Jasnah Kholin

Jasnah (pronounced Yas-na) is the heretic daughter of the late King Gavilar and his then wife Navani, the older sister of King Elhokar, the niece of Dalinar and Evi Kholin, and the cousin of Adolin and Renarin. She is a High Scholar in Alethkar, a Veristitalian, and an extremely powerful Elsecaller.

As a Veristitalian, Jasnah intends to unearth the truth about what happened in 'ancient' times. She seems to be particularly interested in studying the Voidbringers, whom she believes may have been real. Her studies lead her to conclude that the Voidbringers are, in fact, parshmen. She thinks that studying the Parshendi is the key to understanding what set the parshmen off all those years ago. She later starts studying the Unmade, and all of the minions of Odium.

According to Navani, in Jasnah's mind, the only scholarship of importance are the writings of old philosophers. When it came to fabrials, her daughter barely knew her pairings from her warnings. Despite this bias, Jasnah Kholin truly loves learning, and she wants others to as well. Behind the stern gaze, intense eyes, and rarely smiling lips, she truly believes in that which she is doing. Whatever that is.

Jasnah has taken on the young scholar, artist and new Lightweaver Shallan Davar as a ward. She wishes to teach her the ways of scholarship and also to be able to control her surgebinding powers.

Appearance:

Jasnah is a beautiful woman in her mid thirties; lush of figure and tan of skin, with immaculate eyebrows, lips painted deep red, and hair up in a fine braid. She has a squarish face and discriminating pale violet eyes. She is tall and slender, with clear skin, narrow black eyebrows, and thick, deep onyx hair. She wears part of it up, wrapped around a small, scroll-shaped golden ornament with two long hairpins holding it in place. The rest tumbles down behind her neck in small, tight curls. Even twisted and curled as it is, it comes down to her shoulders - if left unbound, it would reach past the middle of her back.

Jasnah is reserved, statuesque, and always dressed immaculately

Personality:

Jasnah is a determined scholar. Questions drive her. When she is deeply immersed in one of her projects, she often ignores all else. She rarely does anything without taking the time to perfect it. She admires such traits as persistence, and values the ability to structure an argument logically with reason. She also finds curiosity to be one of the most genuine of emotions.

Though Jasnah is a very logical person, and is considered 'heartless', the opposite is actually true. She is incredibly loyal to her family. Jasnah is a true scholar; and even though she says she hates teaching, she likes instructing others.

Parents

Gavilar Kholin

Navani Kholin

Beliefs:

She believes that too many scholars think of research as purely a cerebral pursuit. That if scholars do nothing with the knowledge they gain, then they have wasted study. Further, that books can store information better than people can - what people do that books cannot is interpret. So if one is not going to draw conclusions, then one might as well just leave the information.

As a Veristitalian, Jasnah does not believe in the divinity of the Almighty. She doesn't believe because she hasn't received, nor has she come across, any evidence substantial enough to convince her otherwise. However, she keeps an open mind to the possibility and tries to listen to the arguments of others if they are presented logically.

"Youthful immaturity is one of the cosmere’s great catalysts for change... To be young is about action. To be a scholar is about informed action." - Jasnah Kholin

"A true scholar must not close her mind on any topic, no matter how certain she may feel." - Jasnah Kholin

"Power is an illusion of perception...Some kinds of power are real -- power to command armies, power to soulcast. These come into play far less often than you would think." - Jasnah Kholin