Teorier skrever av forskjellige WOT tilhengere

MESAANA

In [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 41], Alviarin thinks "She [Mesaana] must be one of the sisters; surely she was not among servants, bound to labor and sweat. But who? Too many women had been out of the Tower for years before Elaida's summons, too many had no close friends, or none at all." Thus, Mesaana could be posing as one of the long-gone sisters, somebody who'd been gone so long that differences in personality, etc. would not seem too amiss, or one of the AS who is not known very well. Note that Danelle, the Brown who assisted in Elaida's coup, is one of the latter (no friends, see [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 38]).

Alviarin's opinions notwithstanding, it is possible that Mesaana is posing as a maid or some other servant. It has been suggested that Tarna, the Red emissary to Salidar, is Mesaana in disguise. There's not a lot of evidence for this, except that in the chapter where Tarna talks to Ny and El [LoC: 13, Under the Dust, 232] the chapter icon is the Forsaken icon, and there is no other obvious candidate in there to be Forsaken. Of course, the chapter icons don't always apply 100%, but every other chapter in the books with that icon has a Forsaken, or reference to one, in it. Tarna is good friends with Galina [LoC: 13, Under the Dust, 237], a known BA and head of the Red Ajah, so this could be an extensive way to control the Tower with a Red Amyrlin. There are arguments against this, too-- why would Mesaana run her own errands? The problem of a previous history raises its head, here, too.

In [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 41], Alviarin notes that Mesaana taps her lip with her finger while thinking. This is not a useful trait in identifying Mesaana, since numerous Aes Sedai do this, among them Leane, Alviarin herself, Nesune [LOC: 27, Gifts, 395], Theodrin [ACOS: 11, An Oath, 210], Moiraine, and Vandene. In a similar vein, in [TPOD: 25 ,An Unwelcome Return, 497] when Alviarin is groveling before Mesaana, she catches a glimpse of Mesaana's skirt: "Seizing the hem of Mesaana's dress, she rained kisses on it. The weave of Illusion...did not hold completely, with her frantically shifting the skirt's edge. Flickers of bronze silk with a thin border of intricately embroidered black scrollwork showed through." Alviarin thinks she could use this info to identify Mesaana in the Tower. Readers have tried to use the clue to find Mesaana, as well. However, this is about as futile as using lip-tapping as an identifier. Some people wearing bronze or bronzish dresses are Romanda and one of the Tower Brown Sitters named Shevan (her dress was "dark gold") [TPOD, 25, An Unwelcome Return, 489]. Given the habit of so many AS to wear clothes which color-code their Ajah, the bronze skirt could point to any Yellow or Brown sister.

A caveat about the skirt, as Dennis Higbee notes: "Am I the only person who thinks Mesaana, who was a researcher/ teacher, would know enough about the weaves she was using to take some precautions about her disguise? All she has to do is take a few seconds to change into the gaudy dress that Alviarin sees, and she has another level of disguise and another way to test her loyalty: If Alviarin is searching too hard for the dress in question, Mesaana knows she's disloyal and can zorch her at leisure."

If the bronze silk dress is actually Mesaana's, it is a point against her being disguised as a scullery (maid), or some other menial servant. She could still be some sort of higher-level non-AS-type, such as a secretary. We know that AS can have non-AS secretaries; Halima is accepted as Cabriana's ex-secretary, and as Delana's secretary, without comment.

Another important thing to note is that if Mesaana is masquerading as an Aes Sedai, there must be a way for channellers to disguise their channelling ability, that is, to appear to be a weaker channeller than one really is. Otherwise, Mesaana's super strength would be a dead giveaway that she wasn't who she claimed to be. In fact, John Nowacki reports that RJ said, at a post-POD booksigning in Washington, DC, that a channeller can hide strength as well as ability to channel, but added that few people know how to do it and the AS don't even know these tricks are possible.

Silvie

"Silvie" is the name given by the "old woman" Egwene meets in TAR in [TDR: 27, Tel'aran'rhiod, 257-9]. Most likely, she was Lanfear; it was part of her plot to get Rand and/or Mat to go to Tear. Egwene and Nynaeve were to be bait to draw him there, only Rand was already going there to stop their attacks through his dreams. The girls were probably just a backup in case he resisted the dreams or learned to shield them on his own. Egwene and Nynaeve were to be Be'lal and Ish's bait to draw Rand, while Liandrin and Co. were the bait to draw draw Egwene and Nynaeve. See Perrin's dream about the trap in [TDR: 43, Shadowbrothers, 426] which matches Egwene's dreams about "puppets" in [TDR: 37, Fires in Cairhien, 352-3]. Lanfear was playing along with Ish, but working towards her own goals. Another possibility is that Lanfear sent them to mess up Be'lal and Mesaana's plan.

There's no doubt that Silvie was Lanfear. The reason for ripping off Egwene's ring ter'angreal to throw her out of T'A'R was just her cruel streak; Lanfear knew she was a Dreamer since she had been haunting the White Tower as Else, and just wanted Egwene to go to the Heart of the Stone in T'A'R to make sure the girls decided to go there. Once she had accomplished that, why not send her out the hard way? After all, Lanfear claimed T'A'R as her domain (even though Mog. was stronger there), so there was no need for Egwene to learn too much about "her domain." Plus, her precious LTT reborn had once loved this girl; I'm sure she couldn't resist inflicting a little pain on her, especially since the fact that Eg was bait to draw Rand to Tear meant that he still cared about her. That must have driven Lanfear bonkers.

Hvorfor hevdet Sammael at han hadde en våpenvile med Rand?

1) Andris died in a pool of blood, delivering the message to Sammael that there would be no truce. Sammael lied to Graendal. Why would Sammael lie? All the Forsaken want to be Nae'blis. All the Forsaken think that Rand stands a chance at becoming Nae'blis if he caves to the Dark One. Therefore, all the Forsaken want Rand dead. The Dark One, on the other hand, most explicitly does not want Rand dead. He will punish any Forsaken who kills Rand. Therefore, all the Forsaken want to make the other Forsaken paranoid enough to bump Rand off on their own. This eliminates two contenders to the title of Nae'blis-- Rand, and whichever idiot kills him.

2) Andris died in a pool of blood, delivering the message to Sammael that there would be a truce because someone else intervened to put Sammael off his guard while Rand readies his counter-stroke from Tear and the Plains of Maredo. Someone who knew that Sammael's emissary was meeting with Rand at that moment. Who was present? Bashere, a Saldaean named Hamad, some Aiel, and Aviendha. The evidence against this option is that Rand should have been able to feel another man channelling or have experienced goosebumps if a woman channelled, and Sammael's thoughts about manipulating Graendal [LOC: 23, To Understand A Message, 349] don't make sense if he isn't lying.

Døde Sammael virkelig i Shadar Logoth?

After the fight in SL, Rand assumes that Sammael has died, consumed by Mashadar. Here is the sequence of events:

1. Rand goes to the SL Waygate, where Sammy is waiting for him (off to the side of the square).

2. Mashadar starts creeping into the square.

3. Rand spots Sammy, who has not noticed him, and prepares to balefire him.

4. He's interrupted by a scream from Liah, who has been caught by Mashadar. Both Rand and Sammy are distracted, and turn to look at her.

5. Rand balefires Liah, then loses control and sweeps a beam of BF towards the square. He stops when he sees that the square is now covered with Mashadar, and Sammael is nowhere to be seen.

Rand assumes that Sammael has been buried and consumed by Mashadar: "There had not been time for him to run, no time to weave a gateway, and if he had, Rand would have felt saidin being worked. Sammael was dead, killed by an evil almost as great as himself." [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 661]

Furthermore, in [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 263], Cyndane asks Graendal, "Do you know that Sammael is dead?" Graendal replies that she had suspected that to be the case, because Sammael's frequent ("every few days") visits to her had ceased. From this, we know that Sammael has stopped visiting Graendal; this cessation of contact is probably coincident with the fight in SL. Cyndane's comment doesn't tell us as much as one might think. Taken at face value, it means that Cyndane thinks that Sammael is dead, and possibly that Cyndane's master, Moridin (who lent Rand a hand in SL), thinks that Sammael is dead. Given that Moridin seems to be the head honcho of all things Shadowy, one might suppose that if Moridin thinks Sam is dead, then he must be. After all, Moridin had been keeping pretty close tabs on Sammael.

However, can we really take Cyndane's question at face value? She may have asked simply to make Graendal think Sam is dead, or Moridin may want Cyndane and Graendal to believe he is dead. Since Graendal was Sam's ally (to some extent), Moridin may have believed that news of Sam's death would make her more likely to fall under his command. Another alternative is that Sammael fooled them all, including Moridin.

Now, we know that Sammael could have escaped without detection by using the True Power. This would have required the DO's permission, and that implies that if Sam is alive, the DO must know. Since Moridin is the DO's "golden boy," Moridin would probably know of Sam's continued existence.

Sammael supposedly died from Mashadar. We have seen two other cases of Mashadar catching people: Liah in ACOS, and some Trollocs and a Fade in [TEOTW: 20, Dust on the Wind, 251]. From both accounts, being caught in Mashadar is an extremely painful way to die. Liah screams like crazy from just a tendril touching her leg. The shadowspawn in TEOTW also try to scream, but their mouths are blocked by Mashadar, so no sound comes out. It is reasonable to suppose that if Sammael had indeed been caught by Mashadar, he would have screamed. Rand heard no scream. However, this doesn't absolutely prove that Sam escaped, because he could have had his mouth blocked, like the Trollocs.

So if didn't die, what really happened?

Prior to TPOD, we had no reason at all to suppose that Sam was actually dead. The question still remains, if he didn't die, then what did happen? The following analyses date from before TPOD.

Why Sammael's Death in Shadar Logoth was a Ruse

[John Novak]

There exists the strong possibility that Sammael led Rand to Shadar Logoth as the culmination of a plot, not to kill Rand, but to convince Rand that he had killed Sammael. This section will discuss Sammael's motive, Sammael's means, the evidence which supports the idea, and a few notes.

Sammael's Motive

As a recap of Forsaken activities in previous books, it is quite possible that the combined plot of Lanfear, Graendal, Sammael and Rahvin in TFOH was the first serious attempt to kill Rand al'Thor. Aginor and Balthamel seemed more intent on the Eye of the World than on Rand. Apart from the occasional outburst, Ishamael seems never to have wanted to kill Rand, but to use him. Lanfear wanted to convert him to her slave. Be'lal's plan did not require Rand's death, and Asmodean ran away from Rand as soon as he was discovered. In TFOH, however, a plan existed to draw Rand into the middle of a four-person link of Forsaken, Rahvin certainly seemed to want to kill Rand when he was surprised in Caemlyn, and Lanfear went absolutely insane and tried to kill him at the docks in Cairhien.

After TFOH, the explicit order came down from the Dark One through Demandred that Rand al'Thor should not be killed. Also, Sammael was left as the only visible member of the quartet which tried to kill Rand. Rahvin was dead, Lanfear dead to all appearances, and Rand never knew of Graendal. Sam had been the lure before, and was even more a lure now. Further, Rand knew where Sammael was based-- in Illian.

It seems that the Dark One's prohibition against killing Rand included even killings in self-defense. Graendal seems to think so [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 357]. Sammael is then left with only two choices if he wishes to avoid the wrath of a disobeyed Dark One. He can either convince Rand not to attack him until such time as the Dark One changes his mind, or he can convince Rand that he is dead, so Rand won't follow him and look for him.

Sammael's Means

Surely, Rand is not going to be fooled simply because Sammael disappears from view, and probably will not believe Sammael is dead unless he sees good evidence in person.

Aside from another Forsaken, the only forces Rand is likely to believe could kill Sammael are Mashadar, Machin Shin, and Rand himself. Machin Shin is dubious, because even in his untrained state in TGH, Rand was able to force the thing back into the Ways. This leaves Mashadar, so Sammael heads to Shadar Logoth, possibly as early as LOC, and inspects and prepares for his hoax. Since Moiraine is capable of constructing weaves and wards which prevent Mashadar from harming her, it is a certainty that Sammael can do the same. Sammael can operate in Shadar Logoth with little danger to himself.

Note that when Sammael went to Shadar Logoth, he positioned himself directly at the Waygate in Shadar Logoth, and note that in LOC Rand had the opportunity to close that gate permanently, but didn't. When Rand saw Sammael, he also could not tell if the gate was open or closed; he was too far away. This is one way Sammael possessed to remove himself from the theater, after Rand might think him dead-- run through an open Waygate.

Other ways include Sammael simply putting an invisibility cloak over himself, Sammael's image near the Waygate being nothing but an illusion, Sammael having created a pre-existing Gateway out of sight with inverted weaves, Sammael creating a Gateway with the True Power which Rand could not detect, and Sammael ducking around a corner.

Regardless, there are a number of ways Sammael could have left the arena without Rand knowing about it.

Evidence for the theory

The direct evidence for the theory is fairly thin, but it is there. First, from Sammael's wards and plans inside the city of Illian, he seems not to have ever planned to put up a serious fight against Rand, if Rand ever got into the city.

Win or lose, Illian ceased to become important to Sammael from a military standpoint as soon as Rand attacked him personally. If Rand won such a confrontation, Sammael would be dead. If Sammael won such a confrontation, Rand would be dead but the Dark One would be very angry with Sammael. It should be clear that Sammael could have put up a serious fight against Rand in Illian, had he wanted. He should have been aware of Rand's transporting six thousand Aiel from Cairhien to Caemlyn in one night. He should have been aware of the dramatic, Gateway-ridden rescue mounted by the Asha'man, and thus aware that Rand can Gate.

It is mentioned in several places that Sammael is an extremely competent military leader, and in one place that no one knew how to ward a box (i.e., protect a military strongpoint) like Sammael. Surely, he could have made plans for a Gateway assault. Something simple but murderous, like the razor-ribbons Asmodean used in TSR, but showing up automatically in front of Gateways.

That he did not indicates that Illian was not as important to Sammael as Rand thought. Surely, he had another plan.

Second, after Sammael is finished chewing out Carridin in [ACOS: 15, Insects, 289] he opens a Gateway into a location filled with grey columns and thick mist. This doesn't sound much like Illian, but it does sound something like Shadar Logoth.

Third, when Rand does manage to attack Sammael's fortifications (such as they were) and wards in Illian, even the wards don't give anyone much trouble. They are showy, flashy, and expansive, but not one of them even challenges Rand or his accompanying Asha'man. They don't seem to be serious attempts to hurt anyone or anything, but rather wards for the sake of show.

Fourth, there is an immense time lag between the time Rand mounts his assault and Sammael's ultimate response. Several hours, it would seem, enough time for the sun to set. It is worth noting, that in waiting for sunset in Illian, Sammael would also be waiting for about dusk in Shadar Logoth, which is about the time Mashadar would come out to play. Coincidence?

Notes

It is still possible, though it seems unlikely, that Sammael used Compulsion on her to make her appear and distract Rand. It is not impossible, though there is no direct evidence, that Sammael knew (perhaps by testing her reactions on other surveys of the location) that Liah would investigate any disturbance in the city.

Sammael was acting as a loose cannon and got slapped down for it

I think that RJ likes symmetry. Male half of the TS counterbalanced with the female half... good balanced with evil... the Asha'man and the Aes Sedai... etc. Moghedien fucked up in that she got captured and was forced to aid the DO's enemies. She was treated very rudely by Moridin. Asmodean fucked up because he too got captured and used by the DO's enemies. Similar crimes... counterbalanced.

Lanfear, on the other hand, openly acted against the DO's wishes. This seems to me to be far worse than the crimes of Moggy or Asmo. And since we have a woman betraying her commitment to the DO I believe that RJ will have/has had a male doing something similar-- working against the explicit orders of the DO.

Look at the "evidence" that Sammy has been acting in this way. First, he doesn't go to Dem's meetings. Dem, we know, is following the explicit orders of the DO. Sammy's actions regarding Dem lead me to believe that he doesn't want to provide Dem.. .and consequently, the DO... with any clues to his agenda. Openly he appears to be following exactly what the DO has ordered. But secretly, his personal agenda includes killing or capturing Rand and making it look like he did not do it.

Further evidence concerns the fact that Moridin and SH have been watching Sam covertly. I think that he is being watched because the DO isn't completely convinced that one of his guys isn't going to do something that he doesn't want done.

I believe that Moridin was watching Sam at the time that Sam sprung his trap on Rand. Sam's plan was to maneuver Rand to a place that was not monitored by the DO's minions, aid in letting Mashadar croak/capture him, and then go back to Illian and reclaim his city sanctuary. It would be a perfect crime on Sam's part and would eliminate one of the strongest obstacles to his being made Nae'blis. Moridin, a complete unknown to Sam, saw Sam's actions regarding his plan and went to SL to intercede/intervene to insure that the DO's plans were not compromised by Sam. Reread his conversation with Rand and you will get the impression that he didn't give a rat's ass if Sam died... just that he wasn't willing to kill Sam for Rand.

With the wildcard, Moridin, there...Sam's plan went a little off. And at the end, Moridin took/captured Sam and departed by a TP gate-- hence Rand could not sense it. If I'm right, Sam is now in Moridin's clutches.

Er Mazrim Taim Demandred?

So, is the Mazrim Taim who appears in LoC the real Mazrim Taim, the Saldaean False Dragon, or is he the Forsaken Demandred in disguise?

Here, MT=the character who appears in LoC, general of the Asha'man. Taim=the False Dragon we heard about first in TGH, captured after Falme. Demandred=the Forsaken.

How could MT be Demandred?

Then again, MT may really be the original Mazrim Taim. The reason we think of Demandred when we see him is not because he is Demandred, but because he is similar to Demandred in personality--he wanted to be the Dragon, he doesn't like being second-best, etc. Taim could have the ultimate plan of supporting Rand as much as he can, helping him to win the Last Battle. Since Rand is expected to die in the Last Battle, Taim plans to bide his time and take control in the aftermath. After that, well, as MT says, the winners write the histories. Finally, there is the possibility that there never was a "real" Taim; only Demandred. The first mention of Taim is at the beginning of TGH [TGH: 5, The Shadow in Shienar, 55], and "trouble in Saldaea" is mentioned in TEOTW. At that point, at least some of the other Forsaken are loose, so it is possible that Demandred was, too. We don't know enough about the timing of events to decide for sure.

Arguments in favor of MT being Demandred

Now, we will present the arguments for the "Taimandred" theory, and counterarguments.

1) MT knows too much: knowing how to test for channelling ability, how quickly he "learns" gateways, how well he teaches the Asha'man, etc. It's a little hard to believe that he figured all this out on his very own. Look at how much trouble Rand had learning before he got Asm as a proper teacher.

