Shaidar Haran

Author: Melisande Arneil

General

Shaidar Haran means "Hand of the Dark" in the Old Tongue (LoC, Prologue). He looks like a Myrddraal, except that he stands head and shoulders taller than any other Myrddraal (LoC, Prologue). He is able to disappear into shadows (LoC, Ch. 6). He can distinguish between saidar and saidin, but can't tell one flow from another (ACoS, Ch. 40). He also wants to break free from the tie that binds him to Shayol Ghul; he becomes weak when he's away too long (ACoS, Ch. 40).

Timeline

• Shaidar Haran guides Demandred to see the Great Lord (LoC, Prologue).

• Appeared to Osan'gar and Aran'gar (LoC, Prologue).

• Appears to Semirhage while she is torturing an Aes Sedai (Cabriana Mecandes), and tells her to wring every bit of information out of the woman, and tell him (LoC, Ch. 6).

• Guides each of the surviving Chosen to the Great Lord (LoC, Epilogue).

• Takes Moghedien to the Great Lord, where a cour'souvra, or mind trap, is made from a scraping of her tongue, and blood from her ear (ACoS, Ch. 25).

• Turns Moghedien over to Moridin, and gives the mind trap to him (ACoS, Ch. 25).

• Watches Sammael and Graendal send the Jumai Shaido through numerous gateways, spreading them all over the countryside (ACoS, Ch. 40).

• Appeared at the meeting between Graendal, Moghedien and Cyndane, where he issues the command for Graendal to appear before Moridin (TPoD, Ch. 12).

• Appears when Alviarin uses a ter'angreal to call Mesaana; when Alviarin is about to be punished by Mesaana for calling her, Alviarin is marked by him so that Mesaana cannot harm her (CoT, Ch. 21).

• He appears to Semirhage and releases her, first incapacitating the three Aes Sedai shielding her (TGS, Ch. 22)

Relationships

• Obeys only the Great Lord (LoC, Prologue).

• Is shown preference when the spikes in the ceiling of the tunnel to the Great Lord clear his head by two hands or more, when they often brush the heads of the Forsaken (LoC, Prologue; ACoS, Ch. 25).

• Claims Alviarin as his own, and sets her the task of finding out who is hunting the Black Ajah, and to bring them to him (CoT, Ch. 21).

• Alviarin believes that he is indeed the Great Lord, in the skin of a Myrddraal (CoT, Ch. 21). Semirhage also believes this (TGS, Ch. 22).

Quotes

"You are marked as mine," the Great Lord rasped. "Mesaana will not harm you, now. Unless I give her permission. You will find who threatens my creatures here and deliver them to me." (Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 21).

"I am Shaidar Haran." Stopping by her servants, the Myrddraal bent to grip them by the backs of their necks, one hand to each. "When I speak, you may consider that you hear the voice of the Great Lord of the Dark." Those hands tightened to the surprisingly loud sound of cracking bone. The young man spasmed as he died, kicking out; the young woman merely went limp. They had been two of her prettiest. The Myrddraal straightened from the corpses. "I am his hand in this world, Graendal. When you stand before me, you stand before him." (The Path of Daggers, Chapter 12).

The Myrddraal moved from the deeper shadows, becoming visible. In its eyes, the gateways had left a residue - three patches of glowing mist. It could not tell one flow from another, but it could distinguish saidin from saidar by the smell. Saidin smelled like the sharp edge of a knife, the point of a thorn. Saidar smelled soft, but like something that would grow harder the harder it was pressed. No other Myrddraal could smell that difference. Shaidar Haran was like no other Myrddraal (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 40).

It flowed across the hallway in that eye-wrenching way, ebon cloak hanging in denial of motion. One moment it was a statue ten paces away, the next it loomed over her so she had the choice of backing away or craning her neck to look up at that dead-white, eyeless face. Backing away was out of the question. "You will drain her completely, Semirhage. You will squeeze her dry, without delay, and tell me every scrap that you learn." (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 6)