Navani Kholin

Navani Kholin is an Alethi lighteyes living on Roshar. She is the widow of Gavilar Kholin and the mother of Jasnah and Elhokar Kholin. She was the sister-in-law to Dalinar Kholin and aunt to Adolin and Renarin Kholin until she married Dalinar. She is also a renowned scholar and artifabrian.
== Appearance and Personality ==
=== Appearance ===
Navani has a stately bearing and, in some ways, is the picture of a perfect Vorin woman: lush lips, light violet eyes, silvering black hair in perfect braids, curves accentuated by the tight silk havah. She has a warm, feminine voice. She prefers perfume with a less floral scent than most Alethi women. Navani often paints her lips red and wears a red dress with rubies in her hair. Like her daughter, she is known as one of the most beautiful women in Alethkar.
=== Personality ===
As the dowager queen, Navani often challenges Alethi protocol. She is known for her ability to learn everything of significance through gossip, no matter where she travels. She is not overly judgmental, but is not above pointing out the obvious. She is known for her confidence, to the point that she is not afraid to match words with Wit. She believes in being blunt, especially when working with scholars. Despite this, Navani is also known for her discretion. A scholar at heart, she keeps exacting notes and is well organized.
Having lived much of her life as a queen, Navani is a creature of politics. She is deftly able to navigate the Alethi political sphere when she chooses to. However, as she has grown older, Navani has become disillusioned with politics and has begun to chafe at the traditional place for a brightlady. As the dowager queen, she believes that no one cares about her actions and would pass off any extreme actions as eccentricity.
Despite her talent at politics, Navani's true love is found in her scholarly pursuits. It is part of her belief that a brightlady should have a variety of hobbies. She is a renowned scholar, specializing in the development of new fabrials. She pursues her passion with enthusiasm and little to no guile. In addition, she is fond of simple solutions. Navani believes that soul of art is creation. Creation brings order to an blank slate or empty canvas and becomes art. She uses that belief to fuel her scholarly pursuits. She also likes warcamps because they are not messy like cities, and because military men and women valued order and rationality.
== Attributes and Abilities ==
Navani is a renowned artifabrian. She engineers the creation of fabrials that her team of artisan ardents create through fabrial science. She led the research to develop the grandbows. She also had a hand in the construction of a new painrial, and of it, she's particularly proud, though it's only an early model. She thinks it has a lot of potential. Many of her inventions, such as the painrial, are used in the war against the Parshendi, making her incredibly valuable to the Alethi.
Navani is quick to discount her own scholarly abilities but is actually a brilliant systems engineer. She doesn't tend to delve deep into any single component but leads teams of scientists and engineers in multi-disciplinary projects that produce profound results.
The more she understands the secrets of technology and the power of spren locked within the polestones, the closer she grows to finding what she seeks: things she can do to protect her family, like creating Shardplate.
Navani created a platform with fabrial science that defies gravity. Her goal in so doing is to deliver one such to the Shattered Plains to elevate archers above the battlefield for a tactical advantage. Her position is patron to the ardents who make the diagrams and figures and engineer the fabrials.
Navani and her crew of ardents made a breakthrough with Shardblades in realizing that the gemstones in the Blades - used to bond them - might not have originally been part of the weapons. If true, it means the Blades aren't powered by the stones. Rushu had asked why a Shardblade can be summoned and dismissed even if its gemstone has gone dun. If true, artifabrians are back to knowing absolutely nothing about how Shardblades were crafted. It seems the gemstone's purpose is only used in initially bonding the Blade - something the Radiants didn't need to do.
After accepting Shallan, Navani decided to lead the research team studying the quotes Shallan had provided her from Jasnah's research regarding the Oathgate, Knights Radiant, and Urithiru. Navani co-opted Dalinar's scribes and cartographers to locate the Oathgate, leading Dalinar to remark upon it to Shallan. She, in turn, states that she was really just there when Navani changed her mind.
During the Battle of Narak during the Weeping, Navani oversees the deployment of fabrials to allow the Alethi archers to join the battle. Light fabrials are set up to illuminate the battlefield while half-tents are raised to provide shelter from the rain for the archers. To combat the moisture in the air, she authorizes the use of a recently-developed fabrial called an attractor, that was designed to draw water out of the air; Navani was half worried the device would suck the blood out of the archers' bodies.
Once in Urithiru, Navani discovers a fabrial lift. She speaks of counterweights and conjoined gemstones, sounding awed by the technology of the ancients.
=== Surgebinding ===
At the end of the siege of Urithiru, Navani forms a Nahel bond with the Sibling, becoming a Knight Radiant of the Order of Bondsmiths. This grants her the ability to bind the Surges of Tension and Adhesion. She has sworn at least the First Ideal, and may have sworn more than one ideal during her initial bonding of the Sibling.
