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1.5.4: Sheriam: Black or Blue?

Prior to TPOD, there was little reason to really believe Sheriam was BA. There was some speculation, based mostly on the fact that Mistress of Novices would be a good position for a Black Sister. Certain examples of Sheriam's behavior towards El, Eg, and Ny could indicate that she is BA, but they all are explained equally well by considering that, in all these instances, she is a high-ranking Aes Sedai (either Mistress of Novices or part of the original Salidar Cabal) and El, Eg, and Ny are students. Here are the examples:

Egwene's Accepted test: she says something like "He said they could turn him to the Shadow, against his will. Can they?" [TDR: 22, The Price of the Ring, 202-203]. Sheriam then tells her about the 13 Dreadlords + 13 Fades trick, but she doesn't wonder who "he" was. On the other hand, why would a Darkfriend tell Egwene about that trick, so that she'd know to watch out for it? As for "he," why should she wonder? The "people" who appear in the testing ter'angreal aren't even always real.
The incident with the Gray Men in the Tower [TDR: 15, The Gray Man, 142-146]. One of them is found dead in Sheriam's bedroom, the other is found killed; we find out in WH that Slayer killed the latter (see section 1.4.02). Nynaeve points out that Sheriam never once wonders about who killed the Soulless; this establishes a possible connection between Slayer and Sheriam (though that's pretty tenuous. The Shadow tends to operate on the principle of not letting one hand know what the other hand is doing - e.g., the attack on the Stone of Tear in TSR). She acts rather suspiciously in general during that whole scene. This can be explained by saying she was just being brusque with the kids because she wanted them to keep quiet. Why should she wonder who killed him in front of the Accepted? To her, they're irresponsible runaways.
Sheriam's also the perfect operative of the Shadow for the Tower-in-exile in Salidar. There were many suspicious things about her treatment of Elayne and Nynaeve when they arrived in Salidar. Sheriam seemed to be the most ardent about confiscating the ter'angreal. Again, it could very well be that she's just being Aes Sedai. Why should she let the kids keep the ter'angreal, or approve of them gallivanting about the glove, instead of studying like they should be? Also, note that there already is a Shadow operative in Salidar, Delana, who as a Sitter is fairly powerful herself.
The only maid of Egwene's who wasn't killed by Halima was Chesa. Chesa was assigned by Sheriam [LOC: 36, The Amyrlin is Raised, 479]. Chesa is possibly a spy for Sheriam, or for Sheriam's master (see below).

In [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 345], however, we discover that Sheriam is definitely under somebody's thumb. In this scene, Sheriam is tortured for information by a mysterious channeler. It is clear that this is not the first time that this has happened. What can we tell from this scene?

Sheriam's tormenter is a channeler. Sheriam is restrained, shielded, and stripped with the Power. We can't say whether this person channels saidin or saidar. One might think that Sheriam would sense a female channeler in her tent. In fact, she might have done so, but it was too late to run away: "She had only time to realize she was not alone when she was shielded..." Note that this fact disqualifies Slayer from being her tormentor, since he cannot channel (see section 1.4.03). More on the Slayer connection below.
The tormenter is not particularly subtle in her/his use of the OP in torturing Sheriam. Sheriam is beaten - "when she was left alone... it was to lie... whimpering from her welts." This tells us little, but it is definitely not Semirhage's style. (Sem's torture of Cabriana in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139-143] is much more complex. Sem stimulates the pain centers of her subject's brain directly.)
The tormenter is questioning Sheriam because he/she wants to know what Egwene was planning: "That girl is up to something, and I want to know what."
This has been going on for some time. The torturer says, "you were supposed to keep me informed."
Sheriam believes her predicament stems from talking to at least one of the Sitters. She wishes "that she had never in her life spoken to a single sister in the Hall."

So, what is going on? Either: 1) Sheriam is BA, and her tormenter is either BA or a Forsaken, 2) Sheriam is BA, and her tormenter is not somebody related to the Dark, 3) Sheriam is not BA, but her tormenter is BA or Forsaken, or 4) Neither Sheriam nor her tormenter is of the Dark. This all basically boils down to two questions: 1) Who is Sheriam's torturer? 2) Does Sheriam's predicament mean she is BA?

