Skip navigation

Black Ajah

The Wheel of Time

The Black Ajah of the Aes Sedai is a secret Ajah, consisting of Darkfriend Aes Sedai who masquerade as sisters of other Ajahs and who have forsaken their Three Oaths in order to serve the Dark One.

The Black Ajah of the Aes Sedai is a secret Ajah, consisting of Darkfriend Aes Sedai who masquerade as sisters of other Ajahs and who have forsaken their Three Oaths in order to serve the Dark One. Reports of its existence have been vehemently denied by the White Tower for millennia, however the mass execution of most Black sisters among the rebel Aes Sedai proves the Black Ajah does indeed exist. The leader of the Black Ajah is a very powerful woman, who sits at the head of the Supreme Council and answers directly to the Forsaken.

Although they are channelers, the Black Ajah members do not necessarily stand higher than non-channeling Darkfriends. The Black Ajah have tried to assert their superiority over non-channelers before, but failed; despite the One Power, many Black Sisters fell to assassins, and they were forced to publicly admit they were merely the equal of other Darkfriends.

Size

Due to the secretive nature of the Black Ajah, its exact size was unknown to all except its leader. However, Verin Mathwin spent decades compiling a coded list of Black sisters, including their Ajahs. During the Great Purge, Egwene al'Vere commented that six more Black sisters were found outside of Verin's list, however, the former Ajah of four of them is unknown (this means that Verin missed at least two Black Ajah hearts).

Below are the number of Black sisters per legitimate Ajah in Verin's list plus the two revealed later. The percentage shows the proportion of sisters per Ajah revealed to be Black.

The Great Purge

Among the Rebel Aes Sedai, the majority of the roughly fifty Black sisters were captured and sentenced to death. Nonetheless, twenty were able to flee. Instead, the very day of reunification the majority of the Black sisters inside the Tower, around sixty, were able to flee before the Great Purge started. Adding the eighty escaped to the seventy Blacks among the Unaligned sisters it can be calculated that around one hundred and fifty Black sisters were able to join the Shadow during the Last Battle. To them we have also to add the many Aes Sedai captured and Turned in the Black Tower.

Demographics

The breakdown by public Ajah of all Black sisters in comparison with that Ajah's size is as follows. The count is based on sisters living immediately prior to the events of the first book:

  • Red Ajah: 48/200 or 24%
  • Green Ajah: 38/180 or 21.1%
  • Gray Ajah: 31/140 or 22.1%
  • Brown Ajah: 28/130 or 21.5%
  • Yellow Ajah: 21/120 or 17.5%
  • Blue Ajah: 21/100 or 21%
  • White Ajah: 17/80 or 21.3%

In total, there are 204/950 or 21.5% Aes Sedai that are Black Ajah. The numbers above are from Verin Mathwin's list of Black Ajah sisters, which Egwene al'Vere says was remarkably accurate. Only one known named sister, Evanellein Lorn, was not on that list, who has been added to the total above. There may be some other sisters that Verin could not find, but it is unlikely to be more than a few and indeed Evanellein may be the only one.

The Red Ajah has the highest proportion of Black sisters, although not by much, while the Yellow Ajah has the lowest, again not by much. The other Ajahs seem roughly the same.

The nationality of named Black sisters during recent history is as follows. Note that, contrary to the above, it includes sisters that appeared in New Spring that are no longer alive by the time of the first book, namely Jarna Malari (Gray Ajah) and Merean Redhill (Blue Ajah):

  • Andor: 8
  • Arad Doman: 4
  • Saldaea, Tarabon, Kandor: 3
  • Amadicia, Ghealdan, Illian: 2
  • Arafel, Cairhien, Far Madding, Malkier, Shienar, Tear: 1
  • Unknown: 16

History

Although the Black claimed to have been around since the Age of Legends, the truth was that they were formed as a coherent organisation by Ishamael during the Trolloc Wars. There were certainly sisters who would have been Black Ajah had it existed between the Breaking and the Trolloc Wars, and some served the Dark One. Sisters who had done so during the Breaking survived, and recruited others, forming into small groups. Most fought against one another, and by the end of the Breaking they remained fragmented.

Like other groups of Aes Sedai after the Breaking, most of them were either swept up or wiped out by the formation of the White Tower. The groups continued fighting with one another after; they were threatened by the adoption of the Oath against lying and against using the Power as a weapon, and were only able to survive because most Aes Sedai refused to believe the Black Ajah existed.

