A relatively recent organization of male channelers known as Asha'man co-led by Mazrim Taim, Logain Ablar, and Rand al'Thor. Serves as the Spear Counterpart to the White Tower, and uses the polar opposite philosophies. Due to the rather unpleasant reputation of male channelers, this idea is met with less than great praise, but they serve to fight much more readily and with fewer constraints than the Aes Sedai.
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In General
- Almighty Janitor: Due to their training, even a "Soldier" is a very serious threat.
- Badass Army: How Rand first intends for them to help him, hence why he made the organization with "Soldier" as the lowest rank.
- Badass Longcoat: All members of the Asha'man wear long black overcoats.
- Blessed with Suck: Saidin and its Taint are rather horrible ways to die, and inevitable for male channelers. That is, until the end of Book 9, and less as of Book 13, with Nynaeve's discovery of the anti-Taint madness weave.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: An unknown number of them were turned to a forced Face–Heel Turn by Taim by using the "thirteen channelers through thirteen Myrdraal" trick.
- Brought Down to Badass: They're trained to invoke this, should they be cut off from the One Power by shielding or forkroot. Rand brought in a veteran Andoran soldier and an Aiel warrior to train them in sword fighting and martial arts.
- The Dreaded: A quote from the RPG mentions that "The Order of Asha'man represent something feared since the Breaking of the World-an organised brotherhood of men who can channel."
- This attitude is starting to change with the beginning of the Fourth Age, although it is acknowledged by certain characters that this will take some time.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: At least to the rest of the world. Or rather, from nightmare to even worse nightmare.
- Human Weapon: Rand created the Tower for the express purpose of creating weapons for the Last Battle.
- I Am Not a Gun: Rand's last order to the Asha'man is to think of themselves not as weapons, but as men.
- Last-Name Basis: Almost every single one of them is referred to by last name almost exclusively aside from within the Black Tower itself. One notable exception is Logain.
- Magic Knight: They are all trained in both swordsmanship and the Power, and are explicitly referred to as Soldiers.
- Mars and Venus Gender Contrast: Their use of the power is so alien to Aes Sedai that it is impossible to teach one gender how the other uses it effectively. However, Pevara and Androl's double Warder bond and what follows (such as her using his Talent for Gateways) hints that there are ways to get around this to an extent.
- Military Mage: Played with, in that the mages are the military.
- Mundane Utility: People in the Black Tower are told to use their channeling for anything and everything so as to train themselves at all times, as opposed to Aes Sedai who only use channeling when they need to and are punished for using it without permission before being raised to the shawl.
- Person of Mass Destruction: An organization of them. See the Battle of Dumai's Wells for a specific example.
- Spear Counterpart: To the White Tower. They even have their own three-rank system (Soldier—>Dedicated—>Asha'man), just as the Aes Sedai have their own (Novice—>Accepted—>Aes Sedai).
- Training from Hell: Trainees are pushed relentlessly to develop their power, so their attrition rate is much higher than the more forgiving White Tower. Justified in that the Tower was founded with the knowledge that the Last Battle was coming soon.
- The Unfettered: Unlike the White Tower. Asha'man have none of the moral constraints of Aes Sedai except their own compunctions, leading them to be able to perform weaves that Aes Sedai never would, such as a Ludicrous Gibs maker and Aligning the Matrix to make Power-wrought weaponry.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: And they're the good guys! ...mostly.
Mazrim Taim
Mazrim Taim, M'Hael of the Asha'man
A "False Dragon", Taim once declared himself the Dragon Reborn as a publicity stunt. Obviously, he's not, but that didn't stop the chaos. Unlike most False Dragons, Taim can actually channel (and very strongly too), and escaped soon after he was captured by Aes Sedai (which is more than can be said for Logain Ablar). He unexpectedly shows up in Book 6 (though he had been The Ghost since Book 2) and is placed in command of Rand's personal Wizarding School, "The Black Tower," where male channelers train to become Asha'man and fight in The Last Battle. Rand trusts him to do this, which is unfortunate, because Taim quite obviously has his own agenda. He's actually a Darkfriend recruited by Demandred and sent to undermine Rand's efforts at organizing male channelers; he ended up bringing enough new Dreadlords to the Last Battle that it got him a promotion to the Forsaken under the name M'Hael.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: The Dark One names him a member of the Chosen in the prologue to Book 14, with the Last Battle imminent, for his services with regards to the Black Tower.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: He is officially named M'Hael by the Dark One in the prologue for Book 14, and joins the ranks of the Forsaken.
