[ Contents | Administrivia | The Shadow | Non-Dark | Sources | Prophecy | Publishing | Keywords | Sitemap ]

1.2.2: Is Dashiva Osan'gar?

[Contributors: Michael Gonzalez, Chad Orzel, Pam Korda, Dylan Alexander, John Novak, Maia Bakroeva, Bryon Wasserman, Donal Wyckoff, Sean O'Hara, Konrad Gaertner, Brian Ritchie, Colin Fishy, Bill Woolsey, Kay-Arne Hansen, Aaron Bergman, Mark Loy, Christopher Kane, Alex Paradi, Emma Pease, G. Williams, Bill McCarthy, Chris Dewey, Fred Van Keuls]

Corlan Dashiva is, to all appearances, a nasty, Taint-maddened psychopath of an Asha'man. However, many people think this is simply a cover for a Halima-type infiltration of the Black Tower by the DO's other Gar. In the case of Taim and Demandred (see Section 1.1.6), there are many arguments for why the character under suspicion could be a Forsaken, and little, if any, evidence which appears to be inconsistent with that idea. This is not the case with Dashiva. There are many good arguments in favor of him being Osan'gar. There are also many good arguments against that proposition. There are even some pieces of "evidence" which can be argued either way. Here, we present the arguments in favor of Dashiva=Osan'gar, and rebuttals, then we present the evidence which, depending on one's interpretation, can support or undermine the proposition. We end with arguments against Dashiva=Osan'gar, and rebuttals.

Evidence that Dashiva is Osan'gar

After LoC, I was certain that Osan'gar was an Asha'man. Now I believe that it must be Corlan Dashiva. I base this idea on the following circumstantial evidence, each piece of which alone proves nothing, but the totality of which, I believe, is best explained by Dashiva being Osan'gar. [Michael Gonzalez]

1) Similarity of appearance: Dashiva is a middle-aged man from the Black Hills [ACoS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84], parts of which are near, if not in, the Borderlands. Osan'gar has the body of a middle-aged Borderlander. Osan'gar has an "ordinary" face while Dashiva has a "plain" face [ACoS: 36, Blades, 571].

Rebuttal: Looking at the map, the Black Hills region is bigger than some countries. It starts SE of Saldaea, and extends SE to just SW of Tar Valon. Granted, the Black Hills region is sparsely populated, and given that people live there at all, it is reasonable to suppose that the most populous parts are those near established nations, or trade routes. One would expect people to live in the NW part, near Saldaea and Kandor, the SE part, near Tar Valon, and along the River Luan, which stretches down the southeastern two-thirds of the hills, and along the Maradon-Tar Valon road, which stretches along the whole length of the hills. This leaves a great deal of leeway for Dashiva's origins. There is no evidence that Dashiva is a Borderlander, only that he MIGHT be. Furthermore, the physical descriptions we have for both men are rather sketchy, and the validity of noting similarities between such minimal descriptions is questionable.

2) Swordsmanship: Dashiva seems to Rand to be physically awkward (getting used to a new body?) and unfamiliar with wearing a sword; to Rand, he "did not seem to know one end from the other." One wonders how many Borderlanders growing up on isolated farms have never learned to use a sword, given that the Trollocs have been more of less constantly raiding Borderland farms for the last couple thousand years or so.

Rebuttal One would expect very few Black Hills farmers to know how to use a sword. For one thing, even the northern portions of the Black Hills have the Borderland countries of Kandor and Saldaea between them and the Blight. It's doubtful that many Trolloc raids come so far south, through the armed opposition of the Borderlanders. Even if our Black Hills farmer did worry about being attacked, it's doubtful that he'd use a sword for home defense. As we know from many references, such as people's reaction to Rand's sword in TEOTW and Mat's fight with Galad and Gawyn in Tar Valon, swords are not farmers' weapons. For one thing, they are expensive and require training. The Black Hills is an impoverished, sparsely-populated area. Where would a Black Hills farmer get the money for a sword, let alone training? Secondly, as the Aiel are so fond of pointing out, swords aren't useful for any other purpose. A farmer who fights is more likely to use a quarterstaff, a bow, or, at most, some sort of pike or spear.

