Darkhound

From A Wheel of Time Wiki

A darkhound is a "species" of a shadowspawn. Darkhounds look like very large dogs or wolves and are about the size of a small horse. They are used by the Shadow to hunt down targets. Their saliva is a deadly poison/acid that causes bruising and burns which spread quickly, and a few drops are enough to kill a person. Darkhounds leave footprints in stone, along with a trace sent of sulphur, but will leave none at all in softer ground, such as grass, snow, mud, or dirt. Balefire is one of the few things known to easily kill/destroy them. If they are otherwise damaged, in some cases, they are able to "reshape" and attack again as well or nearly as well as the previous time. Darkhounds (or at least a subspecies Rand al'Thor fights at Rhuidean) are seemingly solid but if they are chopped into bits the parts liquefy, pool, and reform into the darkhound once again.^[1]Lan claims it is impossible to outrun them once they have your scent and that they don't like rain, and "a good thunderstorm can stop them completely."

They typically run in packs of ten to twelve, though a pack may be as large as fifty hounds. Perrin Aybara (with Moiraine Damodred in party) fought Darkhounds outside of Illian, and killed one with several arrows to the face. Balefire is the only reliable way to permanently kill one.

Darkhounds are created by twisting the mind of a wolf. The wolves themselves refer to them as Shadowbrothers.

Masuri Sokawa, an Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah, has researched Darkhounds and claims to have crossed the paths of seven different packs. She says that the number of packs in existence is in dispute, with some sources saying only seven packs exist, while others claim nine, thirteen, or more. Some ancient sources even state that at the time of the Trolloc Wars, there were "a hundred packs" and "in numbers like unto the nightmares of Mankind."

It is not known if Darkhounds are afraid of crossing water like Trollocs; although, as stated before, they don't like rain.

[edit] Notes

1. ↑ Near the beginning of The Fires of Heaven, perhaps?^[verify]