Kash

[spoke]

Straight from the book.

"And that Kash. Where did he even come from, and how did he get so powerful so quickly?"

 

We have been banging our heads to try to figure out who Demandred, could this be him.

 

Since Aginor was originally at the Black Tower, and if he was brought back yet again after being fried by Elza, why wouldn't he go back to where he was before - the black tower. It has been long enough that it is a possibility.

 

However, I think this is nothing more than a Red-Herring to distract us and give us another false trail.

[capuga]

I think he was just mentioned to illustrate that Taim is up to something fishy.

[GregDietzFla]

I agree but think that it is to show that Taim is handing out angreal. Notice they said 'powerful' and not skilled or good or anything else, which an angreal wouldn't affect.

[herid]

I think he is likely a red herring. It's remotely possible that he is Demandred I suppose. But I'm absolutely convinced that he is not Aginor. None of the Forsaken that are currently dead are coming back. There is absolutely no screen time for that. AMoL has to cover an enormous amount of material. Not the least of which - it will have to deal with all the remaining Forsaken. Frankly, I can not imagine how BS is going to fit everything that still needs to be done in one book the size of ToM (he says that AMoL will be about that size). So Aginor stays dead and so do the rest of them.

[Hopefire]

I think that Demandred has been on-screen or just off-screen more than is immediately obvious.

 

I still believe that Demandred was the peddler who told Gawyn that Rand killed his mother; some compulsion to reinforce the idea would go a long way to explain how certain of it Gawyn was. Another example is alluded to on page 45 of TGS - Masema recalls seeing "the Dragon" and the orders that the "the Dragon" gave him; in his case, repeated use of compulsion from the part of Demandred could have changed him from a fanatic to a madman. He could very well be Old Cully. I imagine that it was probably him that killed off the Seanchan Imperial family. I'd wager he was behind the actions of the Seanchan fighting Arad Doman, ensuring that it turned into a resource drain for them, just like Graendal did for the other side.

 

Basically, if there's something that someone is doing that seems to benefit the bad guys, but there's no ready explanation for it, I blame Demandred.

[Ashandarei]

Kash?? I am completely blanking on this character, can someone enlighten me- what book, when?

[spoke]

Kash?? I am completely blanking on this character, can someone enlighten me- what book, when?

 

The quote comes from one of the men in the Black Tower talking about the oddity of this guy.

[akira.taylor]

I agree but think that it is to show that Taim is handing out angreal. Notice they said 'powerful' and not skilled or good or anything else, which an angreal wouldn't affect.

 

I just don't get the feeling that Moridin or Taim has angreal to hand out. Remember that the Forsaken have all been interested in getting them. I admit, we never see Moridin wishing he had one, but I still find it doubtful that he has enough to give them to Asha'man. Especially given the question of what happens if "something" happens to an Asha'man with an angreal, and a light-friend Asha'man finds it? Could be awkward.

[GregDietzFla]

I agree but think that it is to show that Taim is handing out angreal. Notice they said 'powerful' and not skilled or good or anything else, which an angreal wouldn't affect.

 

I just don't get the feeling that Moridin or Taim has angreal to hand out. Remember that the Forsaken have all been interested in getting them. I admit, we never see Moridin wishing he had one, but I still find it doubtful that he has enough to give them to Asha'man. Especially given the question of what happens if "something" happens to an Asha'man with an angreal, and a light-friend Asha'man finds it? Could be awkward.

 

Well i feel like Ishy has been searching for a long time to find 2 DS, and i would imagine that he has a nice little stash.

[Majsju]

I think that Demandred has been on-screen or just off-screen more than is immediately obvious.

 

I still believe that Demandred was the peddler who told Gawyn that Rand killed his mother; some compulsion to reinforce the idea would go a long way to explain how certain of it Gawyn was. Another example is alluded to on page 45 of TGS - Masema recalls seeing "the Dragon" and the orders that the "the Dragon" gave him; in his case, repeated use of compulsion from the part of Demandred could have changed him from a fanatic to a madman. He could very well be Old Cully. I imagine that it was probably him that killed off the Seanchan Imperial family. I'd wager he was behind the actions of the Seanchan fighting Arad Doman, ensuring that it turned into a resource drain for them, just like Graendal did for the other side.

