I'm pretty sure RJ isn't going to spend any time fleshing out Demandred. RJ has never investigated evil, the degrees thereof, or circumstances that contributed to it. He was far more obsessed with good and how it could be corrupted.

No one can deny that RJ's villains are cartoonish. The idea that a villain could be evil and effective is foreign to the series, though it does seem that Demandred may have accomplished something. The Forsaken have almost all died and the Light have still not suffered a significant fatality. It's all rather amusing.



Well that's the Forsaken in a nutshell. Rand really had no chance at losing. It's all about a few moments of torture before being rescued by someone. When you blow up the wrong side of the Palace, you know you're in trouble...



I think Lews Therin can be blamed for 1% of Demandred's conversion. It's similar to blaming Rand for being mean to Logain, that drove him to convert to the Shadow. It's idiotic.

Demandred allowed his own ambition to be the greatest to drive him to forsake all his morals. You don't just sign up with the Shadow as a member to oppose Lews Therin. You allow yourself to become a mass murderer, torturer, betrayer and pretty much everything evil in the world. You can't blame Lews Therin for that, you've got to open yourself to it.

There's also a strong element of cowardice in both Sammael and Demandred - leaving as they saw the Light start to buckle.



It doesn't matter how Lews Therin treated him, it gave him no excuse to turn on the rest of humanity to sort out his grudge. It would be similar to Egwene joining the Shadow to destroy the Seanchan. We could write about how she was treated, but it's an idiots choice.



I question anyone who was one day your comrade, and the next day allows your city and citizens to be fed to the Trollocs.



Neither was an angel, but turning to the Shadow is a big step to the other side.



Graendal and Moridin have had some depth already.