Who is pummeling Sheriam?

Before attacking the question of specific suspects, let's address a general question: is the culprit a channeler of saidar or saidin? One argument in favor of saidin is that Sheriam was easily shielded and bound before she noticed anybody was in her tent. Female channelers are supposedly able to sense the presence of other female channelers. Furthermore, no one else, e.g. Egwene, noticed a lot of the OP being used in Sheriam's tent.

However, it's not really possible to eliminate saidar-channelers on this basis. Sheriam may have been able to sense the channeler in her tent if she'd been looking for one. However, she was not expecting her visitor. From [LOC: 27, Gifts, 389-390] we know that an AS can't always pinpoint the location of a channeler she can't see. Thus, even if Sheriam sensed the presence of another woman channeler, she may not have thought it was important, since she's surrounded by woman channelers. Since it is not at all clear she could have pinpointed the channeler's presence to her own small tent, we shouldn't be too surprised that she didn't sense her assailant, even if it was a woman. Also, the attacker may have been using the Power to disguise her ability to channel. All of the Forsaken can do this for sure, Alviarin may have learned it from Mesaana, and others may know how to do it, from some other source which we don't know about yet.

The question of somebody else detecting the flows is a greater objection. However, it is not even close to being an insurmountable obstacle. For one thing, the scene occurs late at night, so most potential witnesses would have been asleep, or at least inside their own tents. Secondly, Sheriam's assailant would have taken precautions to prevent detection-- inverting and tying off the flows which shielded and bound Sheriam, for example. As for the beating itself, as Amy Gray points out, it is possible that "it doesn't take a significantly higher amount of the Power to make clubs of Air and move them around than it does to, say, move a chair with the Power or channel your lamp lit-- the sort of things she might actually be doing in her tent." Furthermore, while it is reasonable to assume that the beating was done with the Power, nothing in the scene indicates that it was actually done that way. It's quite possible that Sheriam was beaten with a stick.

Therefore, we cannot rule out all female channelers as suspects. Let us now turn to the question of particular suspects. The general categories are a Forsaken, a Black Sister, or Somebody Not Affiliated with the Shadow.

Forsaken

General comments: In general, the Forsaken have not shown a predilection for using physical torture to extract information from informants. When the informant is a Darkfriend, they tend to rely on that person's greed, their DF Oaths, and good old-fashioned fear. When the informant is not a sworn DF, most of the Forsaken tend to use Compulsion. If the attacker was a Forsaken, it shouldn't have taken "a long time to convince her questioner that she had already told all she knew, that she would never hold back a word, not a whisper." A Forsaken could have simply Compelled her to spill her guts. However, while this general consideration makes it less likely that the attacker was a Forsaken, we certainly can't rule it out. There is evidence that the attacker was a Forsaken; the method used to strip Sheriam ("Dress and shift burst away from her body like a pricked bubble.") sounds similar to the method Semirhage uses in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139]: "she wielded Fire and Wind, slicing away dress and shift." Semirhage then thinks, "she doubted [the captured Aes Sedai] could duplicate those simple feats even if she had been able to follow them." Semirhage, at least, thinks that modern AS don't know how to do the clothes-stripping trick. Among the Forsaken, the most likely candidates for Sheriam's assailant are Semirhage, Aran'gar/Halima, and Mesaana. A slightly less likely possibility is the mystery man commanding Slayer in WH.

Semirhage: She is the only Forsaken who has shown or expressed a preference for torture over Compulsion as a way to gain information and loyalty [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 140]. However, Sheriam's interrogation is a far cry from that of Cabriana Mecandes in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139-143]. Physically beating her subject seems too mundane, too unsophisticated for Semirhage. Sem has mastered the art of stimulating her subject's brain to feel pain and pleasure directly, a method much more effective than physical attack, and it doesn't leave any marks. It's unlikely that she'd stoop to beating a subject with Air, or Light forbid, a stick.

Aran'gar: For one thing, Halima is right there in the Rebel camp, which gives her very easy access to Sheriam. Aran'gar as the culprit would also explain Sheriam's regrets about talking to Sitters/a Sitter. Aran'gar attached herself to Delana, a BA who is a Sitter. Delana could be the Sitter Sheriam is thinking of.

