[OB] Who’s your favourite of the three main POV characters?

[ICanDream]

Who’s your favourite of the three main POV characters. Yes, I know there are more than three, but I’m talking about the the three who have featured most heavily in the Stormlight Archive so far: Kaladin, Shallan and Dalinar.

For me, it is probably Kaladin - and it will probably be Kaladin for many others as well. He’s definitely the most relateable and his story really resonates with those who have suffered with depression. However, after OB Dalinar is a serious contender for my favourite character, with his turmoil really making the book for me. I really enjoy Shallan - I especially loved her in WoR - but she really can’t compete against the other two.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

Kaladin with Dalinar a very close second as of Oathbringer. His story in Oathbringer is amazing.

[Palindrome]

This one almost hurt me to answer. I love, love, love Dalinar' s redemption story so it was hard for me to pick against him. However, Kaladin is my favorite character. 

[MechaBiollante]

Spoiler

 

For me, with Oathbringer considered, Dalinar is the better character. Kaladin is one of my favorite hero characters in a story, to be fair, he has depth and dimension but I wouldn't call him quite morally complex, maybe I'm being unfair to say that but to me Kaladin's struggles mostly have to do with the fact that he's SO moral and SO righteous which honestly is often a breath of fresh air to me. Dalinar started off as this righteous character who stuck to codes and wanted to make moral the immorality of war and of course there was talk of it being a different him but seeing exactly how far a different him went in Oathbringer was incredible. To be fair between both Kaladin and Dalinar the steps in their journey so far have embodied IDEALS and because of it both characters must live up to ideals at times, it's amazing the books can have characters who are both paragons of ideals and conflicted and believable but it does it. With Dalinar that he's done wrong becomes part of why it's so amazing he is as great as he is, because he becomes a better man every time. 

Shallan is very different here, as I recall she had to admit a truth to move forward as a Radiant she didn't swear to an ideal. She has a Cryptic Spren and they are normally considered bad, at least by honor spren. While she needs to admit truths to move forward it's odd that in so doing she becomes able to weave better lies. As a character she's easily the darkest of the three and most capable of switching sides. While this could make her also the most fascinating character I feel like for now they're holding back a bit and to be fair my personal preferences in books like these are for battle, adventure, politics and not spying, illusions and romance. The climax of Oathbringer was least interesting when describing her role in it, it seemed like something that would work best on the big screen but on the page it was merely interesting as opposed to the awe Dalinar's stuff inspired or the excitement of Kaladin fighting Amaram. The love triangle didn't work that well for me, I was glad it feels like it already fell through because honestly it felt like a love triangle created by the fact she was the only other available female given a large role. Sure there are great female characters besides her but I can't even think of Jasnah interacting with Kaladin off the top of my head and Azure seemed too old for Kaladin and they didn't play with it. It's a very Star Warsy problem and one of the few silly things about such a large fantasy world that we've had no other woman to grab Kaladin's attention, I feel. Though, it's slightly nitpicky, I just tend to like more female representation, especially if they're going to be flawed/interesting like Shallan or Jasnah and not near Mary Sue's like in a certain other book series I just came down from. My other thing with Shallan is I often find her humor doesn't work, I try to think of it as part of the world created, like there's a really bad pun in Oathbringer Adolin groans over but she admonishes him for not admiring good puns and there was a time when puns were the height of humor in our own culture so I have to assume it's not entirely that Sanderson can't do humor but still I often find her stuff too "cute" in a story where I can somehow readily accept a character like Syl, somehow Syl doesn't cute/Disney it up too much for me, it's more like a nice balance to the dark stuff going on. That may feel like an inconsistent position but honestly bad humor makes me cringe worse than anything else. 

 

I realized this isn't really a spoiler thread so I spoilered my long reply, the short answer is I actually think Dalinar right now is the best character because he's the most well rounded. 

[Calderis he/him]

Trying to pin this on a single character just doesn't work all that well for me. 

Overall I'd have to say Dalinar... But it varies by book. 

TWoK 

1: Kaladin

2: Dalinar 

3: Shallan (trailing by a long shot) 

WoR 

1: Dalinar

2: Tie (Kaladin's depression was well represented and I love that... But it wasn't the most fun read, and at the same time, Shallan actually started to be interesting. 

OB

1: Dalinar again (because the dichotomy of Dalinar/Blackthorn) 

2: Shallan (and she's not far from the top, because she's a storming train wreck and it was an amazing read) 

3: Kaladin (because he was there... And that's about it) 

Obviously these are all oversimplifications, and I like all three, save Shallan in tWoK.

I just can't pick a static favorite. The books are to complex for that. 

[Song she/her]

Dalinar was so interesting in OB, I really adored him in the first two so seeing his terrible past (particularly his treatment of Evi and Renarin) was painful for me. But his redeptive arch was superb.

But...Kaladin is the man.  Broken enough to be interesting and relatable. But also brave and heroic and all round awesome!

[MechaBiollante]

14 minutes ago, Calderis said:

Trying to pin this on a single character just doesn't work all that well for me. 

Overall I'd have to say Dalinar... But it varies by book. 

TWoK 

1: Kaladin

2: Dalinar 

3: Shallan (trailing by a long shot) 

WoR 

1: Dalinar

2: Tie (Kaladin's depression was well represented and I love that... But it wasn't the most fun read, and at the same time, Shallan actually started to be interesting. 

