- For other uses of the word "watcher," see Watcher.
Ishamael was resurrected by the Great Lord into a new body giving him a new name, Moridin (Old Tongue for death).
Appearance as Moridin
Moridin was very tall, (as tall as Rand al'Thor), broad-shouldered, and had black hair. He was handsome enough that Moghedien, upon first seeing him, had the thought that only too strong a jaw kept him from looking like someone Graendal might want. He had a deep voice, and eyes that were described as shockingly blue. He looked to be in his mid-twenties.
Elan Morin Tedronai reincarnated as Moridin
Activities
The Watcher and the Wanderer
Shortly after his resurrection, he watched as both Sammael and Graendal spread chaos among the Shaido Aiel. He seemed amused with Sammael's boasting of a truce with Rand al'Thor and that he would be Nae'blis. Moridin was given the title of Nae'blis by the Dark One, effectively naming him his regent on the Day of the Return, the coveted position that set him above the other Forsaken. He was also apparently given virtually unfettered access to the True Power.
Later, he pulled Rand out of a cavern in Shadar Logoth when Rand was fighting Sammael. During this escapade, Moridin shot a beam of balefire at a tendril of Mashadar the same time as Rand did, and the two beams crossed over each other and touched. Perhaps as a consequence of this, they seemed to have formed a connection: Rand then often saw Moridin in his mind when he channeled. The link worked both ways as Moridin was also aware of Rand. The sensation Rand had was of them each touching the other, but not physically. Rand then suffered nausea when he first reached for saidin and, through his link, felt Moridin also suffer the same nausea (this appears to have stopped after Rand's melding with Lews Therin). Moridin seemed to be furious with this apparent side-effect.
He later watched Nynaeve al'Meara, Elayne Trakand, and the rest of their group Travel from Ebou Dar. He became concerned when he found out that they had a ter'angreal that could change the weather back to normal. He was amazed and furious when Aviendha unraveled the weave for her gateway without it exploding.
Nae'blis
He controlled Cyndane and Moghedien through the use of cour'souvra, and started to consolidate the power of the Shadow under his command, as he once did as Ba'alzamon. He reluctantly rescinded the order to kill Rand as Rand was planning to cleanse saidin. He ordered Raefar Kisman, Manel Rochaid, Charl Gedwyn, and Peral Torval to take the access keys for the Choedan Kal from Rand. He did not participate in the Battle near Shadar Logoth.
Moridin by Ariel Burgess, Official Wheel of Time Artist
He set up a meeting in Tel'aran'rhiod, which was made to look like the Ansaline Gardens, where he told the other Chosen to leave Rand for him alone. Mat and Perrin were to be found and killed however. He also wanted to find out who was masquerading as Sammael and sent tens of thousands of Trollocs into the Ways. Later he set up a meeting between Mesaana and Demandred, and rewarded Graendal by allowing her to overhear this meeting. During the meeting Graendal spotted that his left hand seemed stiff and causing him pain, the same hand Rand lost recently. He forbade any rescue attempt for Semirhage as her punishment for trying to kill Rand.
Unscheduled meeting
While dreaming one night, Rand found himself in one of Moridin's dreamshards, their link to one another having pulled him there without either he or Moridin willing it. Upon seeing Moridin, Rand immediately reasoned that Moridin was the reincarnation of Ishamael, and was angered and horrified to learn that others amongst the Forsaken might have been resurrected as well. However, during a relatively genial chat with Rand, Moridin informed him that the only way to ensure one of the Dark One's servants remained dead was to kill them with balefire. He also expounded slightly on the connection he shared with Rand, though he admitted to not understanding it. The two of them discussed the timelessness of Rand's struggle and Moridin's belief in its ultimate futility. He also revealed that he was feeling exhausted, and wondered out loud whether the exhaustion he felt was Rand's or his own. He also mentioned to Rand that he believed that he knew the truth about the Dark One's intentions - that the Dark One intended to destroy creation forever. He went on to cite his contempt for the other Forsaken, mocking them for believing that they would receive eternal life and power. However, the idea of the end of creation seemed to please him, as he gave a laugh that had "true pleasure in it," as opposed to other, humorless laughs that he had exhibited during the conversation. Before leaving, Moridin asked Rand why Rand had come to his dreamshard, but then speculated that it was their link that somehow drew Rand to it.