3) Horsemanship: Dashiva is a lousy rider: "Dashiva, slumped in his gray's saddle like a man who had never seen a horse before..." [TPOD: 13, Floating Like Snow, 287]. If Dashiva really was a farmer, wouldn't he know how to ride a horse? He'd have to use horses to get his crops to market, plough his fields, etc. Note that none of the Two Riversians have problems with riding. Poverty can't be used as an excuse, because Dashiva claims that he was a great buyer of books (see below).

Rebuttal: Maybe Dashiva used all his money for books, and thus couldn't afford a horse? Seriously, though, assuming that he had enough money to afford books and animals, he needn't be very practiced at riding. For one thing, Dashiva could have used oxen instead of horses for ploughing, etc. In addition, there is a difference between using a horse for pulling a cart or a plow and actually riding one-- the skills are definitely different. Also, there's a difference between sitting bareback on your plowhorse as it ambles down the path and riding an animal that's trained for war, or at least to be active.

4) The Great Outdoors: Dashiva doesn't like the outdoors: "Despite being a farmer, Dashiva disliked being out-of-doors unless the skies were clear." [TPOD: 13, Floating Like Snow, 287] This isn't exactly consistent with his story.

Rebuttal: Maybe, maybe not. A farmer may be used to being outside in bad weather, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. Doing farm chores in the rain and snow is hardly a pleasant pastime.

5) Old Tongue: Dashiva is fluent in the Old Tongue, and talks to himself in it all the time. "Dashiva... muttered angrily under his breath. In the Old Tongue, which he spoke and read as fluently as a scholar. Rand knew a little, though not enough to understand what the fellow was mumbling." [TPOD: 13, Floating Like Snow 287] Dashiva claims that this ability is self-taught: "I read a great deal on the farm. Every book the peddlers brought by." [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 89]. The Old Tongue is not very common. Not to mention, you can't speak a language fluently if you've only learned it by reading. Even weirder is that Dashiva talks to himself in the Old Tongue-- how many people do you know who carry on a continual monologue in Latin? This is one of the strongest indications that there is Something Up With Dashiva, if not the strongest.

Rebuttal: Dashiva's story could conceivably be true, although it's really a stretch. However, if Dashiva was a Forsaken, why would he do something which is such a giveaway?

6) Strength in the OP: When Rand awakens after being stabbed by Fain, Dashiva is holding almost as much saidin as Rand himself could have [ACoS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 639]. In TEoTW, Aginor (who is now Osan'gar) is described as supposedly being not much less powerful than Lews Therin or Ishamael. Furthermore, remember how in the beginning of LOC Rand orders Taim to report any man who learns too quickly? And how in the middle of LOC Taim appears and reports Narishma? As of TPOD Narishma is still significantly weaker than Flinn and Rand. But Dashiva never gets reported. Strange, wouldn't you say?

Rebuttal: Dashiva could just be a strong channeller. Many of the Asha'man are very strong. Other possible explanations are: 1) Dashiva is the one who took Rand's fat-man angreal which he couldn't find after the battle at Dumai's Wells. Thus, Dashiva + angreal = Rand, but Dashiva by himself is weaker than Rand. Recall that a man can only sense how much power another man is holding at the moment, not what his natural potential is. 2) Rand was in a weakened state then, and was not able to draw as much Saidin as he normally could. When RJ says "Dashiva held almost as much as Rand could have," he means he held as much as Rand, at the moment, could have. Tired channellers cannot hold as much of the OP, so that would make the amount Dashiva held seem less spectacular. As for Taim not reporting Dashivan'gar as a fast learner, if this is to be counted as evidence, then one must suppose that Taim (be he Demandred or not) knows that Dashiva is Osan'gar. If Taim=Dem, then this implies that the two of them are cooperating, something which doesn't fit with Taim's general disapproval of Dashiva, or his anger at Dashiva joining the staged "defection" at the end of TPOD. It also doesn't fit with the idea that Dashivan'gar was placed in the Black Tower to keep an eye on Demandred (See below).

