According to RJ, Asmodean's killer should be obvious to anyone with even half an intuitive bone in their body. Indeed, that lowing and bleating that you hear is the great collective herd of ourselves, sheep one and all, as we follow first one champion and then another.

“Graendal!” The first one calls out, and the herd follows.

“Graendal!”

“No, no, Slayer!” The second calls out.

“Slayer!” Answers the herd.

“Moiraine!”

“Lanfear!”

Well, finally we can graze in the glorious pasture of certitude, nibble on the fine grasses of reassurance, and bask in the warm glow of righteousness, for I have found the answer to who killed Asmodean:

Someshta.

(“Someshta!” Answers the herd.)

Now, you can doubt me, after all, even Galileo was doubted in his day. But before you doubt me, hear out the evidence.

1) Demonstrated Dislike for Forsaken

Someshta is no great lover of Forsaken. In tEotW, he attacks Aginor and Balthamel, and manages to kill Balthamel. Now, while there are many people who dislike the Forsaken and what they stand for, there are very few who take that dislike and act upon it. Most would run away, scared. But not heroic Someshta!

2) One of an Elite Few Who Killed a Forsaken

Moiraine took a couple out, and Rand has cut down a few, but both of these characters have a prior awareness of who Asmodean is and an understanding of what and why Rand is using him. Doubt me? Moiraine writes to Rand in her letter to him to be careful, that she knew about Mister Natael and that though he appears insignificant now that he is still the man that he was before. And of course Rand knows about Asmodean. So the only two characters (other than the heroic Someshta) to have demonstrated the capability and willingness to take out a Forsaken.

3) The Idea of Need, The Tie to TAR

When seeking the Eye of the World, Moiraine reveals to the Emond's Fielders that the Green Man (aka, the Stalwart Hero Someshta) can be found by need and need alone. Sound familiar? Nynaeve and Elayne use this ability in TAR to find the Bowl of Winds. This is actually a Standard Operating Procedure of the Aiel Wise Ones, who seek out new water and holds when the sept gets to be too large.

Add into this Tel'aran-arifficness the entrance of the Green Man when he is finally found. His magical region simply appears around the party. In fact, he has been found all along the blight by those who seek him, so his appearance - based on need - has great range of effect. He can be in Malkier if the need draws him there, or alternately in Saldaea in the same moment if the need calls him from there. Sound like any other place we know? It seems pretty clear that the Mighty and Stalwart Hero Someshta is tied into TAR and uses need to be found. This will become important as you consider the Mighty and Stalwart Hero Someshta's access to Asmodean and the ability to hide the body.

4) Concern with Life

We all know that the Nym were concerned with life, and the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta is no exception. He is seen caring for all manner of living things as he passes, and all manner of living things are made stronger and more alive by his passing. How does this inform our opinion about who took out Asmo? Simple. Remember, Asmodean was going to get a flagon of wine when we last see him, and it's a universally acknowledged truth that wine *deadens* the senses, *deadens* the wits, and *deadens* the mind.

Clearly, the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta would have something to say about that matter. Indeed, it seems in the store-rooms of Caemlyn, he did.

So, there's the evidence. The slower members of the herd may still have some concerns, such as the small matter of the apparent death of the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta the Glorious. Well, we need to reread that section again carefully to see that he did *not*, in fact, die. He only took on tree form. But he still lived. Loial sang for the tree so that it would grow, and it did grow.

There are two alternatives here. The first is that the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta the Glorious' tree was actually a state of rest for the Nym kind, sort of like a coma for one so injured as he was. In this case, Loial singing would have sped the recovery process until Someshta could uproot himself again. The second alternative is that being as he was closely tied into TAR (remember, using Need and the Dream World to appear when and where he was required), he never really became a tree in the first place, at least not in reality. Moghedien turns one of our tragic female leads into a little child; Rhavin nearly transforms Rand into a beast... could Balthamel, in an allegorical backlash against the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta the Glorious and Forbidding have turned him into a tree for as long as he remained partially tied to TAR? In this case, obviously, he would have had need of being freed from the cursing, and for this duty, I like either Slayer, Dobraine, either of the Shara royal family members Graendal took as servants, the Empress, or that tavern waitress that danced and danced with Mat without ever kissing him. Any of them could have had the access, time, motive and ability to free the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta the Glorious and Forbidding, but I will not go into those possibilities now.

Finally, we can be sure that the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta the Glorious and Forbidding did not die, because we know that he killed Asmodean, and he cannot have done that were he dead.

Conclusion:

The Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta the Glorious and Forbidding, called Forsaken Bane by the Creator, recovered from whatever occurred to him at the end of tEotW and decided to look up Rand. Since he had finally met the Dragon, knew that he was reborn, and since the object of his protection had been removed from his responsibility, it is natural to assume that the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta the Glorious and Forbidding, called Forsaken Bane by the Creator would want to make sure that the Dragon Reborn was still in good health and safe. Having just lost Moiraine through the Gateway to the Finn, Rand's need was acute, and would have drawn the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta the Glorious and Forbidding, called Forsaken Bane by the Creator directly to him. Showing up on the scene, the Mighty, Stalwart, Merciful Hero Someshta the Glorious and Forbidding, called Forsaken Bane by the Creator misjudges Asmodean's role and Rand's knowledge thereof, decides that the true reason for Asmodean's hidden identity is to get close enough to Rand in order to kill him, and therefore waits for the opportune moment before taking Asmodean out. Asmodean's exclamation of “You? No!” is understandable, then, as he would have recognized the last of the Nym (whom he would have believed to have been dead already). And as for his words “hanging on the air,” many people have wrongly interpreted this to mean that it had to have been a channeler in order to kill with the speed necessary to have words hang on the air. I submit that the correct interpretation of this line is that, much like Balthamel, Asmodean found it suddenly hard to speak as vines and growing things penetrated his body. A vine piercing his throat would definitely make whatever words he was forming “hang on the air.”