- For the chapter in The Dragon Reborn, see Daughter of the Night. For other uses of the words "daughter" and "night," part of the meaning of "Lanfear," see Daughter and Night.
Lanfear (LAN-feer; Old Tongue: Daughter of the Night), formerly known as Mierin Eronaile, was one of the thirteen Forsaken trapped at Shayol Ghul due to the Dragon's sealing. She died in 999 NE when Moiraine Damodred pushed her into the doorway ter'angreal of the Eelfinn. Lately, however, a new Forsaken known as Cyndane (Old Tongue: Last Chance), has appeared, and has been confirmed by some other Forsaken to be Lanfear reincarnated. She is known to the wolves as Moonhunter.
Characteristics
Lanfear's most noted physical characteristic was her astonishing beauty - she was said on multiple occasions to be one of the most beautiful women who had ever lived. Rahvin said that her presence was enough to make Graendal look only 'plumply pretty',[1] and Graendal herself was accounted an incredibly beautiful woman. She was quite tall, a little more than a hand shorter than Rand al'Thor, and had smooth, ivory-pale skin with long black hair and black eyes. She typically wore a white dress, divided for riding, with a silver belt. Her boots also had silver worked onto them.[2][3]
She usually disguised her true face and age with the One Power. When masked, she looked about the age of Nynaeve al'Meara. In actuality she looked older, but not so much aged as more mature and riper.[4] She was said to be as beautiful as Rahvin was handsome.
She often rode a tall white mare, with a white saddle that was silver mounted.
Lanfear
In terms of personality, her defining feature was an insatiable lust for power. Her desire was taken to such an extreme that she desired to overthrow both the Dark One and the Creator using the Choedan Kal, believing that raw power would be all such a task required. Many of those who she interacted with, including virtually all of the other Forsaken, have expressed the sentiment that she had a vastly overinflated opinion of herself. Her hunger for power was enough to blind her to reality at times, as shown when she asked the Eelfinn to make her more powerful than any living Aes Sedai without realising that she already was by a considerable margin, and so they made her weaker than she was before instead. She was proud, arrogant, presumptuous, and self-absorbed, actively betraying both her allies and her master in order to gain more power for herself. She appears to have had a particularly strong rivalry with Ishamael, the most powerful and most favored of the Forsaken, though the rivalry appears to be almost completely one-sided on her part.
History
In the Age of Legends, Mierin Eronaile was a researcher at the Collam Daan, the huge floating university-sphere. When they were both young learners of the One Power, she was Lews Therin Telamon's lover. She was one of the strongest channelers of the time, as strong as a woman could be without aid.
Lanfear portrait done by Jeremy Saliba
But even though she was as strong in the Power as a woman could be, Mierin did not distinguish herself enough to earn the coveted third name. This presumably irked her, as she was exceedingly power-hungry. Lews Therin himself eventually left her because she loved the prestige of being his lover more than she loved Lews Therin himself.
She was known to have been quite bitter over Lews Therin leaving her, and made several blatant and public attempts to get him back from his wife Ilyena Therin Moerelle. Lews Therin, however, always rebuffed her advances, as he loved his wife and knew Mierin's character too well.
Lanfear portrait done by Seamas Gallagher
Some unknown time later in the course of her research at the Collam Daan, she and a colleague of hers named Beidomon discovered an energy source, seemingly outside the Pattern, which could be tapped by both men and women equally, without the restrictions associated in the gender split of the True Source. The Aes Sedai of the time felt that this gender split had become a significant impediment to further progress, as the innate differences between saidar and saidin evidently created problems with how they could be used in conjunction with one another. At the time, she was known to have the Da'shain Aiel Charn in her service.
Daughter of the Night
She, Beidomon, and a number of other researchers bored a metaphysical hole through the Pattern and into the dimension that the new energy source existed in. Unfortunately, that energy source turned out to have been the True Power; the essence of the Dark One. In their ambition, they had bored a hole straight into the Dark One's prison, exposing the Pattern to his direct influence.
The drilling of the Bore destroyed the Collam Daan in a colossal explosion of black fire. The effects the Dark One's influence on the world would affect society at its basest level, and cause the Collapse.
Lanfear from the CCG
Mierin managed to survive the explosion of the Collam Daan. Sometime later, during either the collapse of society that followed, or the War of Power, she pledged her soul to the dark entity that she had released. Evidently the very first Aes Sedai to betray humanity, she pledged partly due to the power she would receive from the Shadow, and partly because she wished to have Lews Therin once again.
