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In ACoS, we encountered several mysterious characters of the Dark persuasion. First, we met the Watcher, i.e. the guy watching Graendal and Sammael (ACoS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 356. Then, there was Moggy's new master, 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. So, who are these strangers? Are they all the same person? Well, let us investigate:
These guys have quite a few traits in common. Let us examine them:
The Moridin = Wanderer connection has a strong chance of being true, given the similarity of apperance, and the TP use. (Recall that even those who have been granted the use of the TP tend to only use it in dire situations, with a few exceptions. Thus, if we see two TP users who look alike, chances are they are the same.) He also fulfills the "seen previously in ACoS" requirement. Tying the Watcher in is a more tenuous connection, but entirely possible, especially considering Watcher point 7. It works from a literary viewpoint as well -- why would RJ introduce three separate Evil Dudes, when, from a functional POV, they could all be the same person? Why be so mysterious about the Watcher's identity if we've met & interacted with him before (e.g. Demandred)?
Given that the Watcher is from the AoL (Watcher pt #1, 5, 6), there are really only three people he could be: Demandred, Osan'gar, and Moridin. The outright evidence for and against any of these possibilities is slim, since we don't really know much about any of these characters. The most likely is Moridin, but this is only because he's the only one we know of who uses the TP an any other situation than dire emergencies, and if Moridin = Wanderer, then his spying on Sammael is precedented.
Next likely is Demandred, but only because if Demandred = Taim, then the phrase "so-called Aiel" is precedented. However, this sentiment (that the Aiel have changed a great deal since the AoL) has been expressed by other Forsaken, although not with those same words. (Plus, if Taim = Dem, there is no evidence of him using the TP.) Furthermore, if the Watcher truly is not concerned with being Nae'blis (Watcher point 7), then he is definitely not Demandred.
Osan'gar is a distant third. Osan'gar is probably Aginor, and Aginor/Osan'gar never showed the acumen for the commando-style recon the Watcher is doing; in fact, RJ has said that the chap who made the trollocs (i.e. Aginor, the DO's resident gengineer) had no combat experience.
Evidence for this is given above.
The scenario is as follows: Sammael set up the whole SL thing in order to fake his death. In order to do so effectively, he would need to have Rand witness his "death." Since Rand was clearly not doing a great job of this by himself (he was basically wandering aimlessly through the streets of SL), Sammael decided to give him a hand. He disguised himself, and got Rand to work out that Sam would be waiting next to the Waygate. As evidence for this, consider Sam's "Caddar" disguise: Dark coat, tall, black eyes, dark hair (ACoS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 352-353). (Note that we do not know the color of the Wanderer's eyes.)
Contrary argument:
The motivation here is similar to the Wanderer = Sammael idea. The only difference is that here we have Greandal helping Sam out by telling Rand where to go, instead of Sam doing it himself.
Contrary argument: Rand didn't feel saidar goosebumps, so if it was Graendal, she was using the TP. As with Sammael, we have no evidence that she uses the TP when she could use the OP. So, why would she disguise herself as a man, and use the TP, when she could have 1) disguised herself as a woman and used saidar, or 2) disguised herself as a man and used saidar -- feeling saidar from a man would have been just as weird as feeling no channelling from a man.
Interfering in other Forsaken's plans is her MO. (This assumes, of course, that the Wanderer was not part of Sam's plan.) Again, if it was here, she was using the TP, because Rand didn't get the Saidar goosebumps. It is more likely that Lanfear would use the TP than Graendal (after all, she discovered it in the first place). On the other hand, while she uses disguises a lot, dressing up as a man isn't really her style; she's always chosen female disguises before. People have argued that she has "helped" Rand in the past, so giving him a hand in SL is consistant with her past actions. However, this is not true. For one thing, the last time she saw Rand, she was trying to terminate him with extreme prejudice. Secondly, the Wanderer's (probably truthful) stated reason for helping Rand is that it would mess up a great many plans if Rand died, not out of any liking for Rand himself. Lanfear, OTOH, has always claimed to be helping Rand out because she liked him, not (the real reason) because helping him coincided with her own plans. A slightly different theory is that she's been recycled a la Aran'gar into a male body. This is even less likely, since it has the "last time she saw Rand, she tried to kill him" flaw, plus the fact that it relies upon an assumption that Lanfear died, which we have absolutely no reason to believe. After all, the fall through the melting Twisted Door didn't kill Moiraine (see section 1.4); why should it kill Lanfear, who's bigger, more experienced, and more powerful?
