Demandred

    Put simply, the Age of Legends was paradise on earth. Every utopian dream envisioned by the compassionate vanguard of humanity had come to fruition in a startling way. Prosperity, longevity, and peace, those seemingly unachievable goals that had eluded humanity since the dawn of time were all the expected norm in this age of unending promise.

    One could expect a life of economic and physical security that spanned as long as 150 years. Lives were longer for those who could touch the One Power. Greed was unknown and replaced with a desire to serve humanity. Crime was virtually unknown. War was unknown. Starvation was unknown. Untimely death was unknown. So too was the Dark One unknown.

    Imprisoned in the endless Void outside of the Pattern, the Dark One waited. Bound since the beginning of time, the Dark One plotted. Forgotten by even his most bitter enemies, the Dark One remembered. He remembered humanity’s unquenchable thirst to better itself, to increase its abilities, to explore the unknown. And that was how the Dark One would re-enter the world.


An Imperfect Man in a Perfect Age

    With the upheavals of the earth brought about by the Breaking we will never know for certain where Barid Bel was born, or exactly when. All that we know for certain of this figure who would so shake the pillars of humanity, was that he was born one day after Lews Therin, who would be named the Dragon, the ancient enemy of the Dark One, and the most acclaimed man of the Age of Legends. The stigma of being second would haunt Barid Bel well into the present Age and would do much to shape the destiny of an Ancient War.

    Being of the same age with Lews Therin, and being close to the same strength as Lews Therin in the One Power (both in terms of power and ability to block a gateway), Barid Bel was probably born about 400 years before the War of Power (since this would make him middle aged at the time of the conflict). From the period between his birth and the drilling of the Bore, we know little of Barid Bel’s life save that his accomplishments warranted the earning of a third name. Barid Bel became Barid Bel Medar. Barid Bel probably went to an Aes Sedai school as was the custom for all those born with the spark, where his regular curriculum would be interspersed with Aes Sedai training--training that his teachers hoped would one day allow him to be a great servant to society.

    Barid Bel fulfilled that promise. It is generally acknowledged, by those familiar with Barid Bel’s accomplishments, that if not for Lews Therin, Barid Bel would have been the most acclaimed man of his Age. Second place seemed the story of Barid Bel’s life. He was tall and thought to be good looking, though not so tall as Lews Therin, and his hawk-nosed profile left him almost, but not quite, as handsome.

    Barid Bel would spend years “almost” matching Lews Therin’s accomplishments and “not quite” achieving Lews Therin’s fame. Barid Bel held many high public offices and wrote books on a wide array of subjects that found success among both critics and popular audiences. Lews Therin, however, would hold even higher public offices and write even more successful books that found even greater praise from critics and popular audiences.

    Envy burned inside Barid Bel, a roaring furnace of hatred that boiled toward Lews Therin. Barid Bel, with all of his great achievements was bitter at being second. But within the limits of the Age of Legends society Barid Bel could do little to increase his standing against Lews Therin.

    But the Dark One changed everything.


The Second Best Man of the Collapse

    A failed experiment at the Collam Daan institute into research of the One Power led to the drilling of the Bore, a small hole in the Pattern that marred the completeness of the Dark One’s prison and again allowed the Dark Lord to touch the world, sowing his evil influence.

    Over one hundred years elapsed from the Drilling of the Bore to the War of Power. This period is generally called the Collapse. And indeed it was a fitting name. The touch of the Dark One altered everything that came under its dominion. All of the baser motivations and emotional problems of mankind were enhanced and manipulated. Envy, greed, and anger were enlarged despite the main reason they’d been extinct for so long, the lack of motivating factors. All those who felt dissatisfied with their lot in life felt that dissatisfaction intensify. Barid Bel’s hatred of Lews Therin grew from this Dark Power. Thievery, assault, murder, and even wars appeared with alarming frequency in a society whose peacetime social structure was totally ill-equipped to deal with these calamities.

    Within this period of tumult and chaos, Barid Bel found himself second to Lews Therin, yet again, when Lews Therin was named first among the Aes Sedai, the Tamyrlin Seat.


Fighting with Shadows: Barid Bel Medar and the First Three Years of the War of Power

    Once the war against the Shadow broke out Barid Bel finally saw his chance, his chance to finally surpass the great Lews Therin Telamon, a man Barid Bel thought was his intellectual inferior, and escape the Dragon’s shadow.

    Barid Bel quickly became one of the leading, and highest-ranking, generals in the fight against the Shadow. In an Age that held no memory of war and no military to combat the powerful Darkfriend-Shadowspawn Alliance, Barid Bel won the esteem of all when it was found that he had a natural flair for leadership and a tactical vision that won many battles for the forces of the Light. Barid Bel had helped to successfully re-create military structures that hadn't been seen in all of the remembered history of the Age of Legends.