Counter-argument: He's supposedly been channelling for 15 years. He had to have learned something in that time. Plus, MT mentions to Bashere that he used Compulsion on two people [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 76]. Since the real Taim did that, the real Taim DID know stuff. (Note that this does not apply if Demandred was always MT.) As for Gateways, maybe Taim is just a fast learner, like Rand, or Nynaeve. In fact, one's ease of learning seems to be a direct function of how strong one is in the Power. (examples: Rand, Ny, El, Eg are all fast learners, and even SS and Moiraine, who are stronger than your average bear, spent a relatively short time as Novices (3 years?).) This probably has to do with the fact that, the stronger you are, the easier it is for you to see the flows required for a particular action, and thus can more readily duplicate it. (Note that that doesn't explain Taim's learning curve; he wouldn't have had anybody to observe and learn FROM.)

2) The Seal. The story about finding it in a Saldaean farmer's house is pretty fishy. Could it be that Demandred (posing as Taim) gave it to Rand in order to try to gain his trust?

Counter-argument: If MT is Demandred, why would he, and the DO, give a seal to Rand? If the minions of the Shadow had a seal, wouldn't they break it? Maybe the DO could predict that Rand/LTT would try to break the seal, but Demandred couldn't have. MT was certainly shocked when it looked like Rand was going to smash it [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 80-1]. As mentioned, it could be that Demandred would want to give it to Rand to get him to trust him, but that failed utterly. MT's seal story is somewhat backed by Bashere's story to Perrin about a farmer in Saldaea who claimed to be the descendant of the kings of an ancient Kingdom. If MT Farmer == Bashere Farmer it would be plausible that the seal was the last item of inheritance. And who better for the farmer to give it to than the Dragon Reborn (MT's claim before Rand declared himself)?

Rebuttal: It could be that Taim was shocked when Rand looked like he was going to break the Seal because he was worried that Rand was already totally gone. It's clear that the DO has plans for Rand, and that the DO told Demandred something about a plan for Rand (not necessarily the REAL plan) in the "Let the Lord of Chaos rule" speech, and that Demandred liked it. If Rand was too loony to perform his role, Demandred would be worried. As for why he gave the Seal to Rand in the first place, why not? The seals have been steadily weakening, and will break on their own in time. Why not give the seal to Rand in an attempt to gain his trust?

3) MT claims to not be affected by the Taint, after (Rand estimates) 15 years of channelling [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 76]. This seems pretty unlikely. Consider Owyn, who was going mad after only 3 years of hardly ever channelling at all. Many of the Asha'man have a few screws loose after only a few months of intensive channeling. The only Taint protection we know of is linking to the DO. Plus, the Red Ajah seems pretty adept at tracking down male channellers. In 15 years, one would have thought that the AS would have heard of him long before they did.

Counter-argument: Unless Taim was a raving lunatic when he was leading his armies as a False Dragon, he must have still been somewhat sane, even after 15 years. (Again, note that if MT was always Dem, this does not apply.) Same argument applies for him not getting caught by the Reds. Plus, Logain, who is not a Forsaken, has been channelling for about six years (minus about a year or so of being gentled), and isn't going mad. It seems likely that the ease with which one succumbs to the Taint varies widely with the person. Owyn went under in 3 years, MT mentions some other guys who lasted for 2 years [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 79], and Logain has lasted for 6 [LOC: 51, The Taking, 647].

3.5) More on Taim's age: Rand estimates Taim's age as 35, or a few years older [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 76]. However, Rand doesn't know about the "slowing" effect of using the OP. According to RJ, a man with the spark doesn't slow until 25, usually closer to thirty. He says one can go past thirty, but that probably depends on how early they start channelling and how much they channel [Post-TPOD Signing, New York, 20 October, 1998, report by Ryan R.]. Thus, the only way Taim could be the age he looks is if he started channelling at an unusually late age, and didn't channel much for the first few years. Since, if he's legit, he'd have to be a wilder, he must have started channelling young, at around Rand's age. The depth of his knowledge of channelling, and his career as a False Dragon demonstrate that he must have channelled a great deal prior to his arrival in Caemlyn. Therefore, Taim must be even older than 35. Let's postulate that men slow at a rate similar to women. We know that Garenia ran away from the Tower 70 years ago, and presumably she slowed before then, or soon afterwards (in her early 20s, as is usual for women). Garenia looks like she is Nynaeve's age, around 26. That corresponds to about five years of physical aging in 70 years. Now, if Taim started slowing at 30, then his actual age should be around 100 or so. Thus, the problem of Taim's age is even more extreme than it first appears. Counter-argument: The same type of arguments apply as discussed above. Maybe Taim is miraculously immune to the Taint. Also, maybe Rand overestimated Taim's age; maybe he's only thirty or so, in which case he needn't have begun slowing noticeably yet.

4) MT's reaction to Rand's badges and awards: he's not pleased to be seen as subservient to Rand [LoC: 42, The Black Tower, 543], just like Demandred [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 56-7]. Counter-argument: It is entirely possible that Taim is just plain arrogant. Nothing says the Forsaken have a monopoly on excessive pride.

5) LTT often raves about Demandred, and killing him, every time MT is around. Is there a method in his madness? LTT raves, "Sammael, oh, yes, but Demandred first. First of all I rid myself of him, then Sammael." [LoC: 51, The Taking, 635] LTT and Rand know where Sammael is. But why does LTT insist on killing Demandred if he doesn't know where he is? Therefore, they do know where Demandred is; i.e., he's MT. [Dash W.]

Counter-argument: Again, it could just be that Taim is similar to Demandred in many ways, and LTT thinks he will betray him like Demandred did in the AoL. Anyway, LTT is loony and wants to kill all male channellers [ACOS: 7, Pitfalls and Tripwires, 139]. Furthermore, one shouldn't take anything LTT says too seriously. He's a total loon. He wants to die forever and end his suffering [LoC: 18, A Taste of Solitude, 299], but he doesn't want to die [LoC: 46, Beyond the Gate, 560]. He says "trust no one" and "the man who doesn't trust is dead" or words to that effect. LTT could be confusing Taim and Demandred.

6) The epilogue: "Have I not done well, Great Lord?" The DO's orders were to "Let the Lord of Chaos Rule," which seems to refer to "sowing chaos" in general, and to promoting divisiveness among the enemies of the Shadow. Demandred and Mesaana (and Semirhage) were working together on a plot in LOC to "let the Lord of Chaos rule." One of the main plot threads in LOC was the interactions of Rand with the SAS and TAS embassies. Rand ended up getting kidnapped by the TAS, and was rescued with the assistance of the Asha'man. The events of the battle to free Rand led to a great deal of mistrust and enmity among the SAS embassy, the TAS, the Aiel who follow Rand, the Shaido, and the Asha'man. The current state of affairs among Rand's allies (his Aiel, the Asha'man) and potential allies (the TAS and SAS) can only be good for the Shadow. We know that Mesaana was central to setting up this situation, from her place in the WT. Assuming Demandred had a hand in it as well (as is implied by his visit to SG at the end of the book), the most logical place for Demandred to be, among those factions, is the AM.

Counter-argument: From Sammael's speech with Graendal [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 135], we know that Demandred may be involved in the Seanchan invasion in Tarabon. Maybe this has something to do with it. Furthermore, if Demandred is MT and is also involved with the Seanchan, wouldn't it be necessary for him to "disappear" from the farm in order to manage his other project? Nobody's mentioned anything about MT vanishing. Finally, if the final mess in LOC was set up by Dem, Sem, and Mesaana, what was Semirhage's role?

7) MT kills the Gray Man. If he hadn't, Rand might have gotten information out of it. Alternatively, it could've been a set-up: Taimandred ordered the Gray Man, and killed him to "prove" his loyalty to Rand.

Counter-argument: It's doubtful Rand could get much information from a Gray Man. The Gray Men have no souls--they're basically walking killing machines. They probably have some sort of self-destruct mechanism, too. Jared Samet remarks: "If I were designing a perfect assassin, I'd set him up so that he could never point the finger at me. Remember, the Gray Man who comes after Nynaeve in the Tower has a knife in him the moment they find him. Besides, the Gray Man could only tell Rand anything damaging to MT if Demandred had sent him (possible I suppose, but why can't Demandred do it himself if thats what the DO wants?) A Gray Man with a story implicating Sammael or some other Forsaken (easy enough for a channeller to set up) could help MT more than a dead one." As for how conveniently MT showed up, recall that strange and oddly convenient things happen around Rand all the time.

8) MT's remark on "These so-called Aiel". If he hadn't been around in the AoL, why are they "so-called"? [LoC: 11, Lessons and Teachers, 215] The only other person to use this (exact same) phrase is Moridin (who used to be Ishamael) in [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 356]. Only somebody from the AOL would have cause to call the modern Aiel "so-called."

Counter-argument: This is the hardest piece of evidence to explain away. People have suggested rationalizations, though. For example, if Taim knew the old tongue, he might be simply saying that he doubts the Aiel are truly "dedicated" to Rand. Another possible explanation is that, if Taim is about 35, which seems reasonable, then he was alive for the Aiel War, although possibly too young to go east to fight. He probably heard tales about Aiel--10 feet tall, breathing fire, etc. Here he sees some in Caemlyn peacefully patrolling the streets. Not what an average wetlander would expect of Savages From the Waste.

Rebuttal: As to the first suggestion, it hardly seems in character to for Taim to be making puns in the Old Tongue. As for the second, even if the Aiel Taim meets aren't the monsters he's heard about, they are undeniably Aiel. Nobody else in Randland regards them as "so-called."

8.5) Another Aiel reference. There is second suspicious Taim quote about the Aiel. During the fight at Dumai's Wells, Taim has the Asha'man raise a defensive barrier of Air around Rand's position. Many of the people Perrin led from Caemlyn (Aiel fighters and WOs, Mayeners, Cairhienin, and Two Rivers folk) are trapped outside, among the Shaido. Rand asks Taim to lower the barrier, presumably so that the fighters could be informed of Rand's safety, and an orderly retreat could begin. [LOC: 55, Dumai's Wells, 692-693] Taim argues against this, saying, "There are casualties in battle. I lost several soldiers today, nine men who will be harder to replace than any number of renegade Aiel." He is clearly talking about Rand¹s Aiel, not the Shaido. So why are they "renegade"? The only convincing explanation that I see is that they are renegades against the Way of the Leaf, the code of the Da¹shain Aiel. [Fred Van Keuls]

This makes not one, but two instances in which Taim expresses doubts about the legitimacy of the modern Aiel. In this case, in the middle of a heated battle, there is no reason for Taim to doubt the "dedication" of the Aiel to Rand's cause.

Counter-argument: Taim may be referring to the vast numbers of Shaido. As far as each side's battle strength is concerned, it will be easier for the Shaido to replace a few dozen or hundred spears than it will for Taim to recruit and train nine men. [Matthew Heslin]

Rebuttal: The context of the above quote is that Taim is arguing against raising the 'Dome of Air' to save Rand's Aiel, Mayeners and True Rivers folk from the Shaido. He is saying that Rand's Aiel (outside the Dome) are expendable compared to the Asha'man (inside the Dome). Given the discussion before the quote, it seems highly unlikely to me that Taim could be referring to the Shaido as the 'renegade Aiel'. I suppose one could argue that Taim is confused about what is going on. However, Taim has never given me that impression. [Fred Van Keuls]

9) Strength: MT is very strong in the Power. Forsaken-class, even (almost as strong as Rand himself). [LoC: 3, A Woman's Eyes, 92]

Counter-argument: The real Taim was thought to be very strong. [TSR: 5, Questioners, 85] Just because he's strong doesn't mean he's evil. (And just because he's evil, doesn't mean he's Forsaken.) Nynaeve is Forsaken-class, but she's on the Good Guys' side.

10) Smile: In the prologue, it is said that Demandred never smiles [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 15], [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 58]. MT doesn't either-- at the end of LoC, before "Kneel, or you will be knelt", Rand says something like "His expression was as close to a smile as he had ever seen it." [LoC: 55, Dumai's Wells, 695] Counter-argument: Once again, it could just be that Taim and Demandred have similar personalities.

11) Min's viewing: of an invisible man holding a knife to Rand's throat. This could indicate that Demandred is the "serpent in the bosom," masquerading as Taim.

Counter-argument: The vision could be the Gray Man, as Rand thinks. Or, it could be MT, who is not to be trusted, even if he isn't Demandred.

Rebuttal: Since when has Rand ever interpreted Min's visions correctly?

12) Location, Location, Location: Demandred takes a gateway directly out of TAR while in the Royal palace in Caemlyn. Unless Demandred knows some sort of combination traveling/leaving TAR gateway, then he must be somebody, or pretending to be somebody who comes to Caemlyn regularly, and somebody who can channel his way into the palace without inviting immediate destruction upon himself. We know that MT has been visiting Rand in Caemlyn because Rand's thoughts comment on how MT has taught him to block out heat, and a few chapters later Rand tells MT that his visits to the city would have to stop because Alanna and Verin have shown up.

Counter-argument: Maybe he went out of TAR to someplace that was not Caemlyn. Also, maybe Demandred is gutsy enough to enter into Rand's turf.

Rebuttal: We've never seen anybody enter/leave TAR in the flesh via any means except gating to the spot in the real world corresponding to the spot one is in in TAR. As for Dem blatantly entering into Rand's turf, it's not likely that he'd do that unless he had a cover story-- too dangerous, especially with Rand becoming more and more paranoid.

13) MT's behavior: Bill Garrett says: Something that should maybe be added as a separate point is MT's whole challenge/submit behavior. He'll argue with Rand about something, telling him it has to be done another way, then suddenly he'll agree and say "As my Lord Dragon commands." I think it's Demandred trying to do things his way, but suddenly remembering the Dark One's orders to do what Rand says (or at least to not go directly against him). And MT sometimes disobeys Rand and frequently does things Rand doesn't expect, as with the Asha'man.

Counter-argument: How is this different from the way the Tairen lords behaved? Or the Andoran nobility? Or Davram Bashere? Hell, even the Aiel tend to do this. Everybody tries to convince Rand to do things their way, but when you get right down to it, he's going to do as he damn well pleases, and all you can say is "As my Lord Dragon commands."

14) Another slip of the tongue: When Rand shows MT how to make a gateway, he calls it a "gateway." A little further in the same chapter, MT says, "You can Travel, but you don't know how to test for the talent." How does MT know that a Gateway = Traveling? AFAIK, Rand didn't mention anything about "traveling," only "gateways."

Counter-argument: Maybe MT heard the term described during his 15 years as channeller, and added 2 and 2 to make 4.

Rebuttal: Once more, this raises the question of how Taim got to know so much about channelling, with (supposedly) nobody to teach him.

15) Sammael and Graendal in conversation: In [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 355], Sammael and Graendal are discussing their comrades. Sammael says, "I didn't arrange [Rand's] kidnapping....Mesaana had a hand in it, though. Maybe Demandred and Semirhage as well, despite how it ended...." Note the despite-- there is a strong implication here that Sem and Dem somehow had a hand in the conclusion of the Rand-kidnapping episode, i.e. in his rescue. Who was instrumental in the rescue? Taim and the Asha'man, Perrin and the Two Riversians, the Wolves, the Mayeners, and the Aiel. We all know that the most likely place for Demandred is with the Asha'man, as their leader, in fact. Note that this interpretation implies that Sam knows where Dem and Sem are situated. We do not know that he knows this, in fact, as of [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 138], Graendal doesn't know where they are. Of course, Sam could have known, without telling Graendal, or they could always have discovered it in the intervening time.

Counter-argument: A totally different spin can be put on the passage. As Mark Loy explains, "To paraphrase...'I didn't arrange Rand's kidnapping... Mesaana had a hand in arranging Rand's kidnapping... Maybe Dem and Sem had a hand in arranging Rand's kidnapping as well, despite how the kidnapping ended. This interpretation means that they might have had a hand in arranging the kidnapping...in the planning..." despite the fact that it ended all messed up.

16) Yet another slip of the tongue: MT has taken to calling himself "The M'Hael," which means "leader" in the Old Tongue, and giving OT designations to his lieutenants. MT knows an awful lot about the Old Tongue for a modern-day Randlander.

Counter-argument: Well, maybe he does know the Old Tongue. Maybe he was a scholar or something before he became a False Dragon. Of course, that is pure speculation.

17) Black Tower: MT has pretty much built the Black Tower on his own. Rand has made little effort to be involved in it, and has left the recruiting, training, and testing of Asha'man to MT. MT, in turn, has done a fine job-- in just a few months (between LOC and POD) he's created an unconventional military force which can take on anybody in Randland, including Aes Sedai and Seanchan. Just a handful of Asha'man have proven to be the decisive factor in many battles, some of them against opponents with channelling capability. So, we must ask ourselves, if MT is so efficient at turning out combat channellers, why didn't he do it when HE was claiming to be the Dragon Reborn? He claims to have tried training other men to channel [LOC: 2, A New Arrival, 79], so the thought must have occurred to him. Granted, since he lacked Rand's ta'veren-power to attract recruits, he would have had a much smaller force than the 400 or so at the BT. However, given that two or three percent of people can learn to channel [Guide: 2, The One Power and the True Source, 18], and that Taim's army of followers was of a "normal" Randland size (on the order of a couple thousand), he should have been able to get at least 10-20 men who could have been useful. Even ten male channellers is nothing to sneeze at, and yet Taim the False Dragon had no channelling followers. This can be explained easily if one supposes that Taim did not have the knowledge to identify and train channellers. MT is not Taim, but Demandred, who certainly has all that knowledge. He told Rand the story about identifying male channellers in an attempt to allay Rand's suspicions about MT knowing how to do the test.

Counter-argument: There are other possible reasons Taim didn't train any other channellers. Perhaps he didn't have time. Perhaps he was worried that they'd turn against him. Perhaps when he saw his first experiments in training go mad in two years or so [LOC: 2, A New Arrival, 79], he gave the idea up. Rebuttal: As for time, he supposedly spent 15 years or so as a channeller before declaring himself the Dragon. He didn't seem to be in any big hurry. Taim isn't the sort of guy to worry about most of his subordinate channellers betraying him-- he's shown himself to be a master at inspiring admiration and loyalty in his troops; he's got a regular cult of personality among the Asha'man. As for the ones he didn't feel he could trust, he's not the sort of guy to be shy about killing them outright. As for the madness, he is known to be a totally ruthless fellow. He'd have no problem using his followers for the year or two they had of sanity and then killing them. Of course, this argument doesn't apply if Taim has always been Dem.

