- Edit 1Before modification by Etzel at 18/03/2010 12:34:10 PM
The scene where he "mis-fired" shows us that if anything he is resourceful at finding where and when people are going to be. Fortune saved those pool fools not Slayers lack of skills :p
Personally, I still think Taim was the one who sent him to kill Rand, not to mention we know that the Asha'man knew where Rand wa staying.
Taim already sent the DF Asha'amn; no need to send Slayer as well. Besides that, we don't know if Taim even knows how to contact Slayer. The patron was most likely a Forsaken, IMO Osan'gar.
You really think that Taim might doubt their ability to kill Rand without being able to channel? No, but the fact that Slayer thinks that only the Forsaken knew how to contact him screams that it is someone else.
Well, we know that Taim gave them the order to kill Rand in Far Madding. Thus, I don't see why he should doubt that they could achieve it (he just couldn't predict Fain's involvement).
Slayer thinking in WH that no male channeler except the male Forsaken knows how to reach him speaks against the idea that Taim could contact him, because it seems more likely that Slayer truly knows who can find him and who not. The disguise suggests that someone didn't want Moridin or Rand to find out who gave the order, likely a second chance Forsaken like Osan'gar who already clashed with Rand and wants to prevent directly fighting a channeler with access to the Choedan Kal.
I think people over think this whole murder mystery. We know from numerous examples that Ishamael puts names on his "hitlist" as do other forsaken and even Taim. This is a method the shadow uses period. Lanfear said she was putting Asmo on the "list" so to speak. She had time between the end of tSR and the end of tFoH to do this. So it would be in no way shape or form a stretch to think that the shadows assassin would be informed of the new target...
The problem isn't that he couldn't have been ordered to kill Asmo, but that he could have found him and killed him. He couldn't even kill Fain in the Two Rivers, even with the help of hundreds of Trollocs.
This is a typical nonsense-argument: Just because a certain character isn't allowed to kill another character for plot reasons, doesn't mean at all that this character is unable to kill anyone, especially if he is a Top Assassin like Slayer, whose job is it to find & kill people. There is no reason to think that Slayer couldn't kill Asmo with surprise & a quick weapon, especially since RJ even stated that Fain would have killed Asmo, if he had been at the right place at the right time.
You mean the fact that the only people we know the "Top Assassin" has killed is two bound and shielded AS and two sleeping old people? Maybe he's not really that great of an Assassin. Either way there's plenty of evidence that a channeler should easily take a non-channeler, even if they're only as strong as Siuan, in her weakened condition. She can still wrap up Bryne and keep him from moving, even if she can't lift him off the ground, more than enough strength to keep Slayer from stabbing Asmo.
The idea that RJ invented a bad assassin for the Shadow, who is obviously still hold in high regard of the Shadow bosses (even the DO uses him as an assassin), is simply ridiculous. If Slayer fails to kill someone, it is because the author decides that the victim is further needed in the plot; but not to suggest that Slayer is a bad assassin. In the same way, the Forsaken or the gholam failing to kill the ta'veren or the Wondergirls, shall not suggest that they are completely incompetent.
Many top channelers point out that they can naturally be killed by anyone, if they are surprised and the attacker acts too quickly. For example, even Min manages to wound Semirhage twice with her knife, or Fain to stab Rand. Besides that, we don't know what other powers Slayer has. According to BS there was a deleted scene in TSR, which had told more about his powers. Maybe Slayer can even temporarily stun a channeler. That he casually offers his patron to try killing Rand again in WH, even if it's not clear if Rand is in Far Madding anymore, suggests that Slayer actually isn't afraid of top channelers.