How loyal is Shaidar Haran?

[RAND AL THOR]

In my view, RJ's statement is a little fishy.

 

I am not certain you can really call him an avatar because I generally think of an avatar as having exactly the same powers as, and it is not, Shaidar Haran does not have nearly as much power as the Dark One.

 

Its as though the Dark One is able to project a shadowy form of himself into this creature.

 

 

The way he says it, it seems that he is referring to two different beings. If SH and the DO were one and the same, he could have said:

 

The Dark One does not have nearly as much power when he is posing as SH...

 

 

I know that he specifically says that both are the same in the last sentence, but the first part of what he says truly does suggest that they are two separate beings.

 

[Bob T Dwarf]

All of Jordan's answers are fishy.

 

He was the prototypical Aes Sedai.  You have to parse everything he wrote very carefully.  Probably the biggest mistake any of us can make is to take anything he said at face value.

 

It's only if we fit all of the puzzle pieces together that we begin to see the truth.  Or, at least, begin to get an idea about what can reasonably be on the puzzle pieces we haven't seen yet.

[Mr Ares]

In my view, RJ's statement is a little fishy.

 

I am not certain you can really call him an avatar because I generally think of an avatar as having exactly the same powers as, and it is not, Shaidar Haran does not have nearly as much power as the Dark One.

 

Its as though the Dark One is able to project a shadowy form of himself into this creature.

 

 

The way he says it, it seems that he is referring to two different beings. If SH and the DO were one and the same, he could have said:

 

The Dark One does not have nearly as much power when he is posing as SH...

 

 

I know that he specifically says that both are the same in the last sentence, but the first part of what he says truly does suggest that they are two separate beings.

What's fishy about it? Shai'tan doesn't "pose" as Shaidar Haran. SH is an adapted Myrddraal permanently inhabited by a shadowy projection of Shai'tan. They are not one and the same, the one inhabits the other, albeit in a limited form.

[Dunedain Fal]

 

In Book 3 we have SH ordering Carridin to find and kill Rand immediately, while Ishy/Baalz is still alive and supposedly top dog.  That order, and the consequences for Carridin's failure to carry it out persist at least until Carridin's death in Book 8.

 

 

It was not SH but a regular Fade acting on orders on behalf of a Forsaken, I think, Sammeal.

[Mr Ares]

In Book 3 we have SH ordering Carridin to find and kill Rand immediately, while Ishy/Baalz is still alive and supposedly top dog.  That order, and the consequences for Carridin's failure to carry it out persist at least until Carridin's death in Book 8.

It was not SH but a regular Fade acting on orders on behalf of a Forsaken, I think, Sammeal.

Wrong. Early version of SH.

[Bob T Dwarf]

Shaidar Haran, indeed.

... "I like to keep a watch on all those who serve me."

 

... I serve the Great Lord of the Dark, as do you.  We both serve."

 

"If you wish to see it so."  The Myrddraal laughed, a sound that made Carridin's bones shiver. ...

 

Myrddraal have absolutely no sense of humor.  They never laugh.  Only Shaidar Haran.

[Lille]

Shaidar Haran means Hand of the Dark i believe. Imagine that you are the Dark One. Shaidar Haran is your hand. Your hand always does what you want (unless you have some sort of disease), it is not you, but its a part of you. It doesnt have all the strength that you do, but it have some.

 

I see it as Shaidar Haran are almost literary Shai'tans hand.