It was only shortly before the Trolloc Wars when Ishamael appeared, forcing these groups to combine into the Black Ajah. The name itself was a joke to him; he was also the first to replace the Three Oaths with the Black Ajah's own three - to make them more effective, to bind themselves to him, and to help ensure they would not reveal the existence of the Black by living too long or by losing the ageless look.

At various points of time in history, the Black Ajah have grown frustrated with their lack of control over non-channeler Darkfriends, and have come close to actually seizing control of regular Darkfriend cells, but the other groups fought back fiercely, with all attempts ultimately failing. The last attempt, in the mid-New Era, was somewhat humiliating for the Black Ajah, as they had to renounce any claim to commanding other Darkfriends, and their votes in Darkfriend congresses were reduced as a penalty.

Membership

Most sisters who join the Black Ajah were not Darkfriends before they did so. They worked for years as ordinary sisters until members of the Black Ajah suspected that they may be susceptible to swearing allegiance to the Shadow. Liandrin was a Darkfriend before she came to Tar Valon and sought out the Black Ajah from the day she arrived, but we know that Galina Casban was a black sister for all but five of the nearly ninety years she wore the shawl.

Those who might be willing to become a member of the Black Ajah are likely those who find the Three Oaths chafing and who delight in the power an Aes Sedai has over non-channelers, even having been known to abuse it. The Black Ajah allows them to exploit their power free of the restrictions of Tower Law and the Oaths, but at the price of swearing to the Shadow. Like most Darkfriends, they probably did not feel the truth of their fealty to the Shadow until the arrival of Ishamael a few years after the Aiel War.

Tower initiates

The position of teachers of the novices and the Accepted makes it easier for the Black Ajah to know every student very well before they even become Aes Sedai. Thus are women groomed for the Black Ajah, or perhaps singled out as possible candidates, from very early on in their training. As the Black Ajah does not recruit from among Tower initiates, having a Black sister as Mistress of Novices is a very handy way of keeping tabs on those girls when they are raised to the shawl. Previous Mistresses of Novices who were also Black Ajah include Merean Redhill, Sheriam Bayanar, and Katerine Alruddin.

Aes Sedai who show suitability are watched and tested. However, if a woman locates a trace of the Black Ajah, she is immediately kidnapped and brought before the Supreme Council. She is asked if she wishes to join; if she says no, she is tortured and drained of all information before being killed. If she says yes, she is sworn in at once, though she would still be tested for a year. She would be given tasks and watched; none of these tasks were vital, but were used as a test. These tasks would place one in danger, or exposed to ridicule or harsh penances. Many of a Black Sister's chances for advancement were determined in that first year.

Organization

The Black Ajah is administered by a Supreme Council, alternatively called the Great Council, which consists of thirteen sisters who meet while hooded so that none may know the identity of another. If one member of the council dies, then another is raised in her place, thereby keeping a constant number in the leadership of the Black Ajah. The Great Council is headed by one woman, who knows the identity of every sister in the Ajah.

Within the Black Ajah, sisters are organized into "hearts," groups of three women who know each others' identity and who in turn each know one sister from another heart. Only the head of the Great Council knows the full structure of the Ajah concerning how all the hearts are interlinked and which sisters they contain. It is unlikely the division of sisters into hearts survived the Great Purge as the purpose was to help maintain secrecy in the Tower, no longer necessary with the remaining members relocated from the Tower.

There exists a secret signal of the Black Ajah, both arms held by sides with the thumb on each hand thrust firmly between the first two fingers. This can be used only in an emergency as knowing thr identity of women outside of your own Heart can be a dangerous piece of knowledge and punishable as a breach of security in what one imagine would be very unpleasant.

Discipline

Black Ajah sisters were treated harshly for the smallest mistake. No excuses were accepted, and punishments were dealt with increasing severity. Death was not uncommon. Though deaths would be made to look as if having died in bed or in an accident, every Black sister knew she would be made to scream for a long time before finally being killed.

Leaders

The head of the Great Council of Thirteen is Alviarin Freidhen, who was raised to the position by Ishamael. The head of the Ajah is usually the most senior of the Supreme Council; an exception was Alviarin, who was handpicked by Ishamael from a lower rank after he severely punished and/or killed many of the leaders for their male chaneller pogrom (the Vileness).

Only the head of the Ajah knows the identities of every member. Part of her raising is for every member of the Supreme Council to give her all the identities of the Black sisters that she knows.