The arguments for the general idea are that Rand isn't hearing LTT in his head anymore, plus a perception of the bit where the Wanderer pulls LTT out of a pit and they both shoot off some BF as a "mirror image." There are two variations on this theory:
i) The Wanderer was never really there; Rand's insanity has gone a step further than "voices in the head"; he's now created his own imaginary Lews Therin friend, body and all. This explains why LTT's voice isn't in Rand's head any more, and why Rand didn't feel the Wanderer channelling. Despite this, it is very unlikely that this theory is true. First, the Wanderer doesn't act anything like the lovable, loony LTT we've come to know. The Wanderer clearly dislikes Rand and holds him in some contempt. The Wanderer has a good grip on what's going on around him and what he's doing; he doesn't break off and moan and groan about Ilyena, or destroying the world, or anything like that. The Wanderer doesn't want to kill Sammael himself. LTT, when he hasn't been moaning about Ilyena, spends his time ranting about killing his enemies, Sammael foremost among them. The Wanderer doesn't even look like LTT. (LTT description: TEotW: Prologue, Dragonmount, x -- tall, middle-aged, white & brown hair, dark eyes. Wanderer is young with black hair.) (Rand has seen LTT's appearance: in T'A'R at the end of TFoH.) Surely, Rand could do a better job of constructing an imaginary LTT that was consistant with the LTT in his brain.
ii) It's really LTT in an actual physical body of his own. (I hate to even mention it, but it seems to have a non-negligible group of supporters, so...) Somehow, LTT managed to manifest himself physically, which is why he's no longer in Rand's head. Evidence against this theory includes (but is not limited to) all the "Watcher doesn't behave like LTT at all" stuff put forth against the "hallucination" theory; I won't repeat it. A further argument is that there is now no explanation for why Rand didn't feel the Wanderer channel. LTT, being a man, couldn't use saidar (which Rand would have felt, anyway). He's not a Darkfriend, either, so he couldn't be using the TP.
This, of course, doesn't even touch the question of how LTT would get himself physically manifested in the first place. The only attempt I've seen to explain this is from Richard Edwards: "Now if I'm Jordan and I want to separate Lews and Rand, how could I do this? Well, how about create a neat little paradox that will confuse the hell out of everybody. Lews and Rand cross balefire streams, causing a really strange separation of them backwards in time, allowing Lews to be separated from Rand so that they can cross balefire streams." A noble attempt, but it doesn't agree with anything we know about how BF works. (For one thing, consider the time scale -- LTT went out of Rand's head days before the Shadar Logoth thing. A time-warp of that scale would require loads of BF. Nothing suggests that Rand OR the Watcher were using that level of BF. For another thing, Rand should have a memory of things being differently -- if LTT left his head due to BF, Rand should STILL remember having LTT in his head, even if reality's been changed so that LTT wasn't in there -- just like he remembered Asm, Mat & Avi getting toasted, even though he BFed Rahvin, and they really never were toasted.) Maybe its just a bad idea to pit balefire against balefire. You know. A "Don't cross the streams" thing. Maybe it was the interaction between TP generated BF and OP generated BF. The two sources are opposing, and mixing the two is probably a Bad Thing.
Before considering the specific candidates, let us first ask ourselves this: Is Moridin from the AoL (perhaps recycled into a Third Age body like the *'gars), or is he a Third Ager? If Moridin is the Watcher, he definitely is from the AoL; if he's the Wanderer only, he is almost certainly from the AoL (Watcher points 1, 5; Wanderer points 2, 6). If Moridin is not the Wanderer or Watcher, he may indeed be a Third Ager, although his knowledge of the Old Tongue and of AoL Power technology (vacuoles & mindtraps, among other things) is rather extensive for a Third Ager. (He could have been taught by Ishy, or somebody else.)
