Who sent the Grey Man in LoC

[Graendals favourite]

I've been re-reading LoC recently, and it occurred to me I have no good explanation for who sent the Grey Man in LoC, Letters. I would instantly say Graendal, but that may not be a trustworthy instinct here.

 

After all:

Suddenly Rand Travelled to Caemlyn without warning. He went from the throne room to his chambers, and Aviendha came out with a knife. Nearly at the same time LTT felt the Grey Man approach. Then Harfor came and there was discussion, in the midst of which the Grey Man entered and Rand managed to trap him-- At the same time Taim killed him.

 

To me it almost seems there was no other purpose to Taim than to secure that the Grey Man did not talk-- I can't see him as having done the Asha'man bonding to Aviendha (?), so either whoever sent the Grey Man had him ready and knew when Rand was in (which Graendal would probably have been capable of, coming to my suspicion), or the target was Aviendha after all, a channeller near Rand or Rands lover?

[Cybertrolloc]

We can be sure Taim was on team shadow towards the end of LoC (the darkfriend Ashaman). It gets increasingly unlikely that a switch or 13+13 was done as time progresses through LoC... That doesn't really matter for this purpose, and hopefully we get a little of Taim: The Early Years before he dies.

 

Probably not

Sammael: "truce"

Moggy: leashed

Lanf: either Finned or mindtrapped

Be'lal, Rhavin: dead

 

Never seen Slayer around Caemlyn. He could do it himself anyway. The "Let the Lord of Chaos rule" crowd (Dem, Sam, Mess, Gran): probably too close to direct action on Rand...but obeying orders isn't exactly a Forsaken strong suit. Moridin or Shadar Hairan, don't have much to go on.

 

Isn't there a quote somewhere that Gray Men aren't good for much else besides assassination? Otherwise, they'd make really good spies...

 

Off the top of my head, I'd go with a way for Taim to ingratiate himself with Rand--by saving the life of someone close to him. Perhaps convoluted, requiring too careful timing and unnecessary but that's all I have for now. (That is a weird passage though, and Rand was even more obtuse than usual about noticing anything relevant--like Taim Travelling in.)

 

I think our chances for a conclusive explanation in AMoL are remote :(

[Graendals favourite]

It occurred to me maybe Taim really was there to see the Grey Man fail. After all, there was the no-kill-Rand order in place, the Forsaken would not have dared attempt to assassinate Rand in that manner.

 

The Grey Man, when it noticed it had been seen, dashed toward Rand and not Aviendha, thus Rand was the target he had been given.

 

One problem is that unless Taim has already received Chosen status, which seems unlikely, he could apparently not have recruited and ordered the Grey Man, it would have had to have been one of the Chosen. But this is fine: actually it is very good, I can see now how Taim is acting on orders in part and not only by himself. He has been ordered to get close to Rand, and tries to achieve it, only Rand will not allow it. Now, whoever did the ordering, arranged for a Grey Man to be ready once Rand should return to Caemlyn, after all Taim could not go to Cairhien so well at this point. Taim's manner after the Grey Man is dead makes kind of clear that it was prearranged, he simply does not act naturally, even though he was surprised that Rand managed to trap him, he could not claim credit for saving Rand. However, it makes clear there's one of the Forsaken giving him orders.

 

This would fit my theory of Graendal in charge of Taim rather well, in my opinion Graendal sent Taim to save Rand once the great saidar-fought battle began in LoC, to save him from Sammael especially since this would have put Graendal permanently below Sammael. She would not have moved against Mesaana, this is what she refers to in aCoS while talking to Sammael, to abandon Sammael after their joint action had got Rand free of Mesaana's trap would have put Graendal on Demandred and Semirhage's non-existent mercies, since whether Mesaana took Graendal's actions as a provocation to act against her with her allied two depended of those two. I really wonder whether Sora Grady could be Graendal, Rand so focusing on her eyes. I wonder if she could have Compelled him in such a manner safely when staring at him from a small distance. His reluctance to kill women became an obsession only slightly after, his making of lists etc. Or should this have happened earlier? Well, I do go on with Graendal theories.

 

I suppose the Forsaken might be Demandred, too.

[trakand_01]

 

Isn't there a quote somewhere that Gray Men aren't good for much else besides assassination? Otherwise, they'd make really good spies...

 

Grey Men don't have a soul - they're 'dead' as it were. I think that they purely work on orders, they are given an order, and they go and carry out that order, they dont stop unless they are stopped, until they complete their task. I dont think they have the intelligence to do anything else.

 

I could be wrong though, but I always imagined them as zombie-like creatures (mentally) who can only deal with one thought at a time.

[aussie_ashaman123]

the Grey Man may have been hanging around the palace simply waiting for Rand to return. If hes been ordered to kill someone who can travel, its probably better to stay some place where they're likely to return than try chase them down.

 

I dont think any shadowspawn is good for espionage, they all like killing too much.

[Aemon raHal]

 

Isn't there a quote somewhere that Gray Men aren't good for much else besides assassination? Otherwise, they'd make really good spies...

 

Grey Men don't have a soul - they're 'dead' as it were. I think that they purely work on orders, they are given an order, and they go and carry out that order, they dont stop unless they are stopped, until they complete their task. I dont think they have the intelligence to do anything else.

 

I could be wrong though, but I always imagined them as zombie-like creatures (mentally) who can only deal with one thought at a time.

 

 

No, Grey Men aren't senseless - just stupid because they gave up their soul to serve the DO.

 

They're alive - that's why they can be killed - normal in every way, except they have no soul, and are very very ordinary and unnoticable.

 

So I suppose they could very well be used as spies. But why?

They'd only be able to listen and report back what they hear (they would never get into a position of power) which can be done with the Power, or via regular DF's.

 

 

 

[Luckers]

I follow the 'sent so that Taim could miraculously save Rand from it' theory. It seems clear to me that it wasn't sent to me, and its only purpose was to ingratiate Taim with Rand.