    Of course, the stain of being second had never altogether escaped Demandred. Lews Therin, the man Barid Bel thought over-cautious on the battlefield, was chosen to lead the hastily assembled Alliance of Ogier, human warmen, and Aes Sedai, generally known as the forces of the Light. Barid Bel was furious at being passed over. And that fury would only build as the war progressed.

    Although Lews Therin was not directly responsible, the first three years of the war saw a great expansion in the Power of the Shadow. Barid Bel watched as the forces of the Light were slowly defeated, and burned with anger as Lews Therin awarded Barid Bel, one of his few successful generals, with many honors. But this only made Barid Bel more jealous and envious of Lews Therin’s position.

    Three years into the war Barid Bel realized that times had changed. He no longer had to serve in the Age of Legends sense to gain the status he craved. The Dark Lord was an avenue to be explored. And Barid Bel concluded that under Lews Therin’s leadership the War against the Dark One would eventually be lost anyway.

    Choosing to side with the victor and finally destroy Lews Therin once and for all, Barid Bel turned to the Dark Lord, and was reborn into the Shadow. He was called Demandred.

    Under the banner of the Dark One, Demandred was as good a general as he had been for the Light. Several times he served as the governor of a conquered territory but these periods were brief. He always returned to the battlefield. Demandred’s victories were plenty, but again he found himself fighting for the losing side. Lews Therin had finally managed to turn back the offensive of the Light and retake some of the lost ground of the first three years.

    In Dreadlord circles, Demandred’s rise was meteoric. There was much winnowing among the Chosen; in particular Demandred had a rivalry with Sammael. But allied with Semirhage and Mesaana, two fellow Chosen, Demandred survived to become one of the thirteen most powerful of the Chosen, who became known as the Forsaken. Aginor is known to have been terrified of Demandred.

    As one of the Forsaken, Demandred committed horrendous atrocities. Believing that all who dishonored him should be punished, he was reported to have captured two entire cities and fed every prisoner, man, woman, and child to the Trollocs just because he thought they had slighted him when he was still Barid Bel Medar.


Marching to Victory: Demandred in the Final Years of the War of Power

    Barid Bel’s cold calculation about the Light’s chances turned out to be true. After a year long stalemate, the Shadow again began to advance. This time it seemed an unstoppable juggernaut. Demandred saw every prominent figure that pledged allegiance to the dark as a coup for his Great Lord and vindication for himself, though Semirhage had more to do with these "conversions" than any willing choices. Still, the destruction of Lews Therin eluded Demandred. Demandred would constantly leave governorships in order to return to the field, but only so he could fulfill his dream of being personally responsible for Lews Therin’s destruction.

    As the Shadow advanced, it brought chaos and disorder to the Forces of the Light. Many naively sought negotiation with the Forsaken. Soon the Forces of the Light would be faced with the unsavory choice between two desperate plans to save the world from the Shadow.

    Latra Posae’s thought to shield the area around the Bore using the Choedan Kal. Lews Therin sought a riskier plan, but one with more chance of long term success if executed properly. Lews Therin sought to patch the Bore with seven seals.

    But it would be Demandred who robbed them of the choice and forced Lews Therin onto a path that would eventually taint saidin and shatter the world. Along with Be’lal, Demandred's armies advanced so quickly that his lightning offensive threatened to capture the Choedan Kal themselves for the Shadow. With the access keys trapped deep inside Shadow-held territory, Demandred had forced Lews Therin’s hand. The plan to patch the Bore went ahead, and Demandred was one of the 13 Forsaken trapped with their Dark Lord for 3000 years.

    Demandred only found freedom with the rest of the Forsaken when the seals on the Dark One’s prison finally weakened. He was said to have transferred his hatred for the Dragon to Rand al’Thor with full intensity; however, that may not have been so. According to later records (LoC and Winter’s Heart) Demandred expresses little true hatred for Rand al’Thor, just a desperate desire to see the man dead. In fact, Demandred actually expresses admiration for Rand’s cleansing plan at Shadar Logoth, though it should be noted that Demandred has attempted to steal Callandor from the Stone of Tear, and given a sa’angreal he would have destroyed Rand al’Thor long ago.

    In Winter’s Heart, we learned a little more about Demandred, aside from his easy ability to adapt to Third Age fashions.

    In WH, Rand is termed Demandred’s "charge." Demandred employs the renegade Asha’man in an attempt to kill Rand due to the Dragon Reborn’s plans to cleanse saidin. We also learn that Demandred has been trying to have Rand killed or captured for some time now.

    Also Demandred is apparently Slayer’s Patron, since he is the only one who fits the bill--a blurry male Forsaken who frequently visits the Caemlyn Throne Room, wants Rand dead, and doesn’t want to be discovered. It certainly sounds like Demandred.


But where is he?