 

Basically, if there's something that someone is doing that seems to benefit the bad guys, but there's no ready explanation for it, I blame Demandred.

 

RJ confirmed that Gawyns peddler was just a peddler.

The Seanchan imperial family was killed by Semirhage, as we see her admit in KOD.

Old Cully...I see no reason to think is anything other than what we have seen. Only thing we actually see him do is trying to kill mat, and that would hardly be the first time a DF has tried that

The Seanchan offensive against Arad Doman is a direct result of Ituralde fighting then in Tarabon, right now it is basically a search & destroy mission for Ituralde and his army.

Which leaves the "dragon" that spoke to Masema. It has been speculated that Demandred was indeed behind all that, but there are other candidates.

[Majsju]

My first thought was that Kash had been recruited and trained long before the BT was created. And now Moridin has been kind enough to send a bunch of "his" channelers to help Taim ensure that he has complete control of the BT, just as he gave Taim the 2nd Dreamspike.

[Terez]

I think that Demandred has been on-screen or just off-screen more than is immediately obvious.

RJ stated outright that Demandred's alter ego had not been seen on screen as of COT, and Brandon extended that to TGS I think (KOD at least).

 

...Which leaves the "dragon" that spoke to Masema. It has been speculated that Demandred was indeed behind all that, but there are other candidates.

Brandon confirmed that it was a female, so Demandred is out.

 

My first thought was that Kash had been recruited and trained long before the BT was created.

Maybe before, maybe since. But I had the same impression - that he was trained before he showed up. They might have been recruiting and training off-site to mask their numbers to those who are paying attention.

[Hael Me]

Yes, this is interesting!

 

Some points: we must assume that the Shadow trained male channelers before the founding of the Black Tower. I can't imagine Ishamael thinking: "This secret dark prophecy suggests that the Dragon Reborn will gather male channelers from all nations and train them to become living weapons. The guardians will balance the servants? Well, when that happens - and not before - I will infiltrate the Black Tower, thus creating new Dreadlords that will face the guardians and the servants, that doesn's serve me, in the Last Battle." Channelers are the deadliest weapons of Randland - you want as many of these as possible! There were Dreadlords of both genders in the Trolloc wars... The question is, if Moridin - or Demandred or someone else - has a secret Black Tower, in a mirror world or in the Blight or in Shara or another remote location, why would they suddenly feel the need to place one of their Dark Asha'man in the Black Tower in Andor? I don't know, but I think the Last Battle has begun and this is one of the opening moves. The time for hiding in the shadows has passed - the boundaries are set...

 

"And that Kash. Where did he even come from, and how did he get so powerful so quickly?" The bold part is what I personally find most interesting. It suggests that Nalaam - who is the speaker here - doesn't even know what country Kash is from. In Randland, this is most unusual: Illianers have beards with bare upper lips, people from Cairhien are short and scheming, Aiel are tall and have red hair and so on. Nalaans statement seems to imply that Kash just appeared out of nowhere, or from a country that Nalaam isn't familiar with...

 

Kash, what kind of name is that by the way? Sounds like an Aiel name, but if that was the case, Nalaam would have recognized Kash as an Aiel.

 

Red herring or meaningful mystery, I haven't made up my mind yet...

[jemron]

Just because Rand decided to put together the BT and recruit potential male channelers doesn't mean that Ishy and/or other Forsaken hadn't already started gathering together DFs who could channel before that. I think it is very plausible and highly likely that Moridin and/or Demandred had already been "recruiting" and training Dreadlords before the BT had even started.

 

I also like the theory that maybe Taim isn't even the original Taim, but a Dreadlord placed by Moridin or Demandred (my bet is he is one of Demandred's "proxies") or that he was actually a Dreadlord from the AoL who was hidden in a stasis box or something. Just because the 13 Chosen were sealed in the prison with the DO, doesn't mean that other AoL Dreadlords couldn't've also figured out a way to preserve themselves until the DO broke free again.