Supreme Council

Only the Head knows the identities of all the other Council members. The Council always meets hooded. They seldom did. Council members carried out all punishments, even for one another; handled induction of new Black sisters; and questioned other sisters or important persons. All this was done to preserve anonymity.

Every member of the Council knew the names of some Black sisters; enough so that not even several deaths could disrupt the structure.

Apart from Alviarin the remaining twelve members of the council are not all known, among them there was Galina Casban who used to be vice to Alviarin and also Sheriam Bayanar was member of the council, since Egwene says that Verin mentioned her as "a leader among the Black Ajah."

Known members of the Council:

Hearts

Hearts are groups of three sisters, who knew each other. Each sister would also know one other outside their heart. Known hearts include:

Each sister in a heart would be known by a different member of the Council, thus allowing for messages to be passed between hearts.

Communication was by letter-drop and the like, with methods for determining if a message was genuine. Orders and reports were passed in this way. There were signs or signals for Black Ajah sisters to use in identifying themselves, though this was usually only done in emergencies or on order.

There were also public signals, such as one placed in public areas which was a sign to leave the Tower immediately (this was probably used before Egwene's purge, which allowed the majority of Blacks in the Tower to escape). Each Black knew that she would have to go to a secret place, where she would meet other Blacks. No Black would ever tell another Black of her specified place, as she would be punished severely for that.

A sister could be summoned to a meeting with one or more hooded sisters to receive orders or to give a report. This summons was often done by simply being snatched and brought, and one would never know what the purpose of the meeting was beforehand.

Replacing the Three Oaths

The members of the Black Ajah are not bound by the Three Oaths, but they do have three replacement oaths, named the Black Oaths. The Wheel of Time Companion revealed all three:

1) I shall obey all commands given by those placed above me in service to the Great Lord

2) I shall prepare for the day of the Great Lord's return

3) I shall hold close the secrets of the Black Ajah, unto the hour of my death.

Involvement with the Chosen

It is thought that the Black Ajah was founded by Ishamael, who was not bound completely into Shayol Ghul as the rest of the Forsaken were. Since the release of the other Forsaken, Mesaana, Be'lal, Lanfear and Graendal have all come to the White Tower and spoken with Alviarin.

The Black Ajah is nominally controlled by Mesaana, who is undercover in the White Tower. This is because she controls Alviarin Freidhen, the head of the Black Ajah, who knows the identities of all Black Sisters.

During the Battle in Tel'aran'rhiod, Egwene al'Vere mentally overpowered Mesaana. Her mind was destroyed, and a Brown sister called Danelle was then found in a vegetative state. This led the White Tower to conclude that Mesaana had either been Danelle the entire time, or had been impersonating the original Danelle.

The truth is, however, that the Black Ajah are as subject to the whims of the Forsaken as any other Darkfriends and know they have no choice but to obey any of the Chosen should they command it. Not only that, but they would have to obey any non-channeling Darkfriend that may stand higher than them in Darkfriend circles.

Goals

Among the aims of the Black Sisters the primary one was surely to undermine the authority of the White Tower in the face of the world.

Another one was to dwindle the number of initiates aligned to the Light. Surely the Blacks favored the Aes Sedai policy to not search about new Novices, but instead to wait candidates to come spontaneously to the Tower. Also it can be guessed the Black favored the policy to keep the Book of Novices open only to a narrow age range of young channelers. So even if the Tower was built to host three thousand Sisters, there were less than one thousand at the eve of the Last Battle.

Due to the fact that the Aes Sedai's medium strength in the One Power dwindled dramatically during the time (but not among other female channeler groups), it can also be guessed that the Black Sisters eliminated systematically (with false accidents) every candidate to the shawl who showed a great potential; the same also against candidates with some particular Talent as dreamwalking.

As did Alviarin while Keeper of the Chronicles, it can be guessed finally that the Blacks fostered every conflict and quarrel to keep high the rivalry and discord between the Ajah and among Sisters in general.

Contacts with other Darkfriends

The Black Ajah had contacts with some other Darkfriend cells, though they were not part of the loose Darkfriend organization. It was a matter of irritation among the Blacks that the other Darkfriends did not bow to them. Many times, the Black tried to assert control, but the other groups always fought back fiercely, and Blacks were disadvantaged by their ageless look, which identified them easily. A few hundred years ago the Black made their last humiliating attempt, and were forced to renounce their claims of command in front of the other Darkfriends and accept a reduction of their votes from five to one. This meant they could only cast one vote during general councils, making them equal to the smallest and weakest of Darkfriend groups.

Settings