By working in conjunction with the Sibling, Navani can generate vast quantities of Towerlight, enough to fully power the city-fabrial of Urithiru. She is also able to control and intuitively understand the functioning of Urithiru and its constituent fabrials.
== History ==
=== Early Life (1120-1140) ===
=== Gavilar's Reign (1140-1167) ===
==== Unification of Alethkar ====
Prior to her marriage to Gavilar Kholin, Navani wavered between choosing Gavilar and his younger brother, Dalinar. Ultimately, she chose the future king. With him, she had two children, a daughter, Jasnah, and a son, Elhokar. 
During the unification of Alethkar, Navani and Ialai Sadeas huddled together at dinners; conspiring on how to stabilize the kingdom their husbands were trying to conquer.. They were very close friends. Navani and Ialai were responsible for finding Dalinar a wife which would give them political advantage.
==== Gavilar's Assassination ====
During Gavilar’s last days, he had gone strange. As he had grown more and more distracted, Navani herself had worked to keep squabbling lighteyes from sundering the kingdom. It is uncertain how much she knew of Gavilar's plans, but she was aware that he had a small gemstone that glowed with a strange light that was somehow dark, similar to the one that Dalinar trapped Nergaoul in.
On the night of Gavilar's assassination, Navani was organizing the preparations for the feast, She encountered Aesudan in the palace gardens, speaking to two ardents. Aesudan used Navani's presence as an excuse to cut the conversation short. Navani then approached the palace steward, who told her that Gavilar was missing from the celebration. Despite her irritation with Gavilar, she dealt with the guests' concerns during the feast to cover the king's absence. 
She eventually excused herself to find Gavilar, whom she discovered in her study, speaking to Nale and Kalak. Navani glimpsed an array of violet-black spheres, which Gavilar had arranged on the table. After Gavilar dismissed Nale and Kalak, Navani expressed an interest in the spheres. Gavilar's rebuke initiated an argument between them, where they discussed Jasnah's failed betrothal to Amaram, Gavilar's disregard for her, and his plans for Alethkar. When Navani threatened to tarnish his legacy, Gavilar insulted her and said she was no true scholar. Once he left, an angry Navani inscribed a glyphward praying for his death and burned it. She returned to the feast to fulfill her role as queen. 
Following the end of the feast, Navani heard that the Parshendi had assassinated Gavilar. Although Navani didn't believe what happened, the truth sank in when she saw Gavilar's broken body. She felt a pang of guilt over the glyphward. However, she soon realized she pitied Gavilar instead of grieving for him. Navani vowed to herself that she would stay silent and let Gavilar have his legacy.
=== War of Reckoning (1167-1173) ===
==== Beginning of the War ====
After Gavilar's death at the hands of Szeth, Navani was left without a defined position in Alethi society as her son assumed the throne. In retaliation for Gavilar's death, the Alethi started a war against the Parshendi, who claimed responsibility for the assassination. Much of Alethi society moved to the Shattered Plains to fight them. She spent much of the war guiding Elhokar, although she at some point returned to Kholinar to aid Elhokar's wife, Aesudan, in ruling the kingdom. After some time, near the end of the war, she moved back to the Shattered Plains, realizing that the seat of power had transferred there as the War of Reckoning continued.
==== Return to the Shattered Plains ====
Navani's return to the Plains from Alethkar was three-fold: she brought word that the Vedens had perfected the half-shards, she wishes her son to be protected, and she needs to speak with Dalinar. She also realized that leaving the Plains had been a political mistake because the warcamps became the true center of their kingdom. While in Kholinar, she determined that that Aesudan was sufficiently endowed with the requisite skills needed to hold the city. (The very argument that had originally convinced Navani to return to Kholinar was that the Alethi absence from their homeland was dangerous.)
Later, she confessed to Dalinar that the real reason of her return was the feeling of not having a home. The court expected her to sit out of important events because her husband was dead. People believed that she would lounge around, pampered but ignored, making people uncomfortable with her presence.
==== Recording Dalinar's Visions ====
Because Navani was so exacting in her words and thoughts, as well as the only woman in the warcamps he knew he could trust, Dalinar chose her to record his visions. She scribed expertly, picking out details from him, and knowing when to prod him for more. She was business-like and careful and recorded his visions without complaint. 
While she listened to Dalinar's visions she realized that what he was saying had too much order to be gibberish. She discovered a phrase from the Analectics that matched what Dalinar was babbling during his fits. She told him that it was a line from a song, a chant by the Vanrial, written in the Dawnchant by the Heralds. Navani was able to use Dalinar's visions as a guide to help her scholars translate the Dawnchant. 
Navani related the Myth of Parasaphi and Nadris to Dalinar in effort to afford some insight into the Desolations, with regard to his vision with Nohadon, relevant to the Voidbringers, mankind on Roshar, Damnation, the Heralds, the Tranquiline Halls, and the Knights Radiant. 