OB

1: Dalinar again (because the dichotomy of Dalinar/Blackthorn) 

2: Shallan (and she's not far from the top, because she's a storming train wreck and it was an amazing read) 

3: Kaladin (because he was there... And that's about it) 

Obviously these are all oversimplifications, and I like all three, save Shallan in tWoK.

I just can't pick a static favorite. The books are to complex for that. 

For me in book 3 I thought they found the perfect way to emotionally cripple Kaladin, it was believable and heart-breaking and he still gets what was probably the best fight of the book (felt like some crazy chull anime fight, honestly). But then I'm really into Kaladin's emotional struggles, he struggles with questions I feel not enough fantasy heroes do, but that could just be the type of fantasy I read and I need to read more, hah. 

[TequilaJack]

Young Dalinar by a mile. Kaladin next as he was the least annoying. 

Shallan was near bonkers with her personas and Old Dalinar was way too flaky (with self doubts) to extent that it felt uncharacteristic of Blackthorn. Moash was even worse as I did not understand his slide into dark side. 

[Calderis he/him]

@MechaBiollante Like I said, that post was an oversimplification.

I think Kaladin's personal story was well done, and he's a character who I heavily relate too, because depression is a horrible soul sucking beast... 

I love Kal, but out of the three storylines in OB, his is the one that I'd skim over for the other two. Shallan was the type that even when I knew it was a bad idea I couldn't look away... And Dalinar's story was arguably one of my favorite things ever. 

 

[MechaBiollante]

17 minutes ago, Calderis said:

@MechaBiollante And Dalinar's story was arguably one of my favorite things ever. 

 

Yeah, for me it's why I feel like I may have read my favorite book ever written. Of course, the book doesn't exist without the two before it so I sometimes like to say favorite series at the moment, it's weird picking this as top book of the three when for Dalinar and many other aspects what made it so great was pay off for things culminating. Kinda like how anyone who claims Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars must have also loved A New Hope, if that makes sense. 

[BasementDwellingRadiant]

Either Kaladin or Dalinar... I see too much of myself in Shallan to like her. She scares me.

[Nymeros]

Dalinar is on some grown man business....he's my pick. Dude is my favorite Cosmere character.

Edited February 10, 2018 by Nymeros

[Brightlord Brooding-Eyes]

Kaladin is the most relatable because of his battle with depression.  But I feel that every character has been the star of their own flashback book.

Lift is still my favourite though.

3 hours ago, Calderis said:

TWoK 

1: Kaladin

2: Dalinar 

3: Shallan (trailing by a long shot) 

 

Shallan's story in TWOK surprised me. At first it felt slow and dull, and seeming so far removed from the other two main viewpoint characters' story didn't help it much. But she's the slow burn of the book; for me the pay-off at the end was up there with Kaladin's. I think the fact that I'd written it her off as boring made the ending all the more surprising for me, especially with how many minor details of her story turned out to be important. I'd already read and thoroughly enjoyed the Mistborn trilogy before reading TWOK, but the way that book set-up and delivered so many huge revelations while leaving so much open for the rest of the series made me realize just how damnation good a writer Sanderson is.

3 hours ago, MechaBiollante said:

For me in book 3 I thought they found the perfect way to emotionally cripple Kaladin, it was believable and heart-breaking and he still gets what was probably the best fight of the book (felt like some crazy chull anime fight, honestly). But then I'm really into Kaladin's emotional struggles, he struggles with questions I feel not enough fantasy heroes do, but that could just be the type of fantasy I read and I need to read more, hah. 

Agreed. Kaladin started the series quite morally naive and has grown so much.

[StormblessDave]

1- Kaladin. He's the surgeon, slave,bridge runner, bodyguard, windrunner.His moral dilemma about killing the parshendi in OB made me love his character even more. I'm really hoping for some Venli, Kaladin interaction in the future.

2- Dalinar. He's the Blackthorn, highprince of war, Bondsmith. His flaws and horrific past and how he finally dealt with it are what make me love his character. I'm really looking forward to him confronting Taravangian, and his interaction with Szeth.

3-Shallan. She's the muderer, scholar, Radiant, ghostblood. I like her independence, her spren and her struggle to come to terms with who she is. I look forward to her interactions with Hoid.

[Leyrann]

It's a hard choice between Kaladin and Dalinar. I'd have chosen Kaladin for the first book, but man, Dalinar is just too awesome. Absolutely amazing story arc in Oathbringer, particularly the finale. Him standing up against Odium... That's something for the ages, both in-universe and out-of-universe.

[Kureshi Ironclaw]

Kaladin has been the most consistently enjoyable for me to read. Although I loved Shallan in WoR, and Dalinar was pretty awesome in OB.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

I feel like I'm the only one who thinks that Kaladin is at his best in OB. I really love him in that book. Right now though, Dalinar is probably my favorite of the three, but that might change. 

[Andy92]

tWoK: Kaladin

WoR: Tie between Kaladin/Dalinar

OB: Dalinar

It's really a dead heat between those two (really not much of a Shallan fan, she's okay to read about but not as good in comparison). 

I'll give Kaladin the vote just because I liked his story in tWoK so much, and it's the story that sold me the most on Sanderson as a writer. 

[Devout Pathian]

Before OB, I would have probably picked Kaladin, even though he really annoyed me at parts in WoR.  After reading OB, Dalinar is just the best.  I like both Kaladin and Shallan, but I want to strangle both of them at different times.

I loved Dalinar before OB, but seeing how awful he was in his backstory and how he changed was fantastic.  I loved when he confronted Odium.  It was so beautiful.  It’s hard to describe why I like it so much, but I see that other people agree with me about that part.