| “ | My name is David Charleston. I’m not one of the Reckoners, but I intend to join them. I have something they need. Something precious, something incredible. Not an object, but an experience. I know his secret. "I’ve seen Steelheart bleed." |
” |
–David Charleston | ||
David Charleston is a non-epic and the main protagonist of the Reckoners series written by Brandon Sanderson.
Background
When David was eight, his father took him to a bank to talk to a mortgage man. He was shown watching the people walk in and interact until his father rebuked him. He waited for a bit until his father was sufficiently distracted, before turning around and continuing to do so. Mr. Charleston was debating with the mortgage man about the amount of money on the table, before the conversation turns. He proceeds to give an argument about how Epics were here to save humankind.
While this is going on, an Epic with the power to kill anyone he points at, Deathpoint, walks in. No one thinks anything of him before he kills a random woman. There is a silence depicted before havoc starts. Deathpoint continues to kill people while David watches in shock. A few people escaped, if they were lucky.
Stopping his killing spree for a moment, Deathpoint takes the time to give a speech about why he was robbing the bank, before turning and pointing his finger at the mortgage man behind David. Panicked, David is told to sit still while his father darts to pick up a gun. Before Deathpoint can threaten Mr. Charleston, Steelheart enters the bank.
Deathpoint tries to kill Steelheart but fails, and when Steelheart's back is turned, Deathpoint would have succeeded if Mr.Charleston hadn't shot him. The bullet, however, grazes Steelheart's cheek and draws blood. Steelheart is shocked while Mr. Charleston tried to apologize, but to no avail as Steelheart crushes his chest.
David is portrayed as heartbroken, and a blast of energy yanks him onto the floor. He crawls over to his father, but is told to go. He ran away, but was diverted from his course and ends up in a bank vault. As the vault is actually steel, while the building crumbles, the vault remains safe. When a wreckage worker finds him, she tells him to be dead. He runs off soon after, and Faultline is shown opening the earth and bury all the rescue workers, corpses, and survivors.
Steelheart
- Main article: Steelheart (Book)
10 years after the events that left David homeless, he is now living in Newcago, which was Chicago, and ruled by Steelheart. David has been living in the dark for all these 10 years, with one thing in his mind, revenge, he has spent all his life categorizing, and trying to kill epics. He also knows that he cannot kill the Epics without the help of the Reckoners, an elite group of fighters that kill off epics. He seemingly got information about one of their missions, and he interferes with one of their attacks. He meets with the Reckoner group, which consists of Tia, Prof, Cody, Abraham, and Megan (the newest member of the group). He tries first to enlist into the group, and become one of them, but was straight out rejected. When the team, led by Prof, was about to leave, David reveals that he has seen Steelheart bleed, which stops Prof in his tracks. The team accept him, with Cody in the lead, of accepting him into the team.
Calamity
- Main article: Calamity (Book)
At the end of the book calamity David is somewhat reunited with his father due to Megan's dimension abilities and Calamity gives him, "appropriately," the powers of Steelheart.