- Big Damn Heroes: He arrives at Dumai's Wells with 200 recruits just in time to save Rand from 40,000 angry Shaido warriors, leading to...
- Combat Pragmatist: "Asha'man: kill."
- Custom Uniform: Taim foregoes the ranking pins and standard black coat of the Asha'man, instead wearing a black coat with blue and gold dragons on the arm, a kind of inverse of Rand's natural dragon brands.
- Dark Messiah: The joint-most powerful and arguably the most dangerous False Dragon who ever lived (Logain and Guaire Amalasan were more militarily successful, but neither of them actually escaped the Aes Sedai though he might have had help...).
- Devil in Plain Sight: He's a boundlessly ambitious military commander who's been channeling for a decade with no sign of madness, who resents the Dragon, and whose subordinates avoid speaking his name, preferring instead to refer to him by a vaguely ominous-sounding word in the Old Tongue. Logain seems to be the only person to see any danger signs in this. However, A Memory of Light shows that most of the Asha'man who weren't his cronies began to suspect he was up to no good; he used a dreamspike to keep anyone from Travelling to or from the Black Tower and catching on, and then used Myrddraal to help Turn those who still resisted him.
- Even before he started showing his true colors, the voice of Lews Therin in Rand's head screams to kill him whenever Taim is around. Unfortunately, Rand ignores this, considering Lews Therin says that a lot.
- The Dragon: Spends most of the Last Battle acting as this for Demandred.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He despises rapists, and goes out of his way to kill them. Slowly. He has no problem whatsoever with Mind Rape, though...
- Evil Counterpart: To Logain. They're leaders of factions in the Black Tower, roughly equally matched in the Power, and heavily involved with the Seals.
- Just the First Citizen: M'Hael just means "leader" in the Old Tongue, which doesn't sound very impressive as a title- until you consider that without specifications, the word M'Hael by itself implies that he leads everyone and everything. Führer also means leader in German.
- Manipulative Bastard: Knows how to manipulate people, as any good Mole in his position should.
- Meaningful Rename: Originally, M'Hael was just his title. After he became a Forsaken, it became his name. This leads to a few amusing moments when he has to keep reminding himself of his new name.
- In a more meta-sense, M'Hael sounds somewhat like Michael, as in the Archangel Michael who cast Lucifer from Heaven on the orders of God. Rand is Lews Therin reborn, whose name and reputation are reminiscent of Lucifer. So he's a perversion of the Biblical story with Michael cast as the Devil, as Taim tries to expel Rand from the Tower in the service of the resident God of Evil; Rand's naïve trust in Taim evokes Lucifer being able to fool both Michael and God that he was a good guy until the 11th hour too. For bonus points, one of the other names for Lucifer / Satan is The Dragon.
- The Mole: For the Shadow. He was so good at it he got promoted to the Forsaken.
- Power Levels: Almost as strong as Rand in the Power.
- Putting on the Reich: Assigns titles blatantly stolen from the Germans. His own title - M'Hael - means leader; however his use of it as an unqualified title actually translates more to "Führer". (Phonetically, its also evocative of "heil".)
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: According to the companion, rape is the only crime that Taim despises utterly. Taim goes out of his way to kill rapists. Slowly.
- The Resenter: Fulfills exactly the same role towards Rand that Demandred did towards Lews Therin Telamon. Ironically, Demandred himself ended up as his mentor.
