Shaidar Haran is a fictional character in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
In the Old Tongue Shaidar Haran means "Hand of the Dark". He looks like a Myrddraal but is much taller and seems to have a sense of humor. Whereas most Myrddraal wear all black robes, Shaidar Haran has been known to wear leather and even silk, so black that it seems to soak up the light around it. His standing with the Dark One is noted by the Forsaken on many instances: Demandred notices that the spikes on the ceiling of the tunnel to the Pit of Doom clear Shaidar Haran's head by a hand or two, while he is forced to crawl through the tunnel with the spikes still scratching at him, and Semirhage is told that obeying Haran is obeying the Great Lord and disobeying him is tantamount to disobeying the Great Lord. We also learn that this Myrddraal is able to smell the difference between saidar and saidin. Also in two cases while in Shaidar Haran's presence channelers were unable to feel the One Power, let alone channel it. Yet Shaidar Haran is limited in his ability to travel freely as he feels weak when away from Shayol Ghul too long, a limitation he is eager to sever. This creature is thus suspected by many readers to be an Avatar of the Dark One.
In The Gathering Storm, he recently visited Semirhage in her captivity, telling her of the Dark One's disappointment in her failure. He freed her from the Dragon Reborn Rand al'Thor's Aes Sedai companions and informed her she had one final chance to redeem herself. Haran appears briefly at the end of Towers of Midnight to Graendal, who is responsible for the "loss" of three Forsaken - the deaths of Aran'gar and Asmodean - and the mental destruction of Mesaana. It is unknown whether Haran killed her for her failures.
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