What's Kal's new name?

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

Now that Kaladin is a herald, he needs a name formatted like (symmetrical)'Elin. So what's his name? Kaladinidalak is far too unwieldy, even when compared to Talenelat or Jezerezeh

Maybe Kaladalak? IDK

[grahambam he/him]

kaladak maybe your right that is kind of counfusuling

[Jult]

Well, Kalak's name was changed to Kelek'Elin in Vorinism due to linguistic drift.

So, in a weird and confusing turn of events... Kalak'Elin is available. 

[AltonicKeys he/him]

I mean, he could stay as Kaladin, being a modern, darkeyed hero? You know, commoner rises to demi-god status, he can stay Kaladin as a symbol or whatever.

Or, since using Kalak and other combinations is way too similar to Kelek's names, we could only use the later half of his name, ladin? So it would be Nidaladin??? Dalad? Nidadin? Nidin? Nin... Ladinidal sounds fun, I dunno I'm no linguist

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

I suppose, because of stupid vorin definitions of symmetrical, Kaladinhhhhhhh’Elin is open

[Riino He/Him]

3 hours ago, Radon said:

I suppose, because of stupid vorin definitions of symmetrical, Kaladinhhhhhhh’Elin is open

fr probs like Kaladah

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

Kalalah'Elin?

[EdgedancerJacob he/him]

What a great question! I vote Riino's!

21 hours ago, Riino said:

fr probs like Kaladah

That said, I'm not sure Kaladin will ever be known as a Herald in the Vorin (or, frankly, any) religion. Nobody knows he's a Herald yet, and presumably people who already know him will still be alive when he Returns. I guess we'll see if Heralds are still a thing at the end of Stormlight 10. 

[DSCrankshaw]

I figure there's a decent chance all the Heralds are replaced by the end. I think that most of them have been looking for a way out. Ishar was training Szeth to be a Herald long before Jezrien died. I think it was a trial run for replacing all of them. It's interesting considering who the replacements might be.

But as for Kaladin, I'm going with Kalahan, using the h replacement.

Edited May 16, 2025 by DSCrankshaw

[BigBadBagsworth He/him/his]

Eh. If the heralds were all replaced, the best candidates would be the main characters of each book, and in WaT

Spoiler

One of our main characters dies,

And two others Brandon has revealed to be heralds.

also @Riino, @EdgedancerJacob, and @DSCrankshaw: Kalada(k) and Kala(l)an aren’t symmetrical!!!

*anger noises*

Also, then what would the point of Kaladin’s WaT ending be?

[Riino He/Him]

On 5/17/2025 at 9:40 PM, Radon said:

Eh. If the heralds were all replaced, the best candidates would be the main characters of each book, and in WaT

  Reveal hidden contents

One of our main characters dies,

And two others Brandon has revealed to be heralds.

also @Riino, @EdgedancerJacob, and @DSCrankshaw: Kalada(k) and Kala(l)an aren’t symmetrical!!!

*anger noises*

Also, then what would the point of Kaladin’s WaT ending be?

just theorising my lad, its not like it would be kalahah

[Treamayne]

On 5/13/2025 at 7:29 AM, Radon said:

Now that Kaladin is a herald,

Kaladin is dead, as far as any Vorins are aware. Assuming Vorinism still exists in it's pre-Everstorm form once we get into the back five, I doubt we will see a "herald honorific" for Kaladin until book 7 or 8 at the earliest. 

That said: We know Kaladin's name is based on Lighteye's patterns (because of his mother's heritage). So, based on Dalinar's synopsis of Adolin's and Renarin's names, the "din" is likely to be a suffix - which also implies the Kala is a truncated root of a larger word.

Oathbringer:
 

Spoiler

Ch 49:

Quote

“His name, Brightlord?” asked Ishal, an aged ardent from the Devotary of Purity. “I would burn the proper glyphwards, if it pleases you.”

