My good sir! I have just finished the series and stumbled upon your post whilst languishing in the mire of completion. I found your work above rather hearty and warm and most strikingly, probably correct. Hearty cheers my man

I love this! I recommend your fic whenever I can, it's just so well-written and the fact that you actually got it right elevates it to another level entirely.

This is hilariously meta, considering it's actually correct.

I just had to say this is a truly brilliant premise for a story and I enjoyed it thoroughly, and the fact that you deduced correctly makes it so much better.

Damn. All this time I expected all Forsaken to know that they may freely visit Rahvin's place, as he is dead. The observation of the opposite may have let me deduce the answer too.

You, good sir, are fit to impersonate Sherlock Holmes in a fan-fic. I don't say this to many people. Good job!

Hee! This is charming and excellently deduced - well-done!

Indeed, quite brilliant. You pretty much followed my thought processes to the letter, since the only other likely and viable suspect was Lanfear and she was sadly excluded once we found out she was back as Cyndane. Whether she died and was reborn or got her new body from the Finn, either way she was far too preoccupied to have done the deed unless we assume she did it with a wish, and that is only baseless speculation on what the Finn might have allowed or made possible.

I will note two things you didn't mention or consider though. While you proved without a shadow of a doubt that Graendal was the only suspect who logically fit as the murderer, thus eliminating Mesaana by default, there was a quote from Chapter 6 of LoC (the scene where Semirhage was torturing Cabriana Mecandes) where Semirhage recalled a conversation with Mesaana: "More troubling were the Chosen who had vanished. Demandred insisted they must be dead, but she [Semirhage] and Mesaana were not so sure". This implies Mesaana didn't know Asmodean was dead and thus couldn't be the murderer.

Secondly...while all of your reasoning for how and why Graendal would be in the Royal Palace at the time, and why she'd kill Asmodean on sight, all make sense, you neglected one thing: he was the only one of the Forsaken (other than Sammael, who thanks to his hatred and jealousy toward Lews Therin, would never betray her to help him) who knew Graendal was in Arad Doman. How and why he knew she was there we may never know, though I theorize they had been allies for a time, or at least had met and exchanged information on occasion-note every Forsaken whose location he knew aside from Lanfear and Graendal (Rahvin, Sammael, Moghedien) were ones Graendal had been meeting with, while those he hadn't located (Demandred, Semirhage, Mesaana) were ones she hadn't learned where they were hiding yet. (She figured out Mesaana was in the Tower only after his death, and she never did figure out where Semirhage or Demandred were.) So it seems to me that she would want to eliminate him to keep him from telling Rand or anyone else where she was hiding-and if they had been meeting or outright allied, she'd also want to kill him to keep from being linked with a traitor, just as she didn't want to be linked with Sammael after his failures.

So yes, if she came upon him by surprise and didn't know he was shielded, she'd kill him to protect herself. But I think she also killed him because he knew too much about her to be allowed to live, and because his 'treachery' when he had been her ally/information exchanger would get her in trouble unless she killed him to look loyal. Not a premeditated scheme, but a sudden opportunity she received by surprise which allowed her to protect her own life, her good standing with the Dark One, and her secrecy all at once.

Indeed, quite brilliant. You pretty much followed my thought processes to the letter, since the only other likely and viable suspect was Lanfear and she was sadly excluded once we found out she was back as Cyndane. Whether she died and was reborn or got her new body from the Finn, either way she was far too preoccupied to have done the deed unless we assume she did it with a wish, and that is only baseless speculation on what the Finn might have allowed or made possible.

I will note two things you didn't mention or consider though. While you proved without a shadow of a doubt that Graendal was the only suspect who logically fit as the murderer, thus eliminating Mesaana by default, there was a quote from Chapter 6 of LoC (the scene where Semirhage was torturing Cabriana Mecandes) where Semirhage recalled a conversation with Mesaana: "More troubling were the Chosen who had vanished. Demandred insisted they must be dead, but she [Semirhage] and Mesaana were not so sure". This implies Mesaana didn't know Asmodean was dead and thus couldn't be the murderer.

Secondly...while all of your reasoning for how and why Graendal would be in the Royal Palace at the time, and why she'd kill Asmodean on sight, all make sense, you neglected one thing: he was the only one of the Forsaken (other than Sammael, who thanks to his hatred and jealousy toward Lews Therin, would never betray her to help him) who knew Graendal was in Arad Doman. How and why he knew she was there we may never know, though I theorize they had been allies for a time, or at least had met and exchanged information on occasion-note every Forsaken whose location he knew aside from Lanfear and Graendal (Rahvin, Sammael, Moghedien) were ones Graendal had been meeting with, while those he hadn't located (Demandred, Semirhage, Mesaana) were ones she hadn't learned where they were hiding yet. (She figured out Mesaana was in the Tower only after his death, and she never did figure out where Semirhage or Demandred were.) So it seems to me that she would want to eliminate him to keep him from telling Rand or anyone else where she was hiding-and if they had been meeting or outright allied, she'd also want to kill him to keep from being linked with a traitor, just as she didn't want to be linked with Sammael after his failures.

So yes, if she came upon him by surprise and didn't know he was shielded, she'd kill him to protect herself. But I think she also killed him because he knew too much about her to be allowed to live, and because his 'treachery' when he had been her ally/information exchanger would get her in trouble unless she killed him to look loyal. Not a premeditated scheme, but a sudden opportunity she received by surprise which allowed her to protect her own life, her good standing with the Dark One, and her secrecy all at once.

The classic fic. Brandon Sanderson mentioned that it was in the notes on the end of the series, with one phrase handwritten on it: THIS IS RIGHT. It's the one RJ kept referring to when he said that someone on the internet has it right.

Brilliant! Both in writing and in the selection to cross the question with Sherlock Holmes. After reading ToM, it looks like you were correct for sure! Wonderful deductions. :) I like the idea that she had opened up a skimming deal in the pantry to arrive and he fell/was pulled into the blackness and that's why his 'No' hung in the air and since he's technically not 'dead', just falling through the void that's why he can't be resurrected. It was never stated how she killed him, but balefire works too.

One minor error though:

"However, Nynaeve only did it once in TDR by sheer instinct without even knowing what the name for it was, and besides she would seem to have been very busy in Salidar explaining to Elayne that she had just captured Graendal at the same time that Asmodean would have died..."

That should be Moghedien, not Graendal. Could be confusing for those that haven't read the books in awhile.

It appears you were right about the culprit all along, you clever fox! This was truly an excellent display of logic and observation. I am humbled, good author.

lol I like how you portrayed Holmes. And, of course, we finally know that you were right the whole time. Belated Congragulations on that. XP

Lol brilliant :)

Great analysis, well throught out and amusingly written. Elementary indeed. You might be aware of this or not, but looks like your version could be the definitive version of that scene's resolution:

forums/topic/53029-tom-signing-tour-reports/page_st_60

Here's another I thought I had reviewed. This whole analysis was amazing. You brought up points I hadn't even considered. I really didn't have much of an idea of who it might have been before I read this, but this totally convinced me it was Graendal - and now finally we know that it was her after all. Great job on such a well thought-out theory, and the way it was written and formulated with Sherlock Holmes was so well done.