Gavinor Kholin

Gavinor Kholin is the first and only son of Elhokar and Aesudan Kholin on Roshar.
Gavinor spends the first few years of his life in Kholinar with his mother, Aesudan. Little is known about his childhood before the Battle of Kholinar, when he is around four years old. Jasnah Kholin currently rules as queen regnant, with Gavinor named as her heir.
== Appearance and Personality ==
Gavinor was a small boy of about four years at the time of Kaladin, Elhokar, and Shallan's infiltration of the Kholinar Palace. He was found wearing a Kholin blue uniform, as well as holding a stuffed soldier that wore the same uniform.
By the time Kaladin flies back to Alethkar after the Battle of Thaylen Field, Gavinor appeared to be three or four years old, with chapped lips and haunted eyes, and was dressed in rags.
After some time living in Urithiru, Gavinor was a healthy young boy, yet too small for his age and somewhat reserved. He had dark hair and pure yellow eyes, and he carries a small wooden sword with him at all times.
After being misled and trained under Taravangian's regimen, he develops a "coldness in his eyes" and a "hardness in his tone"- he, above all, tries to live up to the heroic image he has of his father. He perceives himself as a true king and the liberator of Alethkar from Dalinar's feet. He tries to put across the fact that he was capable of making his own choices and that he was not a child. His life, for 20 years, has been solely defined by hatred for Dalinar and driven by his quest for vengeance and to set right perceived wrong. He now looks upon Taravangian as a father figure. He strikes a great resemblance to his father, Elhokar Kholin, but the shape of the jaw and the set of the brow are somewhat different, though this is clear only on close examination.
== History ==
When Kaladin and Elhokar stormed the Kholinar Palace and found Aesudan in the royal chambers, Elhokar spoke with Aesudan while Kaladin went into the other room to look for Gavinor. Instead of playing with friends, as his mother had stated, Gavinor was being tormented by spren, so Kaladin summoned Syl as a dagger and killed one of the spren. Elhokar and Aesudan's conversation escalated to a full-scale argument, with Kaladin being able to hear every word they said from the other room. Kaladin tried to pick up Gavinor, but he screamed and scrambled away from Kaladin. Elhokar ran over and comforted his son. It is after this that Aesudan revealed that she was allied with Yelig-nar and Ashertmarn. Elhokar whispered something to his son, which made the boy stop crying and allowed his father to pick him up.
During the fighting at the Kholinar Palace, Elhokar, holding Gavinor, was one word away from speaking the Immortal Words when Moash appeared and ran him through with a spear. Moash shoved Gavinor aside before dealing the final blow.
Kaladin returned to Alethkar to rescue Drehy and Skar, who he left behind in the fighting at the Kholinar Palace. He found them near a dried out river, with the symbol of Bridge Four painted on a tarp. Drehy and Skar revealed a few servants they saved, as well as Gavinor.
Ialai Sadeas pretended to be a patriot who wanted to rescue Gavinor from the Blackthorn and the boy's aunt by becoming Queen of Alethkar until the boy comes of age. However, Shallan kills her before she can start a rebellion.
The trauma of his father's death had a long-lasting effect on Gavinor, with Navani noting that he treated even play as a serious occasion. He asked her if Dalinar could teach him to fight, so that he could kill Moash someday, to which Navani replied that she would ask him. Dalinar later shows him how to hold practice swords. Szeth expressed to Nightblood his fears that Gavinor had finally begun to laugh again and that, someday, the child would have that taken from him again.
=== Incursion in the Spiritual Realm ===
Lift accompanied Gavinor in Urithiru for a substantial period, trying to break him out of his shell. He had been taught a 'secret handshake' to make him feel included and to grant him a sense of belonging.
Lift taught him that sometimes violating instructions of his elders was the right thing to do. Taking this to heart, Gavinor followed Lift when she was spying on Dalinar projecting his mind into the Spiritual Realm. However, events quickly spiraled out of hand. Mraize struck the perpendicularity with an Anti-Light-bearing dagger, collapsing it and physically sucking Gav, Dalinar, and Navani Kholin into the Spiritual Realm, bereft of the anchor of Connection to the Physical Realm they had constructed.
Dalinar quickly found Navani and Gav in the Spritual Realm due to the intense Connection he had to them and told young Gav, who had not yet overcome his great aversion to spren after the torture he had been subjected to in the Kholinar palace, that all the visions they entered into were make-believe and that the situations were not real. Gav was viewed at first as a spren by the people in a vision due to his abrupt appearance in it.
Gavinor throughout heard the 'voice' of his father Elhokar, which likely was the result of Odium's tampering, making use of the deep respect and admiration Gav had for his father. Gavinor expressed a conviction that he, like Dalinar, would be a king and would be trained by a god.
