After Couladin’s death, she took over as acting chief of the Shaido; she also began acting as a Wise One, and was accepted as one. She had real power at an age when Wise One’s apprentices were still running to fetch water and Maidens were still jumping when any of a dozen older Maidens murmured jump.
Sevanna was obsessed with possessing Rand. She intended, among other things, to found a dynasty, perhaps matriarchal, insofar as succession of the rulers was possible, to rule the Shaido and much more, using him. This desire for him was both practical—the dynasty and the power achieved simply by having him in her grasp—and personal—he had great power, and she lusted to own and control it. That was an added reason for her to want Faile serving her, once she learned Faile was married to a friend of Rand. Sevanna wanted to know everything about him.
Sevanna led the Shaido to break many customs; instead of taking the fifth, they looted to bare ground, excusing it because the victims were wetlanders. They forced wetlanders to become gai’shain—in effect slaves—though wetlanders did not follow ji’e’toh and this was considered insulting to the Aiel who were gai’shain. Sevanna, using the Wise Ones, decreed that wetlander gai’shain, because they did not follow ji’e’toh, were not to be released in a year and a day but held until they demonstrated that they had come to follow ji’e’toh, the object being to never release them. She also took Wise Ones into battle, although non-Shaido Aiel did so as well. She began decorating her gai’shain with jewelry, increased the jewelry she herself wore, and started wearing finger rings.
Sevanna hated being less than anyone else and not having the power or abilities that others did. That was her main impetus in wanting to break Galina. In the beginning she thought that simply breaking the Aes Sedai to a point where she would promise to do as Sevanna told her would be sufficient. She knew that Aes Sedai supposedly could not lie, but also that they were said to twist words fiercely. She was not certain about the efficacy of the binder rod given her by Caddar/Sammael, but she was willing to use it. Once Galina had been broken far enough to swear on the rod—and Sevanna believed it must take more to break an Aes Sedai than to break other people—then if the rod worked as claimed, she would have the complete and utter obedience of a woman who could channel, and if it did not work, she would still have the complete and utter obedience of a woman who could channel, because Galina would have been broken, and Aes Sedai could not lie.
Therava became Sevanna’s advisor, ostensibly because Sevanna spoke as the clan chief, and she needed a Wise One to advise her as a clan chief would. Sevanna was not best pleased by this. In the eyes of Therava and the other Wise Ones, Sevanna erred seriously in letting the Shaido be scattered at Sammael’s connivance. That was the real reason Therava was appointed to her post. At Malden, Sevanna was taken captive by the Seanchan.
Seve. A seven-year-old boy taken to Salidar as a child of Marigan (Moghedien in disguise); Jaril was his brother. At first, they clung to each other and seemed frightened of everything and everyone and would not speak a word. Later, they laughed and shouted as loud as the other children.
Seven-Striped Lass, The. A tavern in Caemlyn run by Melli Craeb.
Seven Towers. Defining landmarks of Malkier, broken by the Shadowspawn armies.
sevens. A game in which players sat facing one another, drew swords and aimed at each other’s throat, stopping just short of flesh.
severing. An Age of Legends word that meant both gentling and stilling, thus rendering men or women incapable of channeling.
Sevlana Meseau. A historical and legendary Gray sister who Merana thought of as impressive; she thought that when Kiruna and Bera first saw Cadsuane, it must have struck them the same way seeing Sevlana would strike her.
Sh’boan. A woman serving as the absolute monarch of Shara. The monarch ruled for exactly seven years, then died. The rule then passed to the mate of that ruler, the Sh’botay, who ruled for seven years and then died; his (second) mate then ruled as Sh’boan for seven years. This pattern had repeated itself from the time of the Breaking of the World. The Sharans believed that the deaths were the “Will of the Pattern.” A break in the cycle occurred when Graendal kidnapped Chiape, the Sh’boan, and her Sh’botay-to-be Shaofan and made them her pets.
Sh’botay. See Sh’boan
sha’je. A type of duel using left- and right-handed daggers tipped with poison, in which often neither party survived. The left-handed dagger was known as the osan’gar and the right-handed dagger as aran’gar. The duel originated during the Age of Legends after the Dark One’s touch was felt in the world. A sha’je duel at Qal was mentioned by Semirhage.
Sha’mad Conde. Old Tongue for “Thunder Walkers,” it was the name given to an Aiel warrior society.
sha’rah. A game that was ancient when the War of Power began. Moridin, one of nine remaining who knew the game, was a grandmaster. Played on a board with 13 × 13 squares, it had 33 red pieces and 33 green pieces and a central black-and-white piece called the Fisher; the first object was to capture the Fisher.
Shaarad Aiel. An Aiel clan which had Black Rock, Haido and Imran septs; its clan chief was Jheran.
Shadar Logoth. Old Tongue for “the Place Where the Shadow Waits.” The name was given to the city formerly known as Aridhol, capital of one of the Ten Nations. Aridhol used an evil as great as the Shadow to fight the Shadow, corrupting itself, and Shadar Logoth was destroyed circa 1200 AB. The evil that remained there was called Mashadar. The taint on Shadar Logoth was created by humans, who believed they had to do whatever was necessary to defeat the Shadow. Rand experienced resonance when channeling there—the Dark One’s taint reacted to the corruption of Shadar Logoth. One could say that the two taints were diametrically opposed to each other, two opposite magnetic poles that were attracted to each other.
Shadar Nor. The name given to Latra Posae, a famous female Aes Sedai from the time of the Breaking, meaning “Cutter (or Slicer) of the Shadow.” See Latra Posae
shade of my heart. An Aiel term of affection.
Shadoon, Stedding. A stedding located along the Shadow Coast.
Shadow Coast. The mountainous border of Tarabon and Amadicia on the southwestern coast of the continent. An Ogier stedding was located there.
Shadow, Lady of the. A Seanchan expression for death.
Shadow, the. The Dark One and also the power or force of the Dark One, in contrast to the Light of the Creator.