Padan Fain

Book

TV show

A similar entry appears in the Wheel of Time Companion confirming the information available in the main story arc.

Author: Leora Oldessroth

PAHD-ahn FAIN

Also called Ordeith (OHR-deeth)

General

Appearance

Padan Fain is pale, skinny, has gangly arms, and a massive beak of a nose (TEotW, Ch. 3). He is originally from Lugard, by his accent (LoC, Ch. 28).

Personality

When we first meet him, he is a peddler who is always smiling and joking (TEotW, Ch. 3). It is later learned that he has been a Darkfriend for forty years and that the Dark One made into a hound to hunt and follow the Dragon Reborn; he had been hunting for the Dragon Reborn for three years when he led Trollocs into Emond's Field (TEotW, Ch. 46; Ch. 47). He is quite insane.

Condensed Timeline

• Uk: He becomes a Darkfriend
• c995NE: He is summoned to Shayol Ghul and made into the Dark One's Hound
• 998NE: He brings Trollocs to the Two Rivers
• 998NE: He merges with Mordeth in Shadar Logoth
• 998NE: He encounters Machin Sin and survives

Strengths and Talents

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He has has many unnatural abilities including being able to identify Darkfriends (LoC, Ch. 28) and control Myrddraal (This passage needs a reference).

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He can also summon mists, which can turn Trollocs, so that they follow him (ToM, Prologue).

Padan's Journey

The Eye of the World

• Three years before the start of the series, a Myrddraal comes for Fain in a town in Murandy. He is taken to Shayol Ghul, where he meets Ba'alzamon/Ishamael. There, he is tortured and made into the Dark One's hound to search for the Dragon Reborn. He is set to search around Baerlon and the Two Rivers (TEotW, Ch. 47).

• After scouting around Baerlon and the Mountains of Mist, Fain is taken back to Shayol Ghul, and his mind is distilled; everything he sensed about the Dragon Reborn is concentrated and fed back to him, and he is sent back to search. Fain becomes certain that the one he seeks is Rand, Mat or Perrin (TEotW, Ch. 47).

• Ba'alzamon comes to Fain in a dream; Fain debases himself and performs rites that bind him more tightly to the Dark One. He is promised great rewards, and power over kingdoms. He is told to mark Rand, Mat and Perrin when he returns to Emond's Field, and that a Halfman and Trollocs will be waiting there for him (TEotW, Ch. 47).

• Padan Fain arrives in Emond's Field on the Eve of Bel Tine (TEotW, Ch. 2); as long as Rand can remember, Fain has come to Emond's Field every spring (TEotW, Ch. 3).

• Fain tells the villagers about news from the outside the world; he tells them that there is a war in Ghealdan over a false Dragon (TEotW, Ch. 3). The Mayor and the Village Council question Fain about what he knows of the war (TEotW, Ch. 3).

• Thom recognizes Fain and says that he always carries bad news quickly (TEotW, Ch. 4).

• Thom tells Rand that Fain disappeared during the Trolloc attack on the village (TEotW, Ch. 7). The Fade takes him; Fain is forced to run the whole way out of the Two Rivers with the Trollocs, and the Myrddraal orders the Trollocs to carry him when he tires out. The Trollocs argue about the best way to cook him. The Fade sends Fain through a Waygate in the Mountains of Mist alone, and Fain thinks he is free until he meets another Fade; this one is not so kind, and makes him sleep in Trolloc cookpots, to remind him of the price of failure (TEotW, Ch. 47).

• Rand recognizes Fain in Baerlon and calls out to him; Fain mutters on and on, seeming to make no sense. Rand tells him to come with him to The Stag and Lion so that he can rest and get some help. Fain makes Rand promise he won't tell Moiraine that he saw him and then he disappears (TEotW, Ch. 15).

• Fain is not fooled by the tricks of illusion that Moiraine weaves to hide herself and the others when they flee to Shadar Logoth, but the Myrddraal does not believe Fain, and drags him behind on a leash (TEotW, Ch. 47).

• When Padan Fain follows the boys into Shadar Logoth, he encounters Mordeth; the two men merge into one man, probably as a result of Mordeth's inability to completely consume Padan Fain's Soul (TGH, Ch. 3; Ch. 49).

