You mean Bel'al, whose pet Black sisters referred to him as "Great Master Bel'al" when they captured Nynaeve & Elayne? And even if we stipulate this rather absurd point, those are all the later, secretive ones. Rahvin, Sammael & Bel'al turn up first because they're the kind who go for public rule, and leading nations, even if they use a different name. Regardless of what Semirahge and Mesaana might do several books later, we plainly see Rahvin give orders to Comar without the slightest disguise (unless his appearance throughout his run in the series is a disguise - but that's the only way he ever appears, and in his PoV he says nothing about being in disguise), and Lord Elgar (later seen among Rand's court in Caemlyn) attends him with no efforts at concealment either. The important things, at that point in the series, the Forsaken were not pulling these sorts of tricks, and Rahvin, Sammael and Bel'al were all shown to be operating in a similar fashion - they take control of a nation by inveigling themselves into the political structure. They openly and publicly weild power. By contrast, the two we see concealing their identity (both of whom are known to their minions by their names) do not hold actual power in their cover identities. Danelle holds no position of authority in the Tower, and was even eased out of Elaida's inner circle of coup-plotters. Anath might have had license to back-talk and strike Tuon, but she too had no real authority of her own or borrowed from a boss, as the sul'dam points out when she is captured. By contrast, even if their true identities were unknown, Gaebrial, Samon and Brend were generally known as important men and leaders of their nations, if not the de facto rulers. While this proves nothing about Sammael's or Bel'al's habits that might expose their identities, it still goes to show that they have more in common with the man who was accidentally overheard by a guy with no powers who wasn't even trying, than the secretive behavior you ascribe as typical of the Forsaken.
The Black Sisters do seem to know Samon was Bel'al. You are right on that account.
But Elegar actually *faints* when Rand mentions (not told for the first time, just mentions again) that Gaebril was Rahvin; thus it stands to reason that Rahvin, as well as the "secretive" Forsaken, uses his real face but not his real name.
With Sammael, I could see him going Bel'al's route, where *MAYBE* trusted highly placed Darkfriends know his true identity.
However, we don't know that Bel'al told regular Darkfriends his name. We only know that he told members of the Black Ajah, who have sworn Oaths they cannot break not to betray information about the Dark (via a certain less-than-black sister from KoD).
Yeah, of all that Loial tells her, that nickname is one of maybe two facts she did not know, and she even says that the nickname fits with other stuff. She was plainly NOT totally ignorant of him before that scene. And given the parallels with those two and with Rhavin, it should be obvious how a woman whose very first learned ability with the One Power was eavesdropping could have tumbled onto their secret identities.
I think there is a big difference between Mat's eavesdropping on Rahvin through a window (not using the Power) and Moiraine using the Power to eavesdrop in a Forsaken's homebase, where they likely have wards to sense both halves of the Power, since they fear each other as much as they do Rand and Co.
Question about Rand and Lanfear's battle before Moiraine's game-saving tackle, and other ?s
04/02/2011 01:05:56 AM
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I thought of another...
04/02/2011 01:10:23 AM
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The blue sparks are not necessarily the result of a power-wrought blade.
04/02/2011 01:59:46 AM
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I thought that RJ had confirmed at some point that Thom had power wrought knives. *NM*
04/02/2011 02:06:14 PM
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he may have, but it has also been implied that the blue light was because of something special/uniqu
04/02/2011 09:18:02 PM
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Re: Question about Rand and Lanfear's battle before Moiraine's game-saving tackle, and other ?s
04/02/2011 01:52:55 AM
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Re: Question about Rand and Lanfear's battle before Moiraine's game-saving tackle, and other ?s
06/02/2011 08:15:43 PM
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You're misapplying practices.
07/02/2011 01:08:22 PM
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Still disagree...
08/02/2011 06:11:38 AM
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Re: Still disagree...
08/02/2011 11:58:19 AM
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Have you ever heard of Occam's Razor?
09/02/2011 05:45:13 AM
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Have YOU?
15/02/2011 12:47:39 AM
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She doesn't have to overhear them to know that something is fishy
21/02/2011 10:35:41 AM
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Some ideas
04/02/2011 08:26:09 AM
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No, I think RJ just didn't think it through, seeing as Rand sliced Lanfear's invisible weaves too...
04/02/2011 11:42:38 AM
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it's different
04/02/2011 02:21:44 PM
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So what stopped Lanfear from flicking him against the skull with a surprise club of Air...
04/02/2011 02:33:53 PM
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Gestures and Weaves go hand in hand and since flows originate from the body you can logically
05/02/2011 05:45:00 PM
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In general, only third age Aes Sedai gesture when they weave - it's a block imposed by training.
07/02/2011 06:20:33 PM
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Not true
08/02/2011 01:54:17 PM
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Your example proved my point - LTT only said that it was needed for certain weaves.
08/02/2011 04:20:28 PM
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Hmm...
08/02/2011 05:38:13 PM
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It's a flawed and incorrect given all the examples we've seen in the books.
08/02/2011 08:36:32 PM
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Verin could not see the weaves
08/02/2011 10:16:56 PM
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Also...
08/02/2011 11:35:20 PM
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Well, that's partially the point I'm bringing up.
09/02/2011 03:19:07 PM
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I disagree that the better assumption is that she set complex and renewing wards
10/02/2011 06:12:07 PM
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I never said she could - I said she sensed them, and felt the woman's channeling.
09/02/2011 03:04:00 PM
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I think she had a ward to detect saidin, and when it was triggered, she guessed it would be Air
04/02/2011 04:40:46 PM
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