Talenel (The Stormlight Archive)

"What a gift you gave them! Time to recover, for once, between Desolations. Time to progress. They never had a chance before. But this time ... yes, maybe they do."

- Talenel

Summary
Talenel, known as Talenelat'Elin in Vorinism and nicknamed Taln or Talat, is one of the ten Heralds of the Almighty and patron of the Order of Stonewards. He fought in countless Desolations over the millennia, protecting mankind from the Voidbringers, and returning to Braize to be tortured by Fused in order to uphold the Oathpact. Until the coming of the Aharietiam, where he was abandoned by his fellow Heralds, who all abandoned the Oathpact and left him on Braize.

He suffered on Braize for around 4500 years, until he was released for some reason, bringing about the True Desolation.

After returning, he went to Kholinar and warned about the coming end, but was detained as a madman and heretic.

After being temporarily restored to lucidity by the brief opening of Honor's Perpendicularity by Dalinar Kholin during the Battle of Thaylen Field, in which he told humanity about the true nature of the Aharietiam and how the Heralds lied to them.

Powers and Stats
Name: Talenel, Herald of War, Herald of Soldiers, Bearer of Agonies, Great Prince, Talenelat'Elin, Taln, Talat, Stonesinew, Tuk

Age: At least 7,000

Gender: Male

Classification: 	Herald of the Almighty, Patron of the Stonewards, Surgebinder

Herald =

Honorblade
He received from Honor a special form of Shardblade known as an Honorblade, crafted from the essence of Honor given physical form. This is made directly from the essence of Honor himself and by using them they draw upon his power.

They do not act as ordinary blades in that they do 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 Honorblade, or even a Shardblade for that matter, leave distinctive perfectly clean cuts.

Skill
He is a very skilled fighter, with mellinia worth of training in the blade, he is incomparable to any mortal being in his skill with the sword and with his Surges.

Surgebinding
From his Honorblade, he gains the power of Surgebinding, capable of using the Surges of Cohesion and Tension.

Unlike most Knights Radiant, they receive power directly from Honor through the blade, therefore do not need to collect Stormlight. Due to this they also have access to raw power far beyond that of any normal Radiant, though also leaves him reliant upon the blade in order to actually use Surgebinding, and therefore is unable to use it Post-Aharietiam due to being separated from his blade.

Surge of Cohesion
Also called the Surge of Strong Axial Interconnection, the Surge of Cohesion allows them to alter the shape of solid objects in a way called Stoneshaping. Allowing her to make more malleable, like clay, or even a liquid. Allowing him to reshape it to his desire. This is done through the manipulation of all of the Axi which make up the stone and the forces which bind them together. However, it had strict limits put on it by Honor, in order to prevent it from being as powerful and destructive as the Yolish Art of Microkinesis.

Surge of Tension
Also called the Surge of Soft Axial Interconnection, the Surge of Tension can be manipulated to alter the stiffness of an object; for example, taking something flexible and making it rigid.

Immortality
The Heralds, Talenel included, have a very potent form of Immortality. They do not age, allowing them to survive for millennia, and when attacked they are far more difficult to kill than an ordinary human, able to heal from significant wounds that would be fatal to most beings.

Even if killed, they would return to Braize and resurrect.

However, they can perish under special circumstances. With a specially crafted Raysium dagger, which upon being stabbed by it, would have their soul trapped into the gemstone at its hilt. With the Oathpact severed and Honor Splintered, they can not survive long without a body, and would fade away and perish within weeks. This is ultimately how Jezrien perished.

This Immortality remains even after the Aharietiam, and will as long as the Connection remains.

Cognitive Shadow Nature
He is no longer human, but rather, is a Cognitive Shadow. He naturally lacks a body, but gets a new one returned to him with every Return.

As a Cognitive Shadow, he is Connected deeply to the Rosharan System, and is thus incapable of leaving it by any normal means.

Sense
Due to the Connection he has with the other Heralds, he can sense the other Heralds to an extent

Post-Aharietiam = After his return from Braize he lacks any magical abilities beyond his immortality due to the loss of his Honorblade. Along with this, he shows a debilitating form of insanity which leaves him a blubbering husk of his former self.

Insanity
"I am Talenel'Elin, Herald of War. The time of the Return, the Desolation, is near at hand. We must prepare. You will have forgotten much, following the destruction of the times past. Kalak will teach you to cast bronze, if you have forgotten this. We will Soulcast blocks of metal directly for you. I wish we could teach you steel, but casting is so much easier than forging, and you must have something we can produce quickly. Your stone tools will not serve against what is to come. Vedel can train your surgeons, and Jezrien . . . he will teach you leadership. So much is lost between Returns . . . I will train your soldiers. We should have time. Ishar keeps talking about a way to keep information from being lost following Desolations. And you have discovered something unexpected. We will use that. Surgebinders to act as guardians . . . Knights . . . The coming days will be difficult, but with training, humanity will survive. You must bring me to your leaders. The other Heralds should join us soon."

- Talenel'Elin

He is deeply unstable most of the time, primarly repeating the same mantra endlessly,  Sometimes he speaks at a whisper, sometimes at a shout, but always he stares unseeingly. He also always shows a lack of full awareness of his surroundings, rarely displaying full lucidity. When talking to him people couldn't get any reaction out of him during his states of insanity, no matter how hard they try.

When Stormlight is used around him, he shows a brief state of semi-lucidity, but only displays full lucidity right after the opening of Honor's Perpendicularity, however, even this state was transient.

His thoughts are confused and scattered, at times nonsensical. And he often thinks back to his time being tortured on Braize, and tends to perceive the world around him as on fire.

He spends most of his time sitting and staring while repeating his mantra. He typically only shows the ability to do simple actions such as sit or lie down.

This insanity is not entirely related to normal mental health.

Sense
Due to the Connection he has with the other Heralds, he can sense the other Heralds to an extent

Immortality
The Heralds, Talenel included, have a very potent form of Immortality. They do not age, allowing them to survive for millennia, and when attacked they are far more difficult to kill than an ordinary human, able to heal from significant wounds that would be fatal to most beings.

Even if killed, they would return to Braize and resurrect.

However, they can perish under special circumstances. With a specially crafted Raysium dagger, which upon being stabbed by it, would have their soul trapped into the gemstone at its hilt. With the Oathpact severed and Honor Splintered, they can not survive long without a body, and would fade away and perish within weeks. This is ultimately how Jezrien perished.

This Immortality remains even after the Aharietiam, and will as long as the Connection remains.

Cognitive Shadow Nature
He is no longer human, but rather, is a Cognitive Shadow. He naturally lacks a body, but gets a new one returned to him with every Return.

As a Cognitive Shadow, he is Connected deeply to the Rosharan System, and is thus incapable of leaving it by any normal means.