• Fain follows the boys to Caemlyn (TEotW, Ch. 47); he chases after Rand in the Inner City when Rand goes to see Logain (TEotW, Ch. 39).

• Fain follows the boys when they enter the Ways; he is caught by Machin Shin but it fears him and flees, leaving him unharmed (TEotW, Ch. 47).

• Fain is arrested when he tries to enter Fal Dara following the boys; he is brought to Lord Ingtar for questioning. There, Moiraine and the boys learn that he is a Darkfriend, a hound set to hunt and follow the boys. (TEotW, Ch. 47).

• Moiraine questions Fain; she figures out that he merged with Mordeth in Shadar Logoth and that he was the one that brought Trollocs to Emond's Field to kill Rand, Mat and Perrin (TEotW, Ch. 47; TGH, Ch. 49).

• Padan Fain is kept locked in Agelmar's dungeon when Moiraine and the boys travel to the Eye of the World; he is still there when they return (TEotW, Ch. 53).

The Great Hunt

• Egwene and Rand visit Fain in the dungeon; Fain mocks Rand, saying that he can feel him hiding and that the battle is never done (TGH, Ch. 3).

• Ingtar and a Fade release Fain from the dungeon; Fain takes the ruby dagger and the Horn of Valere and leaves for Toman Head (TGH, Ch. 5; Tor Q&A).

• After the Trolloc attack, Moiraine and Rand discover that Fain has escaped (TGH, Ch. 6).

• Siuan thinks that Fain must be a very important Darkfriend for him to be rescued; she wants him found and Moiraine agrees (TGH, Ch. 7).

• Fain battles the Fade for control of the Darkfriends who are traveling with him; Fain wins and he nails the Fade to a door (TGH, Ch. 11).

• Perrin uses the wolves to follow Fain when Hurin disappears with Rand via the Portal Stone (TGH, Ch. 14).

• When Rand and Hurin make it back to their world, they find themselves ahead of Fain; they wait for him, sneak into his camp and steal the ruby dagger and the Horn back. Fain is furious (TGH, Ch. 19).

• The wolves tell Perrin that someone has killed Trollocs in Fain's party and that Fain is now chasing that person (TGH, Ch. 28).

• Fain catches up with Rand in Cairhien; he steals the dagger and Horn back and sets The Defender of the Dragonwall inn on fire (TGH, Ch. 30).

• Fain gets Barthanes to tell Rand that he is going to Toman Head; he leaves through the Cairhien Waygate (TGH, Ch. 33).

• When Fain reaches Toman Head, he takes the Horn and the dagger to High Lord Turak. He claims to have kept the vows to watch and wait and that his family has protected the Horn since the time of Artur Hawkwing. Fain urges Turak to sound the Horn but he refuses as he intends to present the Horn to the Empress. Turak orders Fain to stay around. If he amuses him, Turak may give him the ruby dagger. Fain tells Turak that Rand is a Darkfriend who will be coming after the Horn (TGH, Ch. 34). Later, Turak tells Rand that he was always suspicious of Fain because of his desire for the dagger; he was even more suspicious when his so'jhin, Huon, was found dead (TGH, Ch. 45).

• Hurin attempts to find Fain's trail on Toman Head (TGH, Ch. 41).

• Nynaeve sees Fain on Toman Head and wonders why he's there (TGH, Ch. 42).

• Hurin finds Fain's trail and Rand and the others make plans to take back the Horn and dagger (TGH, Ch. 44).

The Dragon Reborn

• After escaping from Toman Head, Fain takes the name Ordeith and offers his services to Pedron Niall. He tells Niall that the sketch of the man battling in the sky at Falme is Rand al'Thor, a boy from the Two Rivers. He tells him that the Two Rivers is crawling with Darkfriends, including Mat Cauthon and Perrin Aybara, whom the Whitecloaks are also seeking. Niall makes plans to send Whitecloaks to the Two Rivers (TDR, Prologue).

The Shadow Rising

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• Fain leads the Whitecloaks to the Two Rivers; Bornhald is under orders to cooperate with Fain and to take advice from him (TSR, Ch. 1).

