Entertainment
 

Dark One

From A Wheel of Time Wiki

(Redirected from The Shadow)

The Dark One is the oldest and most powerful force of evil in all worlds, and although one might assume that he is the source of all evil, it is suggested that he intensifies the evil feelings of humans, as well as giving new motives for malignant and lowly acts. He is said to have been imprisoned by the Creator at the beginning of time, and has sought ever since to break free of his prison and smash the Wheel of Time and remake the world according to his image and purpose. He is currently still imprisoned.

[edit] True name

His true name is Shai'tan, but speaking that name is believed by most people to bring misfortune on the speaker, so there are many alternative names for him:

  • Ba'alzamon (meaning "Heart of the Dark" in the Trolloc language, , also used by Ishamael; humans learned it and assumed that it was the Trolloc name for the Dark One, hence the misunderstanding in the first three novels that Ba'alzamon was the Dark One himself)
  • Father of Lies
  • Sightblinder (used by the Aiel)
  • Lord of the Grave
  • Shepherd of the Night
  • Shadowman
  • Heartsbane
  • Soulsbane
  • Heartfang (used by the wolves)
  • Old Grim
  • Grassburner
  • Leafblighter (used by the Aiel)
  • Father of Storms (used by the Atha'an Miere)
  • Caisen Hob ("Old Hob", used by the Seanchan)

In addition, his own followers consider it blasphemy to speak his name directly, so they most commonly refer to him by more flattering epithets:

  • Great Lord of the Dark
  • Lord of the Grave

(It is believed that to speak the true name of the dark one is to bring his attention onto you, we see the effects of this from the first three books of the wheel, in which twice Rand speaks his name and Mat once also, they felt an overwhelming bout of dizzyness and slight misfortune.

[edit] Power

The Dark One has never been actually seen in any of the novels. Padan Fain states in The Fires of Heaven that the Pit of Doom's lake of fire "holds the Great Lord of the Dark in its endless depths." Although this language may be figurative, the Dark One has several powers within the area of Shayol Ghul. He can speak, although his 'voice' is massive enough to inflict incredible ecstasy and pain on the listener, often reducing those he speaks to barely a coherent state.

Verin Sedai says the Dark One is the "embodiment of paradox and chaos, destroyer of reason and logic, breaker of balance, the unmaker of order". It is he who caused the taint on saidin at the end of the War of Power, and he has promised power and immortality to all who follow him.

There are other ways the Dark One can impact the world, as well. Metaphysically, the Bore is a pathway that allows the Dark One to reach out into the physical world; Lews Therin Telamon and the Hundred Companions attempted to seal the Bore to limit the Dark One's power, but over the course of the series his influence extends, and the cuendillar seals on his prison begin to weaken and break. By Lord of Chaos, several seals have broken and the rest are fragile.

As the Bore widens, the following phenomena occur, indicative of the increasing ability of the Dark One to affect the world.

  • The Forsaken begin to escape (Aginor and Balthamel first)
  • Bubble of evil, likened by Moiraine to a miasma in a swamp, emanate periodically from the Dark One, twisting reality in the Pattern to lethal effect, especially near ta'veren
  • The Dark One often uses the environment against his enemies. In The Eye of the World, he attempted to cause widespread starvation through prolonged winter. The unnatural winter was broken by Rand al'Thor, as he unintentionally uses the store of pure Saidin at the Eye of the World. He also causes unatural heat but this is also stopped by Elayne and Nynaeve when they use the Bowl of Wind.

Known as 'the Lord of the Grave,' the Dark One has the power to avert death for those he chooses. Death by balefire, however, is a permanent death; this is because balefire burns whatever it touches out of the pattern. The more powerful the balefire the further back in time the victim is destroyed from the moment they are touched with balefire; the Dark One cannot step out of time and therefore cannot go back and retrieve the soul before it was burned out of the pattern to restore them to life.

The Dark One is the source of the True Power, which is analogous to the One Power. However, one can only draw on the True Power with the Dark One's blessing. Furthermore, it is much more addictive than either saidin or saidar, and not even the strongest willpower can fight the desire to use it. The True Power is demonstrated to be centered around death and destruction; for example Moridin uses it accidentally to crush the life out of a servant. As of the end of Knife of Dreams, the only person allowed to draw on the True Power is Moridin, however at the end of The Gathering Storm Rand can also use the True Power.

Retrieved from "http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_One"