Ishamael
| "I am your only salvation. Serve me, and I will give you the world. Resist, and I will destroy you as I have so often before. But this time I will destroy you to your very soul, destroy you utterly and forever." |
| — Ishamael to Rand al'Thor, during the Battle of Falme[src] |
| Ishamael/Elan Morin Tedronai[1][2][3][4] | |
|---|---|
| {{{timeline}}} | |
 | |
| Ba'alzamon/Ishamael art by Ariel Burgess, official Wheel of Time artist | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Other names | Ishamael (causal name) Ishamael/Elan Morin Tedronai[1][2][3][4] (grandfather name) Elan Morin Tedronai (name before joining the Shadow and the Forsaken)[1][2] Elan Tedronai (birth name) Ba'alzamon[5] Betrayer of Hope (translation of "Ishamael" to Old Tongue)[3][4] Heart of the Dark (translation of "Ba'alzamon" to Trolloc Tongue)[6] Heartfang (wolf name)[7] Jalwin Moerad (disguise)[citation needed] |
| Race | Human (Forsaken) |
| Titles | Chief Captain-General of the Shadow[citation needed] |
| Element | Darkness |
| Position | De facto leader of the Forsaken |
| Location | Shayol Ghul Tel'aran'rhiod (commonly used) |
| Affiliation | Shadow Aes Sedai (formerly) |
| Spoken language(s) | New Tongue Old Tongue |
| Birth | Before 9732 Arda, Eä |
| Death | May 19, 13,325[8][8] Heart of the Stone, Stone of Tear, Tear, Tear, Westlands, Arda, Eä |
| Notable (for) | Being the de facto leader of the Forsaken and the forces of the Shadow (under Shai'tan) Allegedly, invoking the Trolloc Wars[9][10] and forming the Black Ajah[10] Leading Darkfriends for much of the Age of Prophecy[11] |
| Family | |
| Physical Description | |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | Shorter than Lews Therin Telamon[1] |
| Skin | Fair |
| Hair | Black[12] |
| Eyes | Pitch-dark[13], sometimes fiery[9] |
| Weaponry | Saidin[14] True Power |
Ishamael (Old Tongue: Betrayer of Hope[3][4]) was and will be the de facto leader of the Forsaken until his death[8] in 13,325. During the Age of Legends, he was known as the Aes Sedai philosopher and theologian Elan Morin Tedronai[1] until his betrayal to the Shadow. Given his name, Ishamael, he led the forces of the Shadow as its Chief Captain-General[citation needed] during the War of Power. Although the thirteen main Forsaken were sealed along with Shai'tan in Shayol Ghul at the end of the war, Ishamael was only half-sealed.
Becoming more and more insane, Ishamael began to call himself Ba'alzamon (Trolloc Tongue: Heart of the Dark), widely believed to be none other than Shai'tan.[5] Over his first of several forty-year periods of freedom, Ba'alzamon led the forces of the Shadow in the Trolloc Wars and later claimed to have formed the Black Ajah around this time before forcibly disappearing, leading to victory for the Light. He next pulled the strings on Artur Hawkwing's Shandelle Empire, preventing human unity and contributing to Hawkwing's hatred of Aes Sedai, which ultimately led to his refusal of Healing and death of illness. "Moerad" again forcibly disappeared before finally being permanently released over a millennium later, in the year 13,323, once again taking his identity of Ba'alzamon. Darkfriends became far more active; upon learning that the Dragon had been reborn, Ishamael tasked the Darkfriend called Padan Fain to hunt him down.[15] Fain eventually narrowed his search down to the three ta'veren in the Two Rivers: Rand al'Thor, Matrim Cauthon, and Perrin Aybara. Ishamael began to appear in the ta'veren's dreams while they were in the inn The Stag and Lion; they, like so many others, were deceived that Ba'alzamon was actually Shai'tan. Months later, Ishamael had deduced that the Dragon Reborn was none other than al'Thor and confronted him at the Eye of the World, taunting him with images of his adoptive mother Kari al'Thor. However, Rand unknowingly channeled saidin to attack and defeat the Forsaken.