To this, Pam adds, "Okay, I just had a major 'duh' moment. During the Forsaken Coffee Hour, Aran'gar says, "'My own charge is...' She pressed a thumb down on the edge of the chair as if pinning something and laughed again" [WH: 13, Wonderful News, 314]. Now, we've been assuming that she means Egwene, since she is Egwene's back-rubber, and [is] doing something to Eg to give her headaches. However, Eg really doesn't seem to be totally under anybody's thumb; she's still pretty much the same old Egwene. So, what if her charge ISN'T Egwene? What if it's Sheriam? Sheriam is definitely under somebody's thumb to the degree indicated by Aran'gar. We've got a thumb-er and a thumb-ee, why shouldn't they be matched up? And, as a bonus, we know that Aran'gar (aka Balthamel) is a major-league perv. She may not need to strip Sheriam naked and beat her up to get info, but I can sure believe ex-Balthamel would do it for the fun of it. As to why Sheriam when she has access to Egwene herself, she may mistakenly believe that Sheriam the Keeper is the real power behind the Girl Amyrlin's throne."

Of course, it's hard to believe that Halima is still under the impression that Egwene is a puppet, but she may have thought so originally, and later decided to keep Sheriam as an ace up her sleeve, so to speak. There is the fact that Halima already has Delana to get information on the Sitters and the SAS in general, but Delana has never been part of Egwene's inner circle the way Sheriam is.

There is also evidence concerning Egwene's maid Chesa which provides a connection between Sheriam and Aran'gar, but recent events argue against the idea that Chesa is working for Halima (see section 1.5.5). This doesn't discount the possibility, though, that Chesa is a spy for Sheriam, and simply doesn't know to whom Sheriam is passing her information.

Stronger evidence that Sheriam's torturer is Aran'gar shows up in COT. When the Black Tower/White Tower alliance was proposed in the Hall, Sheriam quite simply flipped out, causing a rather extraordinary scene [COT: 19, Surprises, 471]. Though her reaction could be attributed to stress combined with the general "ick" reflex AS have towards men who can channel, another way of looking at it is that Sheriam freaked because she knew that the absolute last thing Aran'gar/Halima would want is to have a bunch of saidin channelers wandering the Rebel camp, since it would give Halima away in about five seconds flat.

Mesaana: "Mesaana, who to our knowledge has never worked with Halima, but who does have a vested interest in all events concerning the Tower, is a good suspect for the torturer. She does need info on Egwene's plans and, since Sheriam is Egwene's Keeper, would have every reason to believe that Sheriam would be a good source of such information." [Elizabeth Cornwell] However, as far as we know, Mesaana has never shown any interest in the Salidar Aes Sedai; she seems to be concentrating her efforts on the Tower.

Slayer's Employer, whoever he is: Included here because there is a better than even chance that he is Forsaken, though he could be Taim. The only real reason to suspect Slayer's mystery boss is because of the Gray Man incident in TDR, which seems to link Sheriam and Slayer, tenuously. But this is purely circumstantial, and not very helpful in any case, since we don't know who Slayer's boss is, though we suspect he's either Demandred or Taim (see section 1.4.04). One thing in favor of this idea is that that Dem and Taim, if they wanted information on the SAS, would certainly assume that Sheriam is the true boss and Eg is just a figurehead, and would go for her, rather than Eg. OTOH, the torture scene really doesn't seem like either of their styles, and Taim, at least, has never shown anything but disdain for Aes Sedai, and certainly not interest in what they're up to. As a final point, it's worth noting that Slayer has evidently done work for a number of Forsaken, and there's no reason to think that the person who sent him to kill the Gray Man in the Tower, way back in TDR, is the same person who sent him to kill Rand in WH.

Black Ajah

General Considerations: The relative lack of sophistication in Sheriam's interrogation (no Compulsion or other Forsaken-style tricks) makes the Black Ajah (rather than the Forsaken) a good place to look for Sheriam's abuser. Narrowing this suspect pool is difficult, since we only know of one BA in the Salidar group - Delana. Another Black suspect is Alviarin, who can Travel, and who may have been out of the Tower when Sheriam was being beaten up. Apart from these two, the only other BA we know about are too far away from the Salidar army to be candidates. (Of course, there is the possibility that an unknown BA in the Salidar group is the culprit.)

