Shalash

Shalash, also known as Ash, is one of the ten Heralds of The Almighty on Roshar. She's commonly titled the Herald of Beauty; she's the patron of the Order of Lightweavers and the daughter of another Herald, Jezrien. Prior to the True Desolation, she was traveling the world destroying any depiction of herself she could find. Currently, she resides with the Knights Radiant in Urithiru. She had been little more than a child when the exodus of humans from Ashyn to Roshar occured, and did not appreciate Jezrien treating her like a child for a long time afterward.
== Appearance and Personality ==
=== Appearance ===
Shalash has dark skin and long black hair. Her eyes are a faint violet, so faint as to be almost white, and lack epicanthic folds. She is also described as being tall and lean as well as exceptionally beautiful. Rosharans who see her think she's Makabaki with some Shin heritage. In recent years, she tends to wear practical clothing over anything particularly feminine. She carries around a thin-bladed sword, though it's not a Shardblade.
=== Personality ===
She dislikes thievery, though she has no issues with breaking into the dwellings of the rich to destroy art, even if she doesn't want the destruction to be too easy. This appears to be a perversion of her divine attribute of Creative, and may be a symptom of her forsaking of the Oathpact. It's focused on depictions of herself - whenever she sees her own face, whether as a painting, statue or tapestry, she is compelled to destroy it. She seems unable to resist the urge even when pressed for time. She is, however, aware of this, and when doing something important, she actively avoids looking anywhere one may find artwork of the Heralds. She hates people worshipping her at all, and sneers at those who consider her divine. She thinks that all people should stop worshipping, talking about, and painting Heralds.
She isn't interested much in scholarly matters, such as the Realmatic Theory, which implies that she wasn't a scholar.
Shalash is very private and does not appreciate being asked prying questions. She seems to be highly regretful of abandoning the Oathpact. Upon meeting Taln again, she's extremely apologetic for leaving him behind, and expresses dismay that he doesn't hate her for it. Despite that, she no longer cares about the fate of Roshar and its people. She also seems to have periods of losing touch with reality, as she mentions missing decades, if not centuries of memories.
== Abilities and Attributes ==
=== Immortality ===
Shalash is a Cognitive Shadow capable of returning to life, though the exact mechanics of how are unclear. Following every death, she travels to Braize; whenever she or another Herald gives in, she returns to life on Roshar. While alive, she's ageless, and will likely live forever unless killed. She also appears to have no need of sleep; at the very least, it seems she cannot easily lose consciousness.
Even prior to becoming a Herald, her access to the Surges slowed her aging by a tremendous degree, such that she showed minimal signs of aging over a period of several decades.
=== Surgebinding ===
As part of the Oathpact, she was given one of the Honorblades, granting her access to Surgebinding. Her Blade allowed her to use the Surges of Illumination and Transformation. However, she has left her Blade behind at Aharietiam, and hasn't recovered it since.
She possessed some form of Surgebinding before becoming a Herald, this form of Surgebinding was unbound by many of the rules and restrictions that applied to her Surgebinding granted by Honor, and was associated with Odium.
=== Other ===
Considering her well-known attributes, it's likely Shalash was once an artist of some sort, or at least artistically inclined. Her hearing is noted as exceptionally good. She's also fairly capable of spying and infiltration, as she has no problems mixing herself into a new city or finding her way into a military camp. Though her obsession with depictions of herself is compulsive, she is very covert about it, breaking into houses and leaving without any trace of her presence other than missing or destroyed art.
== History ==
=== Heraldic Epochs ===
Shalash was born on Ashyn, then known as Alaswha, to Jezrien and an unknown mother over seven-thousand years before the Night of Sorrows. She was born during a period of political upheaval on Ashyn, as wars occurred between the myriad city-states that covered the planet, as a result of the intervention of Odium and Honor. At some point, she gained the power of Surgebinding, which slowed down her rate of aging.
She lived through the decades of peace with the singers, and survived into the Desolations when humanity began to turn against their benefactors and expand their hegemony. Due to the power of the Surges, she aged little during these decades.
When the Desolations started, she was chosen by Honor to be one of his Heralds. This formed the Oathpact, which included Shalash receiving one of the Honorblades to aid her in her duties. The precise circumstances of how this came to be are unknown, but there are stories about Proving Day, during which the would-be Heralds faced difficult, if not impossible, tasks to prove themselves. 
Following the formation of the Oathpact, Shalash and the other Heralds spent several thousand years helping the people of Roshar fight the Voidbringers in subsequent Desolations. Preceding each Desolation, the Heralds would return to Roshar and have a short time to prepare them for said Desolation, teaching them any necessary technology they may have lost in the intervening time. The level of technology the Heralds returned to varied with each Desolation, in some cases the Rosharans had not progressed past the Stone Age. At the end of each Desolation, if Shalash did not "die", she, along with any other surviving Heralds, was required to leave Roshar and return to Braize. There, she and the others would be tortured to get them to give in and return, whereupon a new Desolation would begin.
At Aharietiam, around three-thousand years after becoming a Herald, Shalash and all Heralds other than Taln -- who was dead at the time -- decided to forsake the Oathpact and abandon their Honorblades. They lied to the people of Roshar, telling them they had "won" and went their separate ways. They were, however, not as successful in their breaking as they'd thought.