Arguments against MT being Demandred

There doesn't seem to be anything about MT which is inconsistent with him being Demandred, only ways to explain away the evidence in favor of it. One point that has often been mentioned is that Rand sees MT channelling, but he does not see the black cord connecting him to the DO and filtering out the Taint. However, this is NOT A VALID ARGUMENT! The black cords are only seen/sensed under very special circumstances. Rand has only seen them in two places-- T'A'R and the in-between space used for Skimming. Rand has never seen MT in either of those places. Note that Rand has seen male Forsaken without seeing the cords: Aginor and Balthamel at the Eye and Be'lal in the Heart of the Stone. Thus, the fact that Rand hasn't seen the black threads on MT shows nothing one way or the other.

MT's behavior in TPOD

RJ doesn't seem to be ready to reveal whether MT is Demandred or not. While it is clear that MT was up to something in TPOD, everything he did or is suspected of having done in that book could be consistent with either scenario.

What was MT up to in TPOD? Through his lieutenants Torval, Gedwyn, Kisman, and Rochaid (or some subset thereof), he set up the Illianer rebels to attempt to assassinate Rand, supposedly at the instigation of Aes Sedai. Through Torval, he tried to make Rand suspicious of Egwene's army which was, at the time, marching towards Caemlyn and the BT. Possibly, Gedwyn tried to subvert or cause problems with High Lord Weiramon. At the end, Taim possibly set up his lieutenants as "deserters" who tried to kill Rand, thus producing a coterie of male channellers who were clearly loyal to MT, and whose actions he could disavow. He was angry when he learned that Dashiva, NOT one of his favorites, had gotten in on the attack.

None of this points one way or the other. Both Demandred and a real Taim would be interested in exacerbating the tensions between Rand and the Aes Sedai. Taim would do so because he'd fear that if Rand allied with AS, the BT could be threatened or at least become less important. Not to mention, since Taim was captured by AS, he'd have no love for them. Demandred would also want to increase Rand's dependence on the BT (and thus on Taimandred) for all his channelling needs. He'd want to widen the chasm between Rand and the AS, so that Rand would have less support, and to sow general chaos.

Similarly, both the real Taim and Taimandred would benefit from having a force of channellers who worked independently of the BT, and whose loyalty he could count upon, and whose actions he wouldn't have to justify to Rand. Dashiva was obviously not in on the Plan, and thus received MT's ire (whoever he really is) when he joined in. He represents an element of which MT doesn't have control.

In conclusion, nothing in POD lent strength to either side of the Taimandred question.

Any other possibilities?

One more thing that has been discussed is that Osan'gar is MT. Osan'gar could have been substituted for the original Taim shortly before he turned up in LOC. However, MT's personality is much more consistent with what we know of Demandred's than that of Aginor/Osan'gar.

Hvem drepte Asmodean? Er han død?

[Asmodean] pulled open a small door, intending to find his way to the pantry. There should be some decent wine. One step, and he stopped, the blood draining from his face. "You? No!" The word still hung in the air when death took him. [TFOH: 56, Glowing Embers, 682]

Note: Tons of thanks to Karl-Johan Noren and Kevin Bartlett, whose comprehensive analyses of Asmodean's death I plundered in order to give this section the thoroughness it deserves.

Did Asmodean really die at the end of TFOH? Did Moridin ("death") take him?

Yes, he's dead. No, Moridin did not kidnap him. First of all, RJ clearly takes this series too seriously to use such a dastardly pun. Secondly, RJ told Yancy Davis at a post-POD signing in Northern Virginia that Asmodean is "road kill." "He also used the line, 'He's a cat that tried to cross the tracks and didn't quite make it.' Also, when I said, 'so he won't be back' he responded, 'No, he will not be coming back.'" [Yancy Davis] Third, Aaron Bergman asked this question at a post-POD book-signing in New York: "In particular, I asked whether "death" was just a pun on "Moridin". He said "oh, god no" quite disgustedly." Thankfully, that's the end of that theory.

General Considerations

Now that that's out of the way, let's get on to serious discussion. First, we will consider what the general requirements are for Asmodean's murderer. Second, we will round up all the usual suspects (and some unusual ones). Then, we will examine all the general requirements in detail, and see if we can draw any conclusions from them. Next, we will eliminate suspects who couldn't possibly have done it, and those who theoretically could have done it, but who probably didn't. Finally, we will examine the cases for and against the remaining suspects.

Requirements which must be satisfied by the murderer:

6. Means: be able to kill Asmo (a channeller) near-instantaneously

7. Motive: have a motive

8. Opportunity: be able to be in the Caemlyn palace at the time of the murder

9. Be a person who Asmodean recognosed: who he didn't expect to see, and of whom he was terrified

10. Be able to despose of the body

11. Must know Asmodeans fate

12. There must be a reason wy it’s kept a secret by the author and the killer

Suspects (overly-complete list):

 Aran’gar or Osan’gar

 Demandred

 Graendal

 Ishamael/Moridin

 Lanfear

 Mesaana

 Moghedien

 Padan Fain

 Sammael

 Semirhage

 Shaidar Haran

 Slayer

 some random minion of the DO (Gholam, Myrddraal, common DF etc) Now, on to discussion of particular requirements. We'll start off with the classic three requirements for solving any murder mystery: means, motive, and opportunity. Then, we'll consider other requirements for the particular "case" at hand.

Means: How was he killed?

Any good murder investigation begins with determining how the victim died. We are at a slight disadvantage, because there is no body to examine. The possible murder weapons are: channelling, a gholam (which, from another POV, can also be considered a suspect), the Shadar Logoth dagger, and some purely physical means, such as a knife or sword.

What we do have is a (very short) description of his death: "the word still hung in the air when death took him." This indicates that he died very quickly. He did not get a chance to even try to run away or defend himself, even with the OP. Remember, channelling is fast: Rand plucks daggers and spears out of thin air. We know that a Warder vs a Fade is usually an even fight, but the Fade is dead meat against even the weakest channeller (except possibly Sorilea). Because of this, it seems unlikely that he was killed by purely physical means. The Shadar Logoth dagger poses the same difficulty, to some degree, although unlike a normal dagger, a victim doesn't have a chance to get away once he's been touched by it. Since gholam are super-duper fast and OP-resistant, this constraint doesn't necessarily apply if one of them was the assailant.

The Shadar Logoth dagger has another problem. Once a person's been cut by it, they don't die instantaneously. There is enough time for the stabbed one to gasp, fall to the ground, writhe around a bit, and finally die once the Mashadar-taint spreads through his body. See the scene in TFOH where Fain kills the Accepted [TFoH: 19, Memories, 259], and the part in TGH where Mat kills the Seanchan guy [TGH: 45, Blademaster, 538]. While the latter seems to die much faster than the Accepted, he still does some writhing in agony which is not consistent with the quickness of Asmodean's death.

Since, as discussed below, it is unlikely that he was killed by a gholam, the most probable murder weapon is channelling. The absence of a body lends more credence to the idea that the killer was a channeller, and that channelling was used in the murder (see below). The personalities of the Forsaken (the channelling suspects) lead us to believe that they wouldn't use conventional means to kill a person; they'd channel. Furthermore, since, of the channelling suspects, only Ishy/Moridin prefers the TP over the OP, the most likely murder weapon is the One Power.

Was Asmodean balefired?

This is definitely a possibility. Certainly, any channeller (read Forsaken) who could have killed Asmo could have wanted to ensure that his thread was burned out of the Pattern.

When Demandred visits the DO in [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 13-16], the DO lumps Asmodean in with Rahvin as having "died the final death." In Rahvin's case, this means he was balefired, and the DO cannot "step outside of time" to recycle him. Of course, there are other ways in which Asmo could have died with no possibility of recycling. For one thing, the DO may have the power to recycle Asmo, but chooses not to, because he was a traitor. Also, remember that Rand severed Asmo's link to the DO, and thus the DO might not have had the power to save Asmo's soul even if he'd wanted to.

Another point in favor of the balefire idea is the similarity between RJ's description of Asmo's death and that of Be'lal in [TDR: 55, What is Written in Prophecy, 557]:

Moiraine had not stopped or slowed while he spoke. She was no more than thirty paces from him when he moved his hand, and she raised both of hers as well.

There was an instant of surprise on the Forsaken's face, and he had time to scream `No!' Then a bar of white fire hotter than the sun shot from the Aes Sedai's hands, a glaring rod that banished all shadows. Before it, Be'lal became a shape of shimmering motes, specks dancing in the light for less than a heartbeat, flecks consumed before his cry faded.

In particular, note the similarity between "flecks consumed before his cry faded" with "the word still hung in the air when death took him." This is certainly suggestive.

If Asmodean was killed by channelling, why didn't anybody sense it?

A common argument against the idea that Asmo was killed by channelling is that, if it was a man, Rand would have sensed the channelling, and if it was a woman, Rand or Aviendha would have sensed it. This isn't really a valid objection.

The range at which channelling can be sensed seems to depend on many different things: proximity, amount of OP being channelled, how much attention the senser is paying, the strength and experience of the senser, and any number of other variables. In the case of Asmodean's death, we have many unknowns. We don't know how far he was from Rand and Avi when he died. He'd been walking through the palace, thinking about his situation, and there is no indication of how far he walked before opening that fateful door. It is entirely possible that he was too far away for the channelling to be detected by Rand and/or Aviendha, who were both distracted by other business. We don't know what form of channelling was used to kill him (if channelling it was)-- balefire, fireballs, inverse healing, or something we don't know about, or how easy any of those things are to sense at a distance. There are too many unknowns and uncertainties to eliminate either half of the OP as the murder weapon. Furthermore, while most of the Forsaken don't choose to use the TP as a matter of course, any of them could have received the DO's permission to use it for this assassination, especially if the deed was done at the DO's direct order. As we know, the TP cannot be sensed by anybody.

Motive: "When I know why, I'll know who."

The question of why Asmo was killed is perhaps the most complicated issue related to his death. Indeed, as the saying goes, if we knew why he was murdered, we could very likely figure out who did it. Here are the possible motives:

1. Ordered assassination from the DO, as punishment for treachery. All the Forsaken, Slayer, and the different random minions could be acting under this scenario.

2. Enterprising person, deciding to kill Asmodean on their own accord, in accordance with some unknown (by us) plan. This requires that the murderer has gained knowledge that Jasin Natael really is Asmodean, in effect leaving only the Forsaken as possible killers.

3. Asmodean stumbled upon his murderer by chance, i.e. the murderer was in Caemlyn and the Palace for an entirely different reason and eliminated Asmo because he discovered him/her.

4. Ordered assassination, in order to allow Demandred to appear as Taim. This, of course, only works if the Taimandred theory is true.

5. Plot to cause confusion for Rand by killing his minions.

Note that 1, 4 and 5 can all be classified under "ordered by the DO," and 5 could also be a special case of "personal enterprise." Generally, 1, 2, 4, and 5 all involve premeditation, while 3 is just a crime of opportunity. Any of the Forsaken could have acted under any of these motives. A random minion or Slayer would have been acting under orders, either from a Forsaken, or the DO. Fain could only have been acting under 3 or 5. We will now discuss the various motives:

Ordered assassination, as punishment for treachery

Now, it makes perfect sense that the DO and the various Forsaken would want to punish Asmodean for going over to Rand's side. However, if this was the motive for the murder, several things don't add up. In general, people who betray the cause of the Shadow are killed in very visible, painful, messy ways, in order to send a message to others who might consider giving up the Dark Side. Examples of this are Amico and Joiya in TSR, and Ispan in TPOD. Asmodean's remains were not left behind as a lesson. Furthermore, he was killed quickly, with none of the gruesome torture experienced by other failures. The only way the method of the murder makes sense for it as a punishment is if it was done with balefire-- more than just dying, his thread would have been burned out of the pattern totally. This still doesn't make perfect sense, because if it was punishment why wasn't the fact that he was balefired shared with the other Forsaken, as a warning?

Timing

With this motive, we must also address the issue of timing. Why was Asmodean killed when he was? Given that Asmodean had been "on Rand's side" for at least two months when he was killed, the question of timing must be considered, at least if the murderer is one of the Forsaken. Couldn't he have been killed far earlier? It could be argued that because Asmodean hadn't spent much time in Caemlyn (less than one day) before he was murdered, the murderer wasn't working under a carefully rehearsed plan, but acting more on a sudden opportunity. However, any Forsaken who had set out to kill Asmo would have gone to Cairhien, found out about Rand's raid, and Traveled to Caemlyn.

If Asmodean was killed as punishment, why did the DO (or somebody speaking for it) wait so long to give the order? It possible that changing circumstances forced the DO or a Forsaken to act.

From the DO's or the Forsaken's point of view, the two big events were Lanfear's disappearance and Rahvin's death. The killing of Asmodean is likely connected with one or both of these events. Another possibility is that Asmodean was killed in order to facilitate putting up Demandred as Taim in LoC, something that would have been hard or impossible to do with Asmodean still alive. (This is discussed separately, below.) Yet another possibility is that Asmo's death heralds Moridin's resurrection.

Personal Enterprise

Perhaps Asmodean was killed by somebody who had been planning it for a while, and had held off because he was a pet project of Lanfear's. When Lanfear died/vanished, whoever it was took the opportunity to remove him. (Problem with this: Lanfear claimed to her fellow Chosen that Asmo had gone over to Rand entirely of his own free will, not due to any scheme of hers.) Alternatively, the killer could have had some plan which required Asmodean's removal, and done so. This raises the question of why did they kill him when they did, rather than earlier? (See the discussion of timing, above.)

Accidental Discovery

One possibility is that Asm was not the specific target of the killer; he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps the killer was/is spying/plotting/etc from within the court of the Dragon Reborn. Asmodean bumped into him on his way to the wine closet, recognized him, and got killed to protect his secret. Quoting from the relevant passage: "He pulled open a small door, intending to find his way to the pantry. There should be some decent wine." Then we have, "You? No!" He was going to look for wine. He probably opened a door to an empty storeroom or hallway. It was not a wine pantry. He hadn't found it yet. If you reread the passage yourself, it seems that it may have even been an accident he ran into his killer (i.e. the killer wasn't planning on it, but since Asmodean saw him...). This motive fits well with the body being removed/destroyed. If the killing was for punishment, it would have made more sense for the body to be left, and the death widely publicized, to set an example.

So how could the body being discovered disclose something about the killer (to the other characters)? There are 3 possibilities. 1) the killer is part of Rand's entourage, and a dead Asmo could make people suspicious that there was a traitor in the ranks. 2) there is a hole in Rand's security, and a dead Asm would inspire people to find it and patch it up. 3) the killer is hiding (not necessarily only from Rand-- could also be from the Forsaken) and a dead body could start folks thinking the killer was active.

Tie-in to Taimandred

One might object that Demandred was not informed of the supposed plan to kill Asmodean on his behalf. However, this is not a problem. Demandred wasn't even told about the plans the DO had for him until after Asmodean was killed. And if the plan was to play Taim, he had one month between being informed of the plan and his appearance on Rand's doorstep.

Simple plot to cause confusion

The killer may have killed Asmo as part of a plot to annoy or confuse Rand. The problem with this is that there are many better targets for a person with that motive. Why not go after somebody Rand actually cares about, like Mat, Avi, or Egwene? The only way this motive makes sense at all is if the killer knew Asmo's value to Rand as a teacher. In other words, the killer knew "Jasin Natal" was really Asmodean. The only suspects who would know that would be the Forsaken, and they all have much better motives than causing confusion.

Opportunity

Needless to say, the murderer either was already in Caemlyn when Rand made his surprise raid, or had a way to get there at will. Furthermore, the killer must have been able to get into the Palace (and out again, with the body-- see below). Now, any of the Forsaken could have done that easily, by Traveling. Shaidar Haran could have used the shadow-travel trick to get there. Neither Fain nor Slayer were known to be in Caemlyn at the time. In Fain's case, it is known that he was in Tar Valon (some long way from Caemlyn) about 25 days before Asm's death. It's not that likely that he could have made it in that time by conventional travel, although he could have used the Ways; there are known Waygates in both TV and Caemlyn. Since Slayer's been unaccounted for for some time, he too could have been in Caemlyn, although there is no real reason to think he was. There is a further problem with Fain and Slayer: if they'd had any actual plan to kill Asmo, they wouldn't have been in Caemlyn; they'd have been in Cairhien. The Caemlyn attack was a snap decision on Rand's part, and could not have been expected by ANY of the suspects. Thus, if the murderer went to the Caemlyn palace with the purpose of killing Asmodean, he/she must have some method of speedy traveling, such as Traveling.

"Then I saw her face..." The Recognition Factor

Recognised by and terrified Asm: again, any FS would be recognised. The extreme reaction implies it was somebody he never expected to see, like somebody he thought was dead. However, since Asmo was a weaselly coward, it's conceivable that any FS would terrify him, especially if he/she was about to kill him. However, point is raised why a FS would be walking around Rand's stronghold w/o a disguise. If the killer dropped disguise to show Asm who was killing him, why bother? Dramatic effect?

"Oh, I ain't got no bodeeee."--Where is it?

No body was left behind at the murder scene. This is evidenced by the fact that nobody (except the killer, duh) seems to know he's dead. Rand certainly doesn't. He thinks Asmo ran away: "If they discovered that he had held one of the Forsaken prisoner and allowed him to escape... He would deal with Asmodean himself if the man ever turned up again." [LOC: 3, A Woman's Eyes, 92] In TPOD, Rand still thinks Asmo's alive; he initially thinks that the attack at the end is Asmodean and/or Demandred [TPOD, 29, A Cup of Sleep, 565]. From this, we can conclude that he was either killed in such a way that no remains were left, or that the body was removed in order to hide the murder.

Either way, this points to a channeller being the killer. Channelling is the only way we know of to kill a person while leaving no remains at all. Even the Shadar Logoth dagger leaves something. If there were remains, a channeller would have had no problem removing them, via a gateway. A nonchanneller would have had more than a little difficulty walking out of the Royal Palace carrying the corpse of the Lord Dragon's gleeman. In fact, we should ask why the body (if there was one) was removed at all. The only possible reason for the corpse to be removed would be to hide the fact that the killer was around. For many of the killers, the supposed motives would have been better served by leaving a recognizable body behind. We've seen that those who betray the Dark are generally killed in ways that serve as examples to others (e.g. Joiya and Amico in TSR, Ispan in POD). If the goal was simply to terrify Rand, leaving the body behind would have done a better job than removing it. The "cover-for-Taimandred" motive does give a possible reason for removing the body-- a dead Asmo might make Rand suspicious.

Knowledge of Asmo's fate

Needless to say, the person who killed him must know that he's dead. This condition can be used to eliminate quite a few suspects. Any character whose thoughts indicate that he/she thinks Asmo may still be alive can't be the killer. Likewise for any character who expresses ignorance of his fate in a situation where she/he wouldn't lie.

