Lanfear

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Lanfear (LAN-feer) is one of the primary antagonists of the Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan. She is one of the Forsaken.

Contents 1 Mierin Sedai 2 Lanfear 3 The Third Age 4 Cyndane

[edit] Mierin Sedai

Before she became Lanfear, Mierin Eronaile was an Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends. She was described as being exquisitely beautiful in appearance, to be more precise most beings claimed her to be the most beautiful woman throughout all known history. Most men in the series remark on her exceptional features before anything else. She is as tall as most men, being only a hand shorter than Rand al'Thor. Her hair is long and black, her eyes large and dark, and her skin milky white. Mierin worked at the Collam Daan, the greatest university in the world, and was respected by her peers, yet she did not manage to gain the honorary third name which defined prestige in the Age of Legends. Mierin personally took part in the experiment which unintentionally released the Dark One by drilling the Bore.

Mierin was always obsessed with Lews Therin Telamon and despite her continuous claims that she adored him, it didn't take him long to discover that she loved his power more than she loved him as a man. Their relationship ended and it drove Mierin wild with anger and sorrow when Lews Therin married the love of his life, Ilyena. Lews Therin's marriage may have been one of the key factors which led to Mierin's fall to the Shadow.

[edit] Lanfear

It is not known when Mierin pledged herself to the Dark One, but some people suggest that its timing coincided with Lews Therin's marriage to Ilyena. Unlike all the other Forsaken, Lanfear chose her own name which means 'Daughter of the Night'. Lanfear almost always wears white attire and her sigil includes stars and the moon. As Daughter of the Night, she was a terrible Forsaken who used the World of Dreams to torment her subjects and enemies alike, often performing open assassinations on those she chose as her victims. Areas governed by Lanfear during the War of Power reported high suicide rates due to the citizen's fear of falling asleep and the nightmares which would follow. Despite her pronounced skill in the World of Dreams, she cannot match the skill of Moghedien in this domain, though the latter has never challenged Lanfear for the right of the parallel world. This may be partly due to Moghedien's cowardice, but also due to Lanfear's insane power in the physical world. While it is true that all of the Forsaken were powerful Aes Sedai, Lanfear was undoubtedly the most powerful of the female Forsaken. Indeed, the series implies that Lanfear is as powerful as a woman can be in saidar, and thus the female channeling equivalent of Rand al'Thor, the reincarnation of Lews Therin Telamon. Her standing relative to the male Forsaken remains controversial. While some evidence implies that she may be second in strength only to Ishamael, the most powerful of all the of the Forsaken, other evidence in the books implies that she may be in the range of some of the more powerful males, namely Demandred, Sammael and Rahvin perhaps.

Throughout the War of Power, Lanfear never held a field command as a general but preferred subtle tactics and subterfuge. She never gave up trying to capture Lews Therin and she was probably at the forefront of the majority of the plans which involved his capture and forced conversion to the Shadow. When Lews Therin attacked Shayol Ghul, she was sealed deeply within the Bore, and her appearance remained untarnished throughout the three thousand years of her imprisonment.

[edit] The Third Age

Lanfear was released somewhat later than some of her peers as the seals on the Bore weakened. Naturally her first priority was to trace the Dragon Reborn, Rand al'Thor. She took on the disguise of Selene using Illusion, a weave woven from saidar. She tried to push Rand al'Thor to seize power, mainly by seizing the Horn of Valere. She also used her manipulations on main characters such as Mat Cauthon, with as little success. After the Dragon Reborn followed his own path anyway, Selene left but she continued to spy on him through the World of Dreams. Lanfear assumed several other disguises throughout the series, including an Accepted, and an obese peddlar, Keille, and an old woman, Silvie. She frequently visited Rand al'Thor privately in her true form and tried to convince him to rule the world beside her, using the two great sa'angreal, the Choedan Kal to dominate the world. She proclaimed her love for him many times, but he scorned her with his memories of her from the Age of Legends. Behind the scenes Lanfear attempted to elicit the help of other Forsaken, namely Graendal, Rahvin and Sammael to help her overwhelm the Dragon Reborn and convert him to the Shadow. Her tenuous plan had a questionable outcome but as it was reaching some sort of fruition, a darkfriend informed her that Rand al'Thor had slept with Aviendha, an Aiel Maiden of the Spear.

This news caused Lanfear to go into a murderous rage, and after skinning the darkfriend alive, she encountered Rand al'Thor and his party at the Docks in Cairhien. Rand al'Thor barely stopped her from killing Egwene al'Vere and Aviendha instantly, but they were both left severely injured. Lanfear killed many people at the Docks by channeling waves of fire. She also severely injured Lan Mandragoran and Moiraine Damodred, the latter who had seen a vision of her battle with Lanfear. Lanfear and Rand al'Thor eventually found themselves in a deadly duel, with Lanfear finally deciding to kill him after he swore he would never love a woman sworn to the Shadow. In perhaps one of the greatest battles in the series, Lanfear declared "if you are not mine you are dead" and overwhelmed Rand. Lanfear's near victory was due to Rand's incapability to harm a woman, a white ivory angreal bracelet and Lanfear's own rage, which caused her to lash out directly at Rand. On the brink of death, Rand al'Thor was saved when Moiraine tackled Lanfear and physically pushed them both into a ter'angreal which cut them off from the world.

[edit] Cyndane

For several books, Lanfear was believed to be dead. Although it has not been stated directly, Cyndane's hatred for Rand al'Thor and memories she has been shown to have, make it extremely likely that she is the reincarnation of Lanfear, the most powerful of the female Forsaken, and the only one to have been dead at the time. This is buttressed by the fact that Cyndane means "Last Chance" in the Old Tongue.

For reasons unknown, it has been demonstrated that Cyndane's strength in the One Power is less than Lanfear's was (though remarkably, still greater than Graendal's - a woman of great power). However, her desire to prevent her former lover Lews Therin Telamon (in his current incarnation as the Dragon Reborn) from ever being happy with another woman has transferred intact. She is currently being controlled by Moridin by means of a mindtrap, which may be preventing her from acting on her previous notions of confronting the Dark One and the other Forsaken by acting in concert with al'Thor.

In Chapter 35 of Winter's Heart, there are instances of Cyndane's perspective where it states she was more powerful before her encounter with the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, who Lanfear certainly met if she survived fighting Moiraine through the twisted red door ter'angreal, and mentions her intent to challenge both the Dark One and the Creator at the Dragon Reborn's side, which Lanfear proposed to him.

She appeared at the Cleansing of saidin where she swore to kill Rand al'Thor yet again. She narrowly escaped the defenses mounted to protect him, and ended up dueling Alivia, an ex-Seanchan damane of great power but very little training. Despite the fact that she injured Alivia, she was repelled from the Cleansing, and saidin was successfully cleansed by the Dragon Reborn. In all Forsaken meetings, she flanks Moridin along with Moghedien. Her hatred for Rand al'Thor is far greater than ever.