7) Speech Patterns: Dashiva talking to Rand about the danger of riding up to the palace in Cairhien in [ACOS:4, Into Cairhien, 108]: "All it needs is one man with a... a bow or a knife, and you don't see him in time." Did he need to think a moment for the word "bow?" Was he thinking "shocklance" or some other AoL weapon? When asked by Rand if he believes Rand's enemies have been asleep while he was away, Dashiva says, "I...grew up on a farm" ... "I don't know much about having enemies." Someone having to pause a sec to remember his cover story?

Rebuttal: This, and Dashiva's other incidents of mindwandering, are easily explained by Dashiva being "a daydreamer, and maybe the taint on saidin is touching his brain already." [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84]

8) More Dashiva talking: Talking about healing: [ACOS: 36, Blades, 573] "Flinn knows what he is about. Already he can do things you Aes Sedai never dreamed of." (emphasis in original) Standard Forsaken derogatory emphasis on "Aes Sedai"; When Sammael mentions Aes Sedai to Carridin in [ACOS: 15, Insects, 289] the emphasis is presented identically.

Rebuttal: That could be arrogant contempt for Aes Sedai in general, which seems to be a common trait among the whole Black Tower crowd. Not to mention, consider who the Asha'man have been learning from. Taim certainly has no love for AS, he has undoubtedly instilled his dislike in his students.

9) Still More Dashiva Talking: While Flinn Heals Rand in [ACOS: 36, Blades, 573]: '"Get on with it, Flinn," Dashiva muttered. "If he dies...." Nose wrinkled as though at a bad smell, he seemed unable to look away from Rand. His lips moved as he talked to himself, and once he made a sound, half sob, half bitter laugh, without his face changing one line.' Sounds like someone who doesn't like Rand and wouldn't mind seeing him die, but is charged by someone fear-inspiring with making sure Rand doesn't die too soon.

Rebuttal: Or someone who is about three minutes from stripping naked and howling at the moon, confronted with the thought of the one man powerful enough to protect him and the other channelling men from dying a wretched death at Aes Sedai hands, not to mention keeping the Dark One from taking over the world. Furthermore, the concern for Rand's life which this argument ascribes to Dashivan'gar is utterly at odds with the fact that he tried to turn Rand into a crispy critter at the end of TPOD.

10) Reaction to Saidin-cleansing: When Rand speaks of cleansing Saidin everyone looks hopeful, EXCEPT Dashiva, he looks "poleaxed". The exact quote is, "Rand had not realized he had spoken any of his thoughts [about cleansing saidin] aloud. Narishma's eyes, and Morr's, and Hopwil's, belonged in one face, shining with sudden hope. Dashiva looked poleaxed." [TPOD: 14, Message from the M'Hael, 306]

Rebuttal: Note that it doesn't say, "Dashiva looked horrified." "Dashiva looked poleaxed" doesn't necessarily mean that he's upset by the prospect, only that he's shocked and amazed that such a thing could be possible. Note that Torval, who quite possibly is a Darkfriend, has a decidedly positive reaction: "'That would be wondrous,' Torval said in a near whisper."

11) Reaction to killing of Forsaken: In [TPOD: 24, A Time for Iron, 483], Rand is boasting, '"Nobody stands nose-to-nose with the Dragon Reborn.... The Forsaken could tell him [The Seanchan commander] that, whoever he is. Right, Flinn? Dashiva?" Flinn nodded uncertainly. Dashiva flinched.' Dashiva could be flinching because he has faced Rand "nose-to-nose," and lost badly.

Rebuttal: He could just as well be flinching at Rand's unbridled arrogance.