=== Training to be Odium's Champion ===
Gavinor is subjected to visions of Dalinar's worst failures and especially comes to have a sense of indignation and shock when he witness Dalinar assaulting Elhokar in one of his visions, not knowing Dalinar's purpose in doing so. Thus inceptions of rage against Dalinar were laid within him.
Taravangian replaces him with a perfect reproduction, made of meat, of him sleeping when Navani left the Spiritual Realm, under the impression she was carrying Gavinor.
Gavinor Kholin was taken by Odium into a specially-constructed vision that lasted for twenty years in the space of an hour of the Physical Realm and trained to intensely hate Dalinar-believing Dalinar to be an exceedingly evil figure. Taravangian instilled in him the conviction that Dalinar had taken Elhokar's kingdom and sent him off to die. He was promised kingship of Alethkar under Odium if the contest was won by him. He was also trained in the use of a Shardblade, becoming an expert with it and defeating several visions of Dalinar.
=== Contest of Champions ===
Gavinor emerged from the Spiritual Realm carrying Dalinar's old Shardblade Oathbringer and confronted Dalinar. Odium had taken some pain to procure the Blade, unable to use his best tools in Urithiru. Odium would rather have used Elhokar himself, but he was beyond even his touch now. Dalinar noted a striking resemblance between Gavinor and his father. He was betrayed by Taravangian, who paralyzed him in the fight. Dalinar refused to kill him and protected him with his last breath from a storm that ensued after the conclusion of the contest.
==Relationships==
=== Family ===
Gavinor is the son of Aesudan and Elhokar Kholin. Not much is known about his relationship with his parents. He spent most of his early childhood with Aesudan, as Elhokar was off fighting the War of Reckoning, although the two have met before -- possibly during Aesudan's visits to the Shattered Plains. Elhokar seems to know how to take care of Gavinor, and knows how to calm the boy down when he starts crying. Gavinor, in turn, cares for him dearly, swearing bloody revenge on Moash after his death.
It's unknown how Gavinor used to feel about his mother. After Aesudan fell under the influence of Ashertmarn and Yelig-nar, he grew scared of her and most other people. That time left him timid, quiet and easily-scared, and it took over a year for him to become excitable and sociable again. He does not seem to feel as strongly about his mother's death as he does about his father's, though this might be because of the different manner in which she died. He even thought she was evil until Dalinar told him that she was controlled by evil people, and that she loved him.
After Gavinor arrives in Urithiru, the rest of his family, including Adolin, Dalinar and Navani, take care of him; Adolin teaches him horse-riding, Dalinar trains him in swordsmanship, while Navani tries to spend time with him whenever she can. While it seems that doesn't happen very often, both of them enjoy each other's company, and Navani is very fond of the boy. 
After Gavinor had been trained under Taravangian's regimen, he came to ardently hate his grandfather, who he felt had taken Gav's father's kingdom and sent him off to die. This opinion might have altered after Dalinar's refusal to strike at him when Odium paralyzed him and Dalinar's protection of him from the ravages of the storm ensuing the contest with his life.
=== Drehy and Skar ===
Little is known about the journey of Drehy and Skar's small band of refugees who flee the city after the siege of Kholinar. However, it is apparent that Drehy and Skar are able to convince Gavinor to come with them, and after they have sacrificed so much to protect Gavinor and the rest of their band, it is likely that Gavinor trusts them.
=== Moash ===
Gavinor wants to kill Moash to avenge his father; he asks Dalinar to teach him swordsmanship for this purpose. He was told the reasons for his father's death and hates Moash because of it.
=== Szeth ===
Gavinor's happiness frightens Szeth because he thinks he shouldn't be around the prince, not to mention guarding him, as he's mentally unstable. However he can't bring himself to ask Dalinar not to. Gavinor, on the other hand, doesn't seem to fear Szeth, and even smiles and wriggles his wooden sword in front of Szeth.
=== Lift === 
Lift had actively worked to meet and form a bond with Gavinor after his rescue from Kholinar, partially prevented by him attending the campaign in Emul with Dalinar. She regularly tries to cheer him up whenever he doubts the intentions of people around him, such as Dalinar and Navani. She believes that he needs a friend instead of someone who will tell him to be mature. They are alike in how they both reject maturity. Lift and Gavinor have a special handshake together, where they reach two fingers out to each other and interlock them. Gavinor follows Lift when she attempts to sneak in the vents to watch Dalinar and Navani enter the Spiritual Realm, but when Mraize throws an anti-Stormlight knife at the perpendicularity, Lift tries and fails to save him, only being saved herself by Wit.
=== Taravangian ===
While in the Spiritual Realm, Gavinor was trained by Taravangian to hate his grandfather. He was promised Alethkar upon winning the Contest of Champions, and views Odium as allowing him to train to complete his goals. While Taravangian calls Gav "son", it is unclear whether Gav feels the same way about Odium. His views of Odium likely changed when he was left to die in the Everstorm.
== Notes ==