She had kept the secret and was very reliable, however they eventually decide to publish them. Before doing so, she removed the lines where he mentioned sensitive issues, such as the Almighty’s death. She’d also search for historical references to match his descriptions. Navani liked things neat and quantified. She’d prepared a timeline of all of his visions, trying to piece them into a single narrative.
She believed the visions were a blessing because they proved that Dalinar wasn't going mad. After recording several of his visions, Dalinar and Navani learned to trust each other and confessed their feelings for one another. Navani made it clear that she would not stop for tradition, as their union wasn't explicitly forbidden.
==== Re-uniting the Alethi Princedoms ====
Navani helped Dalinar build their first plan for unification and strength of the crown. They decided to attack on different fronts: economical (changes to the manner of collection and distribution of gemhearts on the Shattered Plains), fear (Adolin would duel to earn Shardblades) and political (Dalinar and Navani would try to persuade the benefits of a unified Alethkar). It is clear she suggested having allies that would unite based on loyalty and not fear.
Later on, with the help of the glyphs and visions, they tried to make peace with the Parshendi by meeting with Eshonai. Navani was part of the failed mission which sent Adolin instead of his father for this task; she was also writing the script for Adolin sending it via spanreed to their scribe Inadara, who accompanied and translated to him. 
Regardless of the war and internal Alethi plotting; Navani never stopped her research on fabrials. Among other works, she looked to make warcamps more sustainable (trying to build water pumps), creating possible weapons (moving plates) and even working on history (finding the gemstones on Shardblades are not part of the original piece).
They faced a setback when the publication of the visions were changed from the way she had written them. The tone was changed to imply mockery; though Navani was furious with the outcome (his image would be strongly damaged), Dalinar took it better saying he would not hide from the truth.
Shortly after that, upon Shallan’s return from the chasm with a very detailed drawing of the Shattered Plains, they all go in search for the Oathgate to Urithiru and to make, what they hoped would be, the final strike towards the Parshendi.
==== Battle of Narak ====
On the way to battle, Navani became close to Shallan and her work. Confirming she would not take the project from her, but would participate and get her scholars to work for her as well. Once Navani commits to the research, Shallan reveals to her that Jasnah's Soulcaster was a fake; that her daughter could Soulcast on her own, without any fabrial, and that she'd seen her do it. This means that her daughter was a Knight Radiant.
A couple of days before the battle itself, she was part of the questioning done to Rlain when he came back to Bridge Four to support their cause. She was the one to transcribe all he had said.
During the battle itself, Navani fought with fabrials leading her scholars to use them in battle. She helped the Alethi to see during the night as one of her fabrials bathed the battlefield in an extraordinarily even white light. Next she asked for the "Attractors" to clear the rain for the arrows. Water quickly started to pool around the fabrial. It was pulling moisture from the air. Roion’s archers were able to hit the Parshendi and make an immediate difference which was enough to save part of his army.
At the same time, her scholars led by Inadara, were key in helping Shallan find, reach and open the Oathgate, which eventually gave the Alethi an escape..
=== Forming the Coalition (1174) ===
==== Urithiru ====
Once at Urithiru, she continued to transcribe the visions in much more detail now that Dalinar could replay them at will. After Odium manifested on one vision, he decided his next action would be to unite all of Roshar and asked Navani to help him. He believed that his tenacity and her brilliance together would convince the other kingdoms to join with them.
She and Dalinar got married, with the Stormfather officiating the ceremony, since the Stormfather always encourages any types of oaths.
While working with Dalinar on plans to bring the kingdoms together, she continued to write her memoirs, work on large-scale civic project at Urithiru including sewage, and research and develop several types of fabrials, like pain or time-related ones.
The unification of Roshar did not go as they expected. Only Taravangian from Kharbranth answered back with support. Navani was the main political voice talking to each leader.
When Dalinar found out that he could bring people into his visions, Navani, along with Jasnah were the first ones to go in. They arrived at the Aharietiam, the Last Desolation. In the beginning Navani was mostly wondering of the place, how real it looked and even bullied a radiant to show him his fabrial. Later however, when they started to see more about that day, she started asking about the Parshmen and later the Honorblades. The Stormfather finally confided in them the truth about that day and how the Heralds decided not to go back and stop the Desolations, at least for a time. In future visits, she was decided to find the Feverstone Keep and what happened at the Recreance.
Navani led also the research of Urithiru itself and found the patters on the gemstones, which opened the code for understanding recorded phrases of the last Radiants who lived at Urithiru.
Eventually, after playing different strategies like setting leaders/key people into visions, writhing essays, or helping Queen Fen with the wounded and reconstructions; Dalinar and Navani were able to get several of the Kings in Roshar to agree on meeting and fighting together. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, Dalinar was fragile with the return of most of his memories and the fall of Kholinar. Navani had to deal with them with some help from Taravangian.
