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Dreadlords

A Dreadlord is a person who can channel and is in the service of the Dark One. Although they can channel, they are not considered to be strong enough to be "Chosen." Their function is either like the sul'dam and damane in Seanchan armies or as the commanders of the Shadow's armies under the Chosen. It is likely that Aes Sedai of the Black Ajah and Darkfriends at the Black Tower will function as Dreadlords in the army of the Dark One in the Last Battle.

The Dreadlords originated in the Trolloc Wars. They refused to call themselves the Chosen for fear that, after they won and the actual Chosen were freed, they would be punished for claiming the title.

Children of Light

Children of the Light, or Whitecloaks, are religious zealots. They blame the Breaking of the World on the Aes Sedai and believe that the One Power is a tool of the Dark One. By this logic, all Aes Sedai, and any who associate with them or who have trained in the White Tower, must therefore be Darkfriends. The Children bear strong similarities to both the medieval order of the Knights Templar and the Ku Klux Klan.

The Children of the Light wear white cloaks with a bright gold sunburst. The battle armour is silver with a gold sunburst and conical caps.

Philosophically, the Children are nearly identical to the long-dead inhabitants of Shadar Logoth, who believed that "The victory of the Light is all," and became so oppressive of anything resembling the Shadow that they became an evil of their own. This link is used by Padan Fain to spread the evil of Shadar Logoth to the Whitecloaks, but that spread has ceased with the fall of the Dome of the Light to the Seanchan.

Warders

A Warder is a person who is bonded by an Aes Sedai through the use of saidar to become her bodyguard as she travels.

Warders are traditionally trained at the White Tower so that, once their training has been completed, they may serve the Aes Sedai as bodyguards. In their training, they are brought to a pinnacle of swordplay; man for man, Warders are historically considered to be the finest fighters in the land. They are highly recognizable for their "color-shifting" cloaks, which are made of fancloth created by a ter'angreal recovered from the Age of Legends, and provide chameleonic camouflage for their wearers.

The Warder bond has distinct benefits for both parties. The bonded party gains greater stamina and physical prowess, a greater capacity to resist evil, and greater resistance to injury. The Aes Sedai, for her part, gains a bodyguard, confidant and ally-in-schemes who is intrinsically linked to her and whose behavior can be controlled through the bond. She is also able to draw on the warder's strength if needed. Both parties are able to sense the other's general location, physical well-being and, to some extent, emotional state. Of course, this in itself can cause problems, should one party or the other become intoxicated or involved in romantic liaisons. Death is also a major occupational hazard; if one member of the bond is killed, the other suffers extreme emotional trauma, to the point that most orphaned Warders lose all will to live, and often throw away their lives in a berserker rage.

Grey Men

A small subset of Darkfriends (of both genders, despite the name) actually donate their souls to the Great Lord. While most Gray Men are men, some women have been "stupid enough even among darkfriends" to give up their soul. They become Gray Men, ordinary-looking folk who are, in fact, very difficult to notice, to the point of 'hiding in plain sight': to a person not specifically looking for one, a Gray Man carrying a knife is about as interesting as an old chair. Their ubiquity and unremarkability is their primary asset, as they are sent as assassins against sensitive marks; frequently they do the deed without anyone even realizing they were there. Like the Draghkar, however, they are only truly dangerous if overlooked. Unlike the Draghkar, the Gray Men are very easy for most people to overlook.

Gholam

The gholam is another creation of Aginor. Only six, three male and three female, were ever created, and only one is known to survived the Breaking. The gholam are among the Shadow's most deadly creatures. Appearing human in form, gholam are extremely strong and they appear to be impervious to most forms of physical injury due to their lack of bones and blood as well as their elasticity. A gholam can slip through the tiniest of cracks due to its lack of bones. Because of their incredible strength, they are able to rip a door off its hinges with one hand. They must regularly consume blood to stay alive; while they prefer human blood, the blood of any living creature will do.

Finally, as their only purpose is to kill channelers, they were made completely immune to the One Power. Only one thing has been known to injure them: a foxhead medallion, currently in the possession of Matrim Cauthon, caused burns when brought in contact with the gholam. It is possible that this is because of their similar natures; the medallion has been shown to protect Mat from the direct effects of channelling.

Myrddraal

Myrddraal are Trolloc offspring, but are throwbacks to human origin. They are tall and pale, muscular and serpent-quick, but they have no eyes, which does not impair their vision in the slightest. Despite having no eyes they are said to have the vision of eagles in both light and darkness. Myrddraal are most often seen leading groups of Trollocs, and sometimes "link" with them to achieve even greater control. However, this comes at a cost - dealing a Myrddraal a killing blow will instantly kill any Trollocs linked to it, even though the Myrddraal itself will not die "until the setting sun".

Myrddraal gain certain powers from the Dark One. They have the ability to cause paralyzing fear with a look and can vanish wherever there are shadows. They have few known weaknesses, one of which is that they do not like to cross running water.

