Szeth

Szeth-son-son-Vallano is the assassin whose work opens The Way of Kings. A pale, wide-eyed man of Shinovar in far western Roshar, he bears the title Truthless, a Shin condemnation whose meaning outsiders do not know, and he must obey the orders of whoever holds him. Wearing white on the night of a treaty celebration, he is sent into the palace at Kholinar to kill Gavilar Kholin, king of Alethkar. He does so openly, wielding a Shardblade and strange powers he calls Lashings, drawing in the light of gemstones to walk on walls while the palace guard breaks against him. His act sets Alethkar on the path of the Vengeance Pact and its war against the Parshendi. Szeth himself takes no joy in any of it: stone is sacred to his people, and he counts each order he obeys as sin added to a burden he cannot set down.