On the day of the first meeting of monarchs at Urithiru, Navani made each person—no matter how important—carry their own chair. The old Alethi tradition symbolized each chief bringing important wisdom to a gathering. She was able keep her mind clear enough from her worries of Elhokar to analyze the other Kings, their companions and the Highprinces. Ialai Sadeas notably ignored the chair request.
She welcomed everyone and started with an inspirational speech of making history and uniting for a cause. The meeting however went out of control very fast as each kingdom started making requests on territory, trade, half-shards, and war. Navani was able to get them to agree by listening what each Kingdom did best and giving them tasks that were in line with that. She complimented the Azish´s laws and were given the task to create codes of how kingdoms are to interact and share resources. Thaylenah was asked to oversee trade and supplies. The Alethi would help the Emuli at securing the remaining territory, but not more. Then, they moved to guessing where they would be attacked next, they decided it would be Jah Keved and support from other kingdom came. Navani had done it.
When Dalinar was recovering and well enough to join a meeting, he figured out the target would be Thaylenah and not Jah Keved. This meeting however, was abruptly ended by Taravangian’s treason, who leaked several of Dalinar’s secrets in a targeted way which caused distrust. They were not able to hold the coalition together.
==== Battle of Thaylen Field and Aftermath ====
Though the coalition broke, Thaylen accepted the Alethi help to aid on the possible invasion from Odium and his forces. Navani traveled to that city to support the queen.
During the battle itself, she and Queen Fen were attacked by a huge rock monster who destroyed the tower they were in. Navani and Fen were able to go down the surviving steps. From there Navani was able to see that Amaram had switched sides and Dalinar facing the unmade alone.
Navani, Fen and her consort Kmakl were then captured by one of Amaram’s troops who still blamed the Kholins for the killing of Torol Sadeas. As they were going to execute Kmakl, Navani pulled out her painrial and knocked their enemies down.
They were later joined by Adolin, who gave her the news on Elhokar’s death and provided comfort. Later Jasnah came in to ask her to clear the center of the city and save citizens. They looked after them until Dalinar came back and Navani went to take care of him.
Dalinar gave her the gem that imprisoned Nergaoul and asked her to study it. He also requested her to teach him how to read. Navani not only taught him to read and write, but helped him with his autobiography: Oathbringer, My Glory and My Shame.
=== The War Continues (1174-1175) ===
==== Orchestrating the Aimian Expedition ====
After the Thaylen military discovered the First Dreams, Navani published a request for another ship to investigate a region of Aimia. 
Navani was paid a visit by Rysn, who had indicated an interest in the mission. Navani started confused until she had read the notes her assistant handed her. They shortly discussed Rysn's inspection of the ghost ship, with Rysn assuring Navani her disabilities were no hindrance to the mission. There was no trace of the Soulcaster, Kaza, or her device, on the ship that had been found. The queen indicated that she had heard from the prince of Liafor that the ship had likely gone to Aimia, to the hidden island of Akinah. In reply, Rysn said that Akinah was only a legend. Navani pointed out the same was said of Urithiru.
The conversation drifted to mythical creatures that fed on Stormlight, and resulted in Navani inspecting Chiri-Chiri, who immediately went to eat the Stormlight out of the lamp. Rysn explained she got her on the Reshi-Isles. Navani steered the conversation to practical matters discussing the ship. She offered Rysn a generous compensation for the mission. At Rysn's request, Navani would arrange an endorsement of the mission from Queen Fen and ensure the ardent on the mission would experiment with new Fabrial technology that could help Rysn deal with her disability.
Navani sent Rushu on the expedition with fabrial technology to experiment. It should allow for a seat hover in the air, and test the effects of aluminum. Moreover, Navani intentionally send Windrunners on the mission that did not have access to their Shardblades yet, to prevent sending a key to the gate should the enemy hold it. However, she did allow Rushu to take a Soulcaster to help access underground caverns.
==== Evacuation of Hearthstone ====
During the battle between Kaladin and the Fused at Hearthstone, Navani was aboard the Fourth Bridge, an airship that she designed with her team of engineers. While speaking with Dalinar about the mysterious crystal pillar at Urithiru, Dieno enne Calah, the Mink, snuck onto the Fourth Bridge. Despite the Mink's hostility towards Dalinar for the war between Alethkar and Herdaz, Dalinar and the Mink made a deal to let the Mink's remaining forces onto the Fourth Bridge.
As the evacuation commenced, Navani collaborated with the crew and engineers to secure the Hearthstone refugees. When Dalinar opened a perpendicularity to replenish stormlight, Navani and Rushu made some observations about the nature of Shadesmar. The conversation turned to the subject of Urthiru. Navani, though frustrated about her inability to discover the tower's secrets, told Rushu that their discoveries might help improve future airship designs. While Rushu was writing down her thoughts, she told Navani that she saw a strange man on a hill, standing aside from the battle. Navani recognized the man as Moash. She alerted the Windrunners to Moash's presence.
