Re: Well... - Edit 1
Before modification by Sidious at 18/11/2010 06:27:54 PM
would be even cooler if she tries to kill Moiraine
But seeing how Rand al'Telamon's personality is now, I can see him giving her a second chance, if he really does believe her, instead of just being afraid of killing a woman.
Also, Lanfear, in times past, has shown she isn't completely loyal to the DO. Perhaps that, coupled with her love for LTT, could cause her to have a change of heart. Then again, I am probably being over-optimistic here.
Maybe not anymore, but she might have been tempted in the early books, as long as she saw a clear way to betray Shai'tan and get away with it.
The only way she would accept to betray now is if she could be convinced Rand will win the LB, and will spare her life, a love her for the rest of his life.
Don't forget, even ahead of her love for LTT, Mierin loved Mierin. She's uber-narcissistic.
On the other hand, maybe she regrets joining the Shadow. It's possible that Moridin/SH are really torturing her on a regular basis and making her life a living hell. She wasn't accustomed to this as Lanfear, where she was worshipped under pain of death.
Cyndane might have a composed ivory mask while she's around the other Chosen, but while she's alone she's an absolute wreck. It's possible that she's a lot like Galina and Liandrin, once important, but now wishing for death but not even able to do that. Considering she's a powerful dreamwalker, she flees to TAR for short periods to weep in private, but Moridin finds her after a short time, of course. She's possibly so desperate that she'd even reach out to Rand for help.
Unless she's become suicidal and wish the final death which I seriously doubt (that's not at all the impression she gave in the last books, even in her WH POV - she's not as much of a wreck as you think, IMO. Her hatred for Rand keeps her spirits up), Rand is about the last person she would reach out to. It's Moridin she needs to make herself invaluable to.
As others have pointed out, there was a big clue in Shaidar Haran's conversation with Graendal: someone else has been given the opportunity to do to Rand what he wanted Graendal to accomplish. The epilogue sort of reveals who that "someone else" is. It might have been Demandred. but it's Cyndane. Shai'tan might have offered her her freedom if she succeeds and controlled herself, and the final death if she failed, or killed Rand.
Even if Mierin somehow got into her mind to abandon the Shadow, which for a Chosen is hardly possible - Shai'tan can find them anywhere, the only way out appears to get killed with enough balefire so he loses your soul... she would still be corrupted to the bone, utterly selfish, barely sane, and in a general way an evil woman. Jordan has pointed it out: Mierin Aronaille was ripe for the Shadow's plucking long before the Bore.
Well, I think her collapse might have happened after WH. Moridin has become worse and worse towards his Chosen as the books have progressed. In WH he was still civil to them, and they treated him with only borderline respect. By ToM he's treating them with outright hostility and punishing them as liberally as any other darkfriends. Within a few books Moridin took all the 'glamour' out of being one of the Chosen, and turned it into a daily chore with failure literally terrified you and made you want to flee. If Moridin is so hostile to Graendal, I can't imagine what he's doing to two women whose souls he has around his neck.
That said, I don't think there can be much doubt that all the Chosen are as evil and corrupt as people come. As Graendal said, they weren't always totally corrupted like Semirhage was, but they were all primed for the Shadow even before He was released. They're all like Semirhage now, beyond salvation.
However, salvation is not really what I'm alluding to. Loyalty is hardly a virtue shown by any of the Forsaken. All of them are there for rewards, and Mierin in some ways more than others to be glorified. Demandred specifically left for the Shadow because the grass was greener on the Shadow's side. If Moridin removes all the rewards from the Shadow, I don't think it would take much for people like Lanfear and Demandred to defeat. Not that there would be a point - they can be tracked as you said, and the Light would never have them. Cyndane may know this, and may try to use her previous association with Rand to 'save' her from both the retribution of the Nae'blis, and the justice of the Light.
Actually I think it's all a giant trap... Cyndane is playing her old tricks in TAR again, and she hates Rand utterly. Still, I'm not putting the idea of defection by a Chosen out of my mind before the end of the series. Moridin has crushed them in his grip and even Graendal is losing her composure. It's not a new idea - Asmodean was a traitor under the right circumstances and the other Forsaken believed it without blinking. I'm convinced someone like Demandred will thwart the Shadow in some way before the end of the series through some delusion that another one of the Chosen is getting to close to Rand and robbing him of his 'glory', and Moghedien might end up being so terrified she'll end up being completely useless. I'm afraid the Nae'blis hasn't been very good up to now... most of the best Chosen are dead and the survivors are broken and a pale shadow of their former selves. I fully expect Graendal to be traumatized head case in the next book, much like Mesaana was in KoD.