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Where do Trollocs and Myrddraal come from?

Contributed by: Robert Jordan

Warning: This is not family newsfroup material. If you recently ate lunch, skip this section.

{I wrote a letter to RJ in the early months of 1995. One question I asked was, "Where do Trollocs come from? Are there male and female Trollocs that mate? Are there only male Trollocs that mate with animals and/or humans to reproduce? Are Trollocs neuter, grown in a big vat at Shayol Ghul? Enquiring minds want to know!" I got a bit more of an answer than I'd bargained for. --pam}

"You know the original source, of course...a blending of human and animal genetic material in an effort to produce the "perfect"soldier, though as envisioned by somebody who had never seen combat. Yes, there are female Trollocs, though you don't want to know more than that...there was a clear statement of this actually--that Trollocs breed--when where Myrddraal come from was explained. Sometimes a Trolloc off-spring is a throwback, but not all the way back to human, and twisted. Thus, eyeless but with keen vision, very strong indeed though not in Trolloc-class, able to vanish into shadows and reappear in other shadows...There are no female Myrddraal; not even the laddie who made the Trollocs in the first place knew why...Myrddraal must have their "pleasures" with captured human women...there is no possibility of cross-breeding -- it was tested, during the War of the Power, in the crudest sort of way; the Myrddraal isn't sterile, but its sperm kills both human and Trolloc ova -- and the sex practices and other attributes of Myrddraal are such that a very strong woman might retain her sanity for six months, but very few do." {did I ask about the sex practices of Myrddraal? No, I didn't think so.} "For the record, a Trolloc could also have sex with a human...they are now two completely incompatible species, so there isn't any possibility of offspring--the Forsaken tested that out too...Trollocs are just not interested in human women sexually; to them, humans are just another food animal...Trollocs are of fairly low intelligence (I told you the designer was never in combat), so they would think of it about as we would having sex with sheep, though they would do it if ordered to. They'd just like it better if they could eat her afterwards." (Robert Jordan)

And, of course, the diapers of baby Myrddraal don't wave in the wind. :) -pam