Now for the suspects:
The Toxic Twins (Aginor & Balthamel) were recycled (assuming Ag & Bal are Osan'gar & Aran'gar), 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 is overdue for a reappearance. So, here we have this "new" member of the Dark Elite; it's only natural to consider that he is Ishamael's soul recycled into a Third Age body. So, what's the evidence?
OTOH, Ishy hardly had a monopoly on the colors red and black. Many of the Forsaken use one or both of those colors. Rand uses those colors quite often himself.
Lara Beaton points out that Ishy failed to "get" Rand three times, and ended up dead. This is not a stunning success; it's a downright failure. Why would the DO "reward" this failure with restoring Ish to a position of power?
Counter-argument: Ishy was beaten by Rand when he confronted him directly. Ishy's behind-the-scenes work throughout the entire Third Age, OTOH was quite successful. The Trolloc Wars and the Hundred Years War (both instigated by Ish) caused such widespread devastation, that Randland never recovered the level of civilization and technology it had before the Breaking, or even got close. So, the DO resurrected him and put him to work behind the scenes, spying on Sam, controlling Moggy's mindtrap, etc. Furthermore, being dead is, according to Osan'gar, quite unpleasant LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 59 -- that might have been punishment enough, as it was in the case of the *'gars. Finally, Moridin doesn't seem to be as powerful as Ishy was. Ish was clearly on top of everything. Moridin has some advantage, but he's not the Man in Charge of all Shadow Operations, as he seemed to be before he got killed.
Personality: From what little we see of Moridin, he doesn't seem much like what we've seen of Ishy. Here are some comments:
"Ishy was full of pride, and would not fit well into the behind-the-scenes role Moridin plays, IMO." (Alex
Outhred)
"I would expect more Ishy domineering and less easy-going whimsy." (Dylan F. Alexander)
"I would expect Ishy to be exerting more overt control over the other forsaken." (Bryon Wasserman)
Counter-argument: Every sighting of Ishamael that we have had has been filtered through one of the "good guys'" perceptions (except the DFS). Most of them are though the characters' own interactions with Ishy/Ba'alzamon, in which Ish was overbearing and domineering as a matter of course. The same applies for the lowly DFs at the DFS. The only times we saw him interacting with other Forsaken were brief glances in T'A'R, through the eyes of Perrin or Egwene. So, we don't know if he'd be particularly overbearing when interacting with one of his colleagues (i.e. Moggy). He certainly got amusement out of Mog's predicament. As for Ish not fitting into a behind-the scenes role, that actually seems to be his forte. (See above comments.) Finally, IMO, while Moridin doesn't display any overt Ishy-isms in ACoS: Mindtrap, the Watcher and the Wanderer do show some Ish-like behavior. Compare (ACoS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 656): "'You are a fool,' a man's deep voice [the Wanderer's] said. 'Count yourself lucky I don't care to see you die today.'" and TGH: 41, Disagreements, 497: "'Fool!' Ba'alzamon roared. 'You will destroy yourself!'" Also consider ACoS: 20, Paterns Within Patterns, 358: "Today's truth need not be tomorrow's. The watcher had seen truth change a hundred times between a single sunrise and sunset. More than once he had changed it himself. He considered...killing the seven women in the clearing..." That passage stikes me as particularly Ishy-like. YMMV, of course.
If the DO can resurrect newly-dead Forsaken into new bodies, why should he stop there? Why not recycle some of his servents from the AoL who were not shoved into the Bore with him? The basic motivation for this idea is that Moridin (assuming he's also the Watcher and Wanderer) must be from the AoL, but he doesn't seem very much like Ishy, personality-wise. (See above for discussion). A specific suggestion is that he's the fellow who helped Lanfear open the Bore, Beidomon (see 1.1). Of course, this pre-supposes that Beidomon was not one of the 13 Forsaken.