• When Rand hears that Whitecloaks are in the Two Rivers, he knows it is Fain's work (TSR, Ch. 13).

• When Perrin arrives back home in the Two Rivers, Bran al'Vere tells him that Padan Fain is with the Whitecloaks, calling himself Ordeith; Perrin informs him that Fain is a Darkfriend and that it was he who brought the Trollocs to the village on Winternight (TSR, Ch. 29). Bran tells Perrin that Fain led an attack on Tam al'Thor's farm (TSR, Ch. 29).

• Bornhald is upset with Fain; on three separate occasions, Fain has taken Whitecloaks with him on patrols to the south only to have the Whitecloaks die in "Trolloc attacks." Bornhald orders Fain to appear before him and questions him about what he is doing that he needs to cover up by killing Whitecloaks (TSR, Ch. 31).

• Fain asks how Bornhald can doubt his loyalty; Fain has saved his life by killing a Gray Man who had gotten past fifty Children guarding Bornhald (TSR, Ch. 31).

• Fain knows that one of the three boys is back in Emond's Field; he knows it is not Rand but doesn't know whether it is Perrin or Mat. He is also holding a Myrddraal prisoner in his tent; he has tortured him into accepting some type of agreement (TSR, Ch. 31).

• Perrin informs Jac al'Seen and the others at his farm that Fain is a Darkfriend and that it was he who brought the Trollocs to the village on Winternight (TSR, Ch. 32).

• Slayer tells Perrin in Tel'aran'rhiod that he brought Trollocs to the Two Rivers to keep the Whitecloaks off balance and to make sure that Fain died (TSR, Ch. 42).

• The Whitecloaks come to Emond's Field and inform the villagers that Trollocs decimated Taren Ferry the previous night; Luc asks whether Ordeith/Fain was there. Bornhald informs him that he doesn't know where Fain is (TSR, Ch. 45).

• From a distance, Fain watches the defense of Emond's Field and is angry that the villagers fight off the Trollocs; his plan to draw Rand to him has failed. Fain has turned some Whitecloaks, presumably those "killed" fighting Trollocs, into his followers. He tells them that they will be going to Caemlyn and then on to Tar Valon (TSR, Ch. 56).

The Fires of Heaven

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• Fain arrives in Tar Valon and manages to get an audience with Elaida; Fain is there to get back the ruby dagger from Shadar Logoth. While he waits, he offers his services to Elaida, telling her about Rand, hoping that Elaida might be able to deliver Rand to him (TFoH, Prologue).

• Padan Fain picks the lock on the door to the room where the ruby dagger is being kept; he manages to get the ruby dagger back. Alviarin catches him after he has murdered the girl who had been set to guard the door; a ward was on the lock he picked. Fain figures out that she is Black Ajah; he manages to convince her that he is a high level Darkfriend or that he has been sent by one of the Forsaken so she agrees to let him leave and to clean up the mess he has made (TFoH, Ch. 19).

Lord of Chaos

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• When Rand discovers the Two Rivers girls with Verin and Alanna in Caemlyn, they tell him that Padan Fain had been with the Whitecloaks who had invaded The Two Rivers (LoC, Ch. 10).

• Fain travels to Caemlyn (LoC, Ch. 28). Fain tests the defenses around Rand by using his Whitecloak followers but doesn't actually want him killed (LoC, Ch. 26).

• Perwyn Belman, the son of a Darkfriend Fain is staying with, brings Fain news that there was a failed assassination attempt that morning on Rand (LoC, Ch. 28).

• Fain can feel the difference in Rand once Alanna bonds him; he describes it "as if someone else had suddenly taken a partial possession of al'Thor, and in doing so pushed away a part of Fain's own possession." Fain has also developed the ability to tell at a glance if someone is a Darkfriend; they appear to have sooty marks on their forehead. He has also developed other abilities that he doesn't really understand (LoC, Ch. 28).

• Rand is afraid that Fain might come after Min if he discovers how important she is to him (LoC, Ch. 50).

A Crown of Swords

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• Fain, using the name Jeraal Mordeth, insinuates himself with Toram Riatin outside of Cairhien; he poisons Toram's mind against Rand. Rand tells Caraline Damodred Fain's true identity and that there is a bounty of one hundred thousand gold crowns on his head for what he did to the Two Rivers. Fain disappears out of the camp before Rand can confront him (ACoS, Ch. 35).

