Hi everybody,

This is something I came up with a while ago but it was never really solved I think. Maybe not everything is applicable anymore but nevertheless it should be interesting. Here goes.

The Death of Herid Fel

This is something that a lot of people have cracked their brains on. I'm not sure I will be able to solve the issue at this point, but I may have some important insights. I believe for starters that nobody until now has correctly formulated the questions we're trying to answer. Here goes:

1. Who sent the Gholam to kill Herid Fel? More specifically; who had access to a Gholam? Was it a Forsaken, if so, which one, if none, who are the other possibilities?

2. What was Herid Fel's importance to either the killer or someone else in the story.

3. Why was Herid Fel killed at this point in time. Why not earlier, or later.

4. Directly derived from no. 3: How was the killer informed of the need to kill Herid?

I will now try to show some clues that in my opinion are important, question per question.

On Question 1:

The most likely suspect to have sent a Gholam at all is of course one of the Forsaken. As far as we are told, only 6 Gholam's were ever created, 3 male and 3 female. We also know that they were created by the Shadow, probably somehow with Aginor's help. The Gholam that is now loose is male, but it hardly matters for my point. Since there is no further evidence to suggest that ANY of the six Gholams have been active for the last 3000 years or so, I think it is safe to assume that they either have been killed during the Breaking or shortly after, OR they have been locked somewhere. Knowing Robert Jordan he would have given us some mysterious disappearances or crazy rumours if he wanted to suggest the Gholam's loose before. So that means only recently one has been set free. A likely location for one to have been locked up appears to be something called a Stasis Box. We know for a fact that at least two Forsaken have found one, being Graendal and Sammael. Graendal's remarks about her own Stasis Box: "I found one as well, but beyond streith, it contained the most appalling collection of useless rubbish" (LoC, chapter 23 at beginning) She could of course be saying this just to lead Sammael into thinking she hadn't found anything important, but I think not, because about two paragraphs earlier she FEELS envy about the items Sammael has found, and that's only a few glowbulbs, some kind of airco, a painting and a music box as far as she can see up till then. So if she would have found something as important as a Gholam in her Stasis Box I think she would feel quite satisfied and superior instead of envious. Also, she wonders two or three times about what else Sammael has found in his Stasis Box that he is hiding. She literally thinks: "Again that faint smile. He had found something more than playthings and pretties." This I think is a strong indication even by itself that Sammael has found something powerful. Of course this could also mean something like an angreal or sa'angreal but considering the battle between Sammael and Rand at the end of aCoS I think not. Sammael would have been way stronger in that case.

So again: a Gholam seems a plausible option. Of course one of the other Forsaken might have found a Stasis Box as well, or more than one, but I seem to remember at least one or two making comments about how they would like to find one. Demandred has been a subject for many other theorists and I have to admit that there is no evidence that excludes him. Indeed, at the end of LoC Demandred goes to Shayol Ghul and says "Have I not done well, my Lord." At least some people believe that this is about killing Herid Fel and I admit that there is a slight (in my opinion) possibility that this is so.

On Question 2:

Of course it is quite obvious that the only thing important about Herid Fel is his knowledge. However, nobody has ever tried to specify on this after reading Winter's Heart. It has been stated (and since been proved wrong) that the "have to clear the rubble" remark by Fel also had a direct meaning concerning the Taint on Saidin. Many people believed that the Taint somehow had to do with the Seals. This has since been proved untrue. Rand has cleared the Taint without using the Seals. He claimed something Fel told him gave him the idea. BUT: the "have to clear the rubble" remark is obviously a remark on the Seals and therefore NOT on how to clean Saidin. I believe what brought the idea to Rand was Fel's way of explaining the Turning of the Wheel. Fel spoke about there being a point where the Dark One's prison had no gap at all, and I believe this gave Rand the idea that there also had to be a point where the Taint was not on Saidin. Therefore it had to be possible to remove it. His two wounds and his time spent in Shadar Logoth gave him the rest of the idea in my opinion.

Whoever killed Fel then did not fear specifically that Fel would soon give Rand the idea to rid Saidin of the Taint, because Fel never even gave the impression that he knew how Rand must do this. What he did say though, was "belief and order give strength. Must clear rubble to build again, will explain next time" or something along those lines. So whoever sent the Gholam must have feared this specific knowledge about caging the Dark One. Since Fel also spoke of the Turning of the Wheel and there being a time with a "patchless" prison so to speak, this may have been the clue to closing the prison. I will get back on a more philosophical basis later.

On Questions 3 and 4:

Well to start, the reason Herid Fel was killed now and not LATER is obviously that he was about to tell Rand something the killer did not want him to hear. I think I have established fairly solidly what I think this knowledge is. Why wasn't Fel killed EARLIER one might ask. The answer is of course that before this, nobody thought him anything important. The REAL question however, is HOW DID THE KILLER KEEP TRACK OF HERID FEL'S KNOWLEDGE. This calls for someone observing either Rand or Herid Fel, and though the sure bet would be Rand, I think I would vote for Herid Fel in this case. Fel was killed shortly after his message to Rand and as far as the evidence goes, nobody knew of the message except Herid Fel, Rand and Min. And the one that brought the message of course but he isn't mentioned whatsoever and therefore knowing the RJ style I think he/she may be ignored. There is however one other person that is likely to have seen the message, being Idrien Tarsin, the head of Rand's school in Cairhien. She is always there, and has at least some spies in the Sun Palace in Cairhien, as Rand remarks on in chapter 18 of LoC. She is also the one who finds Herid Fel in the last chapter of LoC and though she faints at sight of him, there is the following curious remark: "However many times she heard of someone torn limb from limb, she had never seen one before." Now why would a normal person hear very often of people torn limb from limb. However for a Darkfriend serving someone higher up it would seem possible, since they often work with threats. My guess is that she is the killer's informer. The only other option in this case would be Min, and though there has been some speculation that she is a Darkfriend, I refuse to believe this. No clues indicate her as a Darkfriend.

Food for Thought:

A lot of people have remarked on the "have to clear rubble before you can build" part of Fel's message. I have a few comments of my own on this. In chapter 18 of LoC Rand asks the man "Is there any reason you can think of to break the Seals?" (Lews Therin had been raving at him about this when Taim gave him his Seal). Then it literally says: "Herid's eyebrows shot up. Break the Seals? Break the Seals? Why would anyone but a madman want to do that? Can they even be broken? I seem to remember reading somewhere they can't, but I don't recall now that it said why. What made you think of a thing like that?" This contradicts in force Fel's later (rather unclear) message, or rather it contradicts most people's interpretation of Fel's last message, that Rand has to break the Seals to start rebuilding the prison.
Also, nobody seems to give any thought to the first part of his message, being "belief and order give strength." What I think is that Fel didn't try to tell Rand to break the Seals (because they were weakening anyway) but something else, something we haven't figured out yet, something it was worth to kill Fel for. Because seriously; why would anyone take the trouble of sending a Gholam to kill Herid if the only thing he was going to tell Rand to do was something that was already happening by itself? I'm still thinking of what Fel's real breakthrough might be, so I'll have to get back to you about that. I do think that if you reread chapter 18 of LoC with the Herid/Rand discussion you might find something. Especially in combination with the message. Fel's thoughts seem to trail away quite often and I somehow think that at al those unspoken thoughts lies the key. We just have to reason it out. It's basically the paradox of the Wheel. One of the most interesting things of the whole series though, because the key to winning Tarmon Gai'don might be here.