Jezrien

Jezrien, also known as Jezerezeh'Elin, Yaezir, Yaysi, and Yesoran, is one of the ten Heralds of the Almighty and the Patron of the Order of Windrunners. Jezrien fights in multiple Desolations, defending mankind from the Voidbringers and returning to Damnation between Desolations to be tortured. After centuries of combat, Jezrien abandons the Oathpact with eight of the other Heralds, pretending the Voidbringers have been defeated once and for all. He goes into hiding, gradually losing his mind, while the rest of the world revere his memory and he becomes a figure of legend over the following millennia.
== Appearance and Personality ==
=== Appearance ===
Jezrien has dark eyes and black hair. He is tall and appears almost Alethi, although his skin is a little darker than a typical Alethi man and his features are slightly off. As a Herald, Jezrien appears to be about thirty years old and wore a short, neatly-trimmed black beard. He stands confidently with a royal bearing. He often wears fine white and blue clothing, although it is oftentimes stained and charred by battle. He speaks with a deep, calm voice that has a regal sound to it.
After he abandoned the Oathpact and started living as a beggar, Jezrien's beard grew long and scraggly, streaked with black and gray. His hair became matted and filthy and he smelled like garbage. Jezrien's clothes are reduced to ragged scraps. His words are often slurred or believed to be gibberish.
=== Personality ===
Jezrien is widely believed to have been one of the best men to have ever lived. Upon joining the Oathpact, he was an honorable and true man. Jezrien's specialty was leadership; he was a great instructor on the guidance of men. He is a man willing to admit his mistakes and make common cause with those that had been his enemies, as had, with Nale, saying that Nale was the most honorable man he knew. After centuries of torture, Jezrien became damaged by anguish and grief. He was afraid to return to Braize and face the torments of the Voidbringers again. This led Jezrien to make the choice to abandon the Oathpact and leave Taln alone on Braize. He had even reached such a point that he was willing to lie to the surviving humans that he and the other Heralds had achieved final victory. He seemed distraught by his own cowardice at the ending of the Oathpact and ashamed of leaving Taln to suffer.
In the millennia that followed, he succumbed to insanity. By the Era of Solitude, Jezrien's once sharp mind had been dulled thoroughly. He spoke nonsensically and without any clear meaning behind his words. He seemed to have some semblance of lucidity, referencing the various Unmade, but it is uncertain how much awareness he had. He appeared to speak gibberish at times, but it is possible that he is speaking in an ancient language, such as the Dawnchant.
== Attributes and Abilities ==
=== Herald of Kings ===
As Jezrien served as the Herald of Kings, it is likely Jezrien was one of the best leaders and instructors of leadership that has ever lived; he trained mankind's leaders upon his return before each Desolation. As one of the Heralds of the Almighty, it is nearly impossible to truly kill Jezrien. In truth, the Jezrien that existed was a Cognitive Shadow. Before breaking the Oathpact, upon his death he was returned to Damnation to be tortured, with his immortal body being constantly restored. Judging by the abilities of the other Heralds, he possesses superhuman reflexes and strength, and speed.
Even after abandoning the Oathpact, Jezrien remains ageless, and appears as youthful as the day he became a Herald. His immortality is not impregnable, however. Jezrien was sealed away by Vyre's knife into a gemstone. According to Kalak, once Jezrien was sealed, his Connection to the other Heralds was severed; as a result, his soul decomposed into an ordinary soul with no valid Connection to the Spiritual or Physical Realms. Over the weeks he faded into the Beyond, at last truly dying. The remainder of his spirit trapped in the gemstone was killed by the injection of Anti-Light into the gemstone by the Fused El.
Through his Connection to Honor, he taps into the constantly rejuvenating Investiture of the Spiritual Realm, locking his soul, and his body, at the age in which he became Herald. It is unknown if he can use this Investiture to power Invested Arts.
=== Shardwielding and Surgebinding ===
==== Odium Surgebinding ====
During his life on Ashyn, he was granted Surges by Odium, unbound by the rules or restrictions that would define his Surgebinding under Honor. However, the exact details of these Surges are currently unknown. It is, however, known to have greatly slowed his aging, both mental and physical. Following the scouring, he pledged to not use these Surges again.
==== Honor Surgebinding ====
As a Herald, Jezrien possessed an Honorblade, a variety of Shardblades given to him by the Shard Honor. This Honorblade is able to cut through any material, stone, steel, or even living things effortlessly. This allowed Jezrien to be a formidable foe on the battlefield, particularly against thunderclasts, as his Blade can cut their stone bodies with ease. As he had spent an enormous amount of time using the Honorblade in the fight against the Voidbringers, Jezrien is very experienced in using his Blade and his skill at dueling can only be matched by the other Heralds. Unlike most Shardblades, this Honorblade also granted Jezrien access to the Surges of Adhesion and Gravitation. 
