Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Forsaken fact file : Demandred



The Age of Legends

- His original name was Barid Bel Medar.

- He was born one day after Lews Therin Telamon.

- He was one of the most accomplished Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends, and was world-renowned.

- His rival during this time was Lews Therin Telamon, who seemed to exceed him slightly in almost every area. Recurrent inferiority is a theme in this Forsaken’s life – he was almost as tall and handsome as Lews Therin, and almost as successful.

- According to Lews Therin, Demandred wanted his wife, Ilyena.

The War of Power

- Demandred might have expected to be named as the leader of the Light, but when Lews Therin was named instead, his jealousy reached a flashpoint.

- Lews Therin said that the more he honoured Demandred and Sammael, the more they hated him.

- Demandred turned to the Shadow in the third year of the War of Power.

- He was one of the greatest generals in the War, and competed with Sammael and Be’lal to be the one to destroy Lews Therin.

- Among others, he conquered two cities that scorned him prior to the War. He then had every single citizen in both cities murdered.

- At some stage he initiated an alliance with Semirhage and Mesaana, whereby they would refrain from killing one another until the other Forsaken had been destroyed.

- He was always one of the Forsaken who stood near to the top of the Forsaken heirachy, due to his skill in political and physical survival.

Since being released

- Demandred was buried deeply in the Bore and untouched by it.

- He is a subtle Forsaken, who rarely undertakes tasks personally. He mentions his irritation at having to fight at the Cleansing, and Sammael says that Demandred uses proxies to accomplish tasks.

- He has tracked some of the female main characters in tel’aran’rhiod without intervening, once again reaffirming his predilection for reconnaissance.

- Mesaana said that Demandred would not move against Rand unless he was sure of victory, and thus mentioned that he would need a sa’angreal to do so.

- Demandred adapted well to the fashion of the third age, and to other aspects presumably.

- Sammael is convinced that Demandred has been up to something in the South, though there has been much speculation on what he was referring to. One popular theory is that he is responsible for Masema and his thugs.

- RJ confirmed that Demandred and Mazrim Taim are not the same person, despite some striking behavioural and even physical similarities.

- Demandred is not willing to use balefire because he considers it to be too destructive.

- He ordered some of the renegade Ash’aman to kill Rand – a task at which they failed. There are doubts about whether it was Demandred who confronted these Ash’aman, or another Forsaken in disguise.

- He shows silent contempt towards Moridin, and is openly dismissive towards Osan’gar. He considers Osan’gar unworthy to be one of the Chosen, though the possibility exists that he thinks the same of all his peers.

- At the Cleansing of saidin, Demandred was chased mercilessly by the circle that wielded Callandor. After managing to evade the attacks temporarily, he was forced back by a circle led by Damer Flinn. He was presumably forced to retreat from the Cleansing, along with the other Forsaken.

As an Individual

- He is a tall man with a hooked nose. Most women don’t find him handsome enough to gain a second glance, mostly stating that he is ‘almost handsome’.

- He is very strong in the One Power. The Guide states that he was almost as strong and skilled as the Dragon, which places him very close to maximum strength in the One Power.

- He is one of only a handful of people with the ability to block a gateway.

- He prefers to lead from a distance, and considers physical conflict to be the work of a lowly soldier.

Image courtesy of Dabel brothers

4 comments:

Linda said...

We know very little of what he's actually done, so it's hard to assess whether he's all talk or not. Definitely not one to get his hands dirty, is he?

His proxy could well be Masema, but he could also have proxies in the Whitecloaks. It's quite possible he is influencing both. The Whitecloaks would interest him because they are (or were) a strong fighting force.

Dr Saidin said...

My favourite theory about Demandred is that he's Asunawa in disguise. It's based on the hooked-nose description again, but it would be a great revelation, with lots of fun parallels.

Michael said...

Unfortunately, my good Dr Saidin, Jim confirmed before his death that we have not met Demandred's alter ego on screen. It's possible to think it's someone who has been mentioned, but who has never been actively seen in the series. That would eliminate Asunawa.

Anonymous said...

We know Demandred has an later ego though somewhere:

Recently seen on Twitter from Brandon:
# Okay, @DirektorDoom asks a question I get on tour. "Is it possible to figure out Demandred's identity with the information we have?
# And now, Theoryland is holding its breath. I think I might have actually answered on tour. I'm not sure what RJ said on the matter, but...
# I will say only this. There ARE clues. I think it could be figured out. Maybe. It's much, much harder than Asmo's killer.
# Obviously, I must be tight-lipped. Can it be figured out: Yes. Will it make you smack your heads & say "I should have seen it!" Probably not

End of twitter.

The quote that "we have not seen Demandred on scren"... came BEFFORE TGS was written. What exactly was published when the time this came out. So its possible that we HAVE seen Demandred in books that came out AFTER RJ said that quote.