Wheel of Time, Shadowspawn

 Servants of the Shadow come in many forms, and each is deadly in their own way. 

Alright, so we’ve covered the basics of the universe and history of the Wheel of time. I thought about going right into character profiles, but decided that I wanted to talk about monsters. Mild Spoilers through out. Shadowspawn are the monsters and the backbone of the Forces of the Shadow army. Created by a combination of magic and science in the Age of Legends by a group of Forsaken scientists, these nightmarish creatures live and breed in the Great Blight, a massive expanse of corrupted land in the far north. They come in a variety of forms, some more common than others. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

Yes, this goat man eats people.

The most common form of Shadowspawn are Trollocs. They are hulking monsters that are carnivorous, with a preference for human flesh. They’re also natural sadists that don’t always kill their victims before they start cooking them. A common metaphor for being totally screwed in the Third Age is to be “in the Trolloc’s cook pot.” They were created during the War of the Shadow by the Forsaken Aginor, whom was attempting to make Super Soldiers. I’m sure there were others working on the project, but shock of shock, Aginor is one to take all the credit. Using advanced science and the One Power (possibly also the True Power, the name given to the Dark One’s personal energy source), he combined human genetic material with that of several different animal species. They used boars, bears, eagles, goats and wolves, to name a few, focusing on animals with high levels of aggression. They eventually created the Trollocs, hulking Chimeric monsters in the shape of men but with various animal characteristics. Trollocs look human, vaguely, but are on average 8 to 10 feet tall. They’re bodies are marked by different animal traits, some have the muzzles of dogs, bears or boars; curling rams’ horns and hooves; and eagle’s beaks and feathers being the most often remarked upon features. They have excellent night vision, some can track by sound or scent, and are universally sadistic. These things kill for fun as often, if not more so, for food.

 

Now, with an army of these monster’s you might be wondering how the Forces of the Light survived. Well, they caught a lucky break, in the beginning at least. See, while Aginor focused on making warriors superior to humans, he actually screwed up royally at making Super SOLDIERS. Trollocs are incredibly lazy, often giving up things like watch posts or chases because they’re bored, and will give up fighting any force unless they have an overwhelming majority. They’re also really freaking stupid, relying on overwhelming force more than on tactics when left to their own devices. So, while their strength and fearsome appearance won them early fights, once you get used to them, they’re pretty easy to out maneuver. But, then, it seemed biology helped them out.

 

Would you believe me if I said some people
are into this?

When Trollocs breed, about 90 percent of their children are born Trollocs, but that remaining ten percent is where things get weird. Most likely due to the unnatural process that gave them life and combined human DNA with animal, there are occasional throwbacks to the stock that made Trollocs. If the offspring is born more animal than man, they always die within the first few hours, their bodies unable to function as partially human boar or bear. If they’re a throwback to human stock… well, that’s when you get Myrddraal.

 

 Myrddraal, Fades, Halfmen, Lurks, Fetches, the Eyeless, Nightrunners, Neverborn, these are all names for these twisted offspring of Trollocs. Myrddraal are more human in shape than their Trolloc forebears, but if the human stock is stronger in them, so is the shadow. Myrddraal with their hoods up resemble incredibly pale men, albeit tall men. But they are far from just that. They are literally eyeless, having smooth skin over where they’re eyes should be. They aren’t blind, though, and actually have greater “vision” than normal humans. Their gaze can induce fear in any person they lock… lack of eyes with. The wind doesn’t disturb their cloaks, and they can vanish into any shadow they reach. Their blood is acidic and will etch steel if left for too long. They’re inhumanly strong, able to lift a person from the ground with a single hand. Extremely sadistic, the Fade like causing pain even more than their Trolloc kin. Aginor himself was admittedly uneasy by these creatures, considering them to be an unfortunate side effect of his great work. Oh, and they’re all identical. Hundreds, if not thousands of the same, maggot white skin, inky black cloaks, and cruel sadistic snarling faces. Disturbing.

A black rider similar to but distinct from
Ringwraiths.

 

Fades are equipped in black armor made up of overlapping scales and black cloaks. Their swords are made in Thakan’dar, the slopes of Shayol Ghul. The swords are somehow made by sacrificing multiple humans in their forging. The swords can match swords made by the Power, and can give grievous wounds with but a scratch, inducing an intense fever that can kill in hours.

 

Halfmen are incredibly hard to kill. The fastest way to kill one is to behead it, but even then, it will thrash around wildly like a chicken with its head cut off until sunset. Yes, that means if you kill one after dark, they can potentially kill people until sunset the next day. They can be dropped with arrows or less grievous wounds, but you have to really pile them on. We’re talking so many arrows that they resemble a pincushion. They’re as vulnerable to channeling as their Trolloc kin, so you better hope an Aes Sedai is near when one starts hunting you.