• When Rand and company are attempting to get out of the mist that surrounds Toram Riatin's camp, Fain jumps out of the fog, cuts Rand with the ruby dagger and runs away into the mist (ACoS, Ch. 36).

• Rand has nightmares about Fain attacking him while recovering from the dagger's cut (ACoS, Ch. 41).

The Path of Daggers

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• Dobraine reports to Rand that Fain has left Toram Riatin's service and disappeared (TPoD, Ch. 27).

Winter's Heart

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• Isam/Luc is under orders, presumably from one of the Forsaken, to find and kill Fain (WH, Ch. 13).

• Fain travels to Far Madding and kills Kisman with the ruby dagger; he wants to kill Rand himself (WH, Ch. 22).

• Fain sends Rand an anonymous note telling him where Torval and Gedwyn are staying in Far Madding; he hopes to ambush Rand (WH, Ch. 32).

• When Rand arrives and sees the swollen corpses of Torval and Gedwyn, he recognizes it as Fain's work; Toram Riatin is there as well and attempts to attack Rand, but he is diverted by Fain and ends up fighting with Lan instead. Fain now has the ability to create illusions and tries to trick Rand by making it seems as if Torval and Gedwyn are alive and walking up the stairs; Rand manages to fend off Fain's attack and the Illusion bursts. Fain suddenly stops his attack, tilts his head back as if listening, screams and then flees the building (WH, Ch. 33).

Crossroads of Twilight

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There is no relevant reference to Padan Fain in this book.

Knife of Dreams

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• Rand's wound from Fain's dagger still hurts and he wonders whether he will ever be "clean" (KoD, Ch. 20).

The Gathering Storm

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There is no relevant reference to Padan Fain in this book.

Towers of Midnight

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• At some unknown timepoint, he is in the Blight, creating his own army of trollocs. He decides to leave and go after Rand (ToM, Prologue).

A Memory of Light

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• He makes his way to Shayol Ghul where he intends to kill Rand, but is killed by Mat (AMoL, Ch. 47)

Quotes

Quotes by Fain

"'I didn't want to.' Fain began to cry. 'He made me! Him and his burning eyes! He made me his hound! His hound to hunt and follow with never a bit of rest. Only his hound, even after he threw me away.'" (Padan Fain; The Eye of the World, Chapter 46)

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"Fain's eyes went to the painting of the two men, and as he gazed at it, his back straightened. Al'Thor's portrait tugged at him almost as much as the man would, sent rage and hate roiling along his veins. Because of that young man he had suffered pain beyond remembering, pain he did not let himself remember, suffered far worse than pain. He had been broken and remade because of al'Thor. Of course, that remaking gave him the means of revenge, but that was beside the point. Beside his desire for al'Thor's destruction, everything else dimmed from sight." (Padan Fain; The Fires of Heaven, Prologue).

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"Almost casually he brushed his hand across the boy's face. The boy's eyes bulged; he began trembling so hard his teeth rattled. Fain did not really understand the tricks he could work. A bit of something from the Dark One, perhaps, a bit from Aridhol. It had been after there, after he stopped being just Padan Fain, that the ability began to manifest, slowly. All he knew was that he could do certain things now, as long as he could touch what he worked with." (Padan Fain; Lord of Chaos, Chapter 28)

Quotes about Fain

"So. I thought I recognized Padan Fain in there. Fain was always one to carry bad news quickly, and the worse, the faster. There's more raven in him than man." (Thom to Rand, Mat and Perrin; The Eye of the World, Chapter 4).

"Padan Fain was the Dark One's creature to the depths of his soul, but I believe that in Shadar Logoth he fell afoul of Mordeth, who was as vile in fighting the Shadow as ever the Shadow itself was. Mordeth tried to consume Fain's soul, to have a human body again, but found a soul that had been touched directly by the Dark One, and what resulted, What resulted was neither Padan Fain nor Mordeth, but something far more evil, a blend of the two." (Moiraine to Rand; The Great Hunt, Chapter 49).