12) Sudden Lucidity? In [TPOD: 24, A Time for Iron, 467-469], Dashiva "breaks character":

More often, [Dashiva] hardly seemed aware of anything past his own nose... It was something of a shock when Dashiva awkwardly booted his slab-sided mount ahead of the rest.... It was more than something of a shock when he seized saidin as soon as he reached Rand and wove a barrier around them against eavesdropping.... "There's something askew with saidin here, something amiss," Dashiva said, sounding not at all vague. In fact, he sounded...precise. And testy. A teacher lecturing a particularly dense pupil.

Instead, he [Dashiva] opened his mouth angrily, then snapped it shut... "I am well aware how long you have channeled," he said in an icy, almost contemptuous voice, "but surely even you can feel it... I don't want to die or... or be burned out because you're blind! Look at my ward! Look at it!" Rand stared. Dashiva pushing himself forward was peculiar enough, but Dashiva in a temper?

Rebuttal: After the Old Tongue, this piece of Dashiva=Osan'gar evidence is the hardest to explain. Perhaps the extreme circumstances forced Dashiva to pull himself together, and assert himself, taking Rand to task for his foolishness. If Dashiva's looniness is all an act, why spoil it with the OT mutterings?

13) Aesthetic meta-reason: Since Halima/Aran'gar, the right-handed dagger, is with the female Aes Sedai (Salidar faction), there's a certain attractive symmetry to Osan'gar, the left-handed dagger, being with the male Asha'man.

Rebuttal: It would be just as, if not more, symmetrical for Osan'gar to be with the Tower Faction. After all, the Tower AS have actually engaged in a confrontation with the BT, unlike the SAS. Or, the "symmetry" may not exist at all.

Evidence which Goes Both Ways

1) Perrin's Nose: Perrin gets a whiff of Dashiva after Rand rejects Dashiva's idea of gating into the palace at Cairhien: '"As my Lord Dragon commands." The fellow inclined his head, but he sounded sour, and he smelled... Perrin rubbed his nose. The smell... skittered, dodging wildly through fear and hate and anger and a dozen more emotions almost too quickly to make out. He no longer doubted the man was mad, however good a face the fellow put on.' [ACOS: 4, Into Cairhien, 108]

How this fits with Dashiva=Osangar: Perrin attributes it to straightforward saidin madness, but that particular sequence of emotions looks like the sequence that the women felt through Moggy's a'dam whenever they made her do something she considered demeaning or below her rightful station. The emotional instability also fits with Osan'gar/Aginor being a little loony himself [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 59]. In other words, we have no evidence that Perrin can smell the special insanity odor, but rather insanity is a conclusion Perrin draws from what he does smell.

How this fits with Dashiva not being Osan'gar: Dashiva's behaviour is also easily explained by Perrin's analysis, i.e. that Dashiva is crazy. The description of quickly-changing emotions is very similar to the description of how Perrin perceives Rand's quickly-changing emotions when LTT is acting up. In fact, just a few pages before the quote in question, we have:

His [Rand's] scent made Perrin's ears try to lie back. Razor-sharp rage abruptly vanished in curiosity and caution, the one thin and probing, the other foglike; then slashing, murderous fury consumed both.... Nobody's scent changed that fast. Nobody's. [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 83]

Furthermore, Aginor isn't any crazier than many of the other Forsaken (unstable, but not utterly mad). We are privy to Osan'gar's thoughts in [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 59-61]; Osan'gar seems reasonably sane, and quite alert and observant. It's one thing to act a bit scatterbrained, but can a channeller fake smells, and why would he even think to do so? If Dashiva's craziness is all an act, then Perrin shouldn't have smelt madness. Perrin hasn't ever been mistaken about what the smells he smells mean: confused, yes, but not incorrect. The nose knows.