    Still, the most thought provoking question arises. Just where is Demandred at the present time? What has he been doing? Why haven’t we seen more of him in the two years in which he’s been free?


Demandred: The Free Agent

    A good Demandred theory is that he is simply not impersonating anyone, and is acting much like Moridin. Adherents to this theory argue that all we truly know about Demandred is that:

(a) Birgitte saw him in TAR before LoC.
(b) He is the head of the Lord of Chaos plan.
(c) He is in an alliance with Semirhage and Mesaana.
(d) He probably had some part in Rand’s kidnapping in LoC.

Everything else, they argue, is speculation and guessing based upon circumstantial evidence. They point out that we shouldn’t be locked into a pattern of thinking that every Forsaken must assume a fake identity just because most have. Demandred himself has never admitted that he has placed himself anywhere at all.

    All things considered, this is a quite credible theory, perhaps the most credible of them all. Demandred was a politician in the Age of Legends as well as a general; he could conceivably be acting alone and without a false identity.


Demandred the Whitecloak

    Many believe that Demandred has placed himself among the Children of the Light. It would somewhat explain Sammael’s “events to the South have Demandred’s mark all over them” comment as well as the “proxy” remark.

    Demandred’s presence among the Children would provide a neat explanation for what Demandred has been doing, and it would also give him a solid base of power. And after Demandred’s meeting with Slayer he is seen as Traveling into a “snowy forest glade,” which could have been a camp for the exiled Whitecloaks.

    Still, there are inconsistencies in this theory. Demandred would have been unlikely to allow the Seanchan to takeover his base of power, especially with Semirhage in a position of influence among them, and High Lady Suroth being a Darkfriend. Also, there is no indication that Pedron Niall, the acknowledged leader of the Children, was being manipulated in any way.


Demandred in Seanchan

    Some believe Demandred to be working with Semirhage in Seanchan. It fits perfectly with Sammael’s proxy remark and “events to the south” comment (the Seanchan takeover of Tarabon). And we have seen Forsaken work closely together before--Asmodean and Lanfear, Aginor and Balthamel, etc.

    Seanchan would provide Demandred with a solid base of power, a powerful army to lead, and many "proxies" to direct. And it would explain why we haven’t seen more of him.

    Also, at the beginning of Lord of Chaos, Demandred Travels to Shayol Ghul clad in a fur lined velvet cloak, in the middle of the Westland heat wave, and armed with his heat/cold-ignoring trick. Why did he need a coat, unless he was coming in from a colder climate like Seanchan (like in the Far Snows)?

    The huge argument against this is two Forsaken in one power base. Working together is one thing, but sharing a nation is another, even for two Forsaken in an alliance. The Forsaken have never shown that type of cooperation. And Demandred does not include himself when he speaks of where Semirhage has placed herself.


Demandred in Shara

    We know that there has been fighting in Shara over the Dragon Reborn. Many theorize Demandred may be involved there somehow. The arguments in favor of this are all circumstantial.

    Shara is large and powerful. It would provide a large army and a solid power base. So it seems likely that some Forsaken would scoop up this ripe plum. And Demandred is the only Forsaken presently unaccounted for.

    Also it makes sense that Semirhage could control Seanchan through Tuon, Mesaana control the Tower and with it have much influence over Westland, and Demandred would have Shara and the East. It seems a nice division of spheres of influence among the three allied Forsaken.

    The only problem is that Semirhage doesn’t seem to have many political ambitions in Seanchan, and the Tower doesn’t control much of anything in Westland, and there is no real evidence linking Demandred to Shara.


Demandred in the Island of Madmen

    This is one of the crazier theories. The main idea is that Demandred is somehow harvesting both male and female Dreadlords from insane residents of the Island of Madmen to serve in the Dark One’s army for the Last Battle. There is no evidence to support this. It’s just another case of “we don’t know where he is, so let’s stick him some place we haven’t seen yet.”


Demandred as the False Dragon Mazrim Taim

    Whether or not this is true, this is what Robert Jordan wants us to debate, not any other theory. As George Lucas wanted people to debate whether or not Darth Vader was truly Luke’s father between the shocking announcement in Empire Strikes Back to the final confirmation in Return of the Jedi, RJ wants us to do the same.

    RJ has set up a state of events in terms of evidence where Demandred may or may not be impersonating Mazrim Taim. This theory has been advocated elsewhere, so I will not bother to repeat it. It seems quite likely that Demandred is Taim. However, he may not be.


Final Thoughts on the Strange Career of Demandred

    It seems likely at this point that Demandred is Taim. The counter-evidence of Winter’s Heart was somewhat vague, and not as strong as everyone originally believed. However, with the coming Black Tower conflict and the likelihood (from Egwene’s visions) that Logain may end up killing Taim, it seems to me that Demandred may not end up being Taim, but rather the Free Agent theory will turn out to be the true one.

    In the end, we must all Read and Find Out. :)