Secrecy: Why?

Despite RJ's comments to the contrary, it is not at all obvious who did the dirty deed. One question to ask ourselves is, "WHY is RJ keeping it a secret?" The lack of action on this front in LOC, ACOS, and TPOD pretty much demonstrates that the murder in and of itself is NOT a major plot thread, so there is no point in keeping it secret for the sake of keeping the reader in suspense. So, why is RJ keeping it secret?

One answer is that Asmo's killing is itself a clue to something else that is going on, which we don't know about yet. This could be the return of Lanfear, or the Taimandred idea.

We are not the only ones ignorant of the culprit. All of the characters (except one, obviously) are also ignorant of whodunnit (if they're Forsaken), or of what actually happened (if they're Good Guys or rank-and-file DFs). So, whoever killed Asm must have a reason for hiding it. After all, it's not like anybody would condemn them for punishing a traitor. For any of the Forsaken, this could be as simple as keeping the other Forsaken on their toes by causing uncertainty.

Obvious to the most casual observer: Say what?

RJ has repeatedly said that we should be able to figure out who the killer is. In fact, at a post-TPOD signing in NYC, he talked to Aaron Bergman about this:

I asked about Asmodean again. He said that yes, we should be able to figure it out the instant he died. He said that he thinks it's obvious now and we should definitely be able to figure it out by the end of [TPOD].-- A. Bergman, report from NYC book signing, 20 October 1998.

Well, RJ is obviously using the same definition of "obvious" that physics professors are wont to use. That is, it's obvious if you know the answer, and know which information is useful and which is irrelevant. It isn't "obvious" in the usual meaning of the word. Note that RJ "also claims that very, very few of the fan letters he gets are correct about [who killed Asmo]." [Post-TPOD signing, Northern Virginia, 21 November, 1998, report by John Novak.] This clearly shows that RJ's idea of "obvious" and his readers' idea of "obvious" don't really mix, do they?

However, this statement by RJ is useful in eliminating possibilities. Not even RJ could stretch "being able to figure it out the instant he died" to encompass people or things we didn't know a thing about before the killing, such as Shaidar Haran, Mesaana, or gholam.

Note that RJ's comment also implies that something in POD should clarify the issue. The only thing which is applicable to any of the suspects is the appearance of Cyndane, which does nothing but throw more fuel on the fire in the Lanfear vs. Graendal debate (see below). It DOES let us argue even more strongly against some of the less-likely suspects like Slayer or Fain, who were largely irrelevant to events in POD. (Fain is mentioned in passing, but nothing which connects him to Asmodean.)

Elimination of suspects:

Which suspects can be eliminated beyond any loony shadow of a doubt?

Demandred

From [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 15-16], we see that Demandred doesn't know what happened to Asmodean: "Lanfear has vanished without a trace, just as Asmodean did." Hence, Demandred didn't kill him. (Dem. would have no reason to lie about such a thing, and it is doubtful whether he _could_ lie outright to the DO, under those circumstances (bathing in the DO's presence at SG.)

Semirhage

In [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 141], Semirhage thinks to herself, "Asmodean. A traitor, and so doomed but he really had vanished..." and later, "If the Great Lord moved her here secretly, might he not be moving Moghedien or Lanfear, or even Asmodean?" This seems to imply that Semirhage doesn't know that Asmodean is dead, and thus, she couldn't have killed him.

Moghedien

She was Nynaeve's prisoner in Salidar-- either forkroot-drugged, or bound by the a'dam, when Asmo was killed. Hence, she couldn't have been in Caemlyn.

Aran'gar, Osan'gar

They weren't recycled until the beginning of LOC, and thus were busy being dead when Asmo was killed.

Which suspects can be eliminated beyond reasonable doubt?

Mesaana

Mesaana visited the Pit of Doom twice in the period between Asmodean's death and her appearance in LoC, but with the DO never appearing. If she had killed Asmodean, wouldn't she have made some sort of report to the DO, especially since the DO approved of the murder? Also, in conversation with Semirhage, she has expressed doubts about whether Asmodean is really dead [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 143]: "More troubling were the Chosen who had vanished. Demandred insisted they must be dead, but she [Semirhage] and Mesaana were not so sure". She doesn't mention Asmo specifically, and so it is possible that she's only referring to Lanfear and Moggy. However, while it's not conclusive, it is circumstantial evidence against Mesaana being the murderer. Furthermore, prior to LOC, we had not heard or seen a single thing about Mesaana. Thus, she fails the "obviosity" test--there is no way we could even suspect her from the instant he died.

Slayer

Conceivably, he could have reached Caemlyn from the Two Rivers in time, but his motive would have had to be a direct order from a DO or a Forsaken, and how would he have known to go to Caemlyn? Not to mention, one would think that the Royal Palace in Caemlyn would be the last place on earth "Lord Luc" would show his face. Furthermore, why would the DO send him towards a possible confrontation with a former Forsaken and Rand? As discussed above, any non-channeller would have great trouble harming a channeller if he or she was discovered first. (Slayer cannot channel) .Plus, he'd have had to sneak the body away with no OP help. He was badly hurt in TSR, and it's not certain that he would be in any condition to sneak into the Royal Palace, kill a guy, and sneak back out with the body.

Slayer also fails the "obvious" test. He doesn't appear in TFOH at all (before Asmo's death, at least), nor does he appear in LOC, ACOS, or TPOD. There is no particular reason to suspect him, and quite a few reasons not to.

Shaidar Haran

First, there is no reason to think that Asmo would recognize the Superfade. It is a possibility that Shaidar Haran told Asmodean in his dreams that it would come after him, but that would almost require that Ishamael was resurrected as SH, which we know not to be the case (unless you want to get really loony and say that Moridin is Shaidar Haran). We say this since Myrddraal don't dream. Second, his motive would have had to have been a directive from the DO, and the missing body is not consistent with that. He could have gotten to the Palace quickly, using the Fade Shadow-Travel trick, and destroyed the body using the "black fire" trick he used to burn the spear in [ACOS: 40, Spears, 637] (although he'd have no motive for destroying the body-- quite the opposite). However, it doesn't seem likely that a Fade would be wandering around the Palace in broad daylight. He'd hardly be inconspicuous. Again, this suspect fails the "obvious" criterion, because we didn't even know he existed before LOC came out.

Sammael

We are given very few hints in Sammael's thoughts in LOC and ACOS, and the issue is made even muddier by the game of deception he plays with Graendal. But in [LoC, 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 133] we have: "Rumors! Lanfear has been aiding al'Thor since the beginning, if you [Graendal] ask me. I would have had his head in the Stone of Tear except that someone sent Myrddraal and Trollocs to save him! That was Lanfear; I am certain. I'm done with her. The next time I see her, I'll kill her! And why would he kill Asmodean? I would if I could find him, but he has gone over to al'Thor. He's teaching him!" This is in a Sammael POV section. He is also trembling with anger, which makes it quite unlikely he's feigning ignorance of Asmo's fate. Thus, it's unlikely that Sammael did the deed.

Gholam

The only point in favor of this idea is that Asmo probably would have recognised a gholam, and been scared of it. However, there are more problems with this idea than there are conveniences. Firstly, it would have to have been sent by a Forsaken, which means we have to look among them anyway. Secondly, we've seen how gholam kill (Herid Fel), and it is way messier than the quick, clean way Asmo died. Since we didn't know about gholam before LOC, the gholam-as-killer theory fails the "obviosity" requirement. There's also the question of whether Asmo would call a gholam "you."

Padan Fain

The basic argument for Fain as the killer is this: He could have been in Caemlyn at the time (via the Ways, if nothing else). He would want to kill any Forsaken because they would interfere with his plans to be Rand's personal hell. However, that presupposes that Fain knew Jasin Natal was a Forsaken, which seems a very unlikely thing for Fain to know, given that he'd never seen Asmo/Natal before supposedly killing him. An alternative motive which has been proposed is that Fain killed Natal because he was trying to cause confusion and stress for Rand by disappearing a member of his retinue. However, this does not fit in with everything else we've seen of Fain's MO, which has mainly involved ingratiating himself with highly-placed people and planting the seeds of Mashadar in their minds. Plus, killing Rand's gleeman and splitting doesn't really make for much of a dastardly plot to undermine Rand's confidence. It would have been much more effective for Fain to try to kill somebody closer to Rand--one of his friends, or even one of his Maiden bodyguards. The "mistake" motive doesn't work for Fain, because we'd have to have a reason for Fain to be in the Palace, and there is zero evidence that he was doing anything in the palace--no reference to anything of the sort in TFOH, LOC, ACOS, or TPOD. Furthermore, as we discussed in the "means" section, Fain would have had to have killed Asmo with the dagger, and that isn't consistent with the way Asmo died, or the lack of a body.

Round up the usual suspects: the viable possibilities

Having eliminated most of the suspects, either by showing that they couldn't possibly have done it, or by showing that there are many arguments against their guilt and only slim evidence for it, we can settle down to the three most likely suspects: Graendal, Lanfear, and Ishamael/Moridin. (Note: most of the evidence discussed centers on Graendal and Lanfear. I've included Moridin in the list of possible suspects mainly because we don't know enough to really eliminate him. The two front-runners for Asmo-killer are Lanfear and Graendal.)

Ishamael/Moridin

TPOD makes it clear that Moridin is Ishamael recycled. At this point, we don't know when he was created, and as far as we know, his first step in regaining control over the Shadow forces was killing Asmodean. In any case, there isn't really that much to discuss about him. He definitely satisfies means, motive, and opportunity (provided he wasn't dead at the time). He could have made himself recognised to Asmodean by using a OP disguise, although why would he bother? Body disposal wouldn't be a problem, and we have no way to know if he knows Asmo's fate (although even if he didn't kill him, it's likely that Mr. Nae'blis knows exactly what happened to the fellow). It would make sense for it to be a secret, since Moridin's existence and identity have been unknown by us and by the other Forsaken. Obviosity is not obvious, but it's within the realm of twisted possibility (Moridin is Ishy, who has come back from the "dead" twice before, so we might suspect he did so again).

On the other hand, there is absolutely no evidence in favor of him having done it, either. Note that RJ's rejection of the "pun" theory could encompass Moridin killing Asmo, as well as kidnapping him.

Lanfear

Up until the appearance of Cyndane in TPOD, Lanfear looked like a very good suspect. The case against her is very strong. She's a channeller, so she had the means to kill him, the ability to enter and leave the Palace undetected, and a way to dispose of the body. Since Asmo had just seen her "die" earlier in the day, he would certainly have been shocked and terrified to see her strolling around the Palace.

Lanfear's Motive

Lanfear also had the strongest motive to kill Asmo. Lanfear gave Asmo to Rand "to teach him," knowing that Asmo was about the worst (and hence the safest) Forsaken you could pick as a teacher. But he was also the one who she could be sure would react the way she wanted him to once she shielded him. It would seem that she wasn't too interested in giving Rand all the secrets of the AoL. More likely, she just didn't want him gentling or killing himself because of his ignorance (see her reaction when he draws saidin through the sa'angreal in TGH-- though that could simply be fear for her own life). Here's Asmo's take on it:

"Do you think Lanfear really intended me to teach you everything? If she had wanted that, she would have contrived to stay close so she could link us. She wants you to live, Lews Therin, but this time she means to be stronger than you." [TFOH: 3, Pale Shadows, 75].

When she confronted Rand at the docks, it is unlikely that she knew he had an angreal. Although she would certainly be hard pressed to shield him alone, it should have been no problem with an angreal, especially since he is untrained in her opinion, despite whatever he might have gleaned from Asmo. After she picked up the angreal, she attacked Rand, and he resisted. She increased her attempts to shield and hurt Rand, probably to her limit even with the angreal. But Rand (with his own angreal) held his ground. He even believed "He could end it, finish her. He could call down lightning, or wrap her in the fire she herself had used to kill..." [TFOH, 52, Choices, 631]. If Lanfear did not know that he had an angreal (she probably didn't), then she would have taken this as a very bad sign for her. Knowing that Asmodean was still "teaching" him stuff, and that she was the one who put him there, it is very likely that it would be a high priority to remove him, if Rand can foil even her strongest attempts to shield him.

Furthermore, she would have blamed Asmodean's teaching for her defeat and humiliation, and thus she'd have wanted to get revenge. She's that type of gal.

She SAID she was going to kill him

In TSR, in the Stone of Tear, Lanfear comes to Rand as Selene, and reveals herself as a Forsaken . During that conversation, she proposes that Rand allow a male Forsaken to become his teacher. She continues in her old tack of seducing Rand with power (not The Power, just power), by describing how she and he will rule the world once he has knelt to the DO. She describes her entire plan in [TSR: 9, Decisions, 129]:

"Kneel to the Great Lord, and he will set you above all others. He will leave you free to reign as you will, so long as you bend knee to him only once. To acknowledge him. No more than that. He told me this. Asmodean will teach you to wield the Power without it killing you, teach you what you can do with it. Let me help you. We can destroy all the others. The Great Lord will not care. We can destroy all of them, even Asmodean, once he has taught you all you need to know. You and I can rule the world together under the Great Lord, forever." (emphasis mine)

The relevance of this quote to the matter at hand is obvious. All along, Lanfear has been planning to kill Asmodean, after he was done teaching Rand. Obviously, after the encounter at the docks, Lanfear has every reason to believe that Asmodean has taught Rand more than enough, more than she really wanted him to. In fact, if Lanfear did kill Asmodean, then this quote means that it really IS obvious who killed him. His fate corresponds exactly with Lanfear's plans for him.

The "You? No!" evidence, and how it points to Lanfear

It is obvious that Asmodean was indeed terrified of the person he saw. There are many people that Asmo would be afraid of, but it is doubtful that anyone but Lanfear would elicit quite this response from Asmo. Although Asmo may have reason to be afraid of many people, we know that Lanfear is the person he fears the most:

"Even if he manages to convince the others that he has been a prisoner, they would still tear him apart, and he knows it. The weakest dog in the pack often suffers that fate. Besides, I watch his dreams on occasion. He dreams of you triumphing over the Great Lord and putting him up beside you on high. Sometimes he dreams of me." Her smile said those dreams were pleasant for her, but not so for Asmodean. [TFOH, 6, Gateways, 124]

Even though Asmo knows all the Forsaken would rip him to shreds given the chance, the one he has nightmares about is Lanfear.

Furthermore, just before getting whacked, Asmo was just thinking to himself about Lanfear being dead and how glad he was: "He was hardly sorry Lanfear was dead. Rahvin either, but Lanfear especially, for what she had done to him. He would laugh when each of the others died, too, and most for the last." [TFOH, 56, Glowing Embers, 681] Not thirty seconds after these thoughts pass through his mind, he opens the door and sees ... who? And he is shocked/terrified (big surprise). The combination of these things makes it seem likely that Lanfear was indeed the killer. (This scenario also plays into the "obvious" argument.)

"Obviousity" and secrecy

As discussed above, if any suspect can be said to be obviously the killer, from the moment he dies, it's Lanfear. She said she'd kill him, and he was (ironically?) thinking of her right before he died. Furthermore, the fact that his killer is still a secret, three books later, makes sense if Lanfear did it. Knowing that she killed Asmo would be a dead giveaway that she was active.

The big problem

Of course, there has to be a stumbling block. With all the great evidence in favor of Lanfear, there is a correspondingly large problem with her. Namely, as far as we know, she was extremely indisposed at the time of Asmo's death. As in dead. The "new" character Cyndane, introduced in TPOD, is almost certainly Lanfear in a new body . The only way we know of for a person to get into a new body is to be killed and then reincarnated by the Dark One. The most likely time for Lanfear to have died is when she fell through the exploding doorway with Moiraine. If this happened, there is no way she could have been alive to kill Asmodean. However, there are ways (loony ways) to get around this. First, the new body could have come from the Foxes as the (possibly unintentional) result of some wish. Second, she could have gotten killed sometime after leaving Foxland. for more details.

Another point raised against Cyndane/Lanfear being the assassin is that Asmodean would not have recognised "Cyndane," let alone have been terrified of her. However, this objection can be applied to any of the channelling suspects. Lanfear would certainly want Asmo to know who was killing him, even if she wasn't her old self. Thus, she could have used a OP disguise to make "Cyndane" look like the old Lanfear. Likewise, any of the other Forsaken would have been wearing a disguise while walking around the Palace. Remember, this was right after Rand balefired one of their number with extreme prejudice. All of the Forsaken known to be alive at that time (Graendal, Sammael, Demandred, Semirhage, Mesaana) are cautious enough to not go trouncing through the Palace undisguised. Thus, in order for Asmo to recognise one of them as the killer, the killer would have had to remove her/his disguise. This is essentially the same as Lanfear/Cyndane donning a disguise to freak him out. (Also note that Lanfear is crazy enough to go walking around the Palace in a recognizable form.)

Graendal

Finally, we are left with Graendal. Graendal has some evidence working for her. For one thing, she has tried to assure Sammael that Asmodean is dead, which makes her one of the only Forsaken to express a belief that Asmodean was toasted.

"`You [Sammael] know as much as I do,' Graendal said blithely, pausing for a sip from her goblet. `Myself, I think Lews Therin killed them [Asmodean, Lanfear, Moghedien]. [...] There are rumors out of Cairhien about Lanfear dying at Lews Therin's hands the same day he killed Rahvin.'" [LoC, 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 133] (Sammael PoV)

Graendal says: "So many of us has died confronting him. [...] And Lanfear and Asmodean, whatever you believe. Possibly Moghedien" [LoC, 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 134]

"`Asmodean and Lanfear are dead, and I [Graendal] am sure Moghedien must be, too.' She was surprised to hear her own voice, hoarse and unsteady." [LoC, 23, To Understand a Message, 348] (Graendal PoV)

On the other hand, it should be noted that Graendal expresses as much certainty about Lanfear's demise as Asmodean's, and she sure didn't kill Lanfear. Her statements that Asmo must be dead could either be simple opinion, or she could have found out the same way that Demandred did-- from the DO. In fact, we know that Graendal has visited the DO:

"Only she [Graendal] herself knew that she had made her own journey to Shayol Ghul and down to the lake of fire. Only she knew that the Great Lord had all but promised to name her Nae'blis" [LoC, Threads Woven of Shadow, 138]

This memory includes no mention of Shaidar Haran, and furthermore, when SH appears to Graendal in [TPOD, 12, New Alliances, 266], she is not familiar with him. Thus, we know that SH was not present when Graendal made this trip to the Pit of Doom, and therefore, this trip might have occurred before the Super-Fade appeared. We first saw SH at the start of LOC, so Graendal's visit could have been before Asmodean's death. The idea is that the DO may have used the reward of Nae'blis to motivate Graendal to kill Asmo.