Delana: Delana is a Sitter, which would explain Sheriam's regrets about talking to a Sitter. Delana could be interrogating Sheriam either at Aran'gar's instigation or as an independent effort. (She may be trying to gather information which would put her in good standing with Aran'gar.) A point against her is that she seems like something of a wet hen, so far as BA are concerned, and may not have it in her to torture Sheriam so brutally. Nathan Scott, however, notes that Sheriam arrives very late and flustered to the Hall meeting, and Delana is then the last to show up, also short of breath [COT: 19, Surprises, 460-466]: "I have a feeling that the summons... interrupted something." (Perhaps they were both being chastised by Halima?)

Alviarin: Like Mesaana, Alviarin has a vested interest in keeping tabs on the SAS. If Elaida were to be deposed by the rebels, Alviarin would fall with her. Since she can Travel, we know she's not particularly weak in the OP, and thus could possibly shield Sheriam, who is also relatively strong. Torturing people for information is not beyond her - she is most likely the one who tortured the novice Sahra in [TSR: 17, Deceptions, 204-205], to gain information which led to the Tower coup. She also happily participated in the Questioning of Siuan and Leane. From Elaida, we know that Alviarin may have been out of the Tower at the time Sheriam was being attacked [TPOD: 25, An Unwelcome Return, 492], and since she can Travel, she could have easily made a trip to Salidar. One problem with Alviarin being the attacker is that it doesn't explain Sheriam's thoughts about Sitters. The only possibility which comes to mind is if Elaida's secret plan [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 24-26] involves the SAS Sitters, and Alviarin knows of it. Needless to say, this is a very tenuous connection.

Non-Dark Person

General Considerations: The nature of the attack certainly seems to imply that a Person of the Dark was behind it. The OP was apparently used, and non-Black AS cannot use the OP as a weapon. There are loopholes, as indicated by Rand's adventures with his TAS kidnappers. However, the non-Black TAS quickly became unable to participate in Rand's torture, when they started to believe that it was torture, and not punishment. However, it is conceivable that a non-Black AS could convince herself that using the OP to torture Sheriam was not "using the OP as a weapon." An agent of Elaida's, for example, might regard Sheriam as a rebel, and thus deserving of punishment. Note that Sheriam's treatment falls within Tower custom on questioning by another Aes Sedai [TPOD: 4, A Quiet Place, 106-107]. No blood as far as we know was drawn and the prohibition of dusk and dawn were also met seemingly. People who have been suggested as non-Black attackers are Romanda and Lelaine, mostly because they are Sitters, and they have an interest in knowing what Egwene is up to. John Hamby points out, "Both Romanda and Lelaine are caught off-guard by the news of the Andoran and Murandian armies. I think that Sheriam mentioned something in the Hall that might have let one of the two gain power over her. What this may be is of course not known but my suspicions are that it is the knowledge of the ten spies sent without the Hall's knowing. This is the only piece of info that comes to mind that could bind Sheriam and let this person treat her as such. Also both of these two sisters are considerably older and stronger. So part of her submission could be deference as well as being blackmailed."

Lelaine: Between the two of them, there is a bit more reason to suspect Lelaine than Romanda. Rich Boyé points out, "The fact that Lelaine tries to be sweet and kindly all the time pretty much makes me distrust her. Something must be swimming in her depths, and I think she's prone to lashing out in private. Anyway, she is always patting Egwene and those who she deems inferior (Siuan being the most notable other example), touching cheeks, stroking hair, etc... Before Sheriam's assailant lets fly with the OP, he or she strokes Sheriam's hair." John Hamby adds, "Since Lelaine is Blue and so is Sheriam that might add another layer to the control that Sheriam's questioner has over her. Also this would fit with the part about the ten spies, as no Blues were a part of that group. So Lelaine gains much more with Sheriam under her thumb than she would in exposing a Blue agent."

All that said, at this point it looks like the front-runner for the identity of Sheriam's torturer is Halima.

Does Sheriam's predicament mean she is a Darkfriend or not?