For a time, al'Thor believed himself to have killed Shai'tan; Ishamael instead survived their confrontation and hosted the Darkfriend Social,[11] giving cryptic instructions to Darkfriends such as Jaichim Carridin[11], Liandrin, and Ingtar[16]. Ishamael continued appearing to al'Thor, even outside of dreams, albeit far less than before, and fought him in the Battle of Falme.[17] Although al'Thor received a wound that would never heal, Ishamael was again defeated. After many conversations and arguments with other Forsaken such as Be'lal, Rahvin, and Lanfear, Ishamael finally met his end during the Infiltration of the Stone of Tear when al'Thor managed to chase and stab him with Callandor[8]; only the next day did it become known that Ba'alzamon had not been Shai'tan.[5]
Biography
Age of Legends (before 9732—9842)
Elan Tedronai was a critically acclaimed philosopher and theologian who wrote books such as Analysis of Perceived Meaning, Reality and the Absence of Meaning, and The Disassembly of Reason, among other titles. Eventually, he acquired his third name, Morin, for his work, although his writings and philosophies were considered too esoteric for popular appeal. In the year 9732, Tedronai witnessed the immediate effects of the Bore led by Mierin Eronaile and Beidomon, unintentionally into the Doors of Night, and society's subsequent Collapse. Setting forth a theory that Lews Therin Telamon's soul had fought Shai'tan since the Dawn of Time, he realized that humanity would have to ward off the Shadow as long as the Pattern existed, while Shai'tan would have infinitely many chances to escape the Doors; with even one victory humanity would not be able to combat the Shadow once Shai'tan had escaped, forming his Chaos Theory. Tedronai therefore became among the first Aes Sedai to publicly declare his loyalty for the Shadow, announcing his betrayal during an Aes Sedai conference in the Hall of Servants and informing them of the Chaos Theory, sparking massive riots.[citation needed]
War of Power (9832—9842)
| "Once I was called Elan Morin Tedronai, but now—" "Betrayer of Hope." "So you do remember some things. Yes, Betrayer of Hope. So have men named me, just as they named you Dragon, but unlike you I embrace the name. They gave me the name to revile me, but I will yet make them kneel and worship it. What will you do with your name? After this day, men will call you Kinslayer. What will you do with that?" |
| — Ishamael and Lews Therin Telamon on the soon-to-be site of Dragonmount[src] |
Having betrayed humanity's hopes of defeating the Shadow, Elan Morin Tedronai was fittingly renamed by the people as Betrayer of Hope[1], which, with the forming of the New Tongue, would be left untranslated as its current form: Ishamael.[2]
Ishamael became Shai'tan's greatest lieutenant during the War of Power
Personality and traits
| "If he [Rand] had not known it was impossible, he would have said no one had been there [in the room] when he first came in. Dressed in dark clothes of a fine cut, he seemed in the prime of his maturity, and he supposed women would have found him good-looking. [...] [J]ust for an instant, his [Ishamael's] mouth and eyes became openings into endless caverns of flame." |
| — Rand al'Thor meets Ishamael[src] |
Ishamael was described as tall[citation needed], but shorter[1] than Lews Therin Telamon. He also featured black, or at the very least dark hair[12] and pitch-dark eyes[13], which, along with his mouth, sometimes were replaced by endless caverns of flame[9], likely from overuse of the True Power. Rand al'Thor mentioned in their first close encounter that Ishamael "seemed in the prime of his maturity," and that he "supposed women would have found him good-looking".[9] During the time of their second encounter since the Confrontation at the Eye of the World, on November 17, 13,324, al'Thor noted that "nearly healed burns crisscrossed his [Ba'alzamon's; Ishamael's] face"[13]; similarly, five months earlier, during the Darkfriend Social, Jaichim Carridin saw that "[Ishamael's] gesturing hands were horribly burned, crisscrossed by black fissures, the raw flesh between as red as [his] robes", though even so "(h)e thought he could feel the heat of an open furnace in that gaze."[11]
During the Age of Legends, Elan Morin Tedronai was an incredibly intelligent philosopher and theologian of great renown, critically acclaimed for his extraordinary logical demeanor and way of thinking. In contrast with the other Forsaken, who joined the group for power, immortality, etc., Ishamael joined for his own logical reasons; he had concluded that it was inevitable that Shai'tan would eventually win, as humanity would have to prevail an infinite number of times, but Shai'tan would need only to win once. Numerous individuals, including the rest of the Forsaken themselves, believed Ishamael insane, although many of his apparently mad statements were indeed philosophical and esoteric beyond their comprehension.[citation needed]
By the Age of Prophecy, however, Ishamael indeed featured madness and insanity, at times perhaps believing that he himself was Shai'tan. He considered the other Forsaken inferior for misunderstanding Shai'tan's true nature, and strove to prove himself greater than the Dragon, likely based on his idea that he and the Dragon were the respective champions of the Shadow and the Light.
Abilities
Ishamael always featured great power in the One Power, his ability with saidin reaching ++1, the highest position available to humans with the Power.[14] He therefore surpassed all other channelers save others at the ++1 mark, of which only two individuals (that is, individual souls, suspect to reincarnation) are known: his nemesis, the Dragon, and his fellow Forsaken, Rahvin.[14] However, Ishamael strongly preferred the True Power, using it to almost the complete exclusion of saidin, which resulted in his further corruption and madness.
Notes and references
|
