The Transexual Forsaken:I am confused

[Mr.Big]

With all of the forsaken who have been killed and resurrected into new bodies I have lost count of who has become male,who has become female,and their name changes.I would like it if posters would enlighten me on who has become whom.

Also if anyone has theories about why the DO has done it this way,I would be interested in reading them. ???

[OptimusPrime]

Ishamael is Moridin

Aginor is Osan'gar

Balthamel is Aran'gar (the "Transexual")

Lanfear is Cyndane

 

Thats all of them

[fikkie77]

Ishamael -> Moridin

Aginor -> Osan'gar/Corlan Dashiva (dead)

Balthamel -> Aran'gar/Halima (female channeling Saidin)

Lanfear -> Cyndane

 

Why did the DO it? Because he can and because he needs such strong channelers on his side. I think the Halima body just was available at the moment and that the DO might thought it to be funny.

[csarmi]

It was thematic and practical. He sent the two blades (Arangar, Osangar) to the two 'towers' to control events there. Now as for the black one it's easy as males cannot sense/judge ability, but for the white one (in exile) it's actually a very good idea to send a woman who channels saidin.

[Arkelias]

I don't believe that's why the DO did it.  If you remember from the EotW Balthamel was the forsaken who really, really liked women right?  I seem to remember him leering at Nynyeave and Egwene, though its been a long time.

 

I think because he was so full of lust and the DO was punishing him for failing putting him in a female body was a good way to do that.

 

Anyone have thoughts on my theory?

[mb]

Like others told, these are the resurrected Forsaken::

Moridin (Ishamael resurrected)

Osangar (Aginor resurrected)

Arangar (Balthamel resurrected)

Cyndane (Lanfear resurrected)

 

And like others told, Arangar is the only gender change (in terms of body, but not in soul); the others kept their former gender (body & soul).

Ishamael/Aginor/Balthamel were male and Lanfear was female; Moridin/Osangar are male and Arangar/Cyndane are female.

 

[JenniferL]

Ishamael -> Moridin

Aginor -> Osan'gar/Corlan Dashiva (dead)

Balthamel -> Aran'gar/Halima (female channeling Saidin)

Lanfear -> Cyndane

 

Why did the DO it? Because he can and because he needs such strong channelers on his side. I think the Halima body just was available at the moment and that the DO might thought it to be funny.

 

Its more than that. There are plenty of strong channelers in the Black Ajah or in Taim's group at the Black Tower. If it was simply channeling strength, the Dark One has plenty of other options besides some dude that got himself killed by a plant his first week out of the Bore. It's probably not even skill. There's a surprising amount the Forsaken don't know, either because they specialized in a particular area, or because Third Age channelers have discovered weaves they didn't realize were possible.

 

But yes, as far as why Halima'gar was placed in that body, it was the one available to him at the time. There are limits to the Dark One's ability to resurrect souls.

[Alghar Khan]

Q- Part 3: Well, then is there something unique about the Forsaken other than the fact that they are his favorites that he would transmigrate them, or be able to?

RJ: Well, he would have been a lot less likely to in an earlier time when they were a lot of powerful ... knowledgeable channnelers who were in his service. Essentially half the people in the world who could channel were on his side, during the War of the Shadow. Now he has very few, he's got the Black Ajah, and a few wilders, and some stuff I ain't going in to, but uh he doesn't have a lot, but he can't afford to waste assets.

 

Week 3 question: ......

 

After the soul is secured, then a suitable body must be acquired and stripped of the (former) owner's memory and soul to make way for the favored one. By the way, what constitutes a suitable body from the Dark One's perspective is not that of the recipient. Certainly Aginor would never have chosen to be reincarnated in his, shall we say, less than imposing body, nor would the womanizing Balthamel have chosen to be reincarnated as a beautiful woman. It was only chance that Moridin ended up in a body that is young, fairly good looking and physically imposing. Those things simply don't matter to the Dark One. But the body has to be basically healthy and sound, and neither too young nor too old. After all, the Dark One wants his servants to be effective, and a body that meets those basic requirements is more desirable than one that doesn't. Since there is no stockpile of such bodies, the only way for someone to die and immediately be reincarnated would be a matter of pure chance. That is, the death occured when a suitable body was on hand for some other reason.

 

[Alghar Khan]

Week 15 question: ......

 

But he [the DO] also operates under a constraint that did not exist in the Age of Legends. At that time, about 3% of the population could learn to channel to some extent, though not all chose to -- the training program took time, and being able to channel carried with it certain obligations that not everyone wanted to undertake -- but that still meant there were at a minimum, hundreds  of thousands of people in the world who could channel, and more likely millions. A large pool of possible recruits. Break a tool or decide it isn't working right and throw it out, because there is an endless supply of similar tools waiting on the shelf. That might be said to have been his attitude. In the here-and now of the books, that figure is about 1% , and of that 1%, very, very few have any idea that they could learn to channel, much less have any training at all. Here-and-now, the pool of possible recruits is tiny.

 

[Blackhoof]

Balthamels reincarnation was either chance, or some twisted joke.  ;)