Suyodhana/The Sleeper

## Biological Information

### Parents

Dhritarashtra (father), Gandhari (mother)

### Siblings

Dushasana, Vikarna and other 96 brothers (brothers), Dushala (sister), Yuyutsu (step brother)

### Other Relatives

Bhanumati and Mayuri (wives), Laxman Kumara (son), Lakshmanaa (daughter)

## Other

### Species

Kaurava

The Sleeper is the main antagonist in Aru Shah and the End of Time and Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, as well as Aru's birth father and the reincarnation of Duryodhana.

## History

### Life of Previous Incarnation

Suyodhana was the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra and queen Gandhari of Hastinapura, he changed his name to Duryodhana due to his bad deeds. Once, his mother took off the blindfold she wore due to wanting to see his son. Her power made Duryodhana almost entirely strong as a thunderbolt, but since he was wearing underpants he had a weak spot on his loins.

The family loved the Pandavas, his cousins, more than Duryodhana. He got furious when Dhritarashtra renounced the throne in favor of his younger brother, Pandu, stepfather of the Pandavas. He believed that the firstborns were to receive the throne, meaning Yudhishthira would be the heir instead of himself. But he hated Bhima out of all the Pandavas the most for his strength and bullying. However, he became good friends with Karna at a martial exhibition after the former defended the latter when someone said that everyone's lineage should be the same saying that actions are what really define a warrior. Although at the time, Duryodhana didn't know that Karna was actually a Pandava. He also had a close relationship with his younger brother, Dushasana.

When he went to the Pandavas' newly built Palace of Illusions, he fell through a floor tile that was actually water and nearly broke his foot jumping into a pool that turned out to be cleverly polished sapphires. On seeing this spectacle, Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas, laughed out loud. Duryordhana was humiliated and swore to take revenge. When he went back to Shakhuni to complain, his uncle got the idea of playing a dice game with Yudhishthira at the price of their kingdom. The plan was successful due to Yudhishthira's gambling addiction and the Pandavas were exiled for thirteen years, after that they were refused their kingdom due to a year of anonymity resulting in a war. On the 18th day of the Kurukshetra War, Duryodhana fought Bhima in a mace fight. Having received instructions by Krishna, Bhima broke Duryodhana's thighs causing him to eventually die on the battlefield.

### Early Life

The Sleeper is of partial gandharva descent and knew some traditional magic, but his parents were either dead or deadbeat, because since a young age, he was in the OFCS or Otherworld Foster Care System.

He was a prodigy at magic, but believed the strongest magic of all was belief. He was bold and almost impertinent towards powerful people.

He fell in love with Krithika. When she learned she was pregnant, she asked him to choose Aru's name.

He chose "Arundhati", because he wanted her to be like the morning star, a sign of hope. He used that for a secret when he needed to feed the chakora birds on his quest to Kalpavriksha.

When he did get to Kalpavriksha, the price for his wish was for him to forget Krithika and Aru, and he refused to pay the price. He never wished to be freed from his terrible destiny, simply because he loved Krithika and Aru too much.

But when he returned, Krithika imprisoned him in the diya only a few months later.

## The Pandava Quintet

### Aru Shah and the End of Time

In the beginning of the novel, the Sleeper is still safely bound within the Diya of Bharata. Aru Shah inadvertently releases him by lighting it while she tries to prove herself to her classmates. Once the Sleeper is free, he freezes time in the museum, trapping everyone in place except for Aru. He plans to freeze all of time permanently when the new moon arrives.

The Sleeper was trying to gain more allies, he appeared in front of Aru and Mini when they exit Brahmasura's beauty salon. He squeezes Aru mentioning her to be similar to her mother in being deceptive. Using her "Enchanted Ping-Pong ball," Aru distracts the Sleeper and jumps into the Otherworld portal with Mini. He later appears trying to obtain the second key to the underworld before the girls, but fails due to being slowed down by a freezing cloak made by Winter, one of the Ritus. Although, he does manage to capture Boo and reveal his true identity before escaping. However, he wore the headband of forgetting that Summer, another Ritu, gave Aru causing him to leave the bird cage filled with the gods' vahanas behind.