As he was not sworn to a spren, he was able to do with his Blade what he liked, without regard for any oaths. His Surgebinding, however, was still restricted by Honor to prevent the same mistakes that occured on Ashyn, though these restrictions would be loosened following the destruction of Natanatan. The fact that his powers were not granted by a Nahel bond prevented him from having squires. Jezrien also had no need for Stormlight, as his Surgebinding was powered directly by Honor. It is unknown how this would have been impacted by Honor's death. Since giving up his Honorblade when he gave up the Oathpact, Jezrien is unable to Surgebind.
Like the other Heralds, over time, developed the ability to draw upon the power of Roshar itself, not simply the Surges of Honor. Around four thousand five hundred fifty years before the Night of Sorrows, Honor granted him, and the other Heralds, greater access to the power of the Surges and to the powers of Roshar. Following this, he was referred to as being Unchained.
== History ==
=== Life on Alashwa ===
Jezrien was born on Ashyn, originally known as Alaswha, over eight thousand years before the True Desolation. At some point in the past Jezrien ruled as a king of one of the many city-states which dotted the planet. It is unknown if Jezrien was ever married, but had he at least one child, Shalash. 
Eventually, around eight thousand years before the Night of Sorrows, he heeded the call of a growing empire that had conquered many city states across the planet. He accepted their offer, and his city-state became one of the constituent political entities that made up the empire. At some point, he gained the power of Surges, and this immensely slowed down his aging and prolonged his life. This likely occurred when he joined the empire. As he became a part of the empire, he assisted in its hegemonic expansion across Alaswha.
He and Nale spent some time on opposite sides of this conflict, as Nale and his people decided to turn down the empire's offers, but Jezrien ultimately came to the conclusion that he had been in the wrong.
Seven thousand one hundred years before the Night of Sorrows, Alaswha was devastated by the Surges granted by Odium and Honor. Zoral perished in the scouring and Jezrien took up the reigns as the king of the empire. Following this, he made peace with Makibak and his people, and travelled with them to Roshar.
=== Early Days on Roshar ===
After the destruction of Ashyn, Jezrien led his people to Roshar with Ishar's help. At the time he looked to be in his late twenties, though he was over nine-hundred years old. He, and the rest of humanity, were granted the land that would come to be known as Shinovar as their territory. Some singers openly accepted the humans, and even offered for them to go to the east and live amongst singers, albiet as lower class servants. An offer of which Jezrien adamantly refused. 
In time, tensions would develop between humans and singers. These were furthered by human expansionary ambitions, and the murder of a singer by a human. This was responded to by the singers killing thirty humans. Elodi attempted peaceful negotiations after this event, but Jezrien turned down all of his offers. 
Around fifty years after his arrival on Roshar, the First Desolation began, and he joined in this growing war between humans and singers. This war would last for several decades.
=== Herald of the Almighty ===
 
After mankind began to lose its fight against Odium's immortal Fused, forty-three years into the First Desolation, Jezrien and Ishar formed a plan to counter this threat. Jezrien invited Nale to join them, believing that Nale's honor was above reproach. Jezrien and nine companions asked Honor for the ability to seal the Voidbringers on Braize. Honor agreed, the Oathpact was founded, and Jezrien and his nine companions became Heralds of the Almighty and were given their Honorblades. Over an unknown length of time following the founding of the Oathpact, they pushed away the Fused, and then went to Braize along with the other Heralds to seal the Fused away.
Jezrien was tortured with the rest of the Heralds between every Desolation until one of them broke under it and gave the Fused to return to Roshar. When that happened, Jezrien and the other Heralds returned to guide mankind in the fight against the Voidbringers. Jezrien would aid their leaders in learning how to effectively guide their peoples. When the spren began to bond with humans to grant them Surgebinding, Jezrien became the Patron of the Windrunners, the Order of the Knights Radiant that bore the same powers as Jezrien.
He never saw the true end of a Desolation, always returning to Braize during the Desolation, after humanity was deemed fit to continue the fight on their own. He, along with the other Heralds, often chose to return to Braize after a major battle with substantial Fused casualties. Then the cycle would begin once more. 
Eventually, he began to draw upon the powers of Roshar itself. Around four thousand five hundred and fifty years before the Night of Sorrows, a mere fifty years before the Last Desolation, Honor loosened the restrictions upon his Surgebinding, greatly increasing his power and his destructive capacity. This unchaining likely contributed to the destruction wrought by the Last Desolation.
=== Aharietiam ===
Many Desolations after the beginning of the Oathpact, around three thousand years after the First Desolation, Jezrien and the other Heralds save for Talenel, who had died, decided that they could no longer withstand the torture they faced in between Desolations. This decision was accepted by Honor, who they discussed it with. He informed them that the Oathpact would be kept as long as one of the kept their oaths, but that it would be left cracked and damaged.
They agreed to abandon their oaths, leaving Talenel alone in Damnation. Though Jezrien wished that others could take their place instead, and appeared sick and distraught at the concept of abandoning Talenel. But he did so regardless, unable to continue experiencing torture under the Fused. He felt deep pain after making his decision, and Ishar tried to assist him, and the other Heralds, by taking a portion of the pain unto himself.
