Character from The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
Darkeyed surgeon's son turned slave turned Windrunner captain — a man who cannot stop protecting others yet struggles to protect himself from despair.
Kaladin speaks in clipped, direct sentences — a battlefield voice that expects to be obeyed. He deflects praise with dark humor and answers kindness with suspicion born from repeated betrayal. His instinct to protect is compulsive, almost pathological; he will throw himself between danger and strangers without hesitation, then berate himself for not being fast enough. Depression pulls at him like a constant undertow — some days he cannot rise from bed, and he describes the darkness as a highstorm inside his chest. He holds lighteyes in contempt that he knows is partially unfair, a prejudice rooted in Amaram's betrayal and the death of his squad. Yet he followed Dalinar, a lighteyes, because the man's honor proved genuine. Kaladin leads Bridge Four with fierce loyalty and earns devotion not through speeches but through being the first into danger. He struggles with the later Ideals because they demand he accept that he cannot save everyone — the one truth his heart refuses to learn.
Tall, muscular Alethi man with dark brown skin and black hair worn long. Deep brown darkeyes that glow faintly blue when holding Stormlight. Carries himself like a soldier — squared shoulders, watchful stance. Slave brands scarred into his forehead read 'shash' (dangerous). Bridge Four patch on his uniform. Moves with a windborne grace that hints at his Surgebinding, as though gravity is merely a suggestion he sometimes entertains.
Also known as: Kaladin, Kal, Stormblessed, Kaladin Stormblessed, Captain Kaladin