There are other points in favor of Graendal being the killer. She's cautious and will thus probably plan well. She's also somewhat expendable. Sammael's required to fix Rand's attention, Demandred is needed to act as Taim. Mesaana is in too good a position (the White Tower) to endanger, and there are indications that Semirhage is working directly on the DO's order in another matter.

The strongest argument in favor of Graendal, though, is that she is the only suspect without any major points against her. The only requirements which she seems to fail are 7 and 8. Namely, there is no reason for RJ to have kept it a secret for over five years, and there is no way Graendal is obviously the killer-- the case in her favor is mostly a process of elimination over the three books following TFOH.

One thing which doesn't quite fit in with Graendal as the murderer is the bit in [TPOD, 12, New Alliances, 266] when SH talks to her. He tells her, "The Great Lord thought you might not take [Moggy's and Cyndane's] word, Graendal. The time when you could go your own way has passed." This implies that Graendal HAS been going her own way, not rubbing out fellow Forsaken at the DO's order. This leaves personal initiative and accidental meeting as the only motives for her to kill Asmo. From what we've seen of Graendal, she seems to be pretty happy to stay entrenched in Arad Doman. (Note, however, that she has ventured onto Rand's turf at least once, when she had sufficiently strong motivation. After Rand took Illion, she went there to remove evidence which would tie her to Sammael's schemes. [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 262])

Kan Lanfear være god?

Lanfear presents a bit of an enigma. Many of her actions have led some people to believe that she is not 100% Evil. The argument is that she and Beidomon drilled the Bore into the DO's prison by accident, and only became Forsaken after that either due to the DO's direct action, or out of pride. Moreover, everyone would link her with all the DO's ravages that followed, thinking she released him on purpose, no matter what she did. Being an extremely proud person, it would be hard for her to admit that she had just made a colossal mistake.

EVIDENCE: In the "Eyes of Charn" sequence [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 303-6], Charn perceives Mierin as a good person, and maintains this belief even after she became Lanfear. Up to TFoH (see refutation), it can be claimed that she hadn't done any inarguably evil acts. She has been deceptive-- but what would one expect from an Aes Sedai? She is jealous and possessive of Rand-- but note that she had not done anything to harm her competition, which would probably be very easy for her to do. (She met Egwene in Tel'aran'rhiod, if I recall correctly, but anyway Egwene had been eliminated from the category of "competition" by this time.) She told Ishamael in TDR that she was loyal to the Dark One and no other. But in TSR, she suggested to Rand that they supplant the DO together. As for the scene at the end of TFoH, she was insane and not responsible for her actions. She dislikes being called Mierin in the extreme. This could be taken several ways. One way to take it is that she wants her former self to be disassociated from her current evil ways-- she does not want to be reminded of what she once was, it is too painful.

REFUTATION: I have always believed that Lanfear was evil, starting way back when we first meet her as Selene in TGH. She made my skin crawl. LTT, who even the Forsaken admit was an "honest man," said that Lanfear, even when she was Mierin, loved power more than anything else. What is the DO but the ultimate temptation of power?

All of her actions in "helping" Rand have not been to further his cause against the DO, but to gain his trust and lust, so that she could control him. She does not love Rand/LTT; she wants him to be her obedient lap-dog, and to serve him up on a platter to the DO, so that she can be the most powerful of his servants. She would supplant the DO AND the Creator in a second if she could, and then be disappointed that she wasn't powerful enough. Having deceived Rand for so long, it would have been simple for her to deceive Charn, a follower of the Way of the Leaf. (It is obvious from looking at the Tinkers and the Ancient Aiel that Way-of-the-Leafers cannot believe that the world is a Bad Place with Bad People in it.)

But anyway, evidence in TFoH closes the case for good. I do not refer to the skinning of Kadere, torturing of Egwene and Aviendha, killing of many bystanders, and attempted killing of Rand, although that provides plenty of evidence in itself, insanity or no. I refer to Moiraine's vision in the Rings of Rhuidean. [TFoH: 53, Fading Words, 637] If Moiraine had not jumped Lanfear, and let her have her way, Rand would be a) dead, or b) Lanfear's love-slave, with the crippled mind of LTT. These were Lanfear's plans. They are not the plans of a good person.

Oh, and if you need further proof, recall the ecstasy with which she describes bathing in the DO's presence at Shayol Ghul. She LIKES it.

Note that Lanfear did NOT send the trollocs who fought Sammael's trollocs in TSR. They were sent by Semirhage, on order of the DO. The DO, it seems, has been giving Rand aid for some time now, probably in the hopes of eventually turning him to the Dark Side. Any "help" Lanfear has done for Rand was probably in view of this end. Taking credit for rescuing him is certainly not past her.

Carolyn F. adds, that in a letter she got from RJ, he said that Lanfear was fixated on possessing a man who never loved her. (I guess LTT was just using her for sex, eh?) Her desire for Rand is as much desire for power as for him personally. She could get her hands on the remote-control ter'angreal for the kick-ass sa'angreal and get credit for turning the Dragon Reborn over to the DO. She wants power for power's sake, not for Rand's sake.

Var Ishamael virkelig bundet?

The widespread belief in Randland is that all thirteen Forsaken were imprisoned with the DO when the Bore was sealed by LTT and the Hundred Companions. However, this doesn't seem to be entirely true. Ishamael appears bodily to LTT in the prologue to TEOTW. We know that he must really be there, because he cures LTT's insanity so that he will realize what he has done. From what we know of how channelling works, he could not have done this if he was only some kind of astral projection. That scene takes place shortly after the sealing of the Bore. So, Ishy was not bound right when the DO and the other Forsaken were sealed away.

Furthermore, many events throughout the Third Age bear Ishy's fingerprints-- the Trolloc Wars (the Trollocs invading Manetheren carried the banner of Ba'alzamon), the creation and continued existence of the Black Ajah, the War of the Hundred Years. Ishy claimed to have influenced Hawkwing [TEOTW: 14, The Stag and Lion, 172].) The Third Age shows a pattern of humanity being kept in a state of disarray. Whenever the people showed signs of becoming unified (Compact of Ten Nations, Hawkwing's empire), some cataclysmic event occurred to split things up again. This worked out too well for the Shadow to be mere coincidence. Clearly, Ishy was active and in control of the Shadow's forces for quite a bit of, if not all of, the Third Age.

Furthermore, we have the research of the post-breaking historian Aran son of Malan son of Senar (presumably an Ogier), as described in [Guide, 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 52]. This person claims that "there were sightings of, even encounters with, Ishamael after the Bore was sealed, in fact perhaps as much as forty years after." The proposed theory is that "it may have taken some years for Ishamael to be drawn fully into the trap with the other Forsaken.... Ishamael might well be thrown out of the prison holding the others and drawn back again on some regular cycle."

Finally, there is the bit in [Guide: 12, The Reign of the High King, 114-5] about Hawkwing's advisor Jalwin Moerad. Moerad was a mysterious, shady character who insinuated himself into Hawkwing's court in FY 973. Moerad exhibited, "frequent long absences, a volatile temper, and a temperament that more than one observer recorded as 'more than half insane.'" Shortly after Moerad became a counselor (late summer FY 974), Hawkwing abruptly turned against the AS (who had previously had a very close relationship with Hawkwing). Moerad was contemptuous of AS. After Hawkwing's death, Moerad advised the three nobles who "came the closest to seizing the whole of Hawkwing's empire," and all three of them met untimely deaths. Finally, "Moerad never aged from the day he first appeared to the day he vanished, abruptly, some forty years later." The personality, the lack of aging, and the forty years business, along with Ishy's claim that he influenced Hawkwing make it clear that Moerad was Ishamael.

So, it seems like Ishy was somehow "partially bound." That is, he was not completely locked away in the Dungeon Dimension with the rest of the Forsaken and the DO. He was definitely free right after the sealing of the Bore, and was most likely free at various points during the Third Age. Obviously, he was also the first of the Forsaken to be completely freed of the seals, by a long shot.

Hvem er Aran’gar og Osan’gar

We've been told since TEOTW that the DO is Lord of the Grave. It is about time he started acting it. In [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 59-61], we see "Aran'gar" and "Osan'gar," two minions of the Shadow brought back from the dead and put into new bodies. Osan'gar, at least, is one of the Forsaken; when he tells SH to stop choking Aran'gar, he thinks, "The thing had to obey one of the Chosen." [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 60]. It is a good first approximation to assume that they are both reincarnated Forsaken, and not some random Dreadlords. So, what Forsaken are available for reincarnation (i.e. are dead)? Aginor and Balthamel, Ishamael, Asmodean, Rahvin and Be'lal, and possibly Lanfear. Well, Rahvin and Be'lal died of balefire, and their souls are beyond even the reach of the DO. Asmodean was a traitor, and the DO apparently lumps him in with Rahvin as having "Died the final death" [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 15]. Even if Asm isn't dead, it is doubtful that he'd be in as high standing as the Gars, more likely in a situation like Moggy's, so it probably wasn't him. Furthermore, both the Gars were originally male. When Osan'gar tries to channel, he naturally reaches for saidin, not saidar. As for Aran'gar, she is extremely upset at being put into a woman's body, and Osan'gar thinks it is a "fine joke." Furthermore, in [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 333] Aran'gar thinks, "It was difficult now to really remember what life had been like as a man." This eliminates Lanfear. The remaining candidates are Aginor, Balthamel, and Ishamael.

Since the appearance of the Gars in LOC, we've met another recycled Forsaken, Moridin. From ample evidence in ACOS and TPOD, we know that Moridin was Ishamael. Therefore, the Gars must be the Toxic Twosome, Aginor and Balthamel. Now our only question is which is which.

Osan'gar thinks to himself about having helped make the Trollocs and not liking the Halfmen who were an unexpected result of that experiment. We know that Aginor was very involved in creating the various Shadowspawn, and that he was unnerved by Fades, spending lots of time trying to discover how they "fade." In fact, from the Guide, we know that Aginor was the only one of the thirteen Forsaken to have worked on creating Shadowspawn [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 50-60]. Therefore, we can conclude that Osan'gar is Aginor.

By a process of elimination, we can immediately conclude that Aran'gar is Balthamel. We have other evidence. From TEOTW and the Guide [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 54], we know that Balthamel enjoyed "the pleasures of the flesh." That is to say, he was a real lecher. Thus, it would be a great joke to put him in a female body. Even more interesting, Aran'gar (Halima) now has a job "kneading young girls," as Mark Loy puts it-- something right up Balthamel's alley.

Finally, if all this wasn't convincing enough, we have a report from a post-ACOS book signing [Cincinnati, Ohio; 12 October, 1996]:

Someone asked RJ about the 'gars, and mentioned that he'd seen theories that Lanfear was one of the 'gars. I was expecting a RAFO, but RJ gave the guy a disgusted look, and said that "No, Osan'gar and Aran'gar are Aginor and Balthamel." The guy said, "You're confirming this, and not hinting about it?" RJ replied (I'm paraphrasing here), "I'm confirming. After all, it's pretty obvious in the books that it's those two. After all, that's what Aginor thought was so funny; Balthamel, the lecher, was stuck in a female body." [Mike Lawson]

The recycling of Aginor and Balthamel into new bodies did not come totally out of the blue. In [TEOTW: 50, Meetings at the Eye, 628], Aginor says, "Some of us are bound no longer. The seals weaken, Aes Sedai. Like Ishamael, we walk the world again, and soon the rest of us will come. I was too close to this world in my captivity, I and Balthamel, too close to the grinding of the Wheel, but soon the Great Lord of the Dark will be free, and give us new flesh..." (emphasis mine)

Er dashiva Osan’gar?

Corlan Dashiva is, to all appearances, a nasty, Taint-maddened psychopath of an Asha'man. However, many people think this is simply a cover for a Halima-type infiltration of the Black Tower by the DO's other Gar. In the case of Taim and Demandred , there are many arguments for why the character under suspicion could be a Forsaken, and little, if any, evidence which appears to be inconsistent with that idea. This is not the case with Dashiva. There are many good arguments in favor of him being Osan'gar. There are also many good arguments against that proposition. There are even some pieces of "evidence" which can be argued either way. Here, we present the arguments in favor of Dashiva=Osan'gar, and rebuttals, then we present the evidence which, depending on one's interpretation, can support or undermine the proposition. We end with arguments against Dashiva=Osan'gar, and rebuttals.

Evidence that Dashiva is Osan'gar

After LoC, I was certain that Osan'gar was an Asha'man. Now I believe that it must be Corlan Dashiva. I base this idea on the following circumstantial evidence, each piece of which alone proves nothing, but the totality of which, I believe, is best explained by Dashiva being Osan'gar. [Michael Gonzalez]

1) Similarity of appearance: Dashiva is a middle-aged man from the Black Hills [ACoS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84], parts of which are near, if not in, the Borderlands. Osan'gar has the body of a middle-aged Borderlander. Osan'gar has an "ordinary" face while Dashiva has a "plain" face [ACoS: 36, Blades, 571].

Rebuttal: Looking at the map, the Black Hills region is bigger than some countries. It starts SE of Saldaea, and extends SE to just SW of Tar Valon. Granted, the Black Hills region is sparsely populated, and given that people live there at all, it is reasonable to suppose that the most populous parts are those near established nations, or trade routes. One would expect people to live in the NW part, near Saldaea and Kandor, the SE part, near Tar Valon, and along the River Luan, which stretches down the southeastern two-thirds of the hills, and along the Maradon-Tar Valon road, which stretches along the whole length of the hills. This leaves a great deal of leeway for Dashiva's origins. There is no evidence that Dashiva is a Borderlander, only that he MIGHT be. Furthermore, the physical descriptions we have for both men are rather sketchy, and the validity of noting similarities between such minimal descriptions is questionable.

2) Swordsmanship: Dashiva seems to Rand to be physically awkward (getting used to a new body?) and unfamiliar with wearing a sword; to Rand, he "did not seem to know one end from the other." One wonders how many Borderlanders growing up on isolated farms have never learned to use a sword, given that the Trollocs have been more of less constantly raiding Borderland farms for the last couple thousand years or so.

Rebuttal One would expect very few Black Hills farmers to know how to use a sword. For one thing, even the northern portions of the Black Hills have the Borderland countries of Kandor and Saldaea between them and the Blight. It's doubtful that many Trolloc raids come so far south, through the armed opposition of the Borderlanders. Even if our Black Hills farmer did worry about being attacked, it's doubtful that he'd use a sword for home defense. As we know from many references, such as people's reaction to Rand's sword in TEOTW and Mat's fight with Galad and Gawyn in Tar Valon, swords are not farmers' weapons. For one thing, they are expensive and require training. The Black Hills is an impoverished, sparsely-populated area. Where would a Black Hills farmer get the money for a sword, let alone training? Secondly, as the Aiel are so fond of pointing out, swords aren't useful for any other purpose. A farmer who fights is more likely to use a quarterstaff, a bow, or, at most, some sort of pike or spear.

3) Horsemanship: Dashiva is a lousy rider: "Dashiva, slumped in his gray's saddle like a man who had never seen a horse before..." [TPOD: 13, Floating Like Snow, 287]. If Dashiva really was a farmer, wouldn't he know how to ride a horse? He'd have to use horses to get his crops to market, plough his fields, etc. Note that none of the Two Riversians have problems with riding. Poverty can't be used as an excuse, because Dashiva claims that he was a great buyer of books (see below).

Rebuttal: Maybe Dashiva used all his money for books, and thus couldn't afford a horse? Seriously, though, assuming that he had enough money to afford books and animals, he needn't be very practiced at riding. For one thing, Dashiva could have used oxen instead of horses for ploughing, etc. In addition, there is a difference between using a horse for pulling a cart or a plow and actually riding one-- the skills are definitely different. Also, there's a difference between sitting bareback on your plowhorse as it ambles down the path and riding an animal that's trained for war, or at least to be active.

4) The Great Outdoors: Dashiva doesn't like the outdoors: "Despite being a farmer, Dashiva disliked being out-of-doors unless the skies were clear." [TPOD: 13, Floating Like Snow, 287] This isn't exactly consistent with his story.

Rebuttal: Maybe, maybe not. A farmer may be used to being outside in bad weather, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. Doing farm chores in the rain and snow is hardly a pleasant pastime.

5) Old Tongue: Dashiva is fluent in the Old Tongue, and talks to himself in it all the time. "Dashiva... muttered angrily under his breath. In the Old Tongue, which he spoke and read as fluently as a scholar. Rand knew a little, though not enough to understand what the fellow was mumbling." [TPOD: 13, Floating Like Snow 287] Dashiva claims that this ability is self-taught: "I read a great deal on the farm. Every book the peddlers brought by." [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 89]. The Old Tongue is not very common. Not to mention, you can't speak a language fluently if you've only learned it by reading. Even weirder is that Dashiva talks to himself in the Old Tongue-- how many people do you know who carry on a continual monologue in Latin? This is one of the strongest indications that there is Something Up With Dashiva, if not the strongest.

Rebuttal: Dashiva's story could conceivably be true, although it's really a stretch. However, if Dashiva was a Forsaken, why would he do something which is such a giveaway?

6) Strength in the OP: When Rand awakens after being stabbed by Fain, Dashiva is holding almost as much saidin as Rand himself could have [ACoS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 639]. In TEoTW, Aginor (who is now Osan'gar) is described as supposedly being not much less powerful than Lews Therin or Ishamael. Furthermore, remember how in the beginning of LOC Rand orders Taim to report any man who learns too quickly? And how in the middle of LOC Taim appears and reports Narishma? As of TPOD Narishma is still significantly weaker than Flinn and Rand. But Dashiva never gets reported. Strange, wouldn't you say?

Rebuttal: Dashiva could just be a strong channeller. Many of the Asha'man are very strong. Other possible explanations are: 1) Dashiva is the one who took Rand's fat-man angreal which he couldn't find after the battle at Dumai's Wells. Thus, Dashiva + angreal = Rand, but Dashiva by himself is weaker than Rand. Recall that a man can only sense how much power another man is holding at the moment, not what his natural potential is. 2) Rand was in a weakened state then, and was not able to draw as much Saidin as he normally could. When RJ says "Dashiva held almost as much as Rand could have," he means he held as much as Rand, at the moment, could have. Tired channellers cannot hold as much of the OP, so that would make the amount Dashiva held seem less spectacular. As for Taim not reporting Dashivan'gar as a fast learner, if this is to be counted as evidence, then one must suppose that Taim (be he Demandred or not) knows that Dashiva is Osan'gar. If Taim=Dem, then this implies that the two of them are cooperating, something which doesn't fit with Taim's general disapproval of Dashiva, or his anger at Dashiva joining the staged "defection" at the end of TPOD. It also doesn't fit with the idea that Dashivan'gar was placed in the Black Tower to keep an eye on Demandred (See below).

