An Ajah is a sub-organization within the Aes Sedai of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. The Black Ajah is a secret society of Aes Sedai who have forsaken the Three Oaths. This Ajah supports the Dark One, and its members are also active members of the other seven Ajahs to keep their anonymity.
The Black Ajah has been secret until quite recently. Their existence was not acknowledged (in fact it was considered almost dangerous to mention the Black Ajah to Aes Sedai) until Liandrin and a group of twelve other Blacks fled the Tower with a number of stolen items of the One Power. The Black Ajah currently has its own set of oaths, of which two have been revealed: it prohibits members of the Ajah from revealing other sisters as Black, the existence of the Ajah at all, or the Ajah’s current plans, and not to betray the Dark One or the ajah until the last hour of her life. As of The Gathering Storm, the Black Ajah remain at large, but are severely weakened following a purge of their numbers by Egwene al'Vere.
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It is believed that the Black Ajah was founded by the Forsaken Ishamael, but currently it reports to Mesaana, who is undercover in the White Tower. The Ajah is administered by a supreme council of thirteen, the head of which is Alviarin Freidhen, the only member of the Black Ajah to know the identities of all Black sisters.
The leader of the Black Ajah is given the title Head of the Great Council of Thirteen. The Ajah is organized into a series of units called hearts, which consist of three sisters who know only each other and one other woman from another heart.
An Aes Sedai of the White Ajah (ostensibly), Alviarin Friedhen has a swan neck, and is tall and slim. Not only is Alviarin secretly head of the Supreme Council of the Black Ajah, she is made Keeper of the Chronicles when Elaida Sedai is raised to the Amyrlin Seat. She reports only to the Forsaken known as Mesaana, although she schemes even against her. Elaida later discovers that Alviarin has been plotting and strips of her the office of Keeper although she does not know what Alviarin plots or that she is Black Ajah. Alviarin later approaches Egwene al'Vere while Egwene is held captive in the Tower and offers to aid her, but Egwene refuses Alviarin's assistance. Alviarin receives frequent punishments as penance for her disloyalty to Elaida during Egwene's captivitity, but often arrives late to receive them.
After a recent meeting with Mesaana, Alviarin was marked by Shaidar Haran - who was there to reprimand the Forsaken for her failure to answer a summons - as his property and under his protection. What effect this will have on Mesaana's authority over Alviarin remains to be seen.
Eventually Verin, in the hour of her death after taking a lethal dosage of poison, betrays the Black Ajah by giving Egwene a list of most of their names, including Alviarin's. During the Seanchan raid on the White Tower immediately afterwards, Alviarin and most of the other Black Ajah who were stationed there flee.
Originally introduced as Red Ajah, Liandrin is revealed to be Black Ajah. She has dark brown eyes and honey-colored hair, which she wears in a multitude of thin braids. She is pretty, having a doll's face and a rosebud mouth.
Liandrin is from Tarabon and she grew up envious of anyone with power (Her father sold fruit from a barrow to feed his family). Despite her less-than-plentiful upbringing, however, she copies the way that nobles speak. However, if she is angry, she will revert back to her roots and speak like a commoner.
She learned she could channel a year before enrolling as a Novice, and swore the oaths as a Darkfriend before she even went to the White Tower, and sought out the Black Ajah as soon as she learned she could channel. She does not consider herself a wilder, however, as she loathes all wilders.
Liandrin convinced Nynaeve al'Meara, Egwene al'Vere, Elayne Trakand, and Min Farshaw that Rand al'Thor needed their help, and she led them through the Ways to Toman Head. When they came out, she betrayed them to the Seanchan, to become damane. She then returned to the White Tower and, with the help of twelve other Black sisters, stole several ter'angreal from the Tower storerooms. They fled Tar Valon, killing 21 people, including three Aes Sedai and two Warders.
Liandrin's group travelled to Tear and set up camp in the Stone of Tear, obeying the Forsaken Be'lal. Nynaeve, Elayne, and Egwene- having escaped the clutches of the Sul'dam, followed them, but the Black sisters captured them again. After Rand took the Stone, they fled to Tanchico and Liandrin had Jaichim Carridin seize the Panarch’s Palace for them so that they could locate the male a'dam inside it. However, when riots broke out in the city, Liandrin and the others were once again forced to run.
Liandrin and the Black sisters travelled to Amador and stayed in the house of a Darkfriend merchant. It was there that Moghedien found them and took command of the group. Liandrin was ordered to search for Nynaeve, though she and her fellow Blacks had little success. When Moghedien was attacked by Nynaeve in Tel'aran'rhiod and was at her weakest, Liandrin seized her chance to try to Compel the Forsaken. Unfortunately for her, Moghedien blocked her attack and decided to punish her severely. She shielded her and tied it off in a knot so complicated, only another Forsaken could unravel it, and Compelled her to live. Moghedien then ordered Temaile to soften her up and then give to Evon to work as a scullery girl. When the Seanchan invaded Amadicia, Liandrin was captured by the High Lady Suroth and made da’covale.
Liandrin with Amico Nagoyin, Asne Zeramene, Berylla Naron, Chesmal Emry, Eldrith Jhondar, Falion Bhoda, Ispan Shefar, Jeaine Caide, Joiya Byir, Marillin Gemalphin, Temaile Kinderode fled the White Tower, exposing themselves as Black Ajah, during the third book of the saga. When they left they killed three Aes Sedai and took several ter'angreal with them. They left the Tower and fled to Tear in a complex plot by Mesaana and Be'lal to kill Rand al'Thor and obtain Callandor. Their plan was to lead Egwene al'Vere and Nynaeve al'Meara to Tear, where they were to be used as bait to draw Rand. The plan worked, and the two women and Elayne Trakand were captured. Matrim Cauthon rescued them while inadvertently aiding Rand al'Thor and the Aiel in taking the Stone of Tear.