On the way back to Urithiru, Navani reviewed her notes on fabrials. She studied the strange suppression fabrial that Kaladin and Lift had found while fighting the Fused. Navani observed that the gemstones in the suppression fabrial were the same as the gemstones in Urithiru's central pillar. Confused by this revelation, she compared the pillar and the fabrial to the layout of a Soulcaster. The dilemma of the Soulcasters grabbed her attention, since they didn't adhere to any laws or mechanics of fabrial science. Although she wanted to look deeper into the mysteries of these devices, she found no concrete answers in her research.
As the Windrunners and the Fourth Bridge neared the Shattered Plains, Navani glimpsed a conjoined ruby inside her flying chamber. She attached it to a spanreed. The person on the other end of the spanreed accused Navani of being a monster who imprisoned spren. The spanreed then ceased writing, despite Navani's attempts to re-establish contact.
==== Return to Urithiru ====
Upon returning to Urithiru, Navani interrogated an imprisoned Szeth about the strange dark sphere that he'd possessed. She noted that the sphere had similar visual properties to ones infused with Voidlight, but was not the same. Szeth recounted the night of Gavilar's assassination to her. However, he had no answers as to what the sphere was. All he knew was that Gavilar had given him the sphere right before he died. When he asked Navani if she hated him, Navani told him that she did.
Later on, she paid a visit to the Cloudwalk. She met with Gavinor and his nursemaid on the Cloudwalk. Navani embraced her grandson and listened to him talk excitedly about his recent adventures. Though she was concerned about how his trauma in Kholinar was affecting his development, she said nothing. Gavinor asked her why Dalinar wasn't teaching him the sword, since he wanted to take revenge on the man that killed his father. Navani deflected the question, promising to discuss it further with Dalinar. 
She went over some strange barometric and temperature readings with her research team. Strangely enough, the temperature and pressure rose in front of a storm. Navani theorized that Urthiru's elevation could be affecting the readings, then advised them to dedicate further observation to the matter. She also gave Gavilar's strange sphere to the engineers Talnah and Nem for further study. 
Afterwards, she met with her family and the Mink to discuss further action against Odium's forces. For most of the discussion, Navani remained a silent observer, watching Jasnah and Dalinar discuss strategy with the Mink. Though she was surprised when the Mink proposed that the coalition retake Emul, she and Jasnah eventually persuaded Dalinar to agree with the plan.
==== Further Studies ====
Navani resumed her studies on the crystal pillar beneath Urithiru, but reached another dead end in her research. Attempting to focus her attention elsewhere, she paid a visit to Falilar and Tomor, who presented her with a lifting fabrial that enabled the redirection of force. Navani wore the device and participated in some experiments that tested its practical applications. Falilar showed her a shaft in Urithiru that was rigged with pulleys and weights, which would provide the manpower for the device. Inspired, Navani encouraged him to refine the design and experiment with the pulley system.
At a meeting of the coalition of monarchs, Navani encountered Taravangian. She coldly criticized his takeover of Jah Keved. Taravangian asserted that both Gavilar and Dalinar had committed worse crimes. When the meeting began, she expected Taravangian to oppose the proposal for an Emuli offensive. However, Taravangian agreed, much to everyone's surprise. The coalition made significant progress in organizing their forces to prepare for Emul, as well as designating people to lead an envoy to the honorspren. Despite this, Navani felt uneasy at Taravangian's swift agreement to the proposal.
Later, in private, she eventually voiced her concerns to Dalinar about Taravangian. Dalinar told her that he had similar worries, likening Taravangian's betrayal to Sadeas's treachery on the Shattered Plains. He insisted that Navani stay at Urithiru in case something went awry in Emul. Navani promised that she would.
=== Occupation of Urithiru (1175) ===
==== The Sibling Makes Contact ====
During the departure of the coalition's forces, Navani bade Dalinar goodbye as she warned him about Taravangian's potential schemes. Thought it troubled her that Dalinar wanted to take Gavinor to the front lines in Emul, she permitted him to do so, since Dalinar argued that he wanted to be more involved with their grandson. She asked Jasnah to watch over Dalinar on the battlefield and keep him out of the fighting.
With the help of Sebarial and Anesa, she began coordinating the day-to-day running of Urithiru in Dalinar's absence. She checked on a team of Radiants and engineers, who were studying a crack in the wall that her scribes found. Falilar told her that the crack concealed a hidden room, which contained a scale model of Urithiru. As Navani was leaving the room, her scribe Isabi brought her a blinking spanreed. Navani immediately dropped her current task to answer the mysterious person's request.
Navani's scribes set up her spanreed. The engineers rigged a system that would allow them to determine the location of the person on the spanreed's opposite end. After a terse back-and-forth conversation over spanreed, Navani ordered her team to move her and the spanreed to a different place. She contacted the person again, and she and Kalami deduced that the person must be a spren. Falilar noted that he could tell the spren was writing from inside the tower. Spontaneously, Navani decided to break her spanreed to see if she could lure out the spren in the future.