- Red Herring: Taim is introduced in the same book as Demandred, only a few chapters after Demandred gets an important task from the Dark One. When he and Rand come face to face for the first time, Lews Therin starts screaming about killing the Forsaken in Rand's head. At the end of the book, after Taim plays an integral part in the climax, Demandred is lauded for the success of his plan by the Dark One. The two also have a physical resemblance, most obviously in their hooked noses. Despite the hints, Robert Jordan confirmed that Taim is not Demandred in disguise, one of the very few times he ever Jossed something. So why the red herring? Jordan changed plans: his notes have confirmed that Taim was supposed to have been Demandred, as well as Asmodean's killer, but that fans figured it out earlier than he would have liked.
- Also, his mutual hatred with Logain is built up so much that a fight between the two False Dragons is expected. Instead, Logain fights Demandred in the Last Battle, while Taim faces off with his White Tower counterpart Egwene.
- Shadow Archetype: To both Logain and Rand.
- Snowballing Threat: Rand entrusts the Black Tower to him despite immediate misgivings and doesn't follow up on evidence that Taim is The Mole. Over the course of nine books, Taim builds a personal power base within the Tower to subvert Rand's control, forcibly Turns many people there to the Shadow, becomes the first new Forsaken in over 3000 years, and brings a force of Asha'man Darkfriends to the Final Battle.
- The Starscream: Even though Rand is not the Big Bad though it's later revealed that Taim is working for the Big Bad, and not just for his own ambitions. He plots to pull a more traditional version on Demandred- including getting smacked down handily for his troubles.
- Taken for Granite: Turned to crystal by Egwene during the Last Battle by her anti-balefire "Flame of Tar Valon" weave.
Logain Ablar
Logain Ablar
False Dragon at the same time as Mazrim Taim, he appears early on in the series, when Rand sees him being paraded through Caemlyn. Also an extremely powerful channeler, second only to Taim and Rand himself. He later reappears every now and then, as a supremely depressed individual focused only on revenge against the Red Ajah. Then he got his mojo back and leads one of the two factions of the Black Tower.
- The Ace: One of the most powerful male channelers in history, surpassed only by Ishamael and Rand himself (and technically Rahvin, according to the Companion) and a match for the likes of Demandred - who acknowledges his raw strength - led a nearly successful campaign as a false Dragon, cunning, can see Ta'veren, and commands his own faction within the Black Tower.
- Blue Blood: A minor lordling from Ghealdan. He had his estate confiscated after he proclaimed himself The Dragon Reborn.
- Bookends: In Logain's first appearance, the people of Caemlyn look at him in awe, and in his final appearance, the Caemlyn refugees look at him in awe. The difference is that the first time, the people are terrified of his power, but the second time, they are grateful for having been rescued from Trollocs. See What You Are in the Dark below.
- Brainwash Residue: He didn't actually get Turned to the Shadow, but he came away with some serious PTSD.
- Broken Ace: After being Gentled. He recovers from it before joining the Asha'man. In AMoL: after being captured by Taim, tortured and subjected to the 13x13 trick (which failed to Turn him), he becomes a bit unhinged and obsessed with gaining power so he'll Never Be Hurt Again. He gets better.
- Cassandra Truth: The very first time he meets Rand, Logain tells him that Taim has his own agenda. Rand really should have listened...
- Curb-Stomp Cushion: He gets beaten to a pulp by Demandred in the Last Battle, but puts up a decent fight and manages to retreat with his skin more or less intact.
- Determinator: Resists being Turned to the Shadow through sheer force of will, though it was explicitly noted that he wouldn't be able to last much longer and the thirteenth attempt would have utilized a circle of women, as it's much easier to Turn someone of the opposite gender.
- Fate Worse than Death:
- Was the last False Dragon to be gentled by the White Tower.
- Almost suffered the fate of being Turned to the Shadow.
- A Father to His Men: Implied. In contrast to Rand who founded the Black Tower and then left it to its own devices, and Taim who is a brutal disciplinarian (and also evil) Logain clearly has the interests of his fellow Asha'man in mind, and they respect him greatly for it.