Jezrien was chosen by the rest to wait and see if Kalak had survived and to pass on word to him of their decision. After explaining their decision to Kalak, Jezrien summoned his Honorblade and left it stuck point-first into the ground, before heading off by himself.
=== Era of Solitude and the True Desolation ===
Following the abandonment of his Blade, Jezrien spread the word of their victory to the survivors of the Last Desolation. While Jezrien was never killed and returned to Damnation after Aharietiam, avoiding death for four and a half millennia, he seems to have succumbed to the same madness plaguing the other Heralds. Jezrien became a drunk beggar who lived in a Beggars' Porch in the Kholinar Palace. He was known as Ahu by then, and was occasionally the drinking companion of Highprince Dalinar Kholin when Dalinar was trying to drink clandestinely or could not find more alcohol.
Jezrien attended the Beggar's Feast on the night that King Gavilar Kholin was assassinated, speaking incoherently to Szeth before collapsing. 
Six years later, after the capture of Kholinar by the Voidbringers, Jezrien was stabbed by Moash with a raysium knife. Jezrien was initially unfazed by the wound, but quickly realized that he had been mortally wounded, screaming and dying quite suddenly, his soul transferred into the gem. At the moment of Jezrien's sealing, his Connection with the other Heralds was broken and caused them to feel a painful tearing sensation and they all knew that he was dead. While the Fused were initially successful in trapping Jezrien's soul, their plan ultimately failed. With the Oathpact severed and Honor Splintered, Jezrien's soul could not exist long without his body. Within weeks his mind had faded and he was truly gone, destroying the Oathpact in the process.
The remainder of his spirit trapped in the gemstone was killed by the injection of Anti-Light into the gemstone by the Fused El in the days leading up to the Night of Sorrows.
His position would later be taken up by Kaladin Stormblessed on with the reforging of the Oathpact.
== Relationships ==
=== The Heralds ===
==== Nale ====
Jezrien and Nale spent centuries on the opposite side of the war on Alaswha. Jezrien was the man who offered to help bring Nale, Makibak, and their people off of Ashyn and to Roshar following the scouring, despite their centuries of conflict. He came to saw Nale as an honorable man, considering him the most honorable man he had ever known, and considered the chance to oppose him to be a privilege. Nale respected Jezrien in return, though this respect would decay in the millennia following the Last Desolation, as the king's sanity began to degrade.
==== Shalash ====
He has a tense relationship with Shalash.
=== Dalinar Kholin ===
As Ahu, he and Dalinar Kholin were drinking companions. Dalinar describes him as being a "kindly drunk," and spoke about how he shared drinks with him during his dark days. Dalinar refers to him as a "drinking buddy," though he considered him to be strange and insane.
Jezrien stated that he likes Dalinar, due to the pain he sees in his eyes.
=== Elodi ===
Elodi was a friend to Jezrien. However, their relationship had tension to it when singers murdered thirty humans in retribution for theft and the murder of a singer. Tension also existed in how Elodi wanted Jezrien and his people to come east, in return for being treated as lower class servants in order to learn their ways. Which Jezrien vehemently rejects.
=== Makibak ===
Makibak and Jezrien fought on the opposite side of a war on Ashyn for nine centuries. Makibak despised Jezrien due to these centuries of conflict, and wished for the death of him and his people. However, he ultimately agreed to travel to Roshar with them, for the sake of his people.
== Culture == 
Over the millennia that have passed since Aharietiam Jezrien has become mythologized across Roshar. He is known as one of the greatest humans to have ever lived. In the Vorin kingdoms of the east, Jezrien has been conflated with the concept of the Stormfather, so many believe them to be one and the same. He has come to be known as Jezerezeh'Elin, the Herald of Kings, and men swear by his name and burn glyphwards in prayer to him. He is associated with the number Jes, the essence Zephyr, the gemstone sapphire, and the divine attributes Protecting and Leading. He is commonly depicted in art and sculpture with the other nine Heralds. In some cases, when a serious crime is committed, men may be strung out during a highstorm to be judged by Jezrien. If they survive, they were innocent, although men typically do not survive the highstorm. Vorin people who have interacted more directly with the Stormfather have come to realize that the two are not one and the same.
In Emul, Jezrien is worshipped as their only god, possibly under the name Prime Kadasix. They hold that he named their kingdom as well as its capital, Sesemalex Dar. 
In Azir and the other Makabaki kingdoms, Jezrien is known as Yaezir, Kadasix of Kings. They believe that each new Prime Aqasix is chosen by the will of Yaezir, and that he will guide them in their search for the person he has already ordained to be the Prime. He is depicted as a Makabaki man in Azir.
The Iriali and Rirans also revere Jezrien on some level, calling him Yaysi.
The Shin revere Jezrien as Yesoran, and Yesoran-son-God. He is revered in a monastery south of Ayabiza, and is considered the king of the Heralds.
== Trivia ==
* Jezrien's portrait used in the chapter arches is called the King by the Dragonsteel Entertainment staff.
* There is a winehouse in Urithiru named Jez's Duty after Jezrien.
== Notes ==
es:Jezrien