Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

TOR Questions of the Week Part II (Verbatim)

In Winters Heart, you mention that back in the Age of Legends, there were several other Forsaken that the Dark One had killed because he suspected they would betray him. What's their story? Were those people ever as high ranking as the 13 survivors, or where they more like high-ranking Dreadlords then actual Forsaken?

First off, Dreadlords was the name given to men and women who could channel and sided with the Shadow in the Trolloc Wars. Yes, the women were called Dreadlords, too. They might have liked to call themselves "the Chosen," like the Forsaken, but feared to. The real Forsaken might not have appreciated it when they returned, as prophecies of the Shadow foretold would happen. Some of the Dreadlords had authority and responsibility equivalent to that of the Forsaken in the War of the Shadow, however. They ran the Shadow's side of the Trolloc Wars, though without the inherent ability to command the Myrddraal that the Forsaken possess, meaning they had to negotiate with them. Overall command at the beginning was in another's hands.

Forsaken was the name given to Aes Sedai who went over to the Shadow in the War of the Shadow at the end of the Age of Legends, though of course, they called themselves the Chosen, and despite the tales of the "current" Age, there were many more than a few of them. Since they occupied all sorts of levels, you might say that many were equivalent to some of the lesser Dreadlords, but it would be incorrect to call them so. At the time, they were all Forsaken—or Chosen—from the greatest to the least.

Some of those Forsaken the Dark One killed were every bit as high-ranking as the thirteen who were remembered, and who you might say constituted a large part of the Dark One's General Staff at the time of the sealing. With the Forsaken, where treachery and backstabbing were an acceptable way of getting ahead, the turnover in the upper ranks was fairly high, though Ishamael, Demandred, Lanfear, Graendal, Semirhage, and later Sammael, were always at the top end of the pyramid. They were very skilled at personal survival, politically and physically.

In large part the thirteen were remembered because they were trapped at Shayol Ghul, and so their names became part of that story, though it turned out that details of them, stories of them, survived wide-spread knowledge of the tale of the actual sealing itself. Just that they had been sealed away. Other Forsaken were left behind, so to speak, free but in a world that was rapidly sliding down the tube. The men eventually went mad and died from the same taint that killed off the other male Aes Sedai. They had no access to the Dark One's protective filters. The women died, too, though from age or in battle or from natural disasters created by insane male Aes Sedai or from diseases that could no longer be controlled because civilization itself had been destroyed and access to those who were skilled in Healing was all but gone. And soon after their deaths, their names were forgotten, except for what might possibly be discovered in some ancient manuscript fragment that survived the Breaking. A bleak story of people who deserved no better, and not worth telling in any detail.

The 'another' mentioned at the end of the first paragraph probably refers to Ishamael; there are hints in the BWB that he began the Trolloc Wars during one of the periods where he was free from the Bore.

forsaken, dreadlords, trolloc wars, war of power, ishamael, demandred, lanfear, graendal, semirhage, sammael, breaking of the world, taint, black cords,

TOR Questions of the Week Part II (Verbatim)

Why was Aginor so interested in the Eye of the World? He could channel clean saidin anyway so it shouldn't have been an issue?

He was able to channel clean saidin, true, but only through the "filter" which had been provided by the Dark One just a short time previously, which meant the Dark One would be aware of him channeling wherever he was. Remember, Aginor was the creator of the Trollocs; he is quite able to reason things out clearly, at least in a scientific sense. Also, he wasn't certain whether or not the Dark One also would know what he was doing when he channeled, too. For someone as secretive, competitive, and generally untrustworthy as the one of the Forsaken, the Eye of the World amounted to a valuable asset if it could be secured. To put it simply, Aginor saw a means of channeling without the Dark One looking over his shoulder, and maybe a way to increase his own power at the expense of those who didn't have that advantage. Balthamel might well have been for the long drop, administered by Aginor, if things hadn't worked out differently.

aginor, balthamel, eye of the world, taint, saidin, black cords,

Twitter 2011 (WoT) (Verbatim)

BRANDON SANDERSON

TEREZ

TEREZ

BRANDON SANDERSON

black cords, saidin, taint, true power,

ACOS Signing Report - Erica Sadun (Paraphrased)

New Dreadlords? Via True Power? What are limits of True Power? When did we see it used before?

Access to the True Power is a matter of wanting it and the Dark One letting you. NOT black cords. In the Prologue to The Eye of the World we saw True Power used to heal insanity. The One Power cannot be used to heal insanity. True Power used at Shayol Ghul will fry you instantly.

true power, one power, taint, healing, dark one, the eye of the world, shayol ghul, black cords,

ACOS Signing Report - Erica Sadun (Paraphrased)

What are those black threads on the male Forsaken?

RAFO.

forsaken, dark one, black cords,

ACOS Signing Report - Erica Sadun (Paraphrased)

Do all Darkfriends have the equivalent of the black threads seen in Tel'aran'rhiod attached to Ishamael and Asmodean? (I have a theory that Fades may use these threads to travel on, you could ask about that.)

No. Fades travel where light and darkness meet. [handwaving]

myrddraal, black cords, darkfriends, tel'aran'rhiod, shadowspawn,

Letter to Thomas Howard (Paraphrased)

1. What do Rand's wards on Callandor ward against exactly?

2. Are the black cords on male Forsaken the means to access to the True Power?

3. If so, why don't the female Forsaken have them?

"Read and find out" on all three counts.

THOMAS HOWARD

Damn. I still don't think the cords have anything to do with True Power usage though.

wards, true power, black cords, forsaken, rand, callandor,

Budapest Q&A (Verbatim)

Can you sever a person from the True Power with One Power?

Question

Robert Jordan

Question

Question

Question

Robert Jordan

severing, black cords, asmodean, true power, taint,

DragonCon Report - Isabel (Verbatim)

I'm trying to verify Rand's impression he has at the end of book four, regarding the connection he cuts of Asmodean to the Dark One. He seemed to believe it was the connection directly from that individual to the Dark One. So what I am wondering is, is that connection key to transmigration?

No, because what you are thinking of wasn't a connection; Rand thought it was.

rand, asmodean, the shadow rising, dark one, black cords,

TGS Signing Report - Robert Moreau (Verbatim)

Can someone besides Rand be taught to see the black cords that are seen on other Forsaken?

Robert Jordan is kind of dodgy on the black cords. A lot of people tried to pin him down on those. I think that yes, others could be trained to see the black cords.

rand, black cords, forsaken,

Driving Mr. Sanderson - Terez (Verbatim)

There seems to be a difference between Ishamael's big black cord and the wires which represent the protection from the taint. Is that intentional?

I believe that it is. But that one's more like 50-50...no, I'm like 65% sure.

the eye of the world, black cords,

JordanCon 2013 - Q&A with Maria (Verbatim)

The thick black cord that was attached to Ishamael at the Eye of the World (technically it was at Shayol Ghul or in Dreamland) that Rand saw...is that different from the black wires?

I don't know.

Terez

I asked Brandon about that one too.

Maria Simons

I would have to really look at it and check the notes; it's not something that I know right off the top....

Terez

It's described a little bit differently. I thought maybe one was a connection to the True Power, and the other was protection from the taint, but RJ couldn't decide if that was the same thing or not.

Maria Simons

I recently saw something about that in the notes, but I'm not remembering exactly what it said.

Terez

Do you happen to know anything about Ishamael's plan with the Eye, because it seems like he was trying to lead them there; why did he keep mentioning the Eye? Did he have a dream about it or something? You don't know?

Maria Simons

No.

black cords, eye of the world, the eye of the world, ishamael, true power, taint,