Origin
The son of Arent and Covril, Loial was born and raised in the stedding Shangtai. Widely regarded amongst his Ogier kin as a “hot-head”, Loial ran away from his stedding before he was of age to be allowed to travel on his own in order to explore the world.Â
Creation
Loial was originally created by Robert Jordan for his book series The Wheel of Time, making his first appearance in the first book in that series, The Eye of the World. He made his first appearance in comics in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World #25, written by Jordan and Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Marcio Fiorito. Â
Major Story Arcs
The Eye of the WorldÂ
Loial seeks to visit all of the Ogier groves that lay scattered throughout the world, but is troubled to find most of them destroyed. He travels to Caemlyn and takes lodging in The Queen’s Blessing, an inn. It is there that he first encounters Rand al’Thor. He asks to join Rand in his travels after deducing that Rand is ta’veren, and is later persuaded to help the group using his knowledge of the Ways. He leads the group through the Ways to Fal Dara, and later joins them on their trip to the Eye of the World. Following the death of the Green Man, Loial sings to the trees in order to ensure that the Blight will not overcome the Green Man’s realm.Â
Powers and AbilitiesÂ
Loial is an Ogier, and as such possesses all the traits inherent to his race. This includes massive size and enhanced strength; he stands about ten feet tall. He also possesses enhanced senses, specifically hearing and smell. He is incredibly long-lived, and at ninety years of age is considered very young by Ogier standards. He is a very fast runner, even compared to other Ogier. He is intelligent, and possesses vast stores of knowledge on a number of topics. He is an extremely gifted treesinger, able to stimulate the growth of plants through song. Â
Other Media
Literature
The Wheel of TimeÂ
Loial was originally created for the Wheel of Time series of books. He has thus far appeared in five books in the series.