- First-Name Basis: In contrast to the rest of the Black Tower asha'man.
It may be a consequence of his title being revoked after he became a False Dragon. - Four-Star Badass: A skilled military commander and one of Rand's right-hand men.
- Good Feels Good: For most of the story he is only nominally on the good guys side due to being opposed to Mazrim Taim and generally opposed to the Shadow. After he saves a group of refugees during the Last Battle and they start heaping praise and adoration on him, he decides that he genuinely wants to be the hero they take him for.
- Informed Attribute: His rivalry with Taim, despite being one of the focal points of the Black Tower story, happens entirely offscreen. Logain and Taim share only ONE scene together in the entire series and by that point, Taim's true loyalties have been laid bare. A Justified Trope, for the most part, since neither he nor Taim have POV sections until the last book, Rand largely leaves the Black Tower to its own devices, and very few of the other POV characters can or want to go there.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Through much the Last Battle, but his decision to save Camelyn's refugees over taking Demandred's Amplifier Artifact cements it. It could be a sign of madness hitting him, or PTSD.
- Jumped at the Call: Genuinely believed he was the Dragon Reborn and was punished for it."This is our war", Mat snapped. "Every one of us"."I stood forth to fight", Logain said. "And what was my reward? Ask the Red Ajah. They will tell you the reward of a man abused of the Pattern". He barked a laugh. "The Pattern demanded a Dragon! And so I came! Too soon. Just a little too soon".
- Missed the Call: Laments the fact that he was "too early" to be the Dragon Reborn, though acknowledges that he wouldn't want that burden anyway having seen what it's done to Rand.
- Morality Pet: Gabrelle ends up as his.
- Number Two: To Rand, among the male channelers. Technically Taim is the leader of the Asha'man, but Logain's the one actually working with Rand. He's also equal to Taim in the Power and just behind Rand. It's fitting that he's the channeler who fights a sa'angrael and circle-enhanced Demandred in the Last Battle, as both men are/were the Number Twos to Rand/Lews Therin in their respective Ages.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: When he leads the rescue of the Caemlyn refugees during the Last Battle
- Only Sane Man: Ironic, considering the taint, but up until he gets some allies in the Black Tower and Rand has his epiphany on Dragonmount, Logain is the only one who sees anything wrong with Taim.
- Put on a Bus: Logain is mentioned once in passing at the beginning of The Gathering Storm, and is completely absent from the rest of the book, and from Towers of Midnight. Turns out he got abducted by Taim and was being tortured.
- Red Herring: His mutual hatred with Taim is built up so much that a fight between the False Dragons is expected. But instead Taim fights his counterpart Egwene and dies, while Logain fights the more powerful Demandred and despite losing, survives.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Not that any of the characters are attracted to him, except Gabrelle.
- Took a Level in Badass: More accurately, retook one after Nynaeve ungentled him by accident.
- He's Back!: In-universe, not that that proves to be much of a problem.
- Took a Level in Cynic: After almost being turned by the 13x13 trick.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: Slowly beginning to recognize this especially after his fight with Demandred.
- Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to talk about anything Logain does after book four and especially after book six without spoiling some key plot twists.
- What You Are in the Dark: Near the climax of the Last Battle, he's given two choices. He can keep searching for the nearby Amplifier Artifact he thinks he needs to gain dominance after the war is over. Or he can lead his remaining forces to save hundreds of refugees from being slaughtered. He chooses the latter, and eventually discovers that the love and loyalty of the people are a way to power too.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He gets a serious dressing down from Rand after he and his followers forcibly bond the fifty-one Aes Sedai sent to gentle and hang the Black Tower Asha'man.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: His final scene in the series.
Jur Grady
Jur Grady
A Dedicated who works with Perrin, Grady is one of the most prominent lower Asha'man in the series.
- Happily Married: To Sora Grady. They have a son named Gadren.
- The Medic: A very skilled healer with saidin.
- Mindlink Mates: Bonded his wife.
- Not So Above It All: After the cleansing of saidin, he is far more likely to be just as emotional as any of the central characters, or at least stoop to similar antics at times.
