Dalinar Kholin: A Study in Broken Vows and United Men

Overview

Dalinar Kholin is the aging Bondsmith and highprince who drives the narrative of Oathbringer. He carries the impossible weight of uniting Roshar’s fractured monarchs against the coming Desolation while his own mind betrays him. Buried memories of slaughtering his wife Evi and burning the Rift resurface, forcing him to confront the monster he once was. The story pits his genuine desire for honor against the bloody legacy of the Blackthorn, making him the moral and political center of the novel.

Plot Role

Dalinar stands as the hub of the coalition effort. He commands Urithiru, negotiates with Azir and Thaylenah, and tries to rebuild the Knights Radiant. His Bondsmith abilities allow him to open visions and spiritually Connect with others, but the Stormfather’s bond is a fragile arrangement. His internal struggle mirrors the external war: if he cannot unite his own shattered past, he cannot hope to unify the world against Odium.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Dalinar’s primary drive is fulfilling the command “Unite them.” He interprets it as a duty to forge a coalition of human kingdoms and to become a man worthy of leading. His actions consistently show restraint where the Blackthorn would have lashed out. When Aladar’s men and Sadeas’s troops brawl, he stops the fight with Stormlight rather than force. He wrestles ardents and loses, then refuses to let the Thrill consume him (chapter 16). He appoints rivals to positions of trust, such as making Aladar Highprince of Information. These choices demonstrate a practiced self-control that masks a deep fear of his own capacity for violence.

Beneath the statesman lies the addict. In flashbacks, he numbs himself with firemoss and the Thrill, describing himself as an “animal” that cannot be trusted around people (chapter 53). That addict still lives inside him, which makes his late-book descent into binge drinking after recovering his full memories a tragic relapse rather than a new failing. The scene where Jasnah reads aloud The Way of Kings for eight hours (chapter 105) becomes a turning point; Dalinar weeps not for self-pity, but for the first authentic grief over his crimes.

Chronological Arc

The arc follows a painful descent before a cautious rise.

Denial and action (chapters 1–24): Dalinar replays the vision of destroyed Kholinar, sees Odium’s champion, and scrambles to build a coalition. News of Sadeas’s murder diverts him.
Memory cracks (chapters 25–42): He unexpectedly recalls Evi’s face; Navani’s research confirms the Old Magic cannot have lifted. Taravangian joins him, the first ally. Dalinar learns the true nature of the Fused and the Heralds’ betrayal.
Diplomacy and the Rift (chapters 43–65): While trying to win Azir, he collapses as the full truth of Evi’s death surges back. This is the hinge.
Despair (chapters 70–105): Dalinar hides from his duty, drinking heavily. A dream-vision of Nohadon asks, “What is the most important step a man can take?” He cannot yet answer. Jasnah’s reading of The Way of Kings gives him a fleeting sense that journeys matter more than destinations.
Acceptance (chapters 106–end): At Thaylen Field, Dalinar denies Odium’s temptation, accepts his past—not as a flaw to hide but as the cost of who he is—and declares that the most important step is the next one. This allows him to open Honor’s Perpendicularity and unite the three realms, symbolically and literally.

Relationships

Navani: His anchor and scholar. She verifies that Old Magic curses never lift, forcing him to confront the impossibility of his returning memories (chapter 24). Her authenticity wins over the Azish viziers where Jasnah’s polished rhetoric does not (chapter 65).
Adolin: Dalinar’s pride in his son is genuine, but he remains blind to Adolin’s murder of Sadeas. Their relationship is tested when Dalinar later suspects Adolin’s honesty.
Jasnah: He respects her strength. Her advice about not surrendering his identity to others’ definitions (chapter 38) helps him later resist Odium’s narrative.
Taravangian: A mirror. Both are “men of blood and sorrow” (chapter 24), but Taravangian represents the ruthless, ends-justify-everything approach that Dalinar rejects.
Stormfather: The bond forces the spren to witness human pain. The Stormfather admits he did not see the difference before the bond (chapter 86). Dalinar, in turn, learns that justice is not his old butchery but something he must rediscover.
Evi: Though dead, she is Dalinar’s conscience. Her memory triggers his most profound shame and ultimately his redemption.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Sparing Tanalan’s son (chapter 11): He claims Oathbringer but leaves the boy alive. Years later, that boy leads a rebellion that draws the Blackthorn back to the Rift.
Burning Rathalas: After the rebellion, Dalinar orders the city burned. His wife Evi goes in to plead for mercy and dies. This act was the reason he sought the Nightwatcher to forget.
Appointing Amaram and trusting Taravangian: Both choices seem pragmatic but later prove disastrous. Yet they illustrate his struggle to lead by hope instead of fear.
Giving away Oathbringer: After the sword is found at Sadeas’s murder scene, he returns it to Ialai. Every such surrender of his old identity is a deliberate step toward the man he wants to be.

