Teft (The Stormlight Archive)

"I will protect those I hate. Even ... even if the one I hate most... is... myself."

- Teft swearing the Third Ideal

Summary
Teft is a close friend of Kaladin, Lieutenant of Bridge Four, and a Knights Radiant of the Order of Windrunners. He was a very important member of Bridge Four throughout its lifetime, and to the development of Kaladin as a person.

He was born in the year 1124 to devout Envisagers, a cult dedicated to bringing back the Knights Radiant through very questionable and self-destructive means. It is through the teachings of this faith he came to know the various properties of Knights Radiant and Stormlight. He, even in his youth, turned against this faith at the age of 8, after his mother died in an attempt to bring out her Surgebinding powers. He reported the cult to the City Lord, and he watched them all, including his father, be hanged after the trial for their heretical faith. This past greatly effected him as a person.

At some point he got married, although his wife died before he entered the army.

Eventually, in the year 1145, Teft joined Sadeas' army as a spearman. It was here where he was pressured by his squadmembers into trying firemoss, whifch formed into a lifelong addiction. He became a sergeant and made his way to the Shattered Plains, where he was sent to the bridge crews as a punishment. And after another camp infraction, he was sent to Bridge Four, where Kaladin befriended him, and he quickly wound up in his tight-knit inner circle.

Teft, due to his previous experience with the teachings of the Envisagers and the Sons of Honor, was the first to suspect Kaladin might be able to use Stormlight. He tried to test this theory when Kaladin was hung out during the Highstorm of 1173.08.05.03, where he gave him a dun sphere "for good luck", knowing that it would be charged from the Highstorm, unless Kaladin was a Radiant and could use the Stormlight it takes in. Seeing that it came back dun, he had his suspicions all but confirmed.

While Kaladin was recovering from his wounds and fever after the highstorm, he gave him infused spheres, and saw him breath in, glow, and leave the spheres dun. Knowing that Stormlight had healing properties, he continued his treatment until he healed completely.

These revelations sparked a heavy curiosity in Teft, and he began asking leading questions to see if Kaladin was willing to discuss his use of Stormlight, or if he was even aware of his abilities. It was ultimately he, along with Lopen and  Rock, who worked with Kaladin to help him understand and trigger his newfound powers. He also taught Kaladin the words of the First Oath.

After Kaladin discovered Teft had military experience and was a sergeant before becoming a bridgeman, he became an invaluable asset to him and his leadership over Bridge Four, acting as sergeant to him.

Teft was wounded on the initial approach during the Battle of the Tower, and after Kaladin patched him up, Rock and Peet helped him walk as they retreated with the rest of Sadeas' army. He afterwards helped to remove arrows from Kaladin's arm in order to make up for the assistance. He then took charge of the crew while Kaladin went after Dalinar.

Following the Battle of the Tower, Dalinar freed Kaladin and the rest of Bridge Four, including Teft, from Sadaes' Army. Teft joined with the rest of Bridge Four as his personal guard, and Kaladin put him as a lieutenant in the new command structure and putting him in charge of training. Despite not having a slave brand, he still went to get the tattoo that the rest of Bridge Four got to cover up their Brands. He was one of the first people to speak up for Shen when the tattooists refused to serve him due to his species.

As well as taking shifts guarding Dalinar and the King, he continued to train the Bridgemen and reporting of their progress and readiness to Kaladin.

Under much convincing, Teft and Bridge Four carried their old bridge out onto the Shattered Plains on the expedition to allow Shallan to see a chasmfiend chrysalis; and, after Kaladin and Shallan were lost into the chasms, he among others took shifts watching for them. On one of these he spoke of his past with the Envisagers with Sigzil over a game of michim. During this period of time when Kaladin was missing, Teft was made the de facto leader of Bridge Four.

After Kaladin's return, he left with him, Dalinar, and various Highprinces on the expedition that would culminate in the Battle of Narak.

he was one of the people tasked with scouting the newly discovered Urithiru, and managed to find the room where the Gem Archive and the Sibling's Heart were contained, and were Re-Shephir was hidden. He, along with Lyn, Renarin, Adolin, and other members of Bridge Four, helped Shallan dispel the spren's presence.