Aru witnesses the Sleeper in the Pool of the Past. She sees her mother putting away the diya on order of her grandfather. She learned that the Sleeper's real name was Suyodhana and he was her biological father. He was summoned to the museum to fight her daughter and Mini. Suyodhana gets trapped in a circle, attacked by the vahanas, and loses Boo. However, he disappeared into the walls and taunted Aru for being such a liar. In response, she uses Vajra to cut the chandelier down onto him. The demons he summoned have either fallen asleep or are currently out of commission, Aru transformed Vajra into a whip to get rid of the rest of them. Suyodhana breaks free and pins Mini and Boo to the wall, Aru had no choice but to surrender. Her father grabbed Vajra, he says he's killing her to free her as her mother didn't. He loses Vajra and it returns to Aru. After Aru gets nauseous from having a future vision of her spiritual sisters turning on her, the Sleeper says he is not an enemy and that she shouldn't kill her. Aru doesn't believe her father, she tries to kill him but he escapes probably due to Shukra's curse. However, he was not in the Kingdom of Death when the new moon arrived so time was restored. But Boo advised the Pandavas that the Sleeper will be adding to his army.

### Aru Shah and the Song of Death

The Sleeper has not been found since he was defeated. He met up with Meenakshi, or Surpanakha, who had the same problem with him and others: their stories were being told where only their worst moments are focused on. The Sleeper gave Meenakshi the idea to steal the amrita hidden under the Ocean of Milk and use it to make their, along with all who feel the same way as them, stories immortal. But the labyrinth containing the amrita was guarded by snakes whose fire can kill anything with a heartbeat. So Takshaka, who wanted revenge on the Pandavas and is now friends with the Sleeper, helped Meenakshi steal the bow and arrow of Kamadeva to create an army of Heartless zombies.

Uloopi mentions the awakened Sleeper building his army to Boo regarding whether or not he is on the side of the devas. When Aru questioned her mother about the Sleeper, she never wanted to talk about him. Aru later mentions her birth father when deciding which is worse: having him as a parent or an asura like Brynne Rao. She also thought about the Sleeper when Takshaka mentioned that her "father" failed him, she was worried that the naga was going to say she was like him, destined not to keep promises. But Takshaka was actually talking about her soul dad, Indra, who failed to save the Khandava Forest. However, Takshaka then mentioned that was now friends with Aru's birth dad. The Sleeper also appeared in the eyes of one of the three black hounds in the Grove of Ratri when Aru Shah was trapped in a nightmare. She was horrified when she heard her father taunting her saying she was never meant to be a hero.

When confronting Meenakshi in the Ocean of Milk, Aru Shah hears from her that her father misses her very much. But she doubted that that is true considering that he tried to kill her, she admitted that he's not that great. It was because of him as his foul army of demons and asuras that she decided against joining Meenakshi's cause. Aru stabbed the rakshasa with Kamadeva's arrow causing her to fade, as a result the Heartless were restored and the amrita was untouched, but the Pandavas still vowed to remember Meenakshi's full story. Despite all that happened, the Sleeper was still not found. Boo warned Aru that she would face him again and she knew that he and Takshaka, who escaped, were clever.

### Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Sometime after Aru, Mini, Brynne, Aiden and Rudy go on their unofficial quest to find the Kalpavriksha, the Sleeper strickes up a deal with Boo that he will kidnap Sheela on the price of sharing the Kalpavriksha when the Pandavas find it. The Sleeper searches for Kalpavriksha and comes to blows with the Potatoes at the tree once he and his army arrive. At the end, Aru hugs him, ready to kill him, but he ends up capturing her and bringing her to his house.

## Physical Appearance

The Sleeper changes his appearance often. when he’s released from the diya, he looks like a nightmare, as in a thing from nightmares -- he’s a limping shadowy figure that’s tall, furred and spidery, with horns and fangs.

In a photo that Aru saw that she thought might be her father, he was handsome and dark-haired, had skin the color of dark amber, and Heterochromia iridium, meaning that he had two different colored eyes.

When he came for them after they got the sprig of youth, the Sleeper was a dark massive form of twisted ink and ice that spread ice where he moved, as well as a prehensile large black snake tail.

