Aroden

Aroden Kholin, the shame of House Kholin. Heir in his own right to the branch of House Kholin's ancestral estates before they conquered Kholinar, poor lands where he spent most of his early life. His mother was a nameless ardent he'd never met. His father? Garidor Kholin, the absent-at-best father of Gavilar, Dalinar, and himself, much later in life. His father was a hard man to love, even before his dueling injury, and afterwards? He brought only chaos and abuse to his household. Aroden's father died after fighting off bandits pillaging his lands, but not before he and mother conceived Aroden. Short for an Alethi, at times studious and quiet, and others, overcompensating for his perceived failures, he is something of an enigma, full of self-doubt and a need to prove himself in equal measure.

Appearance: Aroden stands 'only' at 6'2", with black hair and his father's storm-blue eyes, though they turn red when wielding his Shardblade. Normally he wears a Kholin blue uniform with its own modifications, black cuffs on the sleeves and an armband with the Alethi glyph-pair for "smoke" and "fire" on his coat's bicep, marking him as a member of the Kholin Engineering Corps' cannoneers. He is normally clean-shaven, but grows a beard on campaigns to protect his face from flashpowder injuries, or if he is in a mental state that makes him forget to do so.

Personality: Aroden is plagued by self-doubt, due to his status as a bastard, and strained relationship with Gavilar, when he lived, and then Dalinar. He always quietly appreciated Gavilar for taking him into the household in the first place, but couldn't fathom why the man pushed him away in the final years of his life. He at times loves, and detests Dalinar, adoring the brother who taught him to hold a sword, and hating the Blackthorn whose cruelty killed Evi , his first love as a boy. Following Elhokar's death a darker persona emerged, fueled by an incorrect interpretation of Dustbringer Ideals. He became obsessed with the idea of recapturing Alethkar for Gavinor, Elhokar's son, no matter the cost in Singer lives. He lives with functional schizophrenia, though this has lessened as he has sworn his Ideals. For a time, on the Shattered Plains, he believed Evi lived, and was waiting for him in Kholinar. He realized this was a falsehood at the Battle of the Tower, where he Swore his Second Ideal. He was at one time, best friends with Kaladin Stormblessed, though after the death of Elhokar and several missions where he put Windrunners in jeopardy, this relationship has soured.

Abilities: Aroden is a Dustbringer who has sworn his Third Ideal, bonded to the male ashspren Ember. This grants him access to the Surges of Abrasion and Division. Abrasion allows him to affect the level of friction different parts of his body experiences, allowing him to 'skate' across the battlefield on ice-slick feet, or bind enemy attacks on his person. Division allows him to destroy vast swaths of territory like artillery, or affect small areas with flames, or individual opponents. Both Surges are fueled by Stormlight. Since he swore the Third Ideal, he can summon Ember as his Shardblade and can adjust its shape and size at will. He prefers to fight with it as a long broadsword, bearing a shield on his free hand, along with two or three spanreeds strapped to his arm to communicate with his artillery teams, the Bloodeyes' Own. He is a peerless combat engineer who introduced flashpowder and cannonry to Roshar, and possesses a keen tactical and strategic mind, rivaled only by Dalinar Kholin himself.

Ember: A male ashspren who appears as an anthropomorphic human shape at times, with flesh that disintegrated intermittently, blown away by unseen winds. Ember is a baffling oddity for ashpren, cool and collected, thinking more in terms of calculations and efficiency than emotional terms. He chose Aroden originally to carry out the plans of his people in getting revenge on humanity for the Recreance, but gradually began to care for Aroden in his own way.