Why should that matter exactly? Jordan put a few clues for the maniacs, but never really intended most the readers to figure out what happened (he would have kept putting in more obvious clues if he did). The murder of Asmodean was irrelevant to him in the grander picture, he planned not to reveal what happened.

If you rule out Graendal and Sammael for this reason that we didn't know they would be the type to want spies among the servants, then you have to rule out Slayer as well, as we had no idea the/a Forsaken was using him for "find and kill" missions. (we see Graendal use compelled people beside her pets in the following book, I'd remind you, though). Yes, Slayer has killed people for the Forsaken before Asmodean died, but in the same way Graendal also got herself many spies before Asmodean died: off-screen, without us suspecting. There's not even a clue in TSR that Slayer was in the Two Rivers to kill Fain (and I don't think he was, as you know) - it's in WH we knew he was a killer.

The most obvious suspects in TFOH were Graendal or Sammael. I thought it must be one from the foursome who did it right off the bat, so yes that was an obvious possibility. Lanfear was a longer shot, because of Moiraine's bond snapping and the doorway melting. I thought Sammael more likely of the three, back then, and I thought the murder was an execution (when in fact it's an unpremeditated murder of oppportunity). Did I suspect the reason a Forsaken was there was something else than killing Asmodean? No, but by the end of LOC I did suspect it might have had to do with finding out spies in the palace. Could I have deduced in TFOH that Graendal like Sammael must have wanted to know what Rand was really up to and went to find spies near him? Yes, especially that it's revealed in the book that Asmodean knew where she hid.

We also knows Graendal has spies near Rand in Caemlyn. It's a fact. Someone reported to her what happened to Sammael's messenger in the throne room. It doesn't mean her spies are servants or palace personel, but it's proven that she's got herself spies in Caemlyn.




The reason for the murder is that Asmodean opened the wrong door and bumped in someone who then killed him. The servants are not connected in any way to the murder, and the real reason the killer was around isn't connected to the murder either, except as pure chance. Jordan was specifically ruling out the "two servants were Forsaken in disguise" theory when he said that. He wanted to make clear the servants were not suspects.



In doesn't make sense in the context of the scene. Put yourself in her shoes. She's in the palace, on her guard. She's waiting for Renee to be brought to her (or she is with her already). She's not relaxing taking tea in the pantry, she's eager to be done and go (mind you, in Illian after searching the stash she remained behind idly to observe Rand and Asha'man emptying the room - so maybe Graendal wasn't even as nervous as I suppose she might have been in Caemlyn. In Illian she had no reason to think Rand was about to come after her next, though, while after Rahvin's murder she had many reasons to fear she'd be next, not Sammael. It was even too early to be sure yet Lanfear was not behind the betrayal). Asmodean opens the door and recognizes her and exclaims that out loud "you!". She has no idea why he's there. Is it accidental or has she miscalculated and there are channellers searching the palace room by room? Is he alone or Rand or others are a few feet down the corridor? Her instinct would be to kill him before he kills her, with something he can't parry or weave against, to gain time to weave a gateway and flee in the confusion (she has no time to open her gateway in front of Asmodean, she'll die before she's on the other side), not trying to capture him. Trying to capture him is what she would have done if she was forewarned, or safe, or had time to consider her options (which is exactly what she did in the Cyndane/Moghedien visit). Trying to capture him in the circumstances of the murder as we know them could have cost her her life, if Rand and WO were 10 feet behind Asmodean. Nobody was, but the killer Asmodean surprised could not know that, whoever that person was.




Actually, we know the DO could only if he doesn't miss his much smaller window of opportunity. Jordan never went into the reasons that could make the DO miss his window, what for instance could delay or complicate his search for a soul. He never explained what the DO had to do to seize a soul. Can he pinpoint the location in the pattern precisely. Can he do this instantly. Is he just aware a Forsaken has died and he must search for the soul rapidly? He only spoke of various factors and the only one he spoke of explicitely is the time constraint. We know there can be a "where" factor, but that's all we know about this.



I'm sure he does, but he had no intention to reveal it, and I doubt he came up with a complex murder story involving a chain of events etc. He wanted to get rid of Asmo, so he created a reason why someone would be in the palace, Asmo would bump into that person and become a "road kill". He needed to have a basic story established, for continuity purposes.

Your version of the murder is too complex, involve too many revelations about TAR, about Slayer's speculated gifts we don't know about, and that obviously Jordan didn't plan to reveal because of Asmodean's murder, as he didn't plan to explain the murder... There's also no concrete clue about Slayer in the two following books, when Jordan says there are.

It's just too complex for something Jordan never intended to reveal, IMHO.

You want to convince me Slayer is a viable suspect, solve these problems convincingly:

a) It was a murder of opportunity. Jordan says so, and the circumstances corroborate it, as Asmodean himself didn't know he would open that door seconds before he did. You can't have Slayer tracking down Asmodean in the corridor to kill him on the orders of someone else and in the seconds it took Asmodean to veer toward the small door and open it, Slayer went in TAR, ran all the way (Slayer always walks and runs in TAR, don't forget that detail...) and found himself out of TAR on the other side of the door all ready to kill Asmodean mere seconds later. That's not a murder of opportunity, it's a manhunt that ends in improvised circumstances, an assassination. Find me a good reason why Slayer was in the palace and by accident Asmodean bumped into him and Slayer killed him, and we'll get somewhere.

b) Explain to me how Slayer knew Asmodean was "diminished" enough he could risk taking him out face-on. No one but Lanfear, Rand and Moiraine knew that, and Lanfear would most definitely have told Slayer not to get cocky because Asmodean could still channel as fast as ever for all that he couldn't do it strongly. The only credible way Slayer could take out Asmodean safely was while he slept, or with a projectile weapon of some kind and before Asmodean saw him, or if he was surprised by Asmodean and had no choice but to try to kill him, because his own survival depended on it. Otherwise, if Slayer was really on the hunt to kill Asmodean, he would have done it differently. Find where he slept and slit his throat, for instance.

c) Show me the clues in the next two books that point to Slayer, because Jordan says there are clues.

d) Find me a good reason why Asmodean didn't channel and kill Slayer. No wound kills fast enough, no poison acts fast enough that an Asmodean who isn't waking up and confused wouldn't have time to strike back with a nasty weave, even if he died seconds after.

There are other problems, for instance the fact Slayer appears and disappears to TAR and it's totally speculative that he could bring someone with him for the ride when he does that (we never saw him do anything even remotely like this), but this can't be resolved with the books and have to remain purely speculative.




No, this is not logical to link these events, because these murders were executions ordered to Slayer by someone, while Asmodean was just a "road kill" (Jordan's expression) and a murder of opportunity. A murder of opportunity is a murder that is decided in the spur of a moment, not a premeditated murder or the improvised end to a manhunt. A road kill is a small animal that picks the wrong place and time to cross the road and gets rolled over. The car isn't there to kill the small animal, it just goes right over it because it's in the way and the car can,t stop. Put 1 + 1 together, and Jordan was saying Asmodean just got at the wrong place at the wrong time, that the person beyond the door wasn't there to kill Asmodean but did it on the spur of the moment, because Asmodean was "in the way" and it was the only solution (ie: it was kill Asmodean or be killed by Asmodean).

Most of the Forsaken shared the motive to meddle with Rand's servants in order to gain intelligence on what happened and what Rand planned next. Slayer doesn't have that motive, so what was he doing there, in that area of the palace, when Asmodean surprised him and got killed?