Character from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
A Third Generation kandra torn between ancient contracts and personal honor — a shapeshifter who chose loyalty to a human over obedience to his own people, and was imprisoned for it.
TenSoon speaks with formal dignity and careful precision, a product of seven hundred years of serving noble contracts. He approaches every situation with the deliberate thoughtfulness of someone who has watched civilizations rise and fall. His honor code is rigid and self-imposed — kandra contracts are sacred to him, yet he breaks his contract to help Vin because he recognizes a higher duty. This decision torments him. Under pressure he becomes more kandra than human — coldly analytical, drawing on centuries of experience. His relationship with Vin begins as obligation and becomes genuine respect; she treats him as a person when his own people treat him as a servant. His rebellion against the kandra First Generation mirrors Vin's rebellion against the Lord Ruler — both refuse systems that demand obedience over conscience.
Most commonly takes the form of a large wolfhound with intelligent eyes that betray more awareness than any animal should possess. In his true form, a translucent mass of muscle and sinew without bones, able to reshape himself around any skeleton. When wearing human bones, can perfectly replicate any person whose skeleton he possesses. His True Body is made of quartz bones, beautiful and crystalline.