tanalan wants vengeance for the death of his father, so Dalinar offers him a duel. When Tanalan suggests that if he wins, Dalinar's army will leave, Dalinar responds that he suspects they'll fight harder, but that Tanalan will have won back his father's Blade.
Dalinar adds that maybe Tanalan will defeat his army because he'd have a better chance of doing so without him. Tanalan then tells Dalinar that he isn't the man he thought he was.
Additionally, Tanalan tells Dalinar that one of his own is working against him. That there's a traitor among the highprinces, but Dalinar is not surprised.
In response, Tanalan tells Dalinar that the traitor's men were there not an hour ago. That if Dalinar had arrived a little earlier, he'd have caught them. He speculates that maybe they'd have been forced to join himself, and that their master would've been pulled into the war.
Tanalan then dismisses Dalinar, and Dalinar sighs in frustration, realizing that there had never been much of a chance that their interaction would provide a resolution to the conflict between them.
Tanalan tells Dalinar that this is unfortunate, but that he sees no other way. Further, that he cannot defeat Dalinar in a duel, and to try would be foolish, but that his offer is appreciated.
Further, that perhaps his own outrage was feigned. Perhaps they'd been in touch since Dalinar's attack there, all those years ago ... because Dalinar had spared his life. To Dalinar, this would explain why Gavilar hadn't immediately sent their armies against him, because they were in collusion all along. Tanalan suggests the proof is in the fact of their strange battlefield conversation just held.
Then, Tanalan suggests that perhaps the encounter was really a ruse all along, a scheme arranged by Gavilar, Dalinar, and himself. A false rebellion intended to trick disloyal highprinces into revealing themselves.
But then, Tanalan says that he was telling Dalinar about the envoy that had been there, delivering weapons and supplies to him and his men from one of Dalinar's secret enemies, which - according to Dalinar - could afford Tanalan legitimacy as a highlord in the kingdom. Perhaps a highprince's place, and - according to Tanalan - no fighting that day.
Tanalan additionally tells Dalinar that the party - a hundred soldiers and caravaneers - headed east, toward the Unclaimed Hills. He thinks they were planning to stay for the night in the waystop at a town called Vedelliar.
Then Tanalan reveals to Dalinar that the highprince was Sadeas, and says that he'll testify before the king, assuming Dalinar keeps his side of their accord.
After Dalinar is later buried in a landslide and recovered from it, he realizes that instead of their accord, Tanalan had somehow bribed away members of his own army, and had intended to use their reports to coax Dalinar into a hurried ride into a trap.
This had all been set in motion before Dalinar had spoken with Tanalan. Planned well in advance.
According to Sadeas, Tanalan's plan was clever, but risky. Further, that he knew his chances of winning depended upon removing Dalinar and his Shards from the battle.
After Dalinar's soldiers began dousing the city with oil and set it afire, Tanalan's soldiers tried to organize a fight back out of the Rift, but they'd surrendered the high ground, expecting Dalinar to do as he had before, conquering and controlling.
Soon thereafter, Tanalan was spotted by Dalinar trying to get to the palace where his family was in peril. Dalinar told his soldiers to throw a rope to Tanalan, of which he took hold, and Dalinar's men hauled him upward to where they were observing the city burn.
Upon reaching their position, Tanalan pleaded for his family, his children, but Dalinar told him that he'd made a mistake all those years ago when he let the heir live, and that he wouldn't make the same mistake again.
When an entire section of the city collapsed into flames, and the palace - including its occupants - crashed down with it, Tanalan cried out in despair.
When Sadeas then told Dalinar that Tanalan was the last loose end in the city and that they didn't want him getting away again, he reached for his sword. However, Dalinar told Sadeas that he'd do it. Tanalan was a man who'd betrayed him. To his credit, Tanalan tried to leap to his feet and fight, but several elites shoved him back down to the ground.
When Tanalan then collapsed, blubbering, Dalinar told the heir that he shouldn't have betrayed him. Further, when he told Tanalan that whomever had taken cover in his hideout was dead, Tanalan burst out laughing. It was he who then informed Dalinar that Evi had come to them and that the hole Dalinar had burned had become a prison.
Dalinar then grabbed Tanalan by the throat and held. He strangled the man, all the while demanding that he retract what he'd said. Tanalan died with a smile on his lips.
==References==
Category:Alethkar (people)
Category:Military (people)