Sheriam's situation has been taken (by different people, obviously) as an indication that a) she is a Darkfriend, and b) she is not a Darkfriend. Here are the arguments:

Sheriam is Black

Prior to this incident, there had already been suspicion cast on Sheriam, most especially from the Gray Men business in TDR. Darkfriends can treat one another quite badly, especially if revenge or a reversal of position is involved (for example, Shiaine's treatment of Falion and Carridin in [TPOD: 28, Crimsonthorn, 553-554]). If Sheriam is not BA, then she must be bound by the Three Oaths, and cannot lie directly. Because of this, her abuser should have been able to easily determine that she had told them all she knew. Of course, her abuser may have thought Sheriam had a poor memory, or maybe he/she just enjoys beating Sheriam up. Furthermore, Sheriam has sworn fealty to Egwene, and should be bound to it by the First Oath. Spying on Egwene surely violates this.

Sheriam is not Black

We do have one scene which strongly suggests that Sheriam is in fact unable to lie and thus is still bound by the Three Oaths. In [ACOS: 8, The Figurehead, 162-163] Sheriam is forced to tell Egwene the truth about the sisters sent back to the Tower as "ferrets." Had Sheriam not been under the Oaths, then she could have simply said "I have no idea about those sisters leaving. If indeed any did, someone else must have sent them." But since she could not lie, and Egwene forced her not to evade or escape the oath by omission, then Sheriam had to tell Egwene about the ferrets [Jeremey Dobbins]. Of course, BA have long had to imitate being bound by the First Oath in order to avoid being caught in a lie. This may have been why Sheriam allowed the truth to be wrung out of her, especially since we must assume that at least one of the Salidar Six is not Black, and therefore if asked would contradict Sheriam's story, if she denied sending the ferrets.

Another piece of evidence in favor of Sheriam's innocence is, oddly enough, her slacking off of her duties as Egwene's Keeper. In [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 330], Egwene notes, "The post of secretary provided [Siuan and Egwene] another reason to be seen talking, and Sheriam had not minded at all giving up the work." Contrast this with Sheriam's previous behavior; she was only too happy to take care of all the paperwork [ACOS: 8, The Figurehead, 158]. Consider that the secretarial duties of being Keeper give Sheriam access to all of Egwene's doings, and all the details of what the Amyrlin is up to. Perhaps she allowed SS to take over the position of secretary to limit her own knowledge. After all, she can't report on what she doesn't know. Avoiding her responsibilities as Keeper could be her way of keeping her oath of fealty while being under the thumb of her abuser.

Sheriam's thoughts in the torture scene don't seem to be entirely consistent with the theory that she is BA. Consider her thought to herself along the lines of "I'll never talk to another Sister." Clearly her torturer wants her gathering information, so the comment reflects her regret at getting into this situation in the first place, not her obedience to her controller.

Elizabeth Cornwell: "If she's BA, the comment would have to indicate that, at some point, a Sister, working as an evangelist for the Dark Side, got Sheriam into a conversation about the terrific feeling you get working for the Dark Lord, and, after shoving a few inspirational pamphlets at her, converted her to the cause. This doesn't, to me, really sound like the way BA would be recruited. I paint the scenario in the way I do because Sheriam's rueful comment doesn't seem to indicate a dislike for her current position within the Dark hierarchy (someday I'll be in charge and make her pay), but regret for getting sucked into the system to start with. Blabbing a blackmailable secret to the wrong gal-pal in an unguarded moment seems to fit a little better. If the secret spilling and consequent blackmail date back a while, it works to explain the Gray Man as well."

One thing which should be noted is that Sheriam's interaction with her abuser is not typical of Darkfriends. Generally, when DFs and BA are punished by their superiors, they are given the "opportunity" to do a lot of groveling and kissing-up, instead of just getting tied up and beaten. For example, compare Liandrin and Moghedien to Sheriam and her abuser. Furthermore, if Sheriam is BA, why didn't Halima attach herself to her? She was very powerful in Salidar (arguably as powerful as, if not more so, than any Sitter) even before she became Keeper.

One interesting suggestion, made by several people, is that Sheriam is Black, but not of her own volition: maybe the reason she knows about the 13 Dreadlords + 13 Fades trick (certainly not common knowledge) is through personal experience.

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