Aginor - in the fiction

Aginor

Aginor (pronounced AGH-ih-nohr), originally known as Ishar Marrad Chuain, was a renowned biologist and Aes Sedai. He was banned from doing any genetic engineering—his true passion—by the Hall of Servants, after conducting some experiments on animals, and so turned to the Shadow where he was allowed to carry out his experiments. He is responsible for creating the Shadowspawn, including Trollocs, Draghkar, Darkhounds, and gholam, among others. It is estimated that in order to do this, some thirty-five to fifty million people were killed, not including those fed to Trollocs. Although he was proud of his achievements, the almost-human throwbacks from the Trollocs made him uneasy. Aginor created Trollocs by mixing human and animal stock; when Trollocs mated, most of the offspring were Trolloc, but sometimes stillborn animal throwbacks were the result, and sometimes the human stock dominated: these became the Myrddraal. It is said that not even Aginor knew how Myrddraal got their dark powers, like the ability to see with no eyes, or to vanish/travel via shadows. Graendal mentions that Aginor has said the Myrddraal are "slightly out of phase with time and reality," which explains why their clothes do not flutter in the wind when they move and several other foibles.

When the Forsaken were sealed in Shayol Ghul, Aginor was closest to the seal, so that while his soul was preserved, his body was subjected to the process of aging. He was one of the first to escape, but he was disfigured, described as being old beyond old. His skin had the appearance of thin parchment, his scalp was covered with scabs and tufts of white hair while his ears looked like old leather, his teeth yellowed, and his eyes sunken. His fingernails had disappeared. Aginor travelled to the Eye of the World with fellow Forsaken Balthamel in an attempt to seize the pure, untainted saidin preserved there. He was killed during the battle with Rand al'Thor when he attempted to handle too much of the One Power.