- Not So Stoic: Shows true joy to Perrin after finding out about the cleansing of saidin, since he isn't doomed to go mad and die anymore and can be with his family again. He also freaks out when he unleashes the curse of Hinderstap on the Dreadlords in Book 14 without being told about it by Mat.
- The Stoic: Far and wide, he remains stoic outwardly, though the pain he must be causing to his wife from his imminent madness is probably part of the reason.
- Teleporters and Transporters: Known to be skilled in the use of Gateways, as one of the reasons he stays with Perrin.
Fager Neald
Fager Neald
A Soldier that works with Perrin and previously served as one of Rand's bodyguards.
- Teleporters and Transporters: Both he and Grady spend most of their time providing gateways for Perrin's army.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: In a sense. He assists Perrin in forging the first power-wrought weapon in over two thousand years by instinctively Aligning the Matrix.
Damer Flinn
Damer Flinn
An elderly Asha'man that travels with Rand's party, and one of the first to reach the rank of Asha'man.
- An Arm and a Leg: His left arm is burned off in battle in Book 14.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: Chosen for this duty after Dumai's Wells, and later chosen by Rand as one of only three Asha'man he believes he can trust.
- Jumped at the Call: One of the first men to answer, and the first to be tested.
- Last-Name Basis: For the most part, Rand refers to the Asha'man impersonally by last names.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: At the end of Book 9, upon seeing Flinn while Rand is trying to cleanse saidin, Demandred thinks 'it's just an old guy with a woman, easy meat'. Then Flinn blasts him with fire on sight.
- The Medic: Is pretty much the male equivilent to Nynaeve. Joined the Black Tower so that he could learn to heal. He's quite good at it, to the point where he saves Rand from a wound caused by the Shadar Logoth dagger (though, like everyone else, he can't heal the scars), and discovers the saidin cure for severing.
- Old Soldier: One of the first men to join the Black Tower, and one of the first to reach Asha'man rank.
- Retired Badass: Retired from the Queen's Guard of Andor after forty years of service.
Jahar Narishma
Jahar Narishma
A young Arafellin man recruited by Mazrim Taim to join the Black Tower, and becomes a personal bodyguard of Rand.
- Almighty Janitor: Specifically gets mocked by a couple of full Asha'man for only being a Soldier and yet being appointed to Rand's bodyguard and various missions.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: Chosen after Dumai's Wells, and one of the three to go to protect Rand when he cleanses saidin.
- Last-Name Basis: For Rand, like all Asha'man except Logain.
- Power Levels: His strength in the Power is described by Rand himself as "just behind Logain, who was just behind himself." Considering Rand is as powerful as a human can be, this is quite powerful.
- Psychic Link: Bonded by the Aes Sedai Merise as her Warder.
- Underestimating Badassery: Despite the mockery directed at him, he is somehow able to survive the "additions" that had been made to the wards Rand set around Callandor when he was sent to fetch it.note The fact that a line of prophecy in the Karaethon Cycle even implies that his having drawn Callandor gives him a special destiny ("who draws it out shall follow after") also suggests there is more to him than it seems on the surface. Eventually, he heals Lan of the injuries Lan sustained fighting Demandred.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: At least a little wide-eyed and surprised at the thought of Taim poisoning the Asha'man who go insane and full of idealistic optimism about Rand's plan to cleanse saidin.
Androl Genhald
Androl Genhald
A Dedicated loyal to Logain at the Black Tower. Despite being incredibly weak in the Power, he has a Talent with Gateways. He reluctantly adopts a leadership position over some of the men loyal to Logain while Logain was away from the Tower.
- Battle Couple: With Pevara during the Last Battle due to their growing affection over the course of Book 14.