Despite her destruction of the spanreed, Navani's team was no closer to pinpointing the spren. She remained preoccupied while running Urithiru and working with her scholars. Tomor showed her his new design for the lifting fabrial, which Navani wore and tested. She suggested that Tomor refine the controls to enable more precise descent and ascent.
Following her conversation with Tomor, her guards brought Dabbid forwards, since they found him hiding a spanreed ruby at her workstation. Navani tried to interrogate him, but to no avail. Though Navani didn't recognize Dabbid, her soldiers told her that he was a servant for the Windrunners. As they took Dabbid to Navani's audience chamber, Navani noticed that Isabi was receiving a spanreed message.
The message relayed news of an explosion, which had killed Talnah and Nem and destroyed scholarly equipment. When she arrived at the scene, Navani surveyed the damage, then ordered Rushu to secure the area. She returned to her audience chamber to interrogate a number of Radiants stationed at Urithiru. Red, one of the Lightweavers, told her about Dabbid and his disability. Navani ordered her scribes to set up a spanreed with the ruby that Dabbid had delivered. The spanreed began to write frantically about the singers that had infiltrated Urithiru. It stated that it was the Sibling, the spren of the tower.
==== Singer Invasion ====
As Red and the other Radiants began to collapse, Navani tried to reestablish contact with the Sibling. She asked her soldiers to run messages to the nearby garrisons, since the spanreeds stopped functioning. While ordering her scribes to move to the map room, she learned from Dabbid that the Sibling spoke to him through veins of crystal in the tower walls.
In the map room, Navani found Kholin forces gathered around a map of the tower. The officers reported that every Radiant in the tower was unconscious, with singers invading from the lowest and highest levels of the tower. Navani told them that their best hope was fighting their way to the pillar room in the basement. On her orders, Battalionlord Teofil mobilized his soldiers and sent them to the lower floors. As he began relaying Navani's commands to the soldiers, Navani found a vein of crystal in the wall. She spoke directly to the Sibling, who reported that Raboniel had corrupted the tower's defenses. Though the Sibling expressed their distaste for Navani and her experiments, they told her how to activate a final line of defense against the singers.
Navani's contingent made their way down to the pillar room, using a fake rout and an ambush to lure away the Fused. Accompanied by her attendants, she made her way to the bottom floors of Urithiru. Dabbid helped her find a vein of crystal that the Sibling could send messages through. The Sibling ordered Navani to infuse the topaz connected to the crystal vein. With the help of two Thaylen scholars, Vrandl and Ulvlk, she used a tuning fork and strategic vibrations to siphon stormlight into the uninfused topaz. The infused topaz opened a hidden chamber with another large gemstone.
With her team's help, Navani began siphoning stormlight into the second gemstone. She communicated with the Sibling, who reported that Teofil and his men had fallen to the Fused. The fully infused gemstone activated a shield around the gemstone pillar that formed the Sibling's heart. Navani then surrendered to the singers and negotiated the terms with Raboniel. Though Raboniel offered to hire her as a research assistant, Navani said she would deliberate it with her scholars first.
==== Defending the Tower and Studying Lights ====
On the first day of the occupation, Navani told Raboniel that she and her scholars would accept their offer. Pleased, Raboniel asked Navani to sketch the schematics of Fourth Bridge's flying platform. While sketching, Navani realized with help from Raboniel that Soulcasters, the tower's elevators, and other abnormal fabrials were comprised directly of spren, instead of powered by spren trapped in gemstones.
Under the watchful eye of singer guards, Navani directed her scholars to occupy themselves with busy work and revisions as a stalling tactic. When Raboniel cut her off from direct contact with her scholars, she instructed them to continue researching Voidlight fabrials and sent them nonsense ciphered messages to occupy Raboniel's spies. She continued to communicate with the Sibling, using the Sibling's awareness of the tower to get information on Raboniel and deciding that her most important goal was to protect the Sibling. They were distrustful of her, both because of her use of fabrials and her human ability to twist words convincingly, but helped her contact Kaladin, updating him on their situation. However, this method of communication was turned against her when she convinced the Sibling to give her the location of the node in the well, only to discover that Raboniel had been listening in on their conversations. Kaladin managed to destroy the node, but the Sibling felt betrayed and refused to talk to Navani for a while. Raboniel brought her food and wine, and they had a conversation about the history of the conflict between humans and singers and Raboniel's desire to end the war at any cost. 