Theme and Symbol Connections

Dalinar’s story is the engine of the book’s major themes.

Redemption and self-forgiveness: He learns from Nohadon that the journey matters more than the destination. His flashbacks to the Thrill-fueled slaughter show the Blackthorn was not a hero; Dalinar must find a way to live with that without excusing it.
Unity versus division: His political efforts mirror his internal fractures. Until he accepts the monster within, he cannot truly unite others. At Thaylen Field, he literally merges the Cognitive, Spiritual, and Physical realms.
The weight of a leader’s soul: Dalinar’s decision to spare the boy, then later to massacre the city, illustrates that mercy and tyranny can emerge from the same leader. The novel asks whether a man stained by such acts can still lead.
The reinterpreted past: The narrative explicitly questions memory. Dalinar forgot Evi’s death and remembered himself as more noble than he was. Navani and others recall him as fair, but the truth is darker.
Identity and self-deception: His Shardblade Oathbringer carries Sunmaker’s legacy, and Dalinar’s desire to be different requires rejecting that heritage. The scene where he tries to be “Brightness Radiant” (Shallan’s veil) doesn’t apply to him, but his own mask of the reformed highprince is just as constructed—until he drops it.

For deeper exploration, see our pages on redemption and self-forgiveness, unity versus division, and the reinterpreted past.

Questions and Answers

1. Why do Dalinar’s memories of Evi return?

The novel presents this as a mystery. Navani’s research shows that Old Magic curses never lift, yet Dalinar’s memories resurface. The Stormfather speculates that the bond is not the cause. Dalinar interprets it as a consequence of his deepening self-awareness: he can no longer hide from the truth. The book does not give a definitive magical explanation, but the return mirrors his spiritual journey toward honesty.

2. How does the Thrill influence Dalinar’s past?

The Thrill is a supernatural battle-lust that Dalinar actively sought. In chapter 26, he opens himself to it and slaughters indiscriminately, even killing his own elites. He describes feeling like “judgment” rather than a man. After the battle, he sees he killed hundreds, including allies. The Thrill enabled his worst acts and turned warfare into an addiction that masked his guilt.

3. What is the significance of Oathbringer’s name?

Oathbringer was originally Sunmaker’s blade, seized by Dalinar at the Rift. Gavilar notes it is Sunmaker’s old sword, tying Dalinar to Alethkar’s conqueror (chapter 11). By discarding the sword, Dalinar symbolically rejects the Sunmaker’s legacy of conquest. The name also echoes the themes of oaths and broken promises, as Dalinar must become a man who brings oaths rather than death.

4. Why does Dalinar refuse the throne?

After the duel with Kalanor, the Thrill nearly drives him to attack Gavilar. He recoils, horrified by his ambition, and vows never to become king (chapter 26). His fear of his own power forges a lifelong subordination to his brother and later to the coalition. That refusal becomes a cornerstone of his identity; it’s why he pushes for shared leadership rather than domination.

5. What is the most important step a man can take, and how does Dalinar apply it?

In a dream-vision, Nohadon asks, “What is the most important step a man can take?” Dalinar initially believes it is the first step. But after his breakdown, he realizes the most important step is always the next one. The past cannot be changed; only future choices matter. He publicly declares this at Thaylen Field, turning his guilt into a foundation for moving forward rather than a weight that pins him down. This redefinition allows him to resist Odium and become the Bondsmith the world needs.

For more about the events that follow, see the ending explained.