At the enchanted library in the Otherworld, the Sleeper drips from the ceiling into a man with hair the same inky night-color as his previous tail, with what appeared to be stars caught in his hair. he’s tall and thin, with a hungry look. his cheekbones stick out and he wears a black sherwani jacket over dark jeans, and he carries a birdcage. his eyes are brown and blue, and he’s similar to how he looked in the photo.

At the fight against Aru in the museum, the Sleeper looked like a man, and at the same time, not like one. His eyes, instead of being warm and round like in the vision in the Pool of the Past Aru had seen earlier, were slitted and gem bright, like a cat’s eyes gone narrow with fury, and when he smiled, small tusks curled out from his bottom lip.

At the fight against Aru in Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, his pants end in wisps of smoke.

## Personality

Suyodhana (Not the Sleeper) was a caring, selfless, wise and intelligent person. He loved and cared for Krithika and their unborn child (Aru, namely) far more than he cared for himself. He was shown to be exceptionally wise and talked cleverly.

However, after being imprisoned in a diya for 12 years, the Sleeper (not Suyodhana) is a vengeful person and hates Krithika for using his own secret against him and betraying him. In some way, he is still hown to look out for Aru, giving her a chance to join him.

## Abilities and Tools

### Gandharva Abilities

* **Trans-Species Transformation:** As the Sleeper is descended from gandharvas, he can use their powers such as enchanting paper songbirds to come alive.

### Sleeper Powers

* **Shapeshifting:** The Sleeper can shapeshift.
* **Intangibility:** He can walk through walls with ease.

## Relationships

### Family

#### **Krithika P. Shah**

The Sleeper and Krithika appear to have had a close romantic relationship; in the vision Aru saw in the Pool of the Past they were strolling along a river and kissing. This is confirmed by Krithika, although she didn't name the sort of relationship he was to her (boyfriend, fiance, husband, etc).

They shared similar thoughts of how one could escape destiny. It seems as though Krithika was meant to make him fall in love with her by her family, but she fell in love as well. However, when the Sleeper went on his quest to Kalpavriksha, Urvashi and Hanuman reasoned her into thinking it would be for the better if she imprisoned him in the Diya of Bharata, and when he came back changed, she decided to do it. On the night Aru was born, she imprisoned the Sleeper in the diya and began searching for a way to change his destiny. Even after the Sleeper was released, she’s still searching, but she doesn’t like to talk about him. For the Sleeper’s part, he’s still angry at Krithika, although he still wants to tell her how he feels; he wants vindication.

In Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes we learn from Aru 's Mom that the Sleeper was once wise, and funny, thoughtful, and determined. When Krithika was scared about her pregnancy, he told her to put each fear on a piece of paper, and then he turned them into songbirds to remind Krithika that the things that scare us can also give us joy.

#### **Arundhati Shah**

Aru is determined to defeat the Sleeper, although she’s worried that when the time comes, she’ll be too weak. The Sleeper has always known that she is his daughter, but she only realized part way through her first quest. At the end of the first book, he invites her to join him when she fails to kill him, and then vanishes. He seems to care about her, but he overall cares more about getting revenge on Krithika and whatever other nefarious plans he’s making. He also seemed to be excited to have a child; in the vision Aru saw in the Pool of the Past, he was wearing an I’M A DAD! T-shirt and holding Aru. He doesn’t really know Aru, but that makes sense, due to him never interacting with her for twelve years; he did, however, know her well enough to exploit her insecurities. Aru, on her part, is bitter; when Meenakshi tells her that he misses her, she says he tried to kill her. She also doesn’t see him as a father but as a puppet-master pulling strings. But she also doubts herself when it comes to him. She’s afraid she’ll let him go again, or even join him, and she’s especially worried she’ll turn out like him, a villain.

Later, in Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes, Aru sees that he did actually care about her, but makes the choice to defeat him.

#### **Kara**

Kara says she's The Sleeper 's daughter at the end of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes.

#### **Subala/Shakhuni/Boo**

Boo used to be Suyodhana's uncle in their previous incarnation. Both uncle and nephew were pretty close, Shakhuni helping Duryodhana out in revoking the Kurukshetra War.

## Etymology

* **Suyodhana** means "great warrior", referring to the great warrior he was in his previous incarnation.

## Trivia

* Suyodhana only wanted a happy life with his family.
* He is the only character, apart from Aiden and Boo, whose name's first letter is different from his previous incarnation's name's first letter.