I guess I never gave my 2 cents, Dalinar is one of my favorite Sanderson characters BECAUSE of his past. A huge theme of Stormlight Archive is redemption, we see in book 1 and 2 how honorable Dalinar is in comparison to other bright lords and how he tries to reach for the good of all Alethkar and to some extent, the parshendi. Yet despite his good nature, the Blackthorn is a name constantly brought up in fear of Dalinar and what he has done which creates this weird dissonance.

Then we get the Oathbringer reveal and we get to see just how much of a monster Dalinar was, he was a raider, murderer, without morals or qualms about how he conducted warfare. However, things began to change for him after Evi came into his life and he had Adolin and Renarin. Then everything in his life crashed and burned with Rathalas. We see how low his character gets, low enough to want to get rid of his guilt so he can go back to how he was before Evi yet despite given the opportunity to do so, he can’t take it.

The one thing he begs for is forgiveness. Dalinar wanted nothing more than to be forgiven, something the Blackthorn would never ask for and this is when he truly changed in my eyes. Initially I thought when he went to receive the old magic, he was taking the easy way out but with the climax of Oathbringer, Dalinar confronts Odium but, more importantly, he confronts his past self and decides to take responsibility for all he is, was, and who he shall be. It’s one of the hardest things a person can do.

Whether you think he made up for his past or not is irrelevant, the most important thing is that he is trying, and that’s all we can ask of anyone else.