=== Era of Solitude ===
At an unknown point in time during the Era of Solitude she lived in Shinovar, where the Shin tried to kill her, which she wasn't particularly against. She only left after they started worshipping her.
Shalash was present during the Challenge of Stormhold, which she recounts to Jasnah Kholin that King Iyalid had been drunk during the Challenge, settling a debate between her and Jochi.
Roughly four and a half thousand years after Aharietiam Shalash was traveling the world destroying any depictions of herself. Sometime prior to the assassination of King Gavilar Kholin of Alethkar in she infiltrated the royal palace in Kholinar and destroyed her own statue. This pattern of behavior seemed to have gotten much worse at the time, as her fellow Heralds noted that she was getting worse.
Five years later, in 1173, Shalash, alongside with hired help Baxil and Av, infiltrated the palace of Ashno of Sages, the Prime of Emul, and destroyed a great deal of artwork depicting herself, including a canvas painting and a statue. Either during or prior to that time, she also infiltrated the Bronze Palace in Azimir, where she defaced the mural of the Heralds, scratching out her own face, along with destroying many of the statues in her temple in Thaylenah.
=== True Desolation ===
Following the Jah Keved civil war, at the start of the True Desolation, Ash became a washerwoman under the assumed name Pom to track down a painting of herself by Dandos the Oilsworn. This turned out to be a trap set up by Mraize, who wished to tell her where Taln was. This set her on the path to Thaylen City, where she arrived just in time for the Battle of Thaylen Field. There, she found Taln.
During the battle, Taln was next to catatonic, requiring Ash to pull him along until Dalinar Kholin managed to open Honor's Perpendicularity, whereupon the two Heralds managed to have a short conversation. After the battle, with Taln once more uncommunicative, Ash decided to take him to Ishar. This was, however, not to be, as at the same time, Vyre managed to kill Jezrien, sending her into deep shock. The resulting commotion made Jasnah notice them and come to confront them, as she was watching the line to the Oathgates for the two Heralds by comparing faces to drawings she had received from Hoid. Shalash fell unconscious before the two could talk.
After being discovered at the Battle of Thaylen Field, Ash and Taln moved to Urithiru, where they were often interviewed by Jasnah. Ash provided some information about Bondsmiths and the Oathpact to Dalinar, but claimed that Ishar was the real expert on the subject. The two Heralds were brought along to the offensive in Emul, and Ash was eventually again questioned by Dalinar about Ishar.
=== Reforging of the Oathpact ===
On , she and the other eight living Heralds reforged the Oathpact alongside Kaladin, who replaced Jezrien's place. As opposed to the original Oathpact that forced the Heralds to experience their torture on Braize, the new Oathpact sent their minds into a paradisical vision, such that they would not experience said torture.
== Relationships ==
=== Other Heralds ===
Shalash is the daughter of Jezrien, a fellow Herald. It doesn't seem as though the two are very close; the only time she's seen thinking about him is when she feels the pain of his death.
She considers all the Heralds --except herself and maybe Ishar -- to be mad from thousands years of torture. She also considers the Herald of Mysteries a man willing to risk his life, soul, and work for the better of humankind.
She views Taln as a brother and was very close with him; she finds herself drawn to his hands, and remembers the sensation of them even after four thousand years. He's also the only person to whom she's apologetic about abandoning the Oathpact, and she nearly breaks down when he refuses to hate her for it. She treats Taln very gently and leads him like a disabled man when they walk together.
Other Heralds -- Nale and possibly Kalak -- appear to have been keeping tabs on her activities, though it's unknown whether they've met with her directly in recent years.
=== Hoid ===
She has met Hoid, and knows him well enough to be able to recognize his art style, though she refers to him as Midius. Hoid is particularly tender and reverent when he deals with her and Taln.
== Culture ==
In Vorinism, Shalash is known as Shalash'Elin, the Herald of Beauty, though the nickname Ash is also used. Tradition associates her with the number 6 (shash), the Essence of Blood, and the divine attributes of Creative and Honest. Like all other Heralds, she has temples to herself in all major cities. There are numerous pieces of artwork devoted to her, and depictions of her can be found decorating even utilitarian items like braziers. 
"Ash's eyes" and "Ash's mask" are extremely common phrases, often used to express shock or surprise. "Shalashian temperament" is an idiom with uncertain meaning, though it may refer to being honest or impulsive. The name Shallan is derived from Shalash. "Ash's brush of endless paint" is a phrase likely said by artists when they see something beautiful and astonishing.
Further west, in Emul and, likely, other Makabaki countries, Shalash is known as Epan and titled the Lady of Dreams. In Shinovar, she is called Shush-daughter-God.
== Trivia ==
* Shalash will be the flashback character in the eighth book of the Stormlight Archive. 
* She's one of only two Heralds, alongside Kalak, whose names are naturally symmetric under Vorin rules.
* "Shalash" bears a certain resemblance to Aons Shao (Transformation), Ala (Beauty), and Ashe (Light). While this isn't coincidental, Shalash herself may be unaware of the linguistics of her name.
* Her name and Shashara's are similar, but this isn't significant.
* Shalash's portrait used in the chapter arches is called the Artist by the Dragonsteel Entertainment staff.
* In Syrian mythology, Shalash was the wife of the god Dagon.
== Notes ==
category: viewpoint characters