Here's the argument, courtesy of Alex Outhred and Jonathan Wright:
The counter-argument is that this is all pure speculation. Sure it could be true, but we know next to nothing about Beidomon, and little concrete about Moridin. This whole thing could be settled if RJ ever tells us who Beidomon is. (i.e., if he turns out to be Rahvin, we'll know that Moridin isn't him.)
The basic argument is that Moridin is probably a Forsaken, but he doesn't seem like Ishy. The only other Forsaken that Moggy wouldn't recognise is Osan'gar. Points in favor are:
Here's the argument, such as it is ("Pro" arguments provided by Keith Higginson):
Whether you argue that "Isam" is Slayer's true appearance, and Luc is just a disguise, or Luc is Slayer's true appearance, and Isam/Moridin is a disguise, the theory runs into problems.
If the Luc-look is not Slayer's true appearance, but a disguise, why is he disguising himself as Luc every when he goes out into the world, when the Isam-look would be just as unrecognisable (if not more unrecognisable)? He didn't only use the Luc-look in the Two Rivers, he also used it the only other time he was seen by "mundane" witnesses -- when he killed Janduin. Why? Furthermore, if Slayer=Moridin=SL Wanderer, then why is he now using his "true" (according to you) appearance to go out in the worrld, when he's only used the Luc-look before. Finally, if Isam/Moridin is in his original Isam-body, why does he look like he's barely over 20 years old. Isam was born around the same time as Lan -- he'd be 40+ if still walking around. (No, you can't claim that it's some sort of Power-induced "slowing," because no other male channeller has ever shown himself to slow at such a young age.) If you say that "Moridin" is a disguise, then you lose your single point of actual evidence -- a possible physical resemblance.
On the other hand, if you argue that the "Moridin/Isam" look is the disguise, and (presumably) the Luc-look is real. Again, why is he disguising himself for Moggy? What's the point? Why would he be disguiding himself as Luc whenever he goes out into the world? People would have as much chance of recognising "Isam" as they would have as Luc.
Moridin's star seems to be on the rise in the ranks of the Shadow. Slayer, OTOH, failed miserably on his Two Rivers mission. He failed in his first objective, killing Fain. When Perrin showed up, Slayer's objective shifted to include getting Perrin. He failed in that. He even failed to kill everybody in the Two Rivers. In the process, he messed up further, by losing tons of Trollocs and Fades.
Moridin's position is not that of a failure. He's been given his very own Forsaken-class slave. He now not only has his own resources, he has all of Moggy's skills and resources at his disposal. He's got his very own utterly loyal, very powerful and skilled minion. Even if the DO regards Mog as a second-hand citizen, she is still an extremely powerful tool, in terms of both raw power and skill. He's also allowed to use the TP with impunity, which is definitely a non-trivial demonstration of the DO's favor.
This is not consistant with the way we've seen the Dark Side behave to suppose that somebody who screwed up, even if the screwup was beyond their control, should get any sort of increased power and responsibility. The general management style of the Dark is "If you fail, you get punished," and the corollary "If you're still useful, we'll give you another chance, on our terms, which you probably won't like." We've seen this applied to everybody from the lowest-level DF up to the Forsaken themselves. Why should Slayer be an exception? Why should the DO cut him some slack, when nobody else gets any?
Moridin can channel. Whether he can channel the OP and the TP, or just the TP, he can channel. If Slayer could channel when he was in the Two Rivrs, why didn't he? It would certainly have aided him in his mission(s). Even if we assume that he didn't because he would rather fail totally than chance anybody getting suspicious, why didn't he channel at Perrin in T'A'R? (TSR: 53, The Price of a Departure, 614) The only person to see would have been Perrin, and Perrin would have been dead. He used a bloody arrow to try to kill Perrin with. That was the best he could manage.
In the big battle at Emond's field, the AS, of course, were an advantage to Perrin's side, but if Isam could channel, he could have done something to counter that advantage. He clearly didn't (of course, he'd been shot at that point, but if he could channel, he could have left, gotten somebody to heal him, and returned for the fight.
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