Spoilers! This WU talks about The Wheel of Time - A Crown of Swords (book 7)
While retrieving the
Bowl of the winds,
Matrim Cauthon,
Elayne and
Aviendha are attacked by the
darkfriends and the
Black Ajah sisters. The darkfriends and the sisters are subdued with few loses. However a being called
gholam kills a few people and escapes.. It manages to dodge Mat's
ashandarei and ignores the dagger that Mat thrusts into it's side (the dagger later comes out without any blood). Elayne's attack of the gholem with one power fails:"
Channeling wouldn't touch him; the flows melted..". However Mat manages to ward it off with his
Foxhead medallion. When the medallion accidentally touches the gholam's skin as though a burn appears. The gholam runs away not willing to face Mat again. In the subsequent chapters
Birgitte reveals more information about Gholams.
Apparently they were created during the
War of the Powers in