Teft continued to disappear from time to time without explanation of where he was going, though the other members of Bridge Four figured out about his addiction anyway, no matter how much he tried to hide it from them. He was driven deeper and deeper into his addiction the more money he earned from his services to Dalinar. He spoke the first two oaths of a Windrunner, hoping it would take away his addiction, however they refused to fade away.

Having binged on Firemoss the previous night, he missed the first training session when Kaladin borrowed the royal emerald reserve. Leading to Kaladin and Rock worrying about him and going out to search. Finding him in an illegal moss den, paid his tab, and brought him back to the barracks. Following this event he worked harder to lay off Firemoss.

During that time, Teft continued to struggle with his addiction. At one point he was arrested and brought before Aladar's magistrates on the charge of public intoxication; Navani used her seal, at Aladar's quiet request, to free him.

Over the course of the year, he managed to start succeeding in his fight against addiction and his self-hatred.

He was, like most other Surgebinders, greatly effected by the inversion of the power nullification of The Sibling, being left powerless, and for a long period of time, unconscious. He was taken into Lirin's clinic and tended to by Kaladin. He observed that Teft seemed closer to waking than other Radiants, and he left him in the clinic to be tended to more. This was until two Regals came to take Teft to the infirmary where the other Radiants were. Kaladin fought them off and carried by Kaladin and left in a hidden chamber, where he continued to tend for him. Feeding and cleaning him.

This is until he was healed by Lift, which allowed him to regain consciousness. He awoke confused and disoriented, believing that he had given in to his firemoss addiction, and was glad to hear that he was still sober.

The crew had devised a plan for Kaladin to distract the Fused while Teft and Lift snuck into Lirin's clinic to have Lift heal the unconscious Radiants. Fighting a Regal which was guarding the door. However upon walking in they realized that they had sprung a trap that Vyre had intended for Kaladin. Vyre held Jezrien's Honorblade, whilst Teft engaged him while wielding only a dagger. Though later in the battle, right before he was decapitated, Teft managed to summon his Shardblade as a spear shaft to block the blow of the Honorblade, and lunged at Vyre.

However, when he lunged, Phendorana was stabbed in the forehead by a Raysium Dagger filled with Anti-Stormlight, permanently killing her, and he felt incapacitating agony as a part of his soul was ripped away. He had his body lifted into the air, and he managed a few final words before Vyre killed him with his Honorblade.

He died on Vevishev 1175 (1175.4.10.4), and had a funeral held the following day, where he had his body Soulcast into stone and placed in a room which held the statues of many fallen Radiants. He had a stone likeness of Phendorana created for him later, and kept by his statue.

Appearance
Teft is a man in his fifties with tan skin, drooping cheeks, and no slave mark. He has brown eyes with an epicanthic fold and close-cropped, grizzled white-salted hair. He keeps a neat, short and square beard that is light brown mixed with patches of gray. His face tends to be in a perpetual scowl.

Personality
He has a deep seated grudge against Lighteyes, borne from a lifetime of oppression by them. Though he is ultimately a kind individual, despite his near perpetual scowl. He is often blunt and speaks in a matter-of-fact tone.

He cared for and respected Shen, and stood up for him when tattooists refused to serve him due to his species.

He doesn't like talking about his past, and doesn't confide in many about it.

He is a follower of Vornism, and complains about the name of Michim being a symmetrical "holy word", even though it does not originate from a Vorin culture.

He suffers from a great degree of shame and self-hatred, most notably centred around his firemoss addiction. He has a hard time seeing himself as trustworthy, often reiterating to his friends and coworkers that he is not to be trusted. He feels that he is incapable of upholding the ideals of a Radiant due his past actions He is an addict, to an extent he feels he cannot live without it, and to which he gives all his money and sells his belongings for the sake of getting his hands on Firemoss.

Phendorana eventually turns his perspective around, and helps him find in himself determination to struggle forward for the sake of those who love him even if he sometimes fails. And make him come to enjoy life more, despite all of the things that go wrong around him. Helping him grow far more as a person and begin to move past his addiction and start to care more for himself and his emotional and physical well being.