Mierin proclaimed her loyalty to the Shadow in the Hall of Servants itself, and chose her own new name, the only Chosen to ever do so - Lanfear, the Daughter of the Night. During the War of Power, she was responsible for tormenting many through their dreams, using her mastery of Tel'aran'rhiod. Like Ishamael, she was responsible for many plots to convert Lews Therin to the Shadow. Though she never held a field command, she developed an infamous reputation for her evil deeds during the war. However, despite her role in creating the Bore and being the first of the Forsaken to pledge themselves to the Dark One, the Forsaken known as Ishamael seemed to always receive the Dark One's greatest favor. It was he who was made Chief Captain-General of the Shadow during the War of Power, giving him de-facto command over all the forces of the Shadow. The favor that Ishamael was bestowed by the Dark One presumably began Lanfear's one-sided rivalry with him.
When Lews Therin sealed the Bore, she was sealed too, into a dreamless sleep.
Activities
Release
After being released, Lanfear began hunting for Rand al'Thor, Lews Therin reborn. She tracked him by tracing the effects of his being ta'veren on the Pattern. Lanfear spied on Rand's party as they hunted for the Horn of Valere, and was responsible for sending him, Hurin, and Loial into another world via a Portal Stone. There, she appeared to him in her younger form, a woman in distress named Selene,[5] and was "rescued" by him from a herd of grolm. She led his party to another Portal Stone, and made him channel his way back to his world.
Mistress of Disguises
Lanfear as Selene
When she awoke from the seal, she immediately sought Rand out as the Dragon Reborn, the reincarnation of her former lover. She came to him under the guise of Selene, (pronounced: seh-LEEN) a beautiful young woman, and sought to snare him by appealing to his strong desire to protect women who seem helpless. She often used her beauty to try and seduce Rand; she would constantly urge him to grasp glory and power, although he refused. She disappeared near Cairhien, where she claimed to be from, but reappeared to both Perrin Aybara and Matrim Cauthon to try to seduce them with power and glory.
Among the wolves, she is known as Moonhunter.[6]
She also seems to have appeared to Rand several times in his dreams and confronted him in Tear telling him that he would be hers again.
She masqueraded as Else Grinwell in the White Tower, rebuffing Mat[7] and providing information to Nynaeve al'Meara, Elayne Trakand, and Egwene al'Vere about the belongings of the thirteen Black Ajah sisters which she had planted.[8] She also appeared as a haggard old woman named Silvie to Egwene in Tel'aran'rhiod in the Heart of the Stone and gave her information about Callandor. Perrin later oversaw her chiding Ishamael for making "free use of her domain" (Tel'aran'rhiod), to which Ishamael, mildly amused, reminded her of her subservience to the Dark One, a fact which seemed to irritate her.
She shields Rand in the Stone of Tear while she tries to convince him to rule the world with her. After a Gray Man slips in the room to kill Rand, she releases him.[4]
Lanfear as Keille Shaogi
She returned again, posing as a peddler in the Aiel Waste named Keille Shaogi,[9] along with the Chosen Asmodean, who was posing as the gleeman named Jasin Natael. Shielding Asmodean after his battle with Rand at Rhuidean, she allowed him only to channel a trickle of saidin, enough to teach Rand to use the One Power. Later she teamed up with Graendal, Sammael, and Rahvin to try and turn Rand to the Shadow, though Moghedien believed her true intentions to be far different. She confronted Rand at the end of The Fires of Heaven, meaning to kill him after his betrayal (discovering from Hadnan Kadere that he had slept with Aviendha). Moiraine Damodred tackled her while she was focusing on Rand, who, because he could not kill a woman, would not kill her. Moiraine and Lanfear fell into the twisted redstone doorframe, which subsequently melted, apparently killing them both. However, the fall through the doorway itself did not kill Lanfear, and she was instead captured by the Aelfinn and Eelfinn.
Lanfear in a cover of the Japanese edition
Cyndane
Reincarnated by the Dark One, she became Cyndane, which in the Old Tongue means "last chance." She was mind-trapped by Moridin along with Moghedien, and the two of them have been reduced to Moridin's servants. Her mindtrap was presumably created due to her flouting the Dark One's order that Rand al'Thor was not to be harmed and she was stripped of the privilege of being Chosen for planning to help Rand al'Thor usurp the Dark One early in the series using the Choedan Kal.
Appearance
Whereas Lanfear was tall and beautiful with dark eyes and pitch black hair, Cyndane is short, if still pretty, with silver hair, blue eyes, and an impressive bosom.
