Herald?

[Chlehrma]

“He had dark brown skin and brown eyes, his thick black hair pulled back into a long, braided tail.”

“How…” the man said. He didn’t have even a hint of an accent. Kaladin had expected him to be Azish because of the dark skin. “How will I get back if I can’t walk on the leg?”

Did Kaladin save the life of a herald in chapter 53? Or just an Azish man who was raised in Alethkar?

[Moogle]

... now that's a clever catch. Many props.

 

In way of explanation (in case anyone's not up to date on the theory), there's a running theory that all the Heralds have no accents because they've got some whacky hijinks going on. They seem to automatically know the language of the people around them.

 

If Kaladin expected the man to be Azish, and he doesn't have the accent, then that's just really really suspicious. I find it unlikely that he's a Herald, but you'd expect that maybe one of them would have fallen into self-loathing enough to want to be a bridgeman.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Moogle

[Aleksiel]

I think it's unlikely for a Herald to allow himself to end in a life-threatening situation since death means damnation to whatever place Heralds go after they die.

 

Besides I thought they kept part of their powers after breaking the Oathpact, but I can't really support this with facts.

[hoser he/him]

Good catch of a very interesting detail.  There is an old thread about hidden heralds that seems relevant.  In there someone decided that this guy is Kalak (if a herald) by process of elimination. 

 

It is thought that the accentless language could be achieved via clever use of Shadesmar. 

 

If it can be done via Shadesmar, then this guy might be a worldhopper rather than a Herald. 

[Aspren]

Sigzil is Azish, and he barely has an accent either. It may be that that the Alethi language is similar enough to the Azish language that there usually isn't a discernable accent.

[Morsk he/him]

When trying to narrow down "Heralds that might look Makabaki / Azish", I realized that possibly every Herald has black hair and dark or brown skin, so it doesn't narrow it down. Taln does. Shalash does, if she's Baxil's mistress. Jezrien has the hair; I can't find the skin, but he's Shalash's father, so probably. There are some "maybe" Heralds in Words of Radiance:

Darkness does. Darkness' companion in the Prologue does not; he looks Alethi.

This could be some talent of the Makabaki people, and we only see it in Heralds because they share common ancestry with them.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Morsk

[Chlehrma]

I think it's unlikely for a Herald to allow himself to end in a life-threatening situation since death means damnation to whatever place Heralds go after they die.

 

Besides I thought they kept part of their powers after breaking the Oathpact, but I can't really support this with facts.

The lift interlude seems to support your belief that the heralds retain their powers. She sees darkness glow.

The heralds may not go back to damnation to respawn now that the oathpact is shattered. Perhaps they just lay around in agony for awhile as their body heals.

[duladen he/him]

I just noticed this on my re-read and came to the forums to see if anyone had posted about it, so +1 to you @Chlehrma!

 

While I agree that it seems a strange place for a Herald to end up, and I guess it could just be a red herring, the similarities between the description of this bridgeman and Taln are remarkable. Check em out side by side:

 

 

 

“He had dark brown skin and brown eyes, his thick black hair pulled back into a long, braided tail.”

“How…” the man said. He didn’t have even a hint of an accent. Kaladin had expected him to be Azish because of the dark skin. 

 

Outside  the gates, standing on the dark stone roadway, was a solitary man with dark skin. His hair was long and matted, his clothing nothing more than a ragged, sacklike length of cloth wrapping his waist.

 

"Go," he said raggedly, speaking perfect Alethi, no hint of an accent.

 

My money is on this being a Herald, and Kalak sounds good by process of elimination.