- Beware the Nice Ones: When pushed far enough. All those fancy weaves of Fire and Air that the other channelers use? He can open Gateways to not only block projectiles, but send them back. If that doesn't kill the enemy, he can turn the floor into a giant portal and send his foes plummeting hundreds of feet to their deaths. He even gets a One-Hit Kill on a Myrddraal by using a portal as a floating guillotine. And that's just under his own power, give him control of a circle and he'll open several massive gates straight into the heart of a volcano and hose down an army with high pressure magma using a Gateway inside of Dragonmount.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Androl was many, many things before he found a place to belong in the Black Tower.
- Guile Hero: Shows shades of this throughout A Memory of Light, especially in the way he steals the Dark One's Seals from Taim.
- Impersonation Gambit: How he obtains the Dark One's Seals.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: His fellow Asha'man make fun of him because he's only good for gateways (his nickname is 'pageboy' since gateways are frequently used to send messengers). He is one of two in the entire series who can deflect balefire directly in the real world, by redirecting it via mini-gateways. Everyone else either dodges balefire or dies. He also defeated an entire Trolloc army in a matter of minutes, a feat topped only by Rand himself.
- Indy Ploy: How he steals the Dark One's Seals from Taim. He uses a spell to change his face to look like one of Taim's lackeys and quietly infiltrate the group, only to be noticed immediately. Taim decides to send said lackey to infiltrate the good guy's group by changing his face to look like Androl's. Androl humbly obeys Taim's orders, but not before pickpocketing the Seals.
- "Jump Off a Bridge" Rebuttal: Pevara tries to pull one on him. It doesn't work, because Androl has actually jumped off cliffs with the Sea Folk before.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: He seems an unlikely hero, until he finally steps up as a leader when he learns Logain has been captured by Taim. He never gives up, even when he and the rest of his group are caught and on verge of being Turned. Once he regains his ability to use Gateways, he promptly wipes out a whole group of Darkfriends and sends Taim running.
- Mundane Utility: He often uses mini-gateways for mundane tasks. Don't have the best tools with you when impromptu leatherwork needs doing, but need to cut something exactly? Mini-gateway! He also summons a tiny gateway between his fingers that connects directly to his piled stash of tea leaves: the leaves fall through the gateaway and directly into a tea cup. This is as close as the series gets to summoning food via the Power.
- Mysterious Past: Has done a lot of stuff before joining the Black Tower, but doesn't like to talk about it.
- Noodle Incident: As Pevara notes, Androl has had a very varied past, based just on the things he offhandedly mentions. For one thing, he's tried to play the Game of Houses in the past. And that's all he will say on the subject.
- Psychic Link: In Book 14, he and Pevara bond each other as Warders, resulting in a far closer bond than other Warders, to the point of being able to have telepathic communication.
- Mindlink Mates: They grow to have some degree of love for one another over the course of Book 14.
- There is also a degree of irony in this double-bonded boost in weave creation and reading capability on both ends. Remember when a certain Mierin Eronaile Sedai a.k.a. Lanfear hoped to find a power greater than either side of the Power alone? Turns out, it was always right there to be found, no exotic Bore-drilling required: the discovery of the double-warder bond.
- Teleporters and Transporters: He has an extreme Talent for creating gateways, and uses them for a small Portal Cut to shear leatherwork alongside many other uses.
- Thinking Up Portals: Any channeler of sufficient strength can do this, but he does it despite lacking the strength, much more easily and more efficiently than anyone else.
- Underestimating Badassery: None of the Darkfriends consider him as a threat because he - as even he himself admits - is the weakest man at the Black Tower. However, he has very creative and deadly uses for his Talent with Gateways.
- Undying Loyalty: To Logain, not to Rand.
- Weak, but Skilled: There is no one deadlier with Gateways than he is, but he is the absolute weakest user of saidin in the Black Tower. It's because he can't call upon much else that he's found ways of using them (both mundane and frightening) nobody else even suspected were possible. Including Forsaken.
- Weaponized Teleportation: Uses his gateways for such methods as Attack Reflector, Tele-Frag, and Lava Adds Awesome. The fact that the portals are lethal weapons in themselves by way of Portal Cut is almost unnecessary, though he does use them this way as well, such as decapitating a Myrddraal in midair.
