Balthamel

Author: Estyrien al'Halien

BAAL-thah-mell

General

Balthamel was one of the thirteen Forsaken, Aes Sedai who turned to the Shadow during the Age of Legends (TEotW, Ch. 42). He was bound in Shayol Ghul when Lews Therin Telamon and his Hundred Companions sealed the Bore. He was trapped close to the surface and suffered the effects of the passage of three thousand years (TEotW, Ch. 50). When the seals weakened, Aginor and Balthamel were the first to escape from their prison (TEotW, Ch. 52). They followed Rand al'Thor to the Eye of the World, led by the taint of Mat's ruby dagger. They confronted Rand's group there and the Green Man, the last of the Nym, killed Balthamel. The Green Man died shortly after Balthamel as the Forsaken used saidin to kill him (TEotW, Ch. 50).

During the Age of Legends Balthamel was known as Eval Ramman and he was a historian specialising in vanished cultures. He worked in M'Jinn, in one of the city's institutes of higher learning. He was a violent man with a terrible temper and was nearly bound against doing violence several times. Balthamel enjoyed mingling with the roughest members of society, including criminals and prostitutes. His behavior must have shocked his employers and it is claimed that the only reason that he was not dismissed was his considerable strength in the One Power (TWoRJTWoT, Ch. 5).

Balthamel journeyed to Shayol Ghul during the middle years of the Collapse because he was drawn by the promise if immortality. During the War of Power, Balthamel headed an intelligence network that rivaled Moghedien's. He never held a field command but it is possible that he was a governor of one of the conquered territories. It is known that he committed several atrocities, not least setting up human breeding camps to provide fodder for the Trollocs (TWoRJTWoT, Ch. 5).

Timeline

• The Collapse: Balthamel goes over to the Shadow (TWoRJTWoT, Ch. 5).

• The War of Power: Balthamel is bound when Lews Therin Telamon and his Companions seal the Bore (TEotW, Ch. 50).

• 998 NE: Balthamel is freed from his prison (TEotW, Ch. 50).

• 998 NE: Balthamel and Aginor travel to the Eye of the World in search of Rand al'Thor and Balthamel is killed by the Green Man (TEotW, Ch. 50).

Miscellaneous

• During the Age of Legends Balthamel was a handsome man and was quite popular with the ladies (TWoRJTWoT, Ch. 5). However, when Balthamel appears at the Eye of the World, he wears a black carapace that hides his head and a mask of a young man's face. He cannot even use his tongue to speak; instead he has to have Aginor speak for him. It is obvious that he has aged beyond recognition during his three-thousand-year imprisonment (TEotW, Ch. 50).

• Balthamel tries to kill Nynaeve at the Eye (TEotW, Ch. 50).

Quotes

"Some of us are bound no longer. The seals weaken, Aes Sedai. Like Ishamael, we walk the world again, and the rest of us will come. I was too close to this world in my captivity, I and Balthamel, too close to the grinding of the wheel, but soon the Great Lord of the Dark will be free, and give us new flesh, and the world will be ours once more." (Aginor about and Balthamel and himself; The Eye of the World, Chapter 50)

"I have almost forgotten the pleasures of the flesh... but Balthamel remembers much." (Aginor about Balthamel; The Eye of the World, Chapter 50)