Aran'gar

What We Know of Aran'gar

  • she is one of the original thirteen, reborn into a body stolen from the Borderlands
  • she was once a man, and still uses saidin, the male half of the One Power
  • she apparently does not like the fact that she is now a woman
  • she once had a volitile temper
  • she is disguised as Halima, Egwene al'Vere's servent in the rebel Aes Sedai camp, and travels as a companion to Delana Sedai, a member of the Black Ajah
  • she has been affecting Egwene's dreams

    Clues from the Text

    [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 59-61]

  • "The mirror reflected a woman striding up and down in a dark blood-red gown, her beautiful face a combination of rage and disbelief."
  • "The woman was Aran'gar; who she had been, was no more."
  • "Osan'gar and aran'gar were the left- and right-hand daggers in a form of dueling briefly popular early in the long building from the day the Bore had been made to the actual beginning of the War of Power... The daggers' blades were coated with slow poison."
  • "...Aran'gar spat, 'Why has this been done to me? Why have I been put into this body? Why?' The last was almost a shriek."
  • "It was a fine body, suitable for a daien dancer in the old days, sleekly lush, with a green-eyed ivory oval of a face to match, framed by glossy black hair."
  • "Rage mottled in that beautiful face. She was going to do something reckless. Osan'gar knew it; there had always been a problem in that regard. Lanfear seamed cautious by contrast."

    [ACoS: 12, A Morning of Victory, 348-50]

  • "The was Halima moved always drew every male eyes from age twelve to two days past the grave, but then, if she hid herself in a heavy cloak from the shoulders down, men would still stare."
  • "Halima's green eyes flashed with what seemed challenge or defiance, but she only had two ways to look at anyone, a wide direct stare that dared and a lidded gave that smoldered. Her eyes caused a lot of misunderstanding."
  • "Halima's fingers possessed a skill that melted pain away."
  • "Halima was earthy and open, a country woman however much time she had spent gaining a skim of city sophistication, balancing respect for the Amyrlin with a sort of neighborliness in a way Egwene found refreshing."

    [TPoD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 332-3]

  • "In spite of herself, she smiled and smoothed her skirt over her hips. It was difficult now to really remember what life had been like as a man; had she been such an easily manipulated fool, then?"

    Demandred [WH: 13, Wonderful News, 314-5]

  • Demandred hardly scorned fleshly pleasures, but one day her cravings would be the death of her. As they already had been once.
  • “If you had ever read anything besides a history book, you would know they’re [the Choedan Kal] almost impossible to destroy!”

    Who Was Aran'gar?

    Once again, let me begin by narrowing down who she was not. Rahvin and Be'Lal were killed with balefire, so were unreachable even by the Lord of the Dark. That leaves Ishamael, Sammael, Asmodean, Aginor, and Balthamel. Ishamael was too unstable to fit. Sammael was alive still when Aran'gar first appeared. Asmodean might be a good choice, but I believe that he doesn't quite fit as well as.... you'll see. And I've already decided that Aginor is/was Osan'gar. So that leaves... Balthamel.

    Okay, so that was a weak argument, but there is a lot more to this decision than a simple narrowing down. So much more is known of Aran'gar (i.e. we've seen more of her), so there is a lot more "evidence" to base this decision on. What might that evidence be, you ask?

    First of all, we know that Aran'gar had once had a terrible temper: "Rage mottled in that beautiful face. She was going to do something reckless. Osan'gar knew it; there had always been a problem in that regard. Lanfear seamed cautious by contrast (LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 59-61]." Neither Aginor nor Asmodean were noted to have tempers such as this, but according to "The World of Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time'": "[Balthamel] was said to have a wildfire temper that he often could not control. More than once he supposedly came very close to being bound with the Power against doing violence (TWoRJWoT, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 54)."

    Secondly, it can be seen that Aran'gar is not happy with her placement within a female body. Could it be that the Great Lord of the Dark is displaying a bit of dark humor in his choice of Aran'gar's body? If so, then Balthamel would again be a choice victim. Consider that he was "once a good-looking man who enjoyed the company of women and was very popular with them... he spent a great deal of time in establishments that today would be called taverns of the lowest sort (TWoRJWoT, 54)." It would be a bit of poetic justice to place such a man in a body "suitable for a daien dancer in the old days (LoC: 59-61]"

    Also, if the Dark One did place Balthamel into the body of a woman--a very youthful and attractive body, I might add--it might be seen as a bit of... well, generosity, on the part of the Dark One. When Balthamel emerged from the Bore, "his once handsome body had rotted to the point that he could not bear to have it seen. Unable to use his own tongue to speak, Balthamel was forced to cover every bit of his flesh and required Aginor to speak for him (TWoRJWoT, 54)."

    So... who was Aran'gar? I say Balthamel.

    Update!!!

    Well, once again, I’m almost proven right. We didn’t get the big payoff in Winter’s Heart with Aran’gar that we did with Osan’gar, but we did get a few more tantalizing hints as to who she used to be. Again, there are the hints that Aran’gar had at one time been a bit too engaged in matters of the flesh, all of these coincides with my early thoughts about her being Balthamel.


    Updated 01/18/01