Gholam

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Author: Leora Oldessroth

General

Graendal thinks that only a madman would have made creatures like the gholam (LoC, Ch. 23).

Gholam were created in the War of Power to kill people who can channel. Only six were ever made - three male and three female (ACoS, Ch. 39).

Birgitte thinks it likely that the gholam Mat and the others face in the Rahad survived the Breaking and subsequent years in a stasis box (ACoS, Ch. 39).

Gholam are not well-known in the current world, as evidenced by the fact that the Aes Sedai have never heard of them until after one attacks them in the Rahad (ACoS, Ch. 39).

Gholam are constrained to follow orders given to them by their masters, presumably the Forsaken (TPoD, Ch. 2).

When a gholam kills a channeler, it can feel the ability to channel and the life of the person vanish, producing ecstasy in the gholam (TPoD, Ch. 2).

Gholam feed on blood, preferably fresh, warm, human blood (TPoD, Ch. 2).

Appearance

Gholam look like normal people but they have no bones (ACoS, Ch. 39).

The particular gholam hunting Mat appears to be a slender, nondescript man (WH, Ch. 16).

Uses, Purposes and Talents

Their sole purpose is to kill channelers. The One Power does not affect them (ACoS, Ch. 39). Steel does not seem to affect them either (TPoD, Ch. 1).

A gholam can sense the ability to channel within someone if they are within about fifty paces of the person (ACoS, Ch. 39).

A gholam can squeeze itself under doorways and through similar cracks due to its lack of bones. It is also very strong; it could rip a door off its hinges or tear out someone's throat (ACoS, Ch. 39).

Mat's medallion burns gholam (ACoS, Ch. 38; TPoD, Ch. 1).

Gholam can sense where the One Power has been used (TPoD, Ch. 2).

When a target has been named to a gholam, the gholam is constrained to go after that target. A gholam may be compelled to follow the orders of a human (TPoD, Ch. 2).

Destruction

After the gholam threatens Olver and Tuon, Mat decides he has to find a way of defeating it (ToM, Ch. 9). He approaches Elayne for help, and she and some Kinswomen come up with a plan, which Mat puts into place (ToM, Ch. 31). Using copies of the Foxhead Medallion that Elayne has made, he manages to force it through a doorway, which has a Skimming gateway overlaid by Sumeko. Unlike Trollocs, the gholam is not killed by passing through the doorway, standing on the platform until Mat kicks it into the void (ToM, Ch. 31).

Appearances in the Series

  • A gholam attacks Elayne, Nynaeve, Mat and the rest of their party when they try to retrieve the Bowl of Winds in the Rahad. It kills several people. Mat discovers that his medallion can burn a gholam (ACoS, Ch. 38).
  • The gholam that attacked Elayne, Nynaeve, Mat and the others in the Rahad watched them leave with the Bowl of Winds; at least this particular gholam seems capable of independent thought and of creating its own agenda. It wants to kill Mat and it has formed the idea of not being compelled to follow the orders of a human (TPoD, Ch. 2).
  • The gholam attacks Mat in an alley in Ebou Dar. The two fight, Mat burns it with his medallion again but the gholam flees when Noal Charin arrives. The gholam has been ordered to avoid notice except by those it "harvests" (WH, Ch. 16).
  • The gholam remains in Ebou Dar, killing people for their blood (WH, Ch. 18; Ch. 28).
  • Mat is sure the gholam is responsible for Tylin's death; her head was torn off (CoT, Ch. 3).
  • The gholam follows Mat and Valan Luca's circus when they leave Ebou Dar; it makes a kill in Jurador (KoD, Ch. 11). Mat believes that the gholam is still following Valan Luca's circus after they part ways (KoD, Ch. 25).
  • It follows Mat to Caemlyn, killing people there and in the surrounding villages (ToM, Ch. 8)

quotes

"A bird must fly. A man must breathe. I must kill" (To Mat, Towers of Midnight, Chapter 9)

"With your men who squish and rip, who die so easily, almost at a touch' (To Mat, Towers of Midnight, Chapter 31).