When Navani mentioned no longer wishing to do research under Raboniel, Raboniel appealed to her curiosity and convinced her to continue. They began collaborating, and Navani came to a realization about how using Honor's, Odium's, and Cultivation's rhythms could affect the Light. Raboniel taught her Honor's rhythm, and with Raboniel singing Odium's rhythm at the same time as Navani sang Honor's, they were able to create Warlight, the combination of Stormlight and Voidlight, for the first time, as well as a rhythm that Raboniel titled the Rhythm of War. Navani then realized Raboniel's true desire for the experiments - to find anti-Light - and knew that Gavilar's strange sphere was an example of this anti-Light, although she did not reveal that. As a thank you for the breakthrough of the production of Warlight Raboniel had two singer musicians play the tones of Honor and Odium on plates temporarily affixed to Navani's desk she also granted Navani the title "Voice of Lights". Afterward, Raboniel seemingly ended their collaboration stating that she needed to focus on finishing the corruption of the Sibling. Raboniel also gave Navani free reign to continue experiments on her own and provided any resource requested.
With Raboniel distancing herself to focus on defeating the Sibling's shield Navani toils for days on the concept of anti-Voidlight. Utilizing the same plates that Raboniel rewarded her for she begins to conceptualize sound waves and the patterns that the distinct lights create. Further delving into music theory she theorizes that the anti-Voidlight rhythm would sound identical to the ear as the regular Voidlight rhythm. Eventually she is successful at creating a plate that produces the correct rhythm. Raboniel returns and upon realizing what Navani is working on forces her to reveal her research. The two are then successful at creating an anti-Voidlight gem utilizing a vacuum tube to isolate the light from the Rhythms of Roshar. Raboniel, understanding the implications of the breakthrough betrays Navani once again and begins to manufacture anti-Stormlight with the intention of killing the incapacitated Radiants along with their spren.
==== Radiant ====
A day later she is visited by Moash, who has every intention of killing her but is redirected by Raboniel who sends him to deal with Kaladin first. Navani, left to her own devices once again, finds the dagger Raboniel used to kill her daughter with, some anti-Voidlight still left in its gem. She plans and prepares fabrial traps, and is able to get the jump on Raboniel, gravely injuring her with the anti-Voidlight dagger, but fails to kill her on the spot. This failure proves fortuitous because when Moash comes back for Navani, Raboniel is able to hold him off just long enough for Navani to negotiate a bond with the Sibling. A freshly bonded Bondsmith, Navani drives Moash away, restores the Tower, and sends the invaders running for their lives.
- killing Raboniel, talking to Dalinar
=== Spiritual Realm (1175) ===
==== Making Plans ====
==== Traveling to the Spiritual Realm ====
==== First Humans on Roshar ====
==== Founding of the Oathpact ====
==== The Desolations ====
==== The False Desolation and the Recreance ====
==== Escaping the Spiritual Realm ====
=== Night of Sorrows (1175) ===
==== Defending the Tower ====
== Relationships ==
=== Gavilar ===
During the Unification of Alethkar, Navani was a good partner to Gavilar, helping him with the strategy and creating/executing plots that would help their cause.
Though Navani had been interested in fabrials her entire life, Gavilar shared with his brother a lack of interest in the mechanics, only caring about the function.
At first, Navani and Gavilar were close, but they grew apart as time went by, with Gavilar doing things such as inviting renowned artifabrians to feasts and not speaking a word of it to Navani. This culminated in an argument between them on the night of his death after which Navani burnt a glyphward praying for his death, one of the finest she had ever created. When she heard of the news of his death, she first thought that he had disappeared somewhere with Nale and Kalak, only believing that he was dead after seeing his corpse for herself. Although she worried that her lack of grief would gain her a reputation for callousness, it instead provided a solid foundation for the grieving royal staff. Though she threatened to tell the entire world the truth about him in her biography of him, she instead told the story that was expected, as the truth would fracture the country.
=== Dalinar ===
Navani and Dalinar were friends before he introduced her to Gavilar. At that point it seems they were both interested in her. Navani chose Gavilar over Dalinar because she found Dalinar to be frightening. 
When Navani returns to the Shattered Plains from Kholinar, she frequently speaks with Dalinar, and later becomes romantically involved with him, which is unusual, because in the eyes of Alethi society, she is now considered to be Dalinar's sister. Part of what Navani finds intriguing about him is that he's begun to be the person the others all claim to be. She now finds Dalinar's intensity, which frightened her when they both were younger, to be fascinating because he's now wrapped it in emotional armor. 
Navani believes Dalinar to be a kind man, and a bit overprotective. She never mocks Dalinar, never acts skeptical of that which he reveals in his visions.
When she learns of his "death" at the Battle of the Tower, upon receipt of the news of Sadeas's betrayal, Navani worried about Dalinar, as he had no daughters and no wife, meaning he had no one to pray for him. So, Navani endeavors to paint a prayer in glyph format upon the stones of the Plains. She creates a wish out of despair, a plea out of anguish: Thath: Justice.
After he came back, he decided not to keep the relationship a secret, and they became a couple; not only personally but as leaders of the war and kingdom. She had a way with him, translating scholarship into battle tactics, that helped them understand each other. She also made sure he did not hate the other Alethi princes, but to see them as his people. Their wedding ceremony was carried out by the Stormfather.
