Semirhage's Role

Posted by AlB on 21.01.01 00:00

There is only one Forsaken left whose whereabouts have not been even vaguely identified.

We know (or think we do) that:

The only Forsaken that we have no bead on is Semirhage. I will now lay out my thoughts concerning Semirhage's whereabouts and activities.

CLUE #1: Demandred, Semirhage, and Mesaana work together. This we know from Lord of Chaos. Mesaana is known to be in the White Tower. Demandred is, we suspect, in the Black Tower. Logic suggests that Semirhage, wherever she is, will also be in command of a major channeling/military force. There are only two such forces left - Salidar and the Seanchan. Obviously, Semirhage is not in charge of Salidar; Egwene is. (Halima/Aran'gar/Balthameal is trying to worm her way into dealing with that, however.) Hence, it is my opinion that Semirhage is with the Seanchan invasion.

CLUE #2: The tension between the Seanchan, the Asha'man and the Aes Sedai would fit with the assertion that Demandred, Semirhage, and Mesaana all undercut each other, yet were never separable.

CLUE #3: Semirhage, we know, has a "willful charge." Who could this be? I submit that one possibility is the High Lady Suroth, leader of the Seanchan Hailene and a definitely willful person. Suroth, a known Darkfriend, seems to have a direct line to all sorts of information that she shouldn't have (the name Asha'man; knowledge that Traveling has been rediscovered, exact numbers, etc). This information could only have been hers through Darkfriend relays to the other side (i.e. Taimandred's cronies). I submit this is Suroth's Voice, Alwhin (a known channeler - at least, known to us; to the Seanchan, she's just a sul'dam.) This would explain why Liandrin and another woman recognizable as failed Black Ajah would show up under Suroth.

CLUE #4: "Demandred liked using proxies." Suroth, through Semirhage, is Demandred's proxy.

CLUE #5: Proximity to the Salidar Aes Sedai. I think it exceedingly likely that Semirhage is also Sheriam's torturer. Via Aran'gar, Semirhage can get the coordinates for the Salidar Aes Sedai camp and Travel or Skim there whenever. Popping out in a tent, she will not be noticed arriving. As for channeling, this is a camp filled with Aes Sedai; channeling will not be noticed. The modus operandi of Sheriam's torture (bound with the Power, immediately stripped using the Power, a "motherly" caress, the imitation of actual care, the condescending tone) absolutely scream Semirhage. (Compare with the torture of Cabriana Mecandes.) Therefore, Semirhage must be in a position where she must know about the Salidar Aes Sedai movements. Therefore, Semirhage is involved in a plot concerning the Aes Sedai. Add this to Clue #1, and it is certain that Semirhage is extracting information for the Mesaana/Demandred/Semirhage caucus to plan with. (Mesaana wouldn't do this herself; there's too much risk of being caught. Why not send the Numero Uno Information Extractor Extraordinaire to get your intelligence for you?)

CLUE #6: But why not just get the information from Aran'gar, who has about as much access and probably more chance to extract info from Egwene as Sheriam? Answer: Semirhage has no access to Aran'gar, who is working for Moridin, in a completely different conspiracy. More evidence that it is Semirhage that tortured Sheriam.

SUMMATION: It is my belief that Semirhage is riding with the Seanchan, either as Alwhin or as another member of Suroth's retinue. I believe that she is working with Demandred/Taim and Mesaana/Danelle to control and divide the various factions of channelers, with Mesaana in the White Tower, Demandred in the Black Tower, and Semirhage with the Seanchan. (Remember, Salidar did not exist until later, and was a possibly unintended side effect of a Black Ajah plot.) I also believe that, at Mesaana's request, Semirhage is performing extraction torture on Sheriam.

wotmania says: What you are saying makes a lot of sense. A lot of this theory fits together very well... Hopefully in Winter's Heart we will learn a bit more about Semirhage - all the Forsaken are interesting characters, and we have yet to learn much of anything about Semirhage.


Comments

Alwhin

Posted by Survivor15 on 14.01.02 20:56
Anath is much more likely to be Semirhage than any of the other Seanchan unknowns, with most of the evidence in the chapter with Tuon on the ship.

Don't mind my speling, it's horrable today.

what about the sharan's????

Posted by Mr_MolsonXXX on 15.07.02 22:22
i agree that the Forsaken are trying to infiltrate all the various channeling societies. i am even leaning toward the
Seanchan as Semirhages choice. But what about these mysterious Sharan's. we know that they have elaborate ways of dealing with and breeding channelers. which of the Forsaken, if any, do you think are wriggling into that mess? that is where i believe Demandred is anyway. the whole Taimandred thing is a joke in my opinion. my two cents.

Mr_MolsonXXX

Good theory!

Posted by Avatara on 17.08.03 23:08
Just one thing, though. You said the DO is trying to infiltrate Forsaken into all major military/channeling forces, i.e., White Tower, Black Tower, Salidar, and Seanchan. However, you left out the Sharans, Aiel, Seafolk, Kin, and Whitecloaks. Shara hasn't really played much of a part yet, so she probably isn't there since so far it's not important. She also probably isn't w/ the Whitecloaks since being a woman she wouldn't be able to get a position of power and w/ Carridin there the Dark side already has a powerful spy already in place.

She could be, but most likely isn't, with the Kin, but I don't think she is b/c they seem to be more of a sideshow piece (at least so far) and are under the thumb of Rand/Elayne in Andor, and so are not a central power. She sould be hiding w/ the Sea Folk, probably as a Windfinder, but so far I haven't been able to find anything to prove or disprove this. My personal opinion though is that she isn't b/c the SF aren't influential enough in the story yet for the DO to need to place a Forsaken w/ them.

My opinion is that she is hiding either w/ the Seanchan, as you said, or w/ the Aiel. We know the DO has some way of getting info from the Waste (i forget which book, it was when Rand was about to leave for Far Madding and visiting all of his cities, including Rhuidean, before disappearing), and the DO knew about it from spies there, possibly Semirhage. Personally, though, I think she is with the Shaido (maybe as Therava), b/c 1.Therava has nothing but contempt for Galina, as Semirhage has nothing but contempt for all AS. 2.Therava absolutely delights in terrifying (and presumably, torturing) people, a la Semirhage. 3.The Shaido were forcibly dispersed, presumably by the DO's orders, so it would make sense for him to have her there to make sure they are "spreading chaos" and whatever else the DO wants. 4.(Not sure about this), but I think Semirhage is one of the few Forsaken left to not have been "taken over" by Moridin or Shaidar Haran, possibly b/c she is out in the wilderness w/ the Shaido, preventing them from finding her or reaching her w/o being seen.

What do you think?