i see you kaladin posting. im so interested to hear about what made you love kal <3

Of course! Yes!

So what made me love Kaladin?

I guess the first thing that made me love him is the introduction to his character in WOK. His description from Cenn's pov already made me like him - tall, long haired and uses a spear? SIGN ME UP (I love those combination of traits maily because of Dainix (another character I relate to, my URL's namesake) from the aurora webcomic - he was ALREADY breathtaking. This chapter brought up so many questions about him, specially wince it's not from his pov - despite it being HIS FIRST chapter.

The chapter after that, you get to see the aftermath of the fight, except its an entirely different situation with a whole different energy. The background noises changed from a battle to low-energy plate clanking and feeling of stailnes. We finally get Kaladin's pov, and he is tired and having a terrible time. Its still him but how he is is such a contrast to how he was described exactly the last page. This both brings out MORE questions - what happened? How did he get there? Where is everybody else? He says he is tired, that he has given up, that he doesn't see any reason to try anymore, but we've already seen him in his epicness, and his breathtaking Kaladiness, how can you NOT root for him? How can you not be fascinated in what has happened to him and how he picks himself back up again? I for sure was.

The second thing is the reliability. I don't have a diagnosis for anything but I know that I probably have depression. I find myself in moments where my emotions get as low as we see kaladin being in so many times. I get that tiredness. That feeling of everything being wrong and there's nothing I can do about it.

I have chronic pain. The scene of the first bridgerun almost me cry, because I felt that pain. I constantly feel like the world is pushing me and not giving me the ability to stop so I just keep running because I don't have any other option. I relate to Kaladin's character an insane amount.

But that wasn't the end of him. Most of his time with the bridgemen was spent trying to make them remember life, remember warmth, choose to live. Worst place possible and yet he managed to help, he managed to being warmth - a reminder that even in the toughest moments there can still be joy and love. His story is about CHOOSING to see that. About CHOOSING LIFE. Knowing that its not always easy, its most of the time hard, but the story that follows him through WOK and every book after that is a story of choosing to push through. Of choosing to see the warmth and letting yourself move on and choosing Life before Death. And that means more to me than almost anything else I have read in fiction.

When I say that Kaladin is the best character I have ever found in fiction, sure I talk about his Kaladiness. His dramatic and sarcastic nature, his badass lines and his aroaceness, but mostly I mean that the affect his character arc (and these books in general) had on me is something that nothing can match.

It just gives me hope and helps me find joy within the simple things and in the hardest times. He chose life and so can I.