So I found this discrepancy mentioned on Tor.com in a post by Sylas K Barrett . His answer is that Ishamael was never bound...somehow he avoided that fate. Here are his words, which I have to say are pretty compelling: At the time, I took this as a poetic speech. Believing Ba’alzamon to be the Dark One, I assumed that he meant that, despite being imprisoned, he is not “bound” because he has had the ability to reach out to touch men’s souls, to influence them and their world. He stood figuratively at Lews Therin’s shoulder because it was the Dark One’s taint that caused it. He gave Lews Therin his momentary glimpse of sanity because it was through Shai’tan’s power that the healing was done. But looking at it now, I see that it can be read literally. Elan Morin, also known as Ishamael, the Betrayer of Hope, was actually there. It’s much more simple than I took it all to be.

I have read the series four or five times and I'm still puzzled by the opening sequence based during the Age of Legends presumably after the bore was sealed (since Lews Therin is already mad, meaning the taint, which occurred as a result of using Saidin unbuffered to seal the bore, has set in). By my understanding of what happened, when Lews Therin sealed the bore, the dark lord and all the forsaken were sealed away with him, imprisoned. However, Ishamael shows up and restores Lews Therin's sanity so that he can see that he has killed his whole family and then Lews Therin commits suicide, creating Dragonmount. So my question is simple: How can Ishamael appear? Is he not imprisoned? What am I missing?