“Name…” Dalinar said. “Adoda.” Light. He glanced toward Evi, who nodded in agreement.

“Without a suffix, my lord? Adodan? Adodal?”

“Lin,” Dalinar whispered. Born unto. “Adolin.” A good name, traditional, full of meaning.

Ch 52:

Quote

“Renarin?” Dalinar said, trying to work out the name. He hadn’t picked that. “Rekher … no, Re…”

“Re,” Evi said. “From my language. Nar, after his father. In, to be born unto.”

Stormfather, that was a butchering of the language. Dalinar fumbled, trying to work through it. Nar meant “like unto.”

“What does ‘Re’ mean in your language?” Dalinar asked, scratching his face.

“It has no meaning,” Evi said. “It is simply the name. It means our son’s name, or him.”

Dalinar groaned softly. So the child’s name was “Like one who was born unto himself.” Delightful.

“You didn’t answer,” Evi pointed out, “when I asked after a name via spanreed.”

 

WoB:

Spoiler

Quote

Questioner

Are both of Kaladin's maternal... grandparents darkeyes?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Good question. I think you're the first one to pull that out of me...

There's one question, or two questions in [the signing line], that I know are driving your brains crazy, that are not as clear-cut in my answers as you might assume they are. One is about Kaladin's mother.

Emerald City Comic Con 2018 (March 1, 2018)

Based on the discussion in RoW, it's implied that Hesina's Mother was Lighteyed and her father was Darkeyed (which was why she wanted kal to marry Laral).

Hope that helps

Edited May 19, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[DSCrankshaw]

On 5/17/2025 at 7:40 AM, BigBadBagsworth said:

Eh. If the heralds were all replaced, the best candidates would be the main characters of each book, and in WaT

  Reveal hidden contents

One of our main characters dies,

And two others Brandon has revealed to be also

Eh, I would be disappointed if knowing the main character in each book was all we needed to predict them. Brandon doesn't like being that predictable.

Spoiler

Who called who the The Hero of Ages was? That came out of left field for me. 

 

Good point on the symmetry, though.

Edited May 22, 2025 by DSCrankshaw
Spoiler protection

[Firebolt-101]

Even if vorinism, or rather the hold vorinism has on the general public, isn't around by the time Kaladin returns, I still think he'll get a herald name specifically because Shallan, Adolin, or the remaining members of Bridge 4 cwill use it to make fun of him. And so my vote goes towards whatever name sounds the worst.

[AltonicKeys he/him]

57 minutes ago, Firebolt-101 said:

Even if vorinism, or rather the hold vorinism has on the general public, isn't around by the time Kaladin returns, I still think he'll get a herald name specifically because Shallan, Adolin, or the remaining members of Bridge 4 cwill use it to make fun of him. And so my vote goes towards whatever name sounds the worst.

We've spent too much time figuring out what would sound coolest that we've neglected the more plausible side of whatever sounds stupidest.....

Honestly if I was in Sanderson's position I would pick the dumbest one and then gaslight everyone into thinking it sounds cool by making up more linguistic conventions for another fantasy language

[Njvodin]

I like the idea of Kaladin's Herald name being "Ladal'Elin"

"Ladal" from KaLADin

over time perhaps there could be consonant shifting from a "d" sound to a "r" sound, so then he's called Laral 

[Through The Living Ash he/him]

His name comes from kalak, meaning eternal, and din, an Alethi suffix meaning born unto, thus his name means born unto eternity. 

I would assume that the suffix of din would be replaced with 'Elin, so his Vorinised name should come from kalak, which is confusing given that Kalak is already a Herald. Therefore, I think a good name would be Kalahak'Elin or Kalahalak'Elin. I find his name is too unwieldy to not end up having an h in it. 

[ThroughTheLivingIlliterate He/Him]

On 5/22/2025 at 11:56 AM, DSCrankshaw said:

Eh, I would be disappointed if knowing the main character in each book was all we needed to predict them. Brandon doesn't like being that predictable.

