Character from The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
Herald of the Skybreakers. Has been active on Roshar for centuries, hunting and killing nascent Knights Radiant to prevent a new Desolation. Follows law with absolute, inhuman rigidity. Eventually sides with the Singers.
Nalan'Elin — known as Nale, Nin, or Darkness — is the Herald of Justice and patron of the Skybreakers. Unlike the other Heralds, who retreated into hiding and madness after abandoning the Oathpact, Nale remained active on Roshar for centuries, pursuing a singular obsession: preventing the return of the Knights Radiant. He believed that the nahel bond and Surgebinding were what caused the Desolations, and so he hunted and executed anyone showing signs of Radiant powers, always finding legal justification for his kills. His devotion to law is absolute and terrifying — he does not break laws, he does not bend them, and he has no mercy that exists outside codified statute. When the True Desolation began despite his efforts, Nale's worldview shattered. He concluded that the Singers had legal claim to Roshar and switched his allegiance to them, leading his Skybreakers to fight for Odium's forces. His madness is one of rigid logic rather than chaos — he has become law divorced from justice, a Herald who embodies the letter of righteousness while betraying its spirit entirely.
A tall, dark-skinned man with an angular face and cold, emotionless eyes that evaluate everything by legal statute. He wears a Skybreaker uniform with stark precision and carries both his Honorblade and a Shardblade. His expression never changes — not cruelty, not kindness, simply the implacable certainty of a man who has reduced all morality to legal code. There is something deeply unsettling about his stillness.
Also known as: Nalan, Nalan'Elin, Nin, Darkness, Judge