 

The reason why Lurks were such a huge win for the Shadow is because they made the Trollocs actually useful. Serving as the Shadow’s field commanders, Trollocs fear Myrddraal and obey their commands without question. If they need greater control, Fades can link their minds with their Fist (a group of about 50 Trollocs) and control them with incredible precision. The downside is that if you kill a Myrddraal when it’s linked to its Trollocs, they die too. Another, even crazier ability the have is tied to channeling.  Channelers have an incredibly power to alter the world as they see fit with their weaves. But, for reasons no one could puzzle out, that connection left them vulnerable to being forcibly turned evil. When 13 Black Sisters unite their power and channel it through 13 Myrddral, they can forcibly turn a non-Black channeler to the shadow. It’s said for however staunchly the victim supported the Light, that is how fervently they serve the dark. The process is incredibly slow, however, and it leaves the victim less intelligent and more violent than they were before. And those with enough will and stubbornness can resist the change, at least for a while. Truly a terrifying power for these monsters to have.  

Cover your ears!!

 

Another of the Shadow’s forces is the Draghkar. Appearing to be pale men with unusually large eyes, unhealthily pale skin, oh, and the huge freaking bat wings. They serve as scouts and assassins for the Shadow. They have the power to hypnotize people with their mesmerizing songs, and if someone gets to close, they will capture and devour the victim’s soul. Yes, they are pretty much vampires.

 

A powerful, but limited, servant of the Shadow are Darkhounds. These creatures resemble massive wolves, we’re talking 300+ pounds. Created by taking and corrupting the soul of a wolf, transforming it into unholy beasts of destruction. They hunt in large packs. Their paws leave no print in mud, clay or soft ground, but will burn their prints into stone. Their saliva is acidic and poisonous. A small amount can kill, and even a few drops can basically cause chemical burns on a person. They’re virtually unkillable, their bodies regenerate from most injuries. The only way to destroy the strongest of them is to use powerful weaves like Balefire that obliterates them, or Power-wrought weapons can grievously wound them. Wolves hate Darkhound with a passion. Thankfully, they’re less intelligent than wolves, can be out run, and their numbers appear to be small enough that the Forsaken and other forces of the Shadow don’t like risking large numbers of them.

Shadowbrothers are hunting you.

 

Our next type of Shadowspawn is technically not Shadowspawn. These are the Gray Man. Gray Men are people whom have sacrificed their souls to the Shadow through some unexplained dark rite. Without a soul, the person is still technically alive, but now can go unnoticed by the most observant guards. They can slip through a heavily guarded palace, stab their victim and walk out again without anyone seeing them. Gray Men aren’t invisible, but something about lacking a soul causes them to fade into the background, so even when your eyes may go over them and even register that they have a weapon, your brain doesn’t always detect danger until after the knife is in your guts. With luck, someone can see a Gray Man, which is their big weakness. They’re basically just normal people when you get through this unnatural camouflage of theirs, and can be easily dispatched. Despite the name, Gray Men can be women as well, they’re just much less common than male Gray Men.

 

You'd only be safe in a completely 
sealed box.

The final Shadowspawn we’ll mention is the most dangerous. At the height of the War of Power, the Shadow created the Gholam. The Six Gholam, three female and three male, look like humans but are anything but. They have no bones, and are immensely strong. They use their rubbery form to slide through cracks in doors, or through a mouse hole, they slip into anywhere and kill with ease. They’re strong enough to rip the throats out with their bare hands. All of that is terrifying, but it’s not what made the Gholam true horrors. No, the reason they were so feared is due to an immunity. They’re actually immune to channeling, attack weaves sluff right off them. Throw fire or lightning at them, and the weaves just bounce off, break down or miss all together. Even Balefire, one of the most powerful weaves that can destroy anything else I listed here today so much that it can undo resent actions in time, just sluffs off. I’ll explain balefire later. This immunity is why they were made, to hunt and assassinate channelers. They can sense channelers at fifty paces and can track them for miles. They feed on fresh blood, and often completely dismember victims and suck up their blood. Thankfully, because the Forsaken feared these things about as much as anyone, they only made the six and used them sparingly.

 

So, there you have it, the most ionic of the Shadowspawn. There are other monsters and creatures of the Shadow that I skipped simply because they weren’t really in the story, or were so minimal that they may has well have not been. If you noted similarities to creatures for our own mythology and lore, that is kind of the idea. Time is a Wheel, and while we are the myths and legends of their age, they are the myths and legends of ours. The memory of the Shadowspawn sticks in mortal minds through the generations until we get back to our era, where we may have forgotten the details of Draghkar, the memory remains in the Vampire. We may have forgotten the details of the Trollocs, the name survives as Troll. That sort of thing. While not as iconic as the Orcs of the Lord of the Rings, for now, I think you can see why I love these beasts. Also, speaking of LotR, yes, the Myrddraal are very similar to the Ring Wraiths. They are at least both black cloaked figures that ride black horses and hunt people for their dark master. But, I think the details I mentioned here does make it clear that they’re more an homage to them than a rip off in any way. Now that we’ve covered the world, and the monsters, next time, we’ll get into our heroes. And we’ll start with Rand al’Thor, I’ll see you then. 

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