I'd love to see how Dalinar gets out of his current predicament. I mean him becoming a herald is definitely the next step in his story arc.

[AltonicKeys he/him]

1 hour ago, IlliterateDragon said:

I'd love to see how Dalinar gets out of his current predicament. I mean him becoming a herald is definitely the next step in his story arc.

...His current predicament? Being super dead? I don't think he's coming back, TOdium was all "Yeah he's gone forever." And if he did come back, that would just be lazy writing, reverting any "permanent" consequences.

If you mean the evil shadow Dalinar that Odium pulled out of the SR, I don't think he's going to turn good. He's the manifestation of Dalinar's worst flaws, and is also controlled by the god of hate.
And I really doubt Sanderson will go with the "Dead character comes back by introducing an alternate universe/clone/past self, who then goes through a change of heart and just completely replaces the dead character." That would also be kinda lazy.

[ThroughTheLivingIlliterate He/Him]

2 minutes ago, AltonicKeys said:

...His current predicament? Being super dead? I don't think he's coming back, TOdium was all "Yeah he's gone forever." And if he did come back, that would just be lazy writing, reverting any "permanent" consequences.

If you mean the evil shadow Dalinar that Odium pulled out of the SR, I don't think he's going to turn good. He's the manifestation of Dalinar's worst flaws, and is also controlled by the god of hate.
And I really doubt Sanderson will go with the "Dead character comes back by introducing an alternate universe/clone/past self, who then goes through a change of heart and just completely replaces the dead character." That would also be kinda lazy.

I know that Dalinar (probably) isn't coming back. That's why the main characters aren't just going to become the new heralds!!! But Shallan is basically set up.

It was supposed to be sarcastic.

[AltonicKeys he/him]

6 minutes ago, IlliterateDragon said:

I know that Dalinar (probably) isn't coming back. That's why the main characters aren't just going to become the new heralds!!! But Shallan is basically set up.

It was supposed to be sarcastic.

hehehe yeah just thought i'd entertain the thought. I'm bored rn

But yes, I'm not too sure about any new heralds. Second half is supposedly gonna be during the same general era (Unless the flashback characters aren't the main characters and everyone's dead), so the current heralds probably won't break on screen.

I guess if Shallan's mom dies, then she would be the reasonable candidate, but I don't think that really lines up with her character. Kaladin was all about serving the people at his own expense, but Shallan still has a bunch of issues, and I don't think she'd be willing to leave Adolin behind.

I dunno. Second arc is too far away for me to guess anything.

[ThroughTheLivingIlliterate He/Him]

1 minute ago, AltonicKeys said:

I guess if Shallan's mom dies, then she would be the reasonable candidate, but I don't think that really lines up with her character. Kaladin was all about serving the people at his own expense, but Shallan still has a bunch of issues, and I don't think she'd be willing to leave Adolin behind.

I feel like it was heavily implied that Shallan would have the chance at becoming a herald at some point. It could just be her mom being literally insane, but it is certainly something that Sanderson wants us to deliberate on.

[Shaukan-son-Hasweth he/him]

He doesn't get a new name.

Remember the whole symetry thing is not something integral to the heralds. It's a feature of Vorinism.

The actual heralds and their names exist before this religion and have nothing to do with how Vorinism names them. 

We are biased towards vorin doctrine because most of our characters are from this religion. But remember. This Religion is wrong about many things. It's not closer to the truth than all the other takes on the heralds across roshar.

 

So I think just the same way the vorin church claimed it heresy that the almighty is dead, they wouldn't accept Kaladin becoming a herald.

 

They wouldn't name him

[Riino He/Him]

On 5/24/2025 at 9:07 AM, Firebolt-101 said:

And so my vote goes towards whatever name sounds the worst.

Kalalalahah

There.  

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

“Hahahahahah”

Thats obviously his name.

It fits him so well.

Edited June 15, 2025 by SpiritOfWrath