Are dreadlords male only?

[Andhaira]

Is there any evidence given in the books to shed light to this? IMO Dreadlords can be both male and female, but I just want to know for sure which it is.

[Luckers]

Dreadlords are channelers who served the Shadow during the Trolloc Wars, and can be male or female. To date the term has not been used by modern darkfriend channelers, yet the expectation is there on behalf of the Light that it will be.

[David Selig]

It's explained in the Guide:

 

BWB, Chapter 10:

 

No reason for the Trolloc invasion is known. In most cases these armies were commanded by Dreadlords — Shadowsworn who could channel — who were most often women, many of them believed to be renegade Aes Sedai (almost certainly Black Ajah, by definition), though there were no small numbers of male Dreadlords. Without doubt some of the men were Darkfriends, but it is possible that some turned to the Shadow rather than face gentling or death.

[Luckers]

That's actually incorrect [by the Guide, not by you] on one aspect--Ishamael only created the Black Ajah after the Trolloc Wars. This is one of those [the Guide was written as if by a Third Age scholar and therefore contains inconsistancies] moments. The same as it referring to Aes Sedai who turned during the Age of Legends as Dreadlords.

[Terez]

Well, the 'by definition' part has a certain amount of merit to it.

[Luckers]

Well, the 'by definition' part has a certain amount of merit to it.

 

In justifying the suggestion of a Third Age scholar writing the Guide, yes this has merit. A Third Age scholar very much would apply the term Black Ajah to a Dreadlord Aes Sedai in the Trolloc Wars, just as they would apply Dreadlord to a Forsaken Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends, as occurs elsewhere in the Guide. But the application, in both situations, is incorrect--contextually if nothing else.

 

We may end up seeing Black Ajah Dreadlords, or Black Ajah Chosen, or Dreadlord Chosen... but historically the application of Black Ajah terminology in the Trolloc Wars, or Dreadlord terminology in the War of the Shadow, is incorrect.

[Andhaira]

Ok so Dreadlords CAN be female? And in fact, the majority over the years have been female?

 

Another question: Did the male dreadlords AFTER the Breaking of the World suffer from the taint on Saidin? Now, the Dark One can prevent his chosen from being tainted and going mad, but the Dark One was sealed away in the Blight. Could he still, or could Ishamel maybe during the time he was free, somehow connect the male dreadlords with the Dark One and thus ensure that they did not suffer from the taint? (this would certainly give male channlers a huge incentive to join the Dark One and become Dreadlords)

[Xcorpyo001]

I think that in the AoL, during the War of the Shadow, there were both male and female channelers turned to the Shadow(Dreadlords or whatever name used to describe them).

 

During the Trolloc Wars, I think the majority of the Dreadlords were female, because:

-the DO was sealed, and he couldn't protect many male channelers from the taint, even if he wanted

-Ba'alzamon didn't had the time to teach male channelers how to use saidin again, so it was better to just use already train female channelers

-not even 13x13 is not a good idea on male channelers, because it doesn't protect them from the taint, and to use a lot of energy to create a weapon that could 'malfunction' the next day would be shortsighted.

Maybe they had some male Dreadlords, but their percentage was a very small one.

 

1000 years after the Trolloc Wars, The Armies of the Night the first Seachan fought when they reached that strange continent they rule(d) now had mostly women channelers, the damane of today. They were probably a last remnant of the Shadow controlled territory(or at least under female Dreadlords control). I always believed the Towers of Midnight were the base of operation for the Forsaken(they have 13 towers, one for each Chosen), as the Hall of Servants was for LTT&co, and after the Chosen were imprisoned, and the Breaking separated the continents, it remained empty until the future Seachan arrived on that continent and used it as a base of operations until they were able to conquer all of Seachan. But I digress. Main point, female chanelers, probably the last remnants of the Dreadlords of old.

 

Even in the present, the female Dreadlords will greatly outnumber the male chanellers swore to the Shadow, because saidin was cleansed a short time ago, and the last Chosen didn't had the time to recruit many stable male channelers(except Taim's faction inside BT), at least not sane or properly trained.

[Terez]

Well, the 'by definition' part has a certain amount of merit to it.

 

In justifying the suggestion of a Third Age scholar writing the Guide, yes this has merit. A Third Age scholar very much would apply the term Black Ajah to a Dreadlord Aes Sedai in the Trolloc Wars, just as they would apply Dreadlord to a Forsaken Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends, as occurs elsewhere in the Guide. But the application, in both situations, is incorrect--contextually if nothing else.

Well, what I meant was that the words 'by definition' are the writer's way of saying that, whether or not they called themselves Black Ajah at the time, they were anyway. It's anachronistic terminology, but the author acknowledges that it might be in the phrasing.