Joiya and Amico were caught, but the other remaining black sisters managed to avoid capture and fled to Tanchico, in search of ter'angreal to control Rand. After arriving, they lived in a house that used to belong to a darkfriend merchant. They then gained access to the Panarch's Palace and held the newly invested Amathera captive. Unbeknownst to them, they were followed again by Elayne and Nynaeve, who had been told where they were going by Amico. Elayne and Nynaneve managed to obtain the ter'angreal before the black sisters, free Amathera and leave the palace before it was overrun by an angry mob. Liandrin and the rest escaped and moved to Amador, where Moghedien took over the group that Liandrin had been leading, and sent them to do her bidding.
Galina is an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah; she is also their leader known as "the Highest". She is also second-in-command of the Supreme Council of Black Ajah, knowing who Alviarin is. Galina has long black hair, a plump round face and hard eyes.
She was sent by Elaida a'Roihan, the newly raised Amyrlin Seat, to bring Rand al'Thor back to the White Tower so that they would 'keep him safe' until Tarmon Gai'don, which in reality turns out to be the torture and imprisonment of Rand. In book six, Lord of Chaos, this plan was abandoned when a battle between the Tower Aes Sedai, the Asha'man, Aiel and Perrin Aybara with the Two Rivers men ensued. Galina was observed by Gawyn falling off her horse after the battle and then disappearing.
Thought dead by Mesaana, she was captured by the Shaido Aiel, named da'tsang ("despised one"). Later, she is made to swear to obey Sevanna and the Wise One Therava using a "binder" or Oath Rod and made gai'shain. She is now Lina, a well-trained servant and Therava's personal plaything.
After Faile Bashere and her party are captured by the Shaido, Galina is sent to Heal them. She finds out who Faile is, and uses that to blackmail her into getting the Oath Rod that Therava has so Galina may free herself.
She finally gets her hand on the Oath Rod when Faile announces to her that she has taken it. Galina tells her to meet her in a charred building in Malden in a few days. It is there that she sets a trap to kill Faile and the others so that she may escape. When Perrin attacks and drives the Shaido away, Therava finds her and forces her once again to become gai'shain. She is forced to swear an oath that she will never touch the binder again, or try to run away. She is now completely broken.
Verin is an Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah, and secretly the Black Ajah. Verin has grayed hair and is considered to be one of the oldest Aes Sedai alive; likely over 200 years old. Like all members of the Brown Ajah, she devotes herself to knowledge and the pursuit of it; as a result, she has a tendency to go on fruitless tangents in dire conversations, and appear lost in thought at inopportune moments. Unlike other Brown sisters, however, she may only appear to be in these reveries to disguise her intentions, as she is at times very sharp and insightful, a trait very uncommon among true Browns. Moiraine Damodred remembers her particularly fondly from her days as a Novice and Accepted as Verin used to have the cooks leave sweets out for her and Siuan Sanche. Verin also told Morgase Trakand that there was no real need for her to remain in the Tower as she would never be able to do much with her limited talent even with teaching. Her rooms in the Brown Ajahs quarters are located next to a tapestry of two Kings who lived before Artur Hawkwing. Her rooms are full of books, scrolls, maps and skulls. There is also a Brown Owl that sits on a skull that is kept to keep the mice down as they chew paper. She elects plain garb, shying away from the finer silks and fabrics the other sisters prefer. She almost always keeps a writing case on her belt in order to jot down notes on certain goings-on when she feels it is important. Her notes take up many cupboards and chests in her room in the Tower. The notebooks are written in a cipher to prevent anyone reading what she is really writing about; at present she is considering writing out the cipher so that her work will not be lost when she dies. Her skills in the power can be counted as average: her Healing skill is no more than normal, and her skill with Earth is quite feeble; she has, however, discovered a weak form of Compulsion, similar to the form Liandrin of the Black Ajah uses. This was purely an exercise in curiosity at first and was done by piecing together fragments of wilders tricks to get people to do as they wished. In The Gathering Storm, we learn that Verin is actually a member of the Black Ajah; however, she had only joined to prevent her own death. Her warder, Tomas, was also a darkfriend and promised to help Verin with her study of the Black Ajah as he did not want to be a darkfriend any longer. She later made the decision to study the Ajah in order to eventually betray them to the Light. Using a loophole in her oaths to the Dark One, not to betray Him or the Ajah until the last hour of her life, Verin poisons herself and then reveals all of her secrets to Egwene al'Vere as she is about to die.
An Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, Merean was the Mistress of Novices during Moiraine Damodred's novicehood. She appeared to be both strict and understanding at the same time, so that novices and Accepted felt both respectfully afraid and trusting of her as their main caretaker and disciplinarian.
Unfortunately that caring personality was but a mask to hide her more nefarious allegiances as Moiraine later discovered. As a member of the secret Black Ajah, Merean had left the Tower some time after the then Amyrlin Seat, Tamra Ospenya, was murdered. She, like other members of the Black Ajah, was tasked with tracking down the Dragon Reborn. In the process, she became involved in the murders of the secret searchers who had been assembled by Tamra, and at the very least had a hand in killing Larelle Tarsi. Also in Chachin, she kills prince Diryk, believing that he may be the Dragon Reborn, his father Brys and Iselle Arrel. She is eventually killed, seconds too late, by Moiraine who stabs her in the back.
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