Aginor (pronounced AGH-ih-nohr), originally known as Ishar Marrad Chuain, is one of the primary antagonists of the Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan. He is one of the Forsaken.
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Ishar Marrad Chuain was a renowned biologist and Aes Sedai; it is said that no others understood "the most basic structures of living things" the way he did. He was banned from doing any genetic engineering—his true passion—by the Hall of Servants, after conducting some experiments on animals. His work apparently concerned new variations of plant life, both as ornaments and as crops. His strength in the One Power was also considerable, considered second only to Ishamael and Lews Therin Telamon himself. When he escaped from his prison, he boasted to Rand al'Thor and his group that he had faced Lews Therin in the Hall of Servants and "matched him blow for blow."
Aginor turned to the Shadow about three decades after the Bore was drilled in the Dark One's prison. Freed from societal restraint, he was finally allowed to experiment with genetics, and it was he who created the Shadowspawn: Trollocs, Draghkar, Darkhounds, gholam, and others. It is estimated that in order to do this, 35 to 50 million people were killed, not including the ones fed to Trollocs.
Although proud of his achievements, the almost human throwbacks from the Trollocs made him uneasy. Aginor created Trollocs by mixing human and animal stock; when Trollocs mated, most of the offspring were Trolloc, but sometimes stillborn animal throwbacks were the result, and sometimes the human stock dominated: these were the Myrddraal. It is said that not even Aginor knew how Myrddraal got their dark powers, like the ability to see with no eyes, or to vanish/travel via shadows. Graendal mentions in The Path of Daggers that Aginor has said the Myrddraal are "slightly out of phase with time and reality," which explains why their clothes do not flutter in the wind when they move and several other foibles.
When the Chosen were sealed in the Bore, Aginor was closest to the seal, along with Balthamel, so that while his soul was preserved, his body was subjected to the process of aging. He was one of the first to escape, but he was disfigured, described as being old beyond old. His skin was like thin parchment, his scabby scalp had bits of tuffy white hair, his ears looked like old leather, his teeth yellowed, and his eyes sunken. His fingernails had disappeared.
He and Balthamel traveled to the Eye of the World, where they killed Someshta, the Last of the Nym. In doing so, Someshta killed Balthamel. During the battle between Rand al'Thor and Aginor for the pure saidin held within the Eye, Aginor started rapidly regaining his young look, but Rand won. Aginor was burned to ashes by trying to handle too much of the One Power, something Rand never revealed to anyone else.
It is likely that Aginor was recreated as Osan'gar by the Dark One, using the body of a Borderland man (contrast with Aran'gar). Using the name Corlan Dashiva, he posed as a farmer from the Black Hills, and was recruited to the Black Tower. After Dumai's Wells, he was selected, seemingly at random, to be a part of Rand's personal entourage, much to Mazrim Taim's consternation.
It is revealed during the Cleansing of saidin that Osan'gar disguises himself as Corlan Dashiva. He and some other Asha'man desert Rand after their assassination attempt fails. After that, he waits for Rand in Far Madding and attacks him during the Cleansing, failing again to kill him. Cadsuane describes his dead body on the hill as "one dead renegade." There are many hints that Osan'gar is Aginor: his suggestion to Damer Flinn helps create a new way of healing, lost since the Age of Legends; he hates exercises; he thinks of himself and refers to his Talents as genius, much like Aginor the reclusive scientist; and before he is obliterated by Elza, who is ironically a Black Ajah, with Callandor, Osan'gar states that he is the one who created trollocs, and thereby verifying himself as Aginor.
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