Kaladin and Shallan

[bdoble97]

After reading Wind and Truth I was thinking young Keanu Reeves kind of had the look of how I picture Kaladin and I keep on going back and forth with Deborah Ann Woll and Rose Leslie as how I picture Shallan. Any ones els have thoughts and opinions thanks 

[Hexagonal He/Him]

They all seem pretty close to them. I would agree with you for a real world actor or actress for the characters, but the in world characters are a phenotype that is very rare IRL. Kaladin is pretty tan and has epicanthic folds, and while Shallan is described as being light skinned within roshar, just about everyone on roshar is fairly tan. 

[BoundByHonor he/him]

Maybe in their youth these actors would be great at portraying these characters, aside from some of the ethnic differences (Kaladin having darker skin than Keanu). I think, though, that since almost all the actors you mentioned are now in their late 30s to early 60s it might be far less of a match these days. Kaladin and Shallan are both teenagers at the beginning of WoK, so having someone like Keanu who is 60 playing a 19-year-old would be a poor casting decision and the same goes for both of the actors you mention for Shallan.

[bdoble97]

2 minutes ago, BoundByHonor said:

Maybe in their youth these actors would be great at portraying these characters, aside from some of the ethnic differences (Kaladin having darker skin than Keanu). I think, though, that since almost all the actors you mentioned are now in their late 30s to early 60s it might be far less of a match these days. Kaladin and Shallan are both teenagers at the beginning of WoK, so having someone like Keanu who is 60 playing a 19-year-old would be a poor casting decision and the same goes for both of the actors you mention for Shallan.

Oh I agree with you 100% I guess I should explain that's not who I want to playbthe characters it's just who my minds eyes has been picturing when I was reading them that past go around.

[Treamayne]

On 2/26/2025 at 2:34 PM, bdoble97 said:

After reading Wind and Truth I was thinking young Keanu Reeves kind of had the look of how I picture Kaladin and I keep on going back and forth with Deborah Ann Woll and Rose Leslie as how I picture Shallan. Any ones els have thoughts and opinions thanks 

We have input from Brandon on Shallan:

This is the closest picture he has (at least at the time of posting) ever found for somebody resembling what Shallan should look like:

Spoiler

I'm trying to find the source so I can cite what Brandon specifically said about this image

[alder24]

14 hours ago, Treamayne said:

We have input from Brandon on Shallan:

This is the closest picture he has (at least at the time of posting) ever found for somebody resembling what Shallan should look like:

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm trying to find the source so I can cite what Brandon specifically said about this image

The source, less on Shallan, more on Vedans in general:

Spoiler

zotsandscrambles

Here is an example of a Mongolian girl with red hair. Would she make a good example of a Vedan darkeyes, [Brandon]?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that's a good example. Though do remember, Vedens aren't all redheads--that's going to depend on region, and even have a lot of variance within regions. (Alethi skin tone will be similar in its variety, depending. Vedens in general tend to be lighter.)

Here's another image I noticed a while back that feels very like what I'd imagined.

https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/55dba2321400002e002e3dd1.jpeg?ops=scalefit_970_noupscale

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