2) Healing: Dashiva suggested to Flinn that he learn Healing: "I have no Talent for Healing," Dashiva said, twisting his mouth wryly. "You are the one who took my suggestion and learned." [ACOS: 36, Blades, 572] "Then one day, Dashiva here - pardon; Asha'man Dashiva - says he wonders why it's all the same, no matter if the man's got a broke leg or a cold, and we got to talking, and...Well, he's got no feel for it, himself, but me, seems I got the knack you might say. The Talent." [ACOS: 36, Blades, 573]

Is Osan'gar: Dashiva knows that he himself doesn't have the Talent for Healing, yet it seems that Dashiva was able to recognize that Talent latent in Flinn well enough to suggest that Flinn in particular try it. This is knowledge Dashiva shouldn't have.

Is not Osan'gar: i) It is not true that the Asha'man had no Healing abilities before Flinn. They had a less-sophisticated method used for field medicine. Apparently, Flinn had a talent for it, and Dashiva didn't: this was known from experience, not some sort of a priori evaluation on Dashiva's part. When the question of trying to improve Healing methods arose in conversation, it's only reasonable that Dashiva would recommend that Flinn experiment, rather than trying himself.

ii) This actually provides more of an argument AGAINST Dashiva being a Forsaken than the other way around. Thus far, none of the Forsaken have been wont to share knowledge with anybody, unless it could benefit them. For example, while Alviarin has been in contact with many Forsaken, none of them offered to teach her anything before Mesaana did, and Mesaana only offered after Alviarin swore to be her particular flunky. Furthermore, Mesaana forbade Alviarin to share the knowledge she gained [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 43]. Graendal straight out refused to teach any of the Shaido WOs [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 355]. Moggy and Asmo only taught Our Heroes under extreme duress. Assuming Taim = Dem, he provides more evidence; he only wants the Asha'man to learn what he dictates; he doesn't want them going outside his curriculum. It is thus not reasonable to suppose that a Forsaken would teach some random guy how to Heal, or even lead him in teaching himself, out of the goodness of his heart. What would Osan'gar gain by teaching Flinn?

iii) Furthermore, Osan'gar is Aginor, who was a top biological researcher during the AOL. 'He understood "the most basic structures of living things" better than anyone else in the Age.' [Guide, 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 53] He created the various Shadowspawn. This shows that he was skilled at manipulating biological material with the OP. That's what Healing is all about. Why would he pretend to be so bad at it? Since Aginor died right before Rand's eyes, and since Osan'gar has a completely new body, he'd hardly have to pretend to be totally incompetent at it to avoid suspicion. Why not just pretend to be as good as, say, Flinn is?

Arguments against Dashiva being Osan'gar

1) He tried to kill Rand: During the attack on the Cairhien palace by the rogue Asha'man, the only one who takes a direct shot at Rand is Dashiva:

The only warning he had was the sudden snarl that contorted Dashiva's face. Dashiva channeled, and with no time to think Rand wove... Air and Fire and Earth woven around himself just so. The fire that leaped from Dashiva erupted, shattering marble, flinging Rand back down the hallway, bounding and rolling in his cocoon. [TPOD: 29, A Cup of Sleep, 568]

Rebuttal: While it's not very likely, Dashiva could have been faking trying to kill Rand, or he could have assumed Rand would be able to block it. Alternatively, he could have gotten "caught up in the moment." Perhaps he fell victim to either momentary panic or momentary hatred overcoming instructions.

2) Whatever his mission, he's utterly failed: If Dashiva is Osan'gar, then he must have been sent to the Black Tower for a reason. If Taim is not Demandred, then Dashiva must have been sent to infiltrate the Black Tower, and gain some measure of control over it, as Aran'gar has done in Salidar. Getting chosen for Rand's personal guard essentially made that mission impossible. Before Rand chose him, Dashiva wasn't doing a very good job of infiltration. Dashivan'gar's first job would have been to get in good with somebody in power in the BT, but Taim doesn't think much of Dashiva [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84], and he isn't well-connected with the rank-and-file Asha'man, either.