When Moridin found Graendal hiding on a desolate island in the Aryth Ocean, he chastised her for her failure and for causing the death of another Chosen. She promised the death of Perrin to redeem herself, and Moridin agreed to allow her to attempt to kill him, loaning her a dreamspike and the services of Slayer. He also showed her a prophecy of the possible death of Perrin. In doing so, he revealed that a chamber within his palace appeared to be full of powerful relics from the Age of Legends. Graendal seemed to have a very difficult time controlling her fear of him during this meeting as opposed to the last time she met with him. She also made an observation that Moridin would understand Rand's feelings of guilt for destroying her lair and its inhabitants, but did not elaborate much. During the meeting it appeared that Moridin was able to receive commands directly from the Dark One without being at Shayol Ghul. He also may have been responsible for horribly torturing Lanfear, apparently at a whim (though, given later events, it is possible that this was simply Lanfear feigning distress as a way of gaining sympathy from Rand).
Slayer later spotted Moridin in the Town on some unknown business and recalled when Moridin first entered the Town and obliterated at least a dozen of the Samma N'Sei when they attacked him, not knowing who he was.
The final plan
As the end grew nigh, Moridin gathered the last of the Chosen within one of his dreamshards. Moghedien was given back her cour'souvra with the warning to not fail again, after which Moridin revealed two unfamiliar looking Chosen. One of them was Mazrim Taim, now renamed M'Hael, and the unfamiliar female Chosen present was named Hessalam; Graendal in a new body. At the meeting, Moghedien was placed under Demandred's command, and Moridin gave Demandred overall command of the Shadow's forces at the Last Battle. Moridin then demanded that all other plots and plans by the Chosen were to be concluded and that they were to unite for the Last battle against the forces of the Light.
The Last Battle
Moridin then charged the Forsaken to find and kill Mat and Perrin. At the Last Battle itself, he waited with a mortally wounded Alanna Mosvani in the depths of Shayol Ghul for Rand. Once Rand arrived, the two of them engaged in a swordfight in the now lava-less Pit of Doom next to what appeared to be a hole in the fabric of the Pattern. Rand eventually touched this hole with his foot, which froze both of them in place while Rand confronted the Dark One himself outside of reality. When Rand managed to overcome the horrors of the Dark One's assault, Moridin stabbed Alanna in the heart in the hopes Rand would lose control when his Aes Sedai died. However, Alanna was able to remove her bond to Rand before she died, so Moridin then stabbed himself in the right hand, knowing that his connection to Rand would cause him to drop Callandor. When Moridin picked up the sword to attack Rand, he realized that it was not only a saidin sa'angreal, but that it could amplify the True Power as well. But when he attempted to use it against Rand, Nynaeve and Moiraine used Callandor's flaw to trap him in a link with them. Wielding Callandor, Moridin was able to draw so much of the True Power that the Dark One was not able to cut off his access to it, and Rand used the link to funnel the True Power, saidar, and saidin, into the Dark One's prison. Using the True Power to shield both halves of the One Power from any attempt by the Dark One to taint them again, Rand combined both halves of the One Power to restore the original integrity of the Dark One's prison.
Dying, Rand managed to bring Moridin out with him as the cave collapsed. They were both moved to the camp by Shayol Ghul for healing. Unbeknownst to everyone at the camp, excepting Min, Aviendha and Elayne, Rand used his connection to Moridin to swap bodies, putting Moridin in his own dying body while taking Moridin's body for himself. This was enabled due to the fact that Moridin, above all else, wanted to die, while Rand wanted as badly to continue living. Once the transfer was complete, Moridin died in Rand's body, and was cremated on the Dragon's funeral pyre.
Talents, Personality, Trivia
To read more about Moridin's talents, personality and trivia, see the entry about Ishamael.