7) Speech Patterns: Dashiva talking to Rand about the danger of riding up to the palace in Cairhien in [ACOS:4, Into Cairhien, 108]: "All it needs is one man with a... a bow or a knife, and you don't see him in time." Did he need to think a moment for the word "bow?" Was he thinking "shocklance" or some other AoL weapon? When asked by Rand if he believes Rand's enemies have been asleep while he was away, Dashiva says, "I...grew up on a farm" ... "I don't know much about having enemies." Someone having to pause a sec to remember his cover story?

Rebuttal: This, and Dashiva's other incidents of mindwandering, are easily explained by Dashiva being "a daydreamer, and maybe the taint on saidin is touching his brain already." [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84]

8) More Dashiva talking: Talking about healing: [ACOS: 36, Blades, 573] "Flinn knows what he is about. Already he can do things you Aes Sedai never dreamed of." (emphasis in original) Standard Forsaken derogatory emphasis on "Aes Sedai"; When Sammael mentions Aes Sedai to Carridin in [ACOS: 15, Insects, 289] the emphasis is presented identically.

Rebuttal: That could be arrogant contempt for Aes Sedai in general, which seems to be a common trait among the whole Black Tower crowd. Not to mention, consider who the Asha'man have been learning from. Taim certainly has no love for AS, he has undoubtedly instilled his dislike in his students.

9) Still More Dashiva Talking: While Flinn Heals Rand in [ACOS: 36, Blades, 573]: '"Get on with it, Flinn," Dashiva muttered. "If he dies...." Nose wrinkled as though at a bad smell, he seemed unable to look away from Rand. His lips moved as he talked to himself, and once he made a sound, half sob, half bitter laugh, without his face changing one line.' Sounds like someone who doesn't like Rand and wouldn't mind seeing him die, but is charged by someone fear-inspiring with making sure Rand doesn't die too soon.

Rebuttal: Or someone who is about three minutes from stripping naked and howling at the moon, confronted with the thought of the one man powerful enough to protect him and the other channelling men from dying a wretched death at Aes Sedai hands, not to mention keeping the Dark One from taking over the world. Furthermore, the concern for Rand's life which this argument ascribes to Dashivan'gar is utterly at odds with the fact that he tried to turn Rand into a crispy critter at the end of TPOD.

10) Reaction to Saidin-cleansing: When Rand speaks of cleansing Saidin everyone looks hopeful, EXCEPT Dashiva, he looks "poleaxed". The exact quote is, "Rand had not realized he had spoken any of his thoughts [about cleansing saidin] aloud. Narishma's eyes, and Morr's, and Hopwil's, belonged in one face, shining with sudden hope. Dashiva looked poleaxed." [TPOD: 14, Message from the M'Hael, 306]

Rebuttal: Note that it doesn't say, "Dashiva looked horrified." "Dashiva looked poleaxed" doesn't necessarily mean that he's upset by the prospect, only that he's shocked and amazed that such a thing could be possible. Note that Torval, who quite possibly is a Darkfriend, has a decidedly positive reaction: "'That would be wondrous,' Torval said in a near whisper."

11) Reaction to killing of Forsaken: In [TPOD: 24, A Time for Iron, 483], Rand is boasting, '"Nobody stands nose-to-nose with the Dragon Reborn.... The Forsaken could tell him [The Seanchan commander] that, whoever he is. Right, Flinn? Dashiva?" Flinn nodded uncertainly. Dashiva flinched.' Dashiva could be flinching because he has faced Rand "nose-to-nose," and lost badly.

Rebuttal: He could just as well be flinching at Rand's unbridled arrogance.

12) Sudden Lucidity? In [TPOD: 24, A Time for Iron, 467-469], Dashiva "breaks character":

More often, [Dashiva] hardly seemed aware of anything past his own nose... It was something of a shock when Dashiva awkwardly booted his slab-sided mount ahead of the rest.... It was more than something of a shock when he seized saidin as soon as he reached Rand and wove a barrier around them against eavesdropping.... "There's something askew with saidin here, something amiss," Dashiva said, sounding not at all vague. In fact, he sounded...precise. And testy. A teacher lecturing a particularly dense pupil.

Rand then thinks that Dashiva is pretty loony, but usually has a better grip on himself. He says, "I've been channeling longer than you, Dashiva. You're just feeling the taint more." Dashiva's response:

Instead, he [Dashiva] opened his mouth angrily, then snapped it shut... "I am well aware how long you have channeled," he said in an icy, almost contemptuous voice, "but surely even you can feel it... I don't want to die or... or be burned out because you're blind! Look at my ward! Look at it!" Rand stared. Dashiva pushing himself forward was peculiar enough, but Dashiva in a temper? 13) Aesthetic meta-reason: Since Halima/Aran'gar, the right-handed dagger, is with the female Aes Sedai (Salidar faction), there's a certain attractive symmetry to Osan'gar, the left-handed dagger, being with the male Asha'man.

Rebuttal: It would be just as, if not more, symmetrical for Osan'gar to be with the Tower Faction. After all, the Tower AS have actually engaged in a confrontation with the BT, unlike the SAS. Or, the "symmetry" may not exist at all.

Evidence which Goes Both Ways

1) Perrin's Nose: Perrin gets a whiff of Dashiva after Rand rejects Dashiva's idea of gating into the palace at Cairhien: '"As my Lord Dragon commands." The fellow inclined his head, but he sounded sour, and he smelled... Perrin rubbed his nose. The smell... skittered, dodging wildly through fear and hate and anger and a dozen more emotions almost too quickly to make out. He no longer doubted the man was mad, however good a face the fellow put on.' [ACOS: 4, Into Cairhien, 108]

How this fits with Dashiva=Osangar: Perrin attributes it to straightforward saidin madness, but that particular sequence of emotions looks like the sequence that the women felt through Moggy's a'dam whenever they made her do something she considered demeaning or below her rightful station. The emotional instability also fits with Osan'gar/Aginor being a little loony himself [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 59]. In other words, we have no evidence that Perrin can smell the special insanity odor, but rather insanity is a conclusion Perrin draws from what he does smell.

How this fits with Dashiva not being Osan'gar: Dashiva's behaviour is also easily explained by Perrin's analysis, i.e. that Dashiva is crazy. The description of quickly-changing emotions is very similar to the description of how Perrin perceives Rand's quickly-changing emotions when LTT is acting up. In fact, just a few pages before the quote in question, we have:

His [Rand's] scent made Perrin's ears try to lie back. Razor-sharp rage abruptly vanished in curiosity and caution, the one thin and probing, the other foglike; then slashing, murderous fury consumed both.... Nobody's scent changed that fast. Nobody's. [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 83]

Furthermore, Aginor isn't any crazier than many of the other Forsaken (unstable, but not utterly mad). We are privy to Osan'gar's thoughts in [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 59-61]; Osan'gar seems reasonably sane, and quite alert and observant. It's one thing to act a bit scatterbrained, but can a channeller fake smells, and why would he even think to do so? If Dashiva's craziness is all an act, then Perrin shouldn't have smelt madness. Perrin hasn't ever been mistaken about what the smells he smells mean: confused, yes, but not incorrect. The nose knows.

2) Healing: Dashiva suggested to Flinn that he learn Healing: "I have no Talent for Healing," Dashiva said, twisting his mouth wryly. "You are the one who took my suggestion and learned." [ACOS: 36, Blades, 572] "Then one day, Dashiva here - pardon; Asha'man Dashiva - says he wonders why it's all the same, no matter if the man's got a broke leg or a cold, and we got to talking, and...Well, he's got no feel for it, himself, but me, seems I got the knack you might say. The Talent." [ACOS: 36, Blades, 573]

Is Osan'gar: Dashiva knows that he himself doesn't have the Talent for Healing, yet it seems that Dashiva was able to recognize that Talent latent in Flinn well enough to suggest that Flinn in particular try it. This is knowledge Dashiva shouldn't have.

Is not Osan'gar: i) It is not true that the Asha'man had no Healing abilities before Flinn. They had a less-sophisticated method used for field medicine. Apparently, Flinn had a talent for it, and Dashiva didn't: this was known from experience, not some sort of a priori evaluation on Dashiva's part. When the question of trying to improve Healing methods arose in conversation, it's only reasonable that Dashiva would recommend that Flinn experiment, rather than trying himself.

ii) This actually provides more of an argument AGAINST Dashiva being a Forsaken than the other way around. Thus far, none of the Forsaken have been wont to share knowledge with anybody, unless it could benefit them. For example, while Alviarin has been in contact with many Forsaken, none of them offered to teach her anything before Mesaana did, and Mesaana only offered after Alviarin swore to be her particular flunky. Furthermore, Mesaana forbade Alviarin to share the knowledge she gained [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 43]. Graendal straight out refused to teach any of the Shaido WOs [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 355]. Moggy and Asmo only taught Our Heroes under extreme duress. Assuming Taim = Dem, he provides more evidence; he only wants the Asha'man to learn what he dictates; he doesn't want them going outside his curriculum. It is thus not reasonable to suppose that a Forsaken would teach some random guy how to Heal, or even lead him in teaching himself, out of the goodness of his heart. What would Osan'gar gain by teaching Flinn? iii) Furthermore, Osan'gar is Aginor, who was a top biological researcher during the AOL. 'He understood "the most basic structures of living things" better than anyone else in the Age.' [Guide, 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 53] He created the various Shadowspawn. This shows that he was skilled at manipulating biological material with the OP. That's what Healing is all about. Why would he pretend to be so bad at it? Since Aginor died right before Rand's eyes, and since Osan'gar has a completely new body, he'd hardly have to pretend to be totally incompetent at it to avoid suspicion. Why not just pretend to be as good as, say, Flinn is?

Arguments against Dashiva being Osan'gar

1) He tried to kill Rand: During the attack on the Cairhien palace by the rogue Asha'man, the only one who takes a direct shot at Rand is Dashiva:

The only warning he had was the sudden snarl that contorted Dashiva's face. Dashiva channeled, and with no time to think Rand wove... Air and Fire and Earth woven around himself just so. The fire that leaped from Dashiva erupted, shattering marble, flinging Rand back down the hallway, bounding and rolling in his cocoon. [TPOD: 29, A Cup of Sleep, 568]

Dashiva's weave, had it hit Rand, would have certainly been lethal. The parts of it which bounced off the shield "shattered marble," and knocked the protected Rand far down the hallway. The shield was something dredged up from LTT's memories, and Dashiva could not have expected that Rand would know it, or that he'd use it in time (especially considering the scorn Dashiva showed toward's Rand's mental acumen during the Ebou Dar campaign). Because of this, it is extremely doubtful that Dashiva was "faking" trying to kill Rand. Furthermore, the "sudden snarl" on Dashiva's face right before he attacked shows that there was real emotion behind the attack. If he was faking it, such an extreme grimace would imply a degree of dramatic ability which is not consistent with the rest of Dashiva's behavior (Old Tongue muttering, a cover story which doesn't seem to hold up, and so forth). Now, the Dark One has given out the order that Rand must not be killed. One might expect one of the original, uncontrolled Forsaken (like Sammael) to disregard that order if a good opportunity presented itself. However, Osan'gar is one of the "reined in" Forsaken. He's already gotten his second chance, so disobeying a direct order like that should be the farthest thing from his mind. Right after he was resurrected, and is forced to submit to the will of Shaidar Haran, Osan'gar thinks, "It abraded, humbling himself before something that could be said to be as much his creation as the Trollocs, but he remembered death too clearly. He would grovel before a worm to avoid that again." [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 60-61] In a few months, he's forgotten all about it?

Rebuttal: While it's not very likely, Dashiva could have been faking trying to kill Rand, or he could have assumed Rand would be able to block it. Alternatively, he could have gotten "caught up in the moment." Perhaps he fell victim to either momentary panic or momentary hatred overcoming instructions.

2) Whatever his mission, he's utterly failed: If Dashiva is Osan'gar, then he must have been sent to the Black Tower for a reason. If Taim is not Demandred, then Dashiva must have been sent to infiltrate the Black Tower, and gain some measure of control over it, as Aran'gar has done in Salidar. Getting chosen for Rand's personal guard essentially made that mission impossible. Before Rand chose him, Dashiva wasn't doing a very good job of infiltration. Dashivan'gar's first job would have been to get in good with somebody in power in the BT, but Taim doesn't think much of Dashiva [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84], and he isn't well-connected with the rank-and-file Asha'man, either.

If Taim is Demandred, then it gets more complicated. Dashivan'gar must have been sent to the Black Tower to keep tabs on Taimandred. If it was to just spy on Taimandred, then the same problems arise as we described in the previous paragraph. It's a lot easier to spy on people if they like you and trust you. We could suppose that Dashivan'gar's mission was to get into Rand's confidence, rather than Taimandred's. However, this doesn't make sense, either. Under normal circumstances, the way an Asha'man would have gotten into Rand's entourage would be by being assigned by Taim, or by impressing Rand in some way. Either way would have necessitated Dashiva to act like a normal guy, not an unreliable lunatic. Rand used his ta'veren luck to pick Dashiva for his entourage. There is no way that could have been planned upon. If Dashiva is Osan'gar, why didn't he find a more predictable way to get close to Rand?

Perhaps the mission which makes the most sense is if Dashivan'gar was assigned to go deep undercover in the BT, with the goal of making sure Rand didn't get killed in case Taimandred decided to "pull a Sammy." However, this just brings us back to the question of why did Dashivan'gar a) try to kill Rand, and b) abandon his post by running away with Gedwyn et al?

Rebuttal: See explanation for 1, since that's what we've come back around to.

3) Comparison with Aran'gar: One of the major arguments in favor of Dashiva being Osan'gar is that the background he claims to have (humble farmer) doesn't agree very well with his actions. This, in and of itself, casts doubt on the theory. Osan'gar's counterpart, Aran'gar/Halima, was set up with an impeccable cover, founded upon the information wrung from Cabriana Mecandes by Semirhage, and backed up by the Black Sitter Delana. Are we to believe that so much effort was put into placing Aran'gar, but Osan'gar was given a flimsy cover story which he couldn't live up to? This isn't consistent.

Rebuttal: Perhaps the body that Aginor/Osan'gar was "stuffed" into actually was a humble farmer from the Black Hills and for the sake of simplicity, authenticity, and/or against the remote possibility that someone from the area, perhaps another recruit of Taim's, would recognize the shell, they--Shadar Haran, Moridin, the DO...those in charge of the plan to place Aginor in the enemy camp--decided it was just best to tell the truth as to where the Dashiva flesh was from. Perhaps those in charge figured that the taint would be enough cover for any strange, but benign, behavior on Dashivan'gar's part. Taim even mentions that he thinks that Dashiva has already been touched by taint when we are first introduced to Dashiva. Another argument is that somebody infiltrating the Asha'man wouldn't need as much of a good alibi as somebody infiltrating the AS. The AM are a motley crew of boys, mercenaries, fanatics, criminals, etc. hastily snatched from all over the continent in the last few months. They probably have many secrets and tell each other untruthful or no personal histories, with no way of checking the facts. The tight organization of ancient suspicious women of the White Tower is a much more difficult group to infiltrate.

4) The "Limper" argument: If we assume that Dashiva is Osan'gar, then we must conclude that Osan'gar/Aginor is a Big Fat Loser. He's the Limper of the Forsaken. (This will only make sense if you've read Glen Cook's Black Company books. If you haven't just accept Limper = Big Fat Loser.) Dashivan'gar couldn't maintain a simple cover story. He constantly spoke to himself in the Old Tongue. He made no effort to make himself liked by anybody he could be hoping to influence. He slipped up by revealing his superior skills and knowledge during the Ebou Dar campaign. Finally, he screwed over his second chance at life by trying to kill Rand, in front of witnesses who are probably Demandred's agents. This shambles is one of "those chosen to rule the world forever"?

Rebuttal: Maybe he cracked due to the strain of being raised from the dead?

Hva har Halima med Egwene’s hodepiner å gjøre?

In ACOS, Egwene came down with a spate of nasty headaches. The only way she can manage to get rid of them is for the lovely Halima to give her a massage. Halima just happens to be one of the DO's recycled agents, Aran'gar. Coincidence? I think not.

It's one of the oldest tricks in the book-- cause problems so you can win somebody's confidence by fixing them. The evidence: Eg's headaches started the day after Logain escaped, and the day Eg and Halima had their first conversation [ACOS: 12, A Morning of Victory, 249]. Aran'gar had been trying very hard to get rid of Logain, either to gentle him again, or to kill him. In [LOC: 52, Weaves of the Power, 651]. Egwene says, "They will gentle him, Siuan... That, or someone really will do what Delana has been hinting at. I won't allow murder!" Delana is by now only a pawn, voicing Halima's wishes. To Halima Logain is dangerous, being the only one around who can sense her ability to channel saidin, or rather, her actual channelling. As soon as Logain is gone, Halima's free to make her move on Egwene.

It's entirely possible that something more sinister than a Forsaken gaining Eg's confidence is going on. As Halima rubs Eg, Eg answers questions in her mind. Halima says, "Just put yourself in my hands." Eg's sleepy response to this is, "That will be nice." Granted, the first interpretation of this is Halima's offer of a full-body massage, and Eg thinking of "bringing Sheriam to heel." Even so, it's a rather ominous exchange, considering who the parties are. Could Halima be poking poor Eg with a bit of Compulsion?

If she is, it doesn't seem to involve much. In TPOD, Egwene certainly seemed to be in full control of her faculties. If Halima isn't doing any mind-control stuff on Egwene, then what is she up to? Elizabeth Cornwall points out, "given Halima's access to Egwene, I can't imagine that she wants Egwene to fail in her current plans. The proof of this being a negative one: that if Halima wanted to bring Egwene down, she certainly could have already done so in any number of ways. (Two possibilities: direct compulsion during the headache sessions to brainwash Egwene into seeing some other plan as better; having had Delana "reveal" to the SAS Hall that Egwene was Siuan's dupe and that the attack on Elaida was being pursued because of Siuan's influence)." John Novak adds, "Just killing her outright would have sufficed, too. I'm sure Halima could manage something that would leave no trace of foul play."