If Taim is Demandred, then it gets more complicated. Dashivan'gar must have been sent to the Black Tower to keep tabs on Taimandred. If it was to just spy on Taimandred, then the same problems arise as we described in the previous paragraph. It's a lot easier to spy on people if they like you and trust you. We could suppose that Dashivan'gar's mission was to get into Rand's confidence, rather than Taimandred's. However, this doesn't make sense, either. Under normal circumstances, the way an Asha'man would have gotten into Rand's entourage would be by being assigned by Taim, or by impressing Rand in some way. Either way would have necessitated Dashiva to act like a normal guy, not an unreliable lunatic. Rand used his ta'veren luck to pick Dashiva for his entourage. There is no way that could have been planned upon. If Dashiva is Osan'gar, why didn't he find a more predictable way to get close to Rand?

Perhaps the mission which makes the most sense is if Dashivan'gar was assigned to go deep undercover in the BT, with the goal of making sure Rand didn't get killed in case Taimandred decided to "pull a Sammy." However, this just brings us back to the question of why did Dashivan'gar a) try to kill Rand, and b) abandon his post by running away with Gedwyn et al?

Rebuttal: See explanation for 1, since that's what we've come back around to.

3) Comparison with Aran'gar: One of the major arguments in favor of Dashiva being Osan'gar is that the background he claims to have (humble farmer) doesn't agree very well with his actions. This, in and of itself, casts doubt on the theory. Osan'gar's counterpart, Aran'gar/Halima, was set up with an impeccable cover, founded upon the information wrung from Cabriana Mecandes by Semirhage, and backed up by the Black Sitter Delana. Are we to believe that so much effort was put into placing Aran'gar, but Osan'gar was given a flimsy cover story which he couldn't live up to? This isn't consistent.

Rebuttal: Perhaps the body that Aginor/Osan'gar was "stuffed" into actually was a humble farmer from the Black Hills and for the sake of simplicity, authenticity, and/or against the remote possibility that someone from the area, perhaps another recruit of Taim's, would recognize the shell, they--Shadar Haran, Moridin, the DO...those in charge of the plan to place Aginor in the enemy camp--decided it was just best to tell the truth as to where the Dashiva flesh was from. Perhaps those in charge figured that the taint would be enough cover for any strange, but benign, behavior on Dashivan'gar's part. Taim even mentions that he thinks that Dashiva has already been touched by taint when we are first introduced to Dashiva. Another argument is that somebody infiltrating the Asha'man wouldn't need as much of a good alibi as somebody infiltrating the AS. The AM are a motley crew of boys, mercenaries, fanatics, criminals, etc. hastily snatched from all over the continent in the last few months. They probably have many secrets and tell each other untruthful or no personal histories, with no way of checking the facts. The tight organization of ancient suspicious women of the White Tower is a much more difficult group to infiltrate.

4) The "Limper" argument: If we assume that Dashiva is Osan'gar, then we must conclude that Osan'gar/Aginor is a Big Fat Loser. He's the Limper of the Forsaken. (This will only make sense if you've read Glen Cook's Black Company books. If you haven't just accept Limper = Big Fat Loser.) Dashivan'gar couldn't maintain a simple cover story. He constantly spoke to himself in the Old Tongue. He made no effort to make himself liked by anybody he could be hoping to influence. He slipped up by revealing his superior skills and knowledge during the Ebou Dar campaign. Finally, he screwed over his second chance at life by trying to kill Rand, in front of witnesses who are probably Demandred's agents. This shambles is one of "those chosen to rule the world forever"?

Rebuttal: Maybe he cracked due to the strain of being raised from the dead?

[ Previous Section | Previous | Section Contents | Next | Next Section ]

[ Contents | Administrivia | The Shadow | Non-Dark | Sources | Prophecy | Publishing | Keywords | Sitemap ]

This page was last modified on (19-Jul-1999, 06:14). Illustrations © 1989-1996 by Tor Books.