He believes he loves her the most for being open and genuine in a society that prided itself on secrets. She’d been breaking taboos, and hearts, since their youth.
Dalinar confided in Navani all he remembered of her visit to the Nightwatcher, she was very supportive. When he started to get his memories back she researched the Old Magic to try to understand why it was happening; but in more than three hundred cases all effects lasted till death.
After the battle of Thaylen, he requests Navani to teach him how to read and write. She does and also helps him with the writing of his autobiography.
=== Jasnah ===
Jasnah believes her mother has a tendency toward the overwhelming. She does not let her mother 'mother' her. Navani knows it. She would try to get close to her daughter, and there was a coldness, like even being near her mother reminded Jasnah that she had once been a child. She wonders what happened to her little girl, so full of questions.
Navani knows Jasnah better that anyone else, but wishes she had some sense to go with her intelligence. She believes that Jasnah never did have the decency to be wrong an appropriate amount of the time. 
When she thought Jasnah was dead, Navani considers it to be her first time mourning, implying there difficulties between her and Gavilar before his assassination. Her journals tell of just how deeply Navani felt the loss of her daughter. That also affected Navani's relationship with Shallan, who she first sent away.
Once Jasnah returned to Urithiru, they start working closely both in research and politics. Jasnah would lecture her mother sometimes, but she is still respectful enough to apologize to Navani afterwards.
=== Elhokar ===
Navani loves her son, but doesn't consider him a capable king; she calls him her "poor distracted, oblivious boy". She acknowledges that he is seen as weak, and intends to see him protected despite himself, if necessary. In spite of Elhokar's feeling towards Dalinar, he gives them his blessing for the wedding and a sincere hug as he knows it will make his mother happy.
=== Shallan ===
Before meeting Shallan, through Jasnah, Navani had offered to look into Shallan's Soulcaster to try fix it. She was also very supportive on her engagement towards Adolin.
To Shallan, Navani looks like a version of Jasnah twenty years older; still pretty, though with a motherly air.
After learning of her daughter's death from Shallan, Navani refuses to see her, or have anything to do with her. She even accused her of dooming her when she burned the ship with her "unconscious".
Their relationship changed dramatically after she survived the fall to the chasms. Upon her return, Navani became motherly and protective of her. She became one of her own.
Navani admits to Shallan that she's been ignoring things, things that she should not, because they bring her pain. Shallan apologizes to her, but Navani insists that Shallan has nothing to apologize for. Navani finds Shallan's organization of her notes on Jasnah's findings interesting. Navani acknowledges to Shallan that she thinks like an artist, that she can see it in the way Shallan put her notes together.
=== Adolin ===
Navani and Adolin are very close. He is very polite with asking questions on her fabrials, though he is bored by the scholarship, he usually enjoys the military use he can use for them.
She burned prayers for him when dueling and made fun of his superstitious rituals before the duel. She also persuaded Adolin to at least consider an engagement with Shallan. Though she was cold to Shallan after Shallan brought news of Jasnah's death, Navani never stopped supporting the relationship between Adolin and Shallan.
At first, Adolin was not very happy with the relationship between his father and Navani, mostly because it would place his father in an inconvenient position when it came to enforcing the codes. He later becomes supportive of the wedding, shown by his whooping and the joyspren he trailed as he ran.
At the Battle of Thaylen Field, Adolin seeks Navani to protect her and give her the news on Elhokar's death. He provided her comfort.
=== Raboniel ===
Navani agrees, when pressured, to work under Raboniel and research the different types of Light. She calls Raboniel Ancient One as directed when they first meet, and although she does not trust her, shares her findings in the name of scientific discovery. She is interested in the scientific and historical insights Raboniel has to offer, but understands that they are enemies. However, this distinction becomes more difficult for her to remember as their relationship progresses and they spend more time together. Navani gains a deeper understanding of Raboniel's motivations and emotions, especially when she sees Raboniel grieve over Essu, and even begins to recognize her rhythms.
Raboniel respects Navani and her scientific mind, saying she is in debt to Navani and giving her the title Voice of Lights as a sign of respect. She often compliments Navani on her intelligence and scientific discoveries, but Navani is uncomfortable with this praise as she does not believe herself deserving of it.
Navani attempts to kill Raboniel, but it is a very difficult decision for her. When she ends up killing Raboniel out of mercy, she comforts her by humming the Rhythm of War one final time and holding her hand. Navani genuinely mourns Raboniel after her death.
== Quotes ==
== Trivia ==
* Navani is an orthodox theist. She’s a traditionalist, who wants the old religion to really work, who is trying to reconcile this with newer discoveries.
* She is a few months older than Dalinar.
* Navani would make a better Amyrlin than Jasnah for most of the history of Tar Valon.
* Navani would have been happy to be married to Dalinar by a confused dishwasher.
== See Also ==
* Navani's notebook
* Navani's journal
== Notes ==
category: viewpoint characters
es:Navani Kholin