Ranking all 13 of the Forsaken from the Wheel of Time, from worst to best

10. Balthamel

Hideously scarred by the passage of time during his long captivity since the Age of Legends, vain Balthamel hides his face under a shroud when he first debuts at the climax of The Eye of the World, the first book in the series. He quickly falls in combat, but that isn’t the end of his story.

Later, the Dark One brings Balthamel back to life in the body of an unbelievably beautiful woman like those he so often desired in his former life. Being born again as a woman but still having access to the male half of the One Power, Balthamel – now going by the name Aran’gar – goes on a covert murder spree which long goes undetected. Aran’gar grows to enjoy their new life and infiltrates the camp of the Aes Sedai rebels and works their way into a position of influence.

9. Aginor

Not a soldier or a general but instead a maker of nightmares, Aginor was the most inventive of the Forsaken, using the One Power to create the creatures that would serve in the Dark One’s armies for over three millennia. The faceless myrdraal, the twisted trollocs, the vampiric draghkar, and the unstoppable gholam all number among his unnatural creations.

In his original body, Aginor dies alongside Balthamel facing the Dragon Reborn at the Eye of the World in the climax of the first novel. He is later resurrected as Osan’gar and sent to infiltrating Rand’s group of male channelers, only to be chosen unknowingly by Rand to serve as the head of his bodyguards. Surviving several novels in his second body, he is eventually felled in the battle around Shadar Logoth while Rand cleanses Saidin.

Whether he is dead or alive Aginor haunts heroes, soldiers, and citizens across the land with his monstrous creations. Aginor’s ranking in the lower half of the Forsaken is mainly due to his poor battle performance. Since neither he nor Balthamel showed up in the first season of the show, it’s likely they’ve been cut.

Next: Softly, softly, from the shadows