Myrddraal wear black armor with overlapping scales, and black cloaks which do not stir in the wind. In battle a Myrddraal wields his sword with great skill and incredible speed. They are able to move between, or disappear into, shadows, and mirrors only reflect a misty image of them. Aginor, one of the Forsaken and creator of both Trollocs and Myrddraal, theorized that they were "slightly out of phase with time and reality," but was unable to prove his thesis despite extensive, often fatal, testing. Their blood is acidic and will etch steel if not cleaned off. When killed they thrash around blindly for a time, often still holding their weapons, as if refusing to admit they are dead. They wield swords made at Thakan'dar, the forges on the slopes of Shayol Ghul, which are imbued with the soul of a human. A Myrddraal's sword causes injuries that are almost always fatal if Aes Sedai Healing is not administered. The swords, however, only have a limited lifetime. Myrddraal have the uncanny ability to instill stark terror in anyone they gaze upon: "The look of the Eyeless is fear." The only things Myrddraal are known to fear are running water, the city Shadar Logoth, the half-Mordeth monster named Padan Fain, and the One Power. Myrddraal, along with Gray Men, are the only known creatures who do not dream. Even Trollocs have dreams.

Myrddraal are hated by the wolves more than any other shadowspawn. They are called the "Neverborn" by the wolves. A whole pack of wolves will willingly die trying to kill one Myrddraal.

They are known by many names: Halfmen, the Eyeless, Shadowrunners, Shadowmen, Lurk, Fetch, Fade, Neverborn. In most nations, they are treated about as seriously as bogeymen, but those in the Borderlands or who have had the misfortune to encounter them, know better.

The Aelfinn and Eelfinn

The Aelfinn and Eelfinn are a pair of unusual nonhuman races who inhabit realms separate from the more familiar world of the Wheel. Two red doorframe ter'angreal allow visitation, one for each race of 'elfinn, provided that you bring neither iron, instruments of music, or fire. The doorway to the Eelfinn was destroyed during the fight between Lanfear and Moiraine. The Aelfinn look vaguely human with snakelike features. They answer three questions truthfully, although the answers are difficult to unravel. Questions directly pertaining to the Shadow are to be avoided, as are frivolous questions. The Eelfinn resemble foxes, and grant gifts, but at a price. If the price isn't set before the request, then they consider themselves free to set a suitable price, often to the detriment of the petitioner.

The Aelfinn and Eelfinn live in twisted worlds, which allow them to read the Pattern more effectively than humans may. The Aelfinn and the Eelfinn are not believed to be evil, but their point of view and intelligence are so different from humans and so thoroughly alien that they might as well be. It is believed that an individual can only visit each species once, through their corresponding ter'angreal. Moiraine and Lanfear fell battling into one of these portals and while Lanfear has apparently been resurrected by the Dark One, Moiraine remains trapped in the world of the Eelfinn.

The Kin are a secret group of female channelers hiding from the White Tower. They offered a safe haven for others who had been put out of the Tower due to their failure to measure up to the Tower's standards. Their history dates back to the Trolloc Wars, more than two thousand years ago when the first group of women upon fearing to return home in the midst of the wars, fled to Barashta as far from the fighting as was possible to go at that time.

The members of the Kin, calling themselves Kinswomen, accept runaways, as well. They made great efforts to keep these girls from learning anything about the Kin until they were sure that Aes Sedai would not swoop down and retake them. After all, everyone knew that runaways were always caught sooner or later, and the Kin knew that unless they held themselves secret, they themselves would be punished severely. Unknown to the Kin, Aes Sedai in the Towers were aware of their existence almost from the very first, but prosecution of the wars left no time for dealing with them. By the end of the wars, the Tower realised that it might not be in their best interests to snuff out the Kin. Prior to that time, a majority of runaways actually had managed to escape, whatever the Tower's propaganda, but once the Kin began helping them, the Tower knew exactly where any runaway was heading, and they began retaking nine out of ten. Thus, the Kin became the Tower's unconventional trap for runaways, and the Tower decided to leave them alone and to keep the Kin's very existence a secret known only to full Aes Sedai.

The Kin do not have laws, but rather rules based in part on the rules of novices and Accepted in the White Tower, and in part on the necessity of maintaining secrecy. As might be expected given the origins of the Kin, they maintain their rules very firmly on all their members. Recent open contacts between Aes Sedai and Kinswomen, while known only to a handful of sisters, have produced a number of shocks, including the facts that there are twice as many Kinswomen as Aes Sedai and that some are more than a hundred years older than any Aes Sedai has lived since before the Trolloc Wars. In Crossroads of Twilight, it is suggested that the reason that the Kin are in some cases much older than any Aes Sedai is because they have not sworn on the Oath Rod which may cut an Aes Sedai life in half. The effect of these revelations, both on Aes Sedai and on Kinswomen, is as yet as a matter for speculation.