Since no serious ill has befallen Egwene since she's been open to Halima's influence, we must conclude that either Halima is woefully incompetent, or that (at least some of) Egwene's goals coincide with Halima's, at the moment. One such goal is the AS civil war. Continued conflict between the TAS and the SAS is definitely in the DO's best interest-- the two groups of AS are tied up fighting each other, instead of fighting the Shadow, or aiding the Dragon Reborn. So long as the conflict between the two factions continues, the DO's interest is served. Halima's methods may change if it starts to look like Egwene's plans for reuniting the Tower are coming to fruition. To that end, Halima may be content to simply increase her access to and influence over Egwene so that when she has to act, it will be easier.

Hvem er Moridin?

Why are we sure that Moridin is Ishamael returned from the grave?

[John Novak]

Evidence from ACOS:

It is fairly obvious from multiple references that Moridin is a reincarnated Forsaken. He makes many references to the Age of Legends as though he were there. He has personal knowledge of the other Forsaken. His sobriquet translates to 'Death.'

Aginor and Balthamel, though reincarnated, are accounted for as Osan'gar and Aran'gar respectively. Be'lal and Rahvin were Balefired, and as such are beyond the Dark One's ability to restore. Asmodean, in Robert Jordan's own words, is roadkill. Sammael, though possibly dead, did not die until well after the introduction of Moridin in the narrative. No other male Forsaken have been killed in action. (And from [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 81], we know that Moridin is and was male, since he remarks that he would be able to use an angreal tuned to Saidin.) The Toxic Twins (Aginor and Balthamel) were recycled, and all they did to merit it was getting killed at the Eye of the World. Ishy kept the faith alive for 3000+ years, AND kept the other Forsaken somewhat in line before he died. Surely, that merits some consideration in the "bring back from the dead" competition; Ishy was overdue for a reappearance. Ishamael had been a particularly loyal servant of the Dark One, as well as the most effective. If any of the thirteen would deserve reincarnation, it would be Ishamael, for he seemed not only to serve the Dark One, but to serve him faithfully. It is likely that Ishamael knew that the Dark One's plans were not for conquest but for total destruction, and still he served. (In the AOL, he "called for the complete destruction of the old order-- indeed, the complete destruction of everything." [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 51] Moridin uses the True Power to the exclusion of the One Power. In fact, he uses it for "routine" things for which the OP would be fine: like picking up chess pieces, Balefire, and Travelling. The True Power, according to Moghedien, is used only extremely rarely, even by the Forsaken. Of the original Forsaken, Ishamael is the only one who we've seen use the TP.

Both Moridin and Ishamael display strange visual effects about their eyes. Moridin has the saa, while Ishamael had those odd bursts of flame. It has been speculated that the flames are an advanced version of the saa, or that the flames were a method to disguise the saa.

New evidence from TPOD:

The Prologue of TPOD is particularly revealing.

 Moridin's blank-faced servants are identical to Ishamael's servants from the prologue of TGH. Similarly, the chamber in which he sits contains a fire that gives no heat and consumes no logs. It has no physical means of egress. This is identical in tone to the description given of Ishamael's chambers through TEOTW and TGH.

 (Also in the Prologue) while Moridin is musing over his re-creation of an historical game of sha'rah, it becomes extremely clear that the game is a metaphor for the struggle between the Dark One and the rest of the world, with Rand (or the Dragon) embodied in the Fisher piece. One can win by either controlling and moving the Fisher piece to a particular location, by allowing your opponent to hold the Fisher and leaving him only legal moves which similarly result in victory for you. The style of the game parallels Ishamael's actions through the first three volumes very well, always manipulating Rand even though he was in the hands of other powers. The final method of victory is simply to be the last man standing. Moridin muses that he had only attempted that strategy once, with very painful results. This is almost certainly a metaphorical reference to his desperate assault on Rand at the end of tDR, the painful results being his own physical death.

 The final observation from the prologue of TPOD is that Moridin becomes angry as he muses over the fact that he does not understand the origins of the name or the traditional shape of the Fisher piece on the game board. He becomes angry because he regards that knowledge, likely lost from some previous turning of the Wheel, as his right. Ishamael is the only other villain to worry seriously over events from other cycles, as he asserts in the prologue of tEotW that he and Lews Therin have fought again and again since the beginning of time. According to [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 50], Ishamael believed "the war between the Shadow and the soul of Lews Therin had gone on since the creatio, an endless war between the Great Lord of the Dark and the Creator using human surrogates."

 In [TPOD: 3, Unweaving, 81], Moridin notes several modern developments of the Aes Sedai and other channellers which had been unknown and/or considered impossible in the Age of Legends. Among them, he lists the Warder bond and notes that he had known about that for a long, long time. Of all the Forsaken, only Ishamael could possibly have known about the Warder bonds for more than a few years, since only Ishamael had been active at all since the Strike at Shayol Ghul. This piece of evidence alone proves that Moridin is Ishamael.

Objections to the Moridin/Ishamael theory from before TPOD included the suggestion that Ishamael did not work well behind the scenes and that Ishamael might be expected to exert more influence on the remaining Forsaken. However, since we now know the general shape of Ishamael's activities during his rare periods of activity (as hinted at throughout the series and almost spelled out in the Guide) as well as his care in creating a cell structure for the Black Ajah, it is clear that Ishamael excels at behind the scenes manipulations. Furthermore, in TPOD, it becomes clear that Moridin is indeed exerting more direct control over the remaining Forsaken. In ACOS, he takes direct control of Moghedien through one mindtrap, and is known to control another. In TPOD, it is revealed that 'Cyndane' (most likely a reincarnated Lanfear) is the other mindtrap victim. It is also clear that Moridin and Shaidar Haran are cooperating. In [ACOS, 25, Mindtrap, 417], it is Shaidar Haran who delivers Moghedien to Moridin, and Moridin who controls her mindtrap. In [TPOD: 12, New Alliances], it is Moghedien and Cyndane (both under Moridin's control) who visit Graendal to tell her to accept Moridin as Nae'blis. Shaidar Haran later appears to convince her.

So we have three Forsaken under Moridin's control, which alone is significant. Extrapolating this pattern, we also note that when Aginor and Balthamel return as Osan'gar and Aran'gar in LoC, it is Shaidar Haran who first greets them. It is not at all unlikely that they also encountered Moridin offstage sometime thereafter. If true, this would place five Forsaken directly under his control.

The Watcher and the Wanderer

[Korda, Paul Khangure]

In addition to Moridin's overt appearance in ACOS, there were two other appearances by mysterious men of the Dark persuasion in that book. First, we met the Watcher, i.e. the guy watching Graendal and Sammael in [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 356]. Then, we met Moridin in [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 417]. Finally, there is the "wanderer" that Rand met in Shadar Logoth during his fight with Sammael in [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 656]. Even before TPOD, it was reasonable to assume that all three were the same person. After all, how many mysterious True Power channellers do we need? Given that neither the "Watcher" or "Wanderer" appear as distinct individuals in TPOD, we have even more reason to believe that both are Moridin, who is Ishamael. Let us consider the specific bits of evidence.

The Watcher

We meet the Watcher in [ACOS, 20, Patterns within Patterns, 356-358]:

1. Obviously a Forsaken from the AOL. He knows about AOL technology - callboxes, Mask of Mirrors and fancloth, knows the Forsaken by name and appearance. He definitely knew Sammael, as opposed to knowing of him. Just a guy from the AOL is not enough; he has to be someone who interacted and got to know Sammael's strengths and weaknesses. Notice there was no fear of interfering with not just two of the Forsaken, but with a potential battle between them! Furthermore, he uses the phrase "so-called Aiel" which we have no reason to expect anybody except a relic from the AoL to use; the Forsaken are the only AoL relics in action, except Birgitte and "LTT."

2. Senses saidin being held by Sammael, skin prickles when Graendal channels. This indicates that he has the ability to channel saidin.

3. He uses the TP. Note that he does so even though he can use the OP. This indicates that he's probably uses it more than your average Forsaken--he could have Travelled with the OP, but he used the TP instead. Note that by the time he left, Sam had left the vicinity, so there was no chance of him being detected.

4. He has eyebrows and eyes. (i.e. He is not Shaidar Haran.)

5. He has "expertise in many areas Sammael scorned. In some he favored, too."

6. He doesn't seem to have the same attitude as the "normal" Forsaken towards Nae'blis-ness. In [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 358], Sammael mentions (lies) to Graendal that he "will be Nae'blis." Graendal then stops arguing with Sam and follows him through his gateway. We then have: "The watcher smiled crookedly behind his fancloth skulker's mask. Nae'blis. That explained what had brought Graendal to heel, what had stayed her from killing Sammael. Even she would be blinded by that." It seems as if the Watcher is NOT blinded by the "Nae'blis" carrot, unlike the "normal" Forsaken.

7. Obviously, he has an interest in what Sammael and Graendal are up to, since he is spying on them. What can we conclude from these observations? From 1 and 2, we can conclude that the Watcher is Moridin/Ishamael, Osan'gar/Aginor, or Demandred. Aran'gar/Balthamel is out, because she thinks of herself as "she," as indicated in [TPOD, 16, Unexpected Absences, 332-333]. The relative lack of interest in Sammael's supposed Nae'blis-hood rules Demandred out. (Recall Demandred's reaction to "WOULD YOU BE NAE'BLISS?" in the LOC Prologue.) Nothing completely rules out the possibility that the Watcher is Osan'gar/Aginor, but that is mostly because we don't know much about Osan'gar at all. From the description of Aginor's activities during the AOL (Shayol Ghul's resident Mad Scientist), it is somewhat doubtful that he'd have expertise in ANY areas Sammael "favored." The last, and overwhelmingly most likely, possibility is Moridin. This is indicated by the Watcher's use of the TP in a circumstance where the OP would have sufficed. Given the general attitude of the Forsaken towards the TP, it is unlikely that there are TWO such TP addicts around, and that Osan'gar is one of them. Unlike Moggy, Osan'gar didn't even consider using the True Power when he found himself shielded by Shaidar Haran. The fact that the Watcher was keeping tabs on Sammael and Graendal connect him to both the Wanderer (who interfered with Sammael and Rand's fight in SL-- something he could have only done if he knew what Sammy had been up to) and Moridin. We know Moridin was watching Sammael, because he thinks about how foolish Sam's plans are in [TPOD, 2, Unweaving, 81-82], and his minions Moggy and Cyndane seem to know about Graendal's connection with Sam when they visit her in [TPOD, 12, New Alliances, 262-268]. Thus, everything points to the Wanderer being Moridin.

The Wanderer

We see the Wanderer in [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 656-659]:

1. Description: Big fellow. Has a deep voice. Little older than Rand. Black coat, Black hair. Rand doesn't recognise him.

2. He's most likely not a Third Age person. Knows Sammael, including how Sammael thinks. He clearly knows Sam fairly well, and thus is probably from the AOL. Furthermore, he has "never been afraid of Aes Sedai." Everybody in Randland proper (i.e. not Seanchan, not Aiel, and not Sea Folk) grows up hearing stories of Aes Sedai like those the Emond's Fielders did. Such stories engender some sort of awe in the listener, yet this guy acts like AS are no problem, and has never thought otherwise. This comment is easily understandible if he's from the AOL-- back then, he WAS an Aes Sedai, and modern AS are but "untrained children" to him.

3. He uses the TP instead of the OP (Balefire and disappears without Rand sensing Saidin or Saidar). This is a situation where using the TP instead of the OP could be dangerous-- it might make Rand suspicious-- and yet the Wanderer uses it. This is evidence that the Wanderer is a TP addict.

4. Even apart from his TP use, he is clearly a Minion of Darkness. He calls Rand a fool, he doesn't "care to see [Rand] die today," he doesn't "intend to carry [Rand] on [his] shoulders, or kill Sammael." He's clearly only helping Rand because it coincides with some plan of his, not because he particularly cares about Rand's wellbeing. He certainly doesn't like Rand; when he falls down after the crossed-streams BF incident, Rand offers him a hand, but the Wanderer refuses "with a grimace."

5. [From the RJ aol.com chat, 27 June 1996]: "Question: There is a mystery man who helps Rand in the last chapter of ACOS...is this a new character, or have we seen him elsewhere. RJ: Well, we've certainly seen him earlier in CROWN OF SWORDS."

Given that the Wanderer must be a Forsaken (#2, #3, #4), we are left with the same three suspects we had for the Watcher-- Demandred, Osan'gar, and Moridin. The physical description (#1) does not match Demandred or Osan'gar (neither are young). In fact, the description matches Moridin quite well. From [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 417-418]:

"The speaker was a tall, broad-shouldered young man in black boots and breeches, and a flowing white shirt unlaced at the top, who watched her with startlingly blue eyes ..." He has a deep voice. He has a strong chin, else he'd be worthy of Graendal's collection. He looks to be just a little older than Rand, "Not many years past twenty."

The Wanderer's size, hair color, age, voice, and fashion sense all match with Moridin's, as does his TP addiction. The attention to and interference with Sammael's plans also agree with what we know Moridin (and the Watcher) have been up to. RJ's remark that the Wanderer is somebody we saw earlier in ACOS certainly works if he is Moridin. Furthermore, his remarks to Rand, which indicate that he regards Rand as a tool or a piece in a game, bring to mind Ishamael's comments to Rand in the first three books, and also Moridin's analysis of the sha'rah game in [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 42-44]. All of this indicates that the Wanderer is Moridin.

Hvem er Cyndane, og hvor kom hun fra?

Cyndane is a "new" character in TPOD. She appears in [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 262-268], when she and Moghedien visit Graendal to bring her into the fold. Of course, we must immediately ask, "who is she really?" First, let's look at the facts we have about her:

What do we know about Cyndane?

Her name means "last chance" in the OT. She is "a short young woman with long silver hair and vivid blue eyes" and has an "impressive bosom," of which, in Graendal's opinion, she doesn't make very effective use. Although she is short, she appears to be "striving for every inch of height."

Cyndane works with Moghedien in Moridin's service. She appears wearing the same red-and-black dress sported by Moggy, which we know from [ACOS: 30, The First Cup, 483] is Moridin's "livery." Between Moggy and herself, Cyndane is the leader, although her "place in [Moridin's] eyes is not far better than [Moggy's]." Cyndane and Mog's identical reactions to some unknown stimulus (gasping and shuddering) also parallel Mog's description of her feelings when Moridin plays with her mindtrap [ACOS: 30, The First Cup, 484]. Cyndane and Moghedien hate each other with a passion. We also know that Cyndane was already mindtrapped when Moggy met Moridin; Mog glimpsed a second mindtrap when Moridin pulled hers out in [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 419]. Personality-wise, she has a haughty attitude: "By her demeanor, she might have been a Prime Counselor forced to endure the company of common laborers and intent on ignoring their existence." Outwardly, she's cool and collected, but inside, she has a temper; Graendal describes her as "a beautiful doll carved from ice, with hidden fires." Cyndane is not the least bit cowed by the Forsaken; Graendal's analysis is: "The girl knew she spoke to one of the Chosen, and yet her tone remained frost. Even given her strength, this was no simple Friend of the Dark. Unless she was insane." She disapproves of Graendal's use of strong Compulsion on her "servants," and has no compunction about expressing her scorn of this practice to Graendal's face.

Finally, Graendal can sense her strength in the OP, which means that Cyndane channels Saidar, and she is stronger then Graendal.

What can we conclude about Cyndane

What conclusions can we draw from all this? Quite a few, actually. For one thing, she's almost certainly not a random DF from the Third Age; it is likely that she is a Forsaken. This conclusion can be reached by considering her situation. The fact that she is mindtrapped indicates that she is somebody who, like Moggy, is very valuable and useful to the DO/Moridin, but whose past actions have shown that she cannot be relied upon to do the "right" thing without direct supervision and control. She's also powerful and valuable enough that the usual methods of control-- simple intimidation, torture, Compulsion, etc.-- would not produce the desired result of her being in control of her abilities, but totally under the thumb of an overseer. No Third Ager we've seen thus far has been given such consideration. Furthermore, trained channellers of Forsaken-level strength are almost unheard of in the Third Age. Finally, given Moridin's utter contempt for the Third Age, it is unlikely that he'd place a Third Ager over an AOLer, even if that AOLer was Moghedien. Add to this her complete lack of fear, or even caution, when confronting and insulting Graendal, and it seems that Cyndane (or at least the mind controlling her body) must be from the Age of Legends.

Since we have such slim knowledge about the conditions under which the DO can recycle a person, we can't absolutely rule out the possibility that Cyndane is some AOL dreadlord who we've never heard of before. There are some arguments against this, though. First, we have no other evidence of the DO bringing back anybody else who died in the AOL or after the Bore was sealed. The only other resurrectees we've seen have died in the Third Age, and were recycled within a few years of their deaths (Aginor/Osan'gar, Balthamel/Aran'gar, Ishamael/Moridin, Isam/Slayer (possibly)). Secondly, according to the Guide [Guide: 5, The DO and the Male Forsaken, 49-50], the thirteen Forsaken were the strongest of the AS who turned to the Shadow; during the AOL, they managed to finish off anybody who "equaled or approached [them] in strength." Apparently, the DO did not deem those who failed to survive the winnowing process to be worthy of resurrection during the War of Power, why would he deem them worthy now? Finally, one must consider the fact that it has been over 3000 years since these Dreadlords died; they could have been reborn during the interval, possibly multiple times. If that were the case, it is far from certain that the DO could resurrect them with their old AOL personalities.

If she is an unknown AOL resurrectee, there is no point in discussing the question any further. So, henceforth, we will assume that she is, in fact, somebody we've seen before.

Who is she, then?

The only Forsaken who are unaccounted for when we first meet Cyndane are Lanfear, Sammael, and Asmodean. Cyndane cannot be Sammael, because Sammael was still alive and in his own body when Moggy was mindtrapped. As mentioned above, at that time, Cyndane was also mindtrapped (and Sammael definitely was not). As for Asmodean, he's probably permanently dead; in [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 15], the DO associates Asmo with Rahvin, who has "DIED THE FINAL DEATH." Furthermore, Asmo is a worse traitor than Moggy-- there was more free will in his decision to help Rand than in Mog's a'dam-compelled teaching of El and Ny. It is unlikely that he'd be set above Mog. This leaves us with only one option: Lanfear. Further evidence that Cyndane = Lanfear, rather than Asmodean, is that she channels Saidar, not Saidin. Granted, we only have one example of a man recycled into a woman's body (Aran'gar), so we can't really say if Aran'gar's channelling of Saidin is the rule, or an exception. However, it is the only thing we have to go on, and that example indicates that a recycled Asmodean would channel Saidin, regardless of the sex of the body he was put into. Furthermore, a man, remembering everything about his life as a Saidin-channeller, would not be immediately be able to channel Saidar, if he was put into a Saidar-channelling body. We've been told time and time again about the vast differences between how the Power works for men and women. It follows that a man would have to go through lots of training before he could channel Saidar with any skill. Thus, Cyndane's soul ought to be female, as well as her body.

Even more evidence arises from Cyndane's personality and behavior. The juxtaposition of a cool demeanor and a fiery temper match Lanfear very well. She "strives for every inch of height," implying that she's used to being taller. We know that Lanfear was tall from [TSR: 9, Decisions, 127]. So, the best guess for Cyndane's former identity is Lanfear.

If she is Lanfear, how did she come to this state?

The last we saw of Lanfear, she was knocked through the doorway to Foxland by Moiraine, and the doorway melted. The big question is what happened to her that she ended up with a new body (and a mindtrap)? There are two basic ideas. One is that she died "off-screen" and was recycled by the DO in the same way as the Gars and Moridin. The other idea is that the new body is a consequence, possibly unintentional, of one the wishes she made in Foxland. Since we have absolutely no idea what happened to Moir and Lanfear after they fell through the door, it is difficult to choose one of the many options. We'll just look at the various possibilities, and point out any points in favor of or against them.

Lanfear died, and was recycled by the DO

If she was killed at some point, and recycled by the DO in the usual fashion, we must ask, "when did she die?" The possibilities are:

 She died when she went through the doorway.

 She was killed in Finnland, by Moiraine or by the Foxes.

 She escaped from Finnland, but died when she got back to Randland.

How could Lanfear have died when she went through the door? One option is that the destruction of the doorway itself killed her. However, if that was the case, then one would expect that Moiraine would have been killed as well. Since we know Moiraine is not dead , this scenario is unlikely.

Another possibility is that she was killed by drawing too much Power. "Koby Kobia" explains: "If we recall the incident in TFOH, Lanfear was drawing deeply on the bracelet angreal when Moiraine struck. She was probably drawing every particle of the OP she could stand through the angreal, and it must have been a humongous amount because she was winning against Rand and his angreal, when Moiraine cannoned into her and clawed away the angreal as the two of them fell through the doorway. Now, an angreal allows a person to channel a lot more of the OP than the person can channel unaided. What happens if the angreal is suddenly stripped away while is person is straining to draw as much OP as he/she can?" If she wasn't able to release the Source quickly enough, she would have been stilled at the very least, and it's quite possible that she'd have been "burnt to a crisp" like Aginor at the end of TEOTW.

If Lanfear didn't die from the Power, there are other ways she could have perished. Moiraine could have got a lucky strike in, and finished her off on the other side of the doorway. This is improbable because Lanfear was much more powerful and skilled than Moiraine. The Forsaken would have had every advantage in a fight between the two of them. Moiraine has only been able to take Forsaken down by surprise (Be'lal, tackling Lanfear), and if she didn't kill or incapacitate Lanfear right off, it's unlikely she'd have any defenses in the long run. The exception, of course, would be if Lanfear was stilled, and Moiraine wasn't. On yet another hand, Moiraine might have been stilled in the doorway's destruction, as well.

If Moiraine didn't kill her, Lanfear might have been killed by the Foxes, if she didn't deal with them wisely. Mat's experience with them certainly would have been lethal if Rand hadn't known CPR. When Moiraine told El, Eg, and Ny about the Snake doorway in Tear, where one can get three questions answered, she said, "Questions touching the Shadow have dire consequences. If you asked about the Black Ajah, you might be returned dead, or come out a gibbering madwoman, if you came out at all." [TSR: 7, Doorways,95] It has been suggested that the Foxes might have a similar reaction to wishes "touching the Shadow." Given who Lanfear is, it's possible that anything she wished for would be connected to the Shadow. This idea that Lanfear was killed by the Foxes presupposes that she was stilled by drawing too much Power or by the doorway explosion. If she still had channelling ability, she could have defended herself from the Foxes like Rand defended himself from the Snakes in TSR.

On the other hand, there are reasons to believe that the Foxes wouldn't have immediately killed Lanfear for being Forsaken. Firstly, we don't know that the Foxes have the same problem with the Shadow which the Snakes have. Secondly, Lanfear could have asked for personal things which didn't directly involve the Shadow, for example, having channelling ability restored if she was stilled, or having Lews Therin love her, or having Moiraine detained, or getting back to Randland. One might want to consider that Lanfear might have known as much about the doorways as Moiraine, and possibly more. The doors, like (almost) all ter'angreal, date from before the Breaking, and Lanfear was a OP-scientist during the AOL. It's not that unlikely that she'd be aware of the doorways and at least some of their properties, and know enough to avoid getting killed. Another question which has a bearing on this issue is whether the DO can retrieve the souls of dead Forsaken from other dimensions. A final possibility for Lanfear's death is that she survived and escaped from Finnland, and died at some later point. This idea is sketchy in that it begs the questions of how did she manage to die, and why did it happen "off-screen." None of the primary Good Guys killed her; they'd have noticed. This leaves either assassination by somebody on the Dark Side, or an accidental death. Most of the "loose" Forsaken (i.e. those not tied to Shaidar Haran and/or Moridin) have expressed ignorance of Lanfear's whereabouts. This leaves a direct order from Moridin/SH/the DO, and if that was the case, why bother killing her just to get her in a mindtrap? Surely it would have been just as easy to send her to SG for the same treatment as Moggy. One could always suppose that she tripped, fell down some stairs, and broke her neck, all off-screen, but that would just be incredibly lame.

Lanfear did not die; the new body is the result of a wish

Just because Lanfear has a new look, we shouldn't immediately assume that she got it in the same way (from the DO) that the other "new" Forsaken got theirs. The TPOD Glossary entry on "Forsaken" has something a bit weird to say on the matter: "Moridin... may be yet another of the dead Forsaken brought back from the grave by the Dark One. The same possibility may exist regarding the woman calling herself Cyndane, but... speculation as to the identities of Moridin and Cyndane may prove futile until more is learned." [TPOD: Glossary, entry "Forsaken," 598]. Clearly, this is RJ making fun of us, but it could also be a signal that Cyndane might not be wholly what she seems: Lanfear resurrected by the DO. (Moridin is obviously Ishamael.

So, what alternative is there? If she is Lanfear, and wasn't resurrected by the DO, she had to have gotten the body someplace else. The most likely source is the Foxes. We know that they grant wishes in ways which are often not quite what the wisher expected or desired (witness the restoration of Mat's memory). We also know that they demand a "price" for the granting of wishes, and will exact one of their choosing if the wisher does not negotiate one. In Mat's case, the "price" was for him to be hung from the Tree of Life when he was returned to Rhuidean. Now, while Lanfear would never voluntarily change her legendary looks, might have wished something which unexpectedly resulted in a change of body. For example, if she was stilled after falling through the door, she certainly would have asked for her channelling ability to be restored. This could have been granted, in a twisted way, by putting her mind into a new body which could channel. Another idea is that she asked for Rand/LTT to love her, and she was put into a body which was reminiscent of the long-dead Ilyena. Of course, this idea depends on Cyndane looking like Ilyena. The only thing we know about Ilyena's looks is that she was blonde. Cyndane is also blonde, although she is described as silver-blonde, while Ilyena was golden-blonde. An objection to that idea is that Ilyena was the wife of a very famous, prominent Aes Sedai, and as such, her appearance would have been widely known (like, say, Hillary Clinton's is today). Surely Graendal would have commented upon Cyndane's resemblance to Ilyena, if such a resemblance did indeed exist.

If Cyndane is Lanfear, why was she mindtrapped?

Moghedien was mindtrapped for betraying the DO by teaching those who would oppose the Shadow. What did Lanfear do to merit the same treatment? It's simple: like Moghedien, she demonstrated that she could not be relied upon to put the DO's interests over her own personal desires and needs, if a conflict arose. She offered to ally with Rand to supplant the Creator and the DO both. While this may have been just talk, she did enable, even cause, Asmodean's defection. Essentially, she committed the same transgression as Moghedien, albeit in a less direct fashion-- she helped somebody opposing the Shadow learn skills which would make him more likely to succeed. The conversion of Rand to the DO is a Shadow priority. If Rand had remained ignorant of channelling, his lack of control could have served as a powerful motivation to turn to the Dark Side. Providing a non-Shadow-controlled tutor for Rand removed that motivation. Finally, her psychotic episode at the Cairhien docks, where she tried to kill Rand, and made a general hash of things, was a clear indication that she could not be relied upon to act in the Shadow's best interests, without strong supervision.

What about the body?

[John Hamby, Steven Cooper] It has been proposed that the origninal owner of Cyndane's body was Cabriana Mecandes. This is the AS who was tortured by Semirhage in LOC, to get information for Halima's infiltration of the SAS. The evidence is scant, but suggestive:

From [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 188-190]:

 "A pale-haired silk-clad woman..."

 "The woman's blue eyes bulged."

 "...her head flung from side to side, flailing her hair..." Cyndane is described as having "long silver hair and vivid blue eyes" [TPOD 12, New Alliances, 262]. The blue eyes and long hair match, and silver hair and pale hair could be considered as matching also.

On the other hand, there are missing pieces in the description of Mecandes. Cyndane is unusually short, and apparently has "huge tracts of land." (If you don't understand that last bit, proceed to your local video store and rent Monty Python and the Holy Grail.) Neither of these distinguishing features is noted by Semirhage.

Hvorfor har ”The Forsaken” svarte tråder som binder dem til kraften?

When Rand has battled the male Forsaken, he has sometimes seen black threads, wires, or cords running off from them. This is seen when Rand battles Ishy in [TEOTW: 51, Against the Shadow, 637-40], and Asmodean in [TSR: 58, The Traps of Rhuidean, 671-675]. So what's the deal with these strings?

The thick black threads are the Forsaken's connection to the DO. The connection with the DO is what keeps the male Forsaken from falling prey to the madness from the taint on Saidin (see Asmodean's statements to Rand in TSR after his black "thread" was severed). Rand's thread in TEotW was silver and thinner because it was from that pure pool of saidin that was the Eye of the World.

We've never seen the threads on a female Forsaken, so it is possible that the threads are themselves the protection from the taint. Perhaps they act as a kind of filter on Saidin, or a conduit through which the DO siphons off the taint when the Forsaken draws upon the Source.

It's also been suggested that the threads are a connection for channelling the True Power. This isn't very likely. The problems with this idea are: 1) the female Forsaken can use the TP, but nobody ever sees the black cords on them, 2) the black cords were seen on Asmodean, and of all the Forsaken, the one who we'd least expect to use the very dangerous TP in an instance where the OP would serve just as well (Skimming) is Asmodean, and 3) From [ACOS book signing, Dunwoody, Georgia; 9 October, 1996, report by Erica Sadun], "Access to the TP is a matter of wanting it and the dark one letting you. NOT black cords."

Another suggestion is that the presence or absence of the threads could be used to identify male Forsaken. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The black cords are only seen/sensed under very special circumstances. Rand has only seen them in two places--T'A'R and the in-between space used for Skimming. Note that Rand has seen male Forsaken without seeing the cords: Aginor and Balthamel at the Eye and Be'lal in the Heart of the Stone. Furthermore, he doesn't ALWAYS see the black threads when he's in TAR with a Forsaken--he never saw them on Rahvin. So, the black threads are not a reliable way to identify Forsaken under any circumstances, even those under which the threads have been seen in the past.

Hvordan kan man drepe en Gholam?

The Gholam seems to be the hardest-to-kill monster RJ has introduced thus far. What, exactly, is it? We have information on it from Birgitte, who has some memories of the War of Power, [ACOS: 40, Promises to Keep, 606-607], from Elayne, Mat, etc's encounter with one in [ACOS: 39, Six Stories, 598-600], and from the short gholam POV scene in [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84-85].

Gholam were created by Aginor [LOC, 23, To Understand a Message, 347] for the express purpose of killing channellers, although they're pretty handy at killing non-channellers, as well. The OP can't touch them; the effect of channelling at a gholam is exactly the same as channelling at a person wearing Mat's foxy medallion (i.e. the flows break apart on contact). Furthermore, they are immune to conventional weapons, too: nobody is able to harm the one who Mat fights with swords, etc, and the gholam itself thinks "it had never encountered anything that could harm it. Until that man with the medallion" [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84]. They can sense the ability to channel at a distance of about 50 paces, and they can detect use of the OP at greater distances (it felt the channelling at the Kin's farm). They look like normal human beings on the outside. Inside is another matter. They have no bones, and can squeeze under a door, and are very strong, and very quick. (Think the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.) Only six were ever made; three have a masculine outward appearance, three feminine. They have at least a rudimentary intelligence (Mat chats with the one he fights in Ebou Dar), and they are living things, not some sort of machine. (Mat surmises (actually, Birgitte surmises) that the one they met was "kept alive" since the Breaking in a stasis box.) They feed on blood. There is some way to control a gholam, and force it to do one's bidding. The Ebou Dar gholam thinks: "The one who commanded it wanted [Mat] dead.... for the time being, it was constrained. For its entire existence it had been compelled to obey one or another human, but its mind held the concept of not being constrained [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84-85].

We can draw some further conclusions, namely, that unlike the T1000, they don't have the ability to assume any form, only liquid form and their humanoid form. (If not, why specify that 3 are male-shaped, and 3 are female-shaped?)

Where have we seen gholam? We've seen two for certain, namely the one in Ebou Dar, and the one that killed poor Herid Fel in Cairhien at the end of LOC. There is one previous possible gholam encounter, which took place "off-screen." This is the killing of Lord Barthanes in TGH. Barthanes was clearly killed at Ishy's instigation because he helped the renegade DF, Padan Fain, get away with the Horn of Valere. Barthanes died in a very similar fashion to Fel, i.e. he was ripped limb-from-limb. Furthermore, this took place in the same building as Fel's demise. Again, this may or may not be a gholam-induced death, but it is worth mentioning as a possibility.

How can you hurt/kill/dispose of a Gholam?

The only thing we know for certain that can injure a gholam is Mat's foxy medallion. When Mat smacks the Ebou Dar gholam with it in [ACOS: 38, Six Stories, 598], the gholam was burned-- "The medallion fell across the man's cheek. The man screamed. Smoke rose around the edges of the foxhead, and a sizzle like bacon frying....A raw red brand marked where the foxhead had fallen." What we do not know is why the medallion hurt the gholam. There are two possibilities:

It's the magic, stupid

Both the medallion and the gholam have the unusual property that they somehow neutralize flows of the OP. (Note that the actual mechanism employed by each may be different.) It is possible that some kind of adverse reaction occurred when the medallion came into contact with the gholam's body. While the medallion didn't get characteristically cold, it did seemingly get hot.

It is difficult to be more precise, because we don't know how either the medallion or the gholam actually work. Perhaps it is because the gholam are made with/are held together with/have some connection with the OP, and the medallion negates the OP. Or, perhaps it's a "like charges repel" sort of deal. Or, maybe the gholam is a kind of "living ter'angreal," and the effect is due to an adverse reaction between similar ter'angreal, as described in [TDR: 23, Sealed, 217]. If it is the case that the magic is the key, then a gholam could probably be killed by prolonged contact with some weapon/ter'angreal made to copy the medallion's effect. This is problematic, bc the medallion is currently buried under a wall, along with its wearer.

An argument against the theory that the medallion's ability to negate flows is the key, is that then the gholam probably would have been hurt by contact w/ Mat himself, and not just the foxhead. [James Huckaby] Then again, maybe not. As stated above, we don't really know how the medallion works. It was pointed out that when Mat was wrestling the gholam, the foxhead fell out of Mat's "open" shirt: "Struggling for air, he [Mat] pushed himself up, foxhead dangling from his open shirt." [ACOS: 38, Six Stories, 597] So, if the medallion works only when it is in contact with the wearer, then Mat may not have been in contact w/ it when he touched the gholam. [Jason Wilson] Of course, this objection does not apply to the idea that the reaction was due to the "similar ter'angreal interference" effect.

You've got the silver

The medallion is made out of silver [TSR, 26, The Dedicated, 306-307], and this is the key to its anti-Gholam capabilities. The argument for silver is more of an argument against the medallion's magical properties, combined with some cross-pollination from werewolf and vampire legends. It is not likely that the foxhead works because it is destroying flows, because the foxhead doesn't get cold after damaging the gholam, it just has "the cool of silver." [ACOS: 38, Six Stories, 598] Loony idea: When the gholamstuff and silver come into contact, there is a chemical reaction. This reaction is exothermic--the heat is produced by the reaction, not by the medallion.

An argument against this theory is that it seems kind of silly. Why would the Forsaken make such specific, deadly anti-AS assassins if they have such a common, easily exploitable Achilles' heel? Why would the Forsaken be so wary of them that they limited their number to six? [Tim Yoon]--"Oh No! A gholam's chasing us!" "How much money do you have on you?" [Aaron Bergman] The former question can be rationalized by saying that the Forsaken counted on the fact that people wouldn't think to use silver on something the OP can't stop. This idea does NOT explain the objection that if it was so easily defeated if you knew the key, the Forsaken wouldn't have been so wary of it that they only made six. Furthermore, the Gholam thinks to itself [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84] that "it had never encountered anything that could harm it" until it met the medallion. In all of its existence it never encountered a common metal like silver? Unlikely.

Got any more bright ideas?

Many. Here are some of the more popular ideas for how to get rid of a Gholam: 1) Indirect effects of the OP: The gholam's material breaks up OP flows just like Mat's medallion, making it immune to the OP. Like the wearer of the foxhead, it is likely that this immunity doesn't extend to indirect effects. One could try dropping something heavy on it, or zapping it with lightning, or something like that. Doubtless, it is immune to some of these (considering its oozey nature, I doubt dropping a safe on it would have much permanent effect), but something might work. Balefire probably won't work; it is very likely a direct effect.

2) The T-1000 Effect: Melt it. If one channelled enough heat into it, or dropped it into a volcano, it might lose all molecular cohesion. Furthermore, we know it is vulnerable to heat: the heat generated when the medallion touches it cooks its "flesh" (I use the term loosely.).

3) One of These Days, I'm Going to Cut You Into Little Pieces: while stabbing a gholam doesn't hurt it, it may be that if you dismember it, and separate its pieces far enough (perhaps by the judicious use of Gateways), it won't be able to reassemble itself. Then again, maybe it would. Using a Gateway to cut it (like Graendal's poor servant in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 137]) probably wouldn't work-- the edges of the Gateway are made of Power, and so the Gate would dissolve upon touching the gholam.

4) Out of This World: Open a Gateway to the Skimming Place. Knock the gholam through (throw a big rock at it, or something), and close the Gateway. According to Egwene, the chances of ever opening into that bit of Skimming Space are very low, so chances are the gholam will be permanently Lost in Space.