Mierin reincarnated as Cyndane
Activities
The puppet
Her mindtrap forces her to obey any command given to her by Moridin, who initially appeared to enjoy "playing" with her as punishment for her pride. It is also revealed that Cyndane's strength in the One Power was less than Lanfear's, a fact which led a number of the other Forsaken to believe that she was not Lanfear re-incarnated. This loss of strength was revealed to have been a result of the Eelfinn granting her wish to make her stronger than any Aes Sedai. However, in her ignorance, she failed to realize that she was already stronger than any Aes Sedai (or, at least, any Aes Sedai who still held to the title). As such, the Finn began to feed off of her ability to channel, considerably reducing the amount of saidar she could draw upon. Some time later, Moridin, the re-incarnation of Ishamael, somehow discovered her location and went to retrieve her. As the Dark One was capable of resurrecting the dead, Moridin simply killed her rather than rescuing her, and the Dark One retrieved her soul and placed it in a new body. However, the Finn were known to have told Moiraine at one point that they had killed Lanfear by draining her of her channeling abilities too quickly, though Moiraine believed that this tale might have simply been a lie told for the purpose of frightening her.
The Forsaken Lanfear
Cyndane does little after she is re-incarnated, as Moridin keeps her on a proverbially short leash. However, she did participate in the Battle near Shadar Logoth. Intending to kill Rand for spurning her, she encountered Alivia and engaged her. Alivia, being phenomenally powerful on her own and possessing a number of angreal and ter'angreal, overwhelmed Cyndane and forced her to retreat, although she did sustain an injury to her arm in doing so.
Final plot
She attends the meeting with the other Chosen in Tel'aran'rhiod, which is made to look like the Ansaline Gardens. There she is told that Rand is not to be harmed and that Mat and Perrin are to be killed if found.
Lanfear portrait done by Jeremy Saliba
Later, after Rand's epiphany and the reintegration of Lews Therin's memories into his own, he finds Cyndane in a dream in considerable distress. She begs him for help and apologizes for everything she put him through before being dragged out of the dream by her torturer (most likely Moridin).
While recuperating in Town, Slayer is approached by Cyndane in disguise. She tasks him with killing Rand as directly and efficiently as possible, and loans him the use of two Samma N'Sei and several guards to assist him, if necessary.[10]
The night before the commencement of the Last Battle, Rand found Cyndane in Tel'aran'rhiod, apparently being tortured by Moridin. She attempted to manipulate Rand into helping her but Rand, having integrated Lews Therin's memories into his own, recognized that she was faking her torment in order to engender his sympathy. Found out, she ceased her charade and the two conversed for a short time. During this conversation, Rand offered her one last chance for redemption, and prompted her to let him see inside her mind in order to examine her sincerity in accepting his offer. Though appearing to genuinely consider allowing Rand to see into her mind, she ultimately refused, citing her recent torments as having caused her to mistrust Rand's intentions. Rand however, understood that Cyndane could simply not let go of her desire for power, and showed her his own mind in order to make her understand that the only feeling he still had for her was pity; not affection for their past relationship, and not anger or bitterness over her betrayal. As he departed, Rand simply told her to make herself scarce during the Last Battle.
She wandered in the World of Dreams during the Last Battle helping Perrin. She showed him how to handle the Dreamspike and free the Black Tower.
Thought to have abandoned the Shadow as the Last Battle rages, she encountered Perrin a few times in Tel'aran'rhiod as he hunted for Slayer. She put on a show of helping him to try to gain his trust, but, due to time constraints, she ultimately is forced to place a Compulsion on Perrin after his defeat of Slayer. Hoping to come to the Dark One's rescue and earn his supreme favor (and all the power it entailed), she ordered him to kill Moiraine while she killed Nynaeve. However, Perrin's love for Faile allowed him to break free of the Compulsion and he ambushed Cyndane, breaking her neck from behind and killing her. It is not known for certain if she was physically in the dream when Perrin killed her. If so, then she died a permanent death, and can never be reborn into the Pattern.
World of Dreams
Despite Moghedien's prowess in Tel'aran'rhiod, Lanfear has always claimed it as her own domain. Moghedien's talent for manipulating the Dream surpasses Lanfear's, though Moghedien does not make public issue of this because Lanfear is stronger than she is in the waking world. Lanfear believed in her personal claim on Tel'aran'rhiod to the point of confronting even Ishamael about him using it without her permission, though Ishamael appeared to have simply been amused by her presumption.
Etymology
Lanfear is a variation of "l'enfer," French for the inferno or hell. Her pseudonym Selene is a reference to the Greek Goddess of the Moon.
Notes
- ↑ The Fires of Heaven, Prologue
- ↑ The Great Hunt, Chapter 16
- ↑ The Great Hunt, Chapter 48
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Shadow Rising, Chapter 9
- ↑ Lanfear's character is based on Selene.
- ↑ The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 43
- ↑ The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 20
- ↑ The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 25
- ↑ The Shadow Rising, Chapter 36
- ↑ A Memory of Light, Prologue