He cares about the emotional and physical well being of his friends, and often encouraged Kaladin to attend group therapy sessions to deal with his depression and battle shock.

Kaladin
"You and I were the start of this though. Figure we ought to stick together."

- Teft to Kaladin

He is very close friends with Kaladin, both being among the first people that the other met at Bridge Four. And due to this they stick together.

They have a trusting and respecting relationship, Kaladin respecting his privacy, and Kaladin listening to Teft's advice at times when he would rather not, as he trusts his advice.

He cares deeply for his well being, making sure that he doesn't go into situations that are too unknown or dangerous, and actively encouraging him to take up therapy in order to deal with his depression and battle-shock. He feels a sense of proprietary pride when he sees Kaladin still fighting after all that has dragged him down.

Teft's death greatly effected Kaladin.

Phendorana
"You were storming right. You have always been right."

- Teft to Phendorana

At first, Teft resents the attention of Phendorana and wishes to give up instead of progress in his oaths, though she continuous to pressure him despite his reluctance. She later encourages him to open up to Kaladin, Lift, Rlain, and Dabbid about his past with the Envisagers when the others wonder whether it is the right thing to do to keep fighting the occupation of Urithiru.

She helps him grow and stop hating himself, and to help him deal far more with his drug addiction, and convince him that he was worth saving.

Ultimately, she was a very important person in his life, and helped to build him up as a person.

Rlain
He cares for and respects Rlain as a member of Bridge Four and as a person, although this took a while to develop. For, in the beginning of their relationship, Teft was very untrusting of him, even compared to people such as Kaladin.

Powers and Stats
Name: Teft

Age: 51 (56 in Earth Years)

Gender: Male

Classification: Bridgeman, Envisager (Former), Sergeant | Knights Radiant, Member of the Kholin Army, Windrunner, Lieutenant

Powers and Abilities: Base = None Notable Knights Radiant =

Adhesion Manipulation via Surge of Adhesion

Gravity Manipulation (Type 1 and 2) and Flight via Surge of Gravitation (He can manipulate the direction that Gravity pulls upon an object, and by placing multiple lashes he can increase the strength of the gravitational pull. This also allows him to fly)

Soul Manipulation and Durability Negation via Shardblade (By using his Shardblade he is able to sever the souls of living things, passing through their flesh without touching it)

Power Bestowal to his Squires (He passively grants those he accepts as Squires the ability to use the Surges of Adhesion and Gravitation)

Regeneration, Soul Manipulation, and Superhuman Physical Characteristics via Stormlight

Base =

Firemoss Addiction
He greatly struggles with an addiction to the drug known as Firemoss. To the point he often feels he cannot live without it, and leads him to selling nearly everything he owns for the sake of getting the money needed to get his hands on more Firemoss. An addiction that he has faced for much of his life, and a source of great shame and self-hatred.

Knights Radiant =

Stormlight
Through the use of Stormlight he can bring about various enhancements to himself, increasing his own physical strength to superhuman levels, and giving him regenerative powers.

Physical Enhancements
When drawing upon Stormlight he has his physical strength greatly enhanced along with his speed, agility, and reaction speed to superhuman levels, in proportion to the amount of Stormlight in which he pulls upon.

Regeneration
By using Stormlight he is able to heal himself from even the most severe of injuries, and even heal himself from various poisons and even alcohol. This can even regenerate entire limbs given enough time. Though it is ultimately limited by the self-percpetion of the user. Therefore it cannot heal that which he considers a part of himself.

This does not solely heal the body, but is also capable of healing damage to the soul itself, and as such it is capable of healing the damage caused by Shardblades by essentially crafting a new portion of soul out of Investiture and grafting it onto oneself. This however, as one would assume, takes an extreme amount of Investiture compared to other forms of healing.

He can still die if he is killed before he is able to heal from his injuries.

Perhaps as a expansion of this, Radiants are capable of holding their breath for very long periods of time as long as they are holding onto Stormlight.

Surgebinding
As a Squire to Kaladin Stormblessed, he gained the ability to use the Surges of Gravitation and Adhesion when around him.

After bonding with Phendorana, this requirement of proximity to Kaladin ended, and was became able to use his Surges wherever and whenever he wished, so long as he had the necessary levels of Stormlight.

