Shen

Shen is a parshman assigned to Bridge Four in The Way of Kings. Parshmen are kept across the east of Roshar as docile, near-silent servants, prized because they obey without complaint, and the war on the Shattered Plains is fought against the Parshendi, who resemble them; Shen's placement in a bridge crew is an experiment by the camp's officers to see whether parshmen can serve on bridge runs. The men receive him with suspicion and worse, some seeing in his marbled skin the face of the enemy across the chasms. Shen bears it as parshmen bear everything, quietly: he speaks rarely and slowly, works where he is pointed, and remains, to the crew, an unsettling puzzle at the edge of the firelight.