Dalinar Kholin is one of the central protagonists of Wind and Truth. He is king of Urithiru, married to Navani, and is the father of Adolin and Renarin Kholin. Dalinar is characterized by an active pursuit of knowledge and understanding, which is linked to his motivating desire to find a way to protect the people of Roshar. Dalinar is bonded to a powerful spren called the Stormfather and is a member of the Bondsmith order of Knights Radiant.

The author uses Dalinar’s social status and role as king to underscore Dalinar’s deep sense of personal responsibility. Dalinar is a man who likes to be in control, as is demonstrated when he reflects “I seek only to protect my people” and feels “as though he’d been standing at a precipice for years now, a single step from demise. Once, if he’d trembled before a battle, it had been with excitement. Now, it was because of the daunting realization that everything rested upon him. By his design” (157-58).

Dalinar is haunted by traumatic memories of his past, most notably the death of his first wife, Evi. The visions that he experiences in the Spiritual Realm often force him to confront these painful events, leading to a deep reckoning with his former self as the infamous Blackthorn, a person who was described as “a big, dumb blunt instrument you apply to problems until they break” (9).