Adhesion
The Surge of Adhesion can be manipulated to bind things together. This is considered the "Surge of Binding and Oaths", and is deemed to be "Honor's Truest Surge", and as a result it is more difficult to suppress.

Full Lashing: This ability creates an extremely powerful temporary bond between two objects. This is used by infusing a surface with Stormlight, and after the infusion anything touching it would become bound to the infused surface. This is such a powerful binding that most objects would break apart before the binding itself does. The duration of this bond is determined by the amount of Stormlight infused.

Gravitation
The Surge of Gravitation allows one to change the direction and magnitude of an object's gravitational attraction.

Basic Lashing: This ability alters an object's or being's spiritual gravitational bond to the planet below, instead temporarily linking it to a different object or direction. This allows one to run up walls, or send objects or people flying off into the air. As this only effects the gravitational pull, all objects are pulled at the same velocity regardless of mass. Using this they could also employ partial lashings in order to change their effective weight. Using a Basic Lashing can allow one to fly at great velocities. This is notably not towards a specific object, but only in a direction, therefore one cannot lock themselves onto a certain object.

Reverse Lashing: By combining the Surges of Gravitation and Adhesion, a Windrunner can create a bubble around a surface that imitates its spiritual link to the ground beneath it. That is to say, it creates its own spherical gravitational pull in a localized area. The pull of this can be powerful enough to tear the head of a Fused off its body. This requires comparatively little Stormlight compared to a Basic Lashing.

Resonance
The Resonance of his Surges as a Windrunner allow him to gain a very large amount of Squires compared to other Orders, granting them the powers of a Windrunner when they are in close enough proximity to him. He has the entirety of Bridge Thirteen as his Squires.

Shardblade
Upon reaching the Third Oath, he gained the ability to turn his Spren, Phendorana, into a Shardblade.

It does not act as ordinary blades in that it does not cut living flesh, but rather effervesce and pass through it, leaving the flesh unharmed and instead cutting the Spiritweb itself. If the Blade cuts the core of a person's limb, the person feels a flash of incredible pain and then the limb turns gray and becomes limp and numb. If an internal organ is pierced by a Shardblade, it may be killed or cease to function. If the spine or head is cut, the eyes of the person blacken and burn out with a dark smoke rising from them.

When cutting through something not classified as alive, they still cut far better than any other sword, able to cut through any non-Invested material with relative ease. A cut from a Shardblade leaves distinctive perfectly clean cuts.

Due to this being a Living Blade, it is able to have its shape and size modified according to his will, allowing him to shift it into various types of tools and weapons if he so desires it. He usually manifests it as a Shardspear.

Jezrien's Honorblade
He occasionally is tasked with holding onto Jezrien's Honorblade. Which he does not use when holding it, but if he were to take advantage of it, he would have his Surgebinding enhanced due to the overlap of his Surgebinding with the Surgebinding that the Honorblade grants him. As both are the same, this would lead to an enhance in the potency of his Surges of Gravitation and Adhesion, although the increase is not to any majour degree.

Firemoss Addiction
He greatly struggles with an addiction to the drug known as Firemoss. To the point he often feels he cannot live without it, and leads him to selling nearly everything he owns for the sake of getting the money needed to get his hands on more Firemoss. An addiction that he has faced for much of his life, and a source of great shame and self-hatred.

He never fully managed to grow past this addiction, however, through his years as a friend of Kaladin and the rest of Bridge Four, and a Knights Radiant, he began to better fight against and live through his addiction, able to rehabilitate himself to a degree; and, while he still has the occasional relapse, he has improved greatly.

Weakened = While limited by the inverted Power Nullification of Urithiru, he was knocked unconscious.

However, even when he was healed and awoken, he was still greatly effected by the Weakening. He lost his ability to communicate with his Spren, and his ability to Surgebind and regenerate.

Through great effort, he managed to summon his Shardblade for a brief period of time to block an attack from an Honorblade. However he could not use it to its furthest extent, and it took much out of him in order to do so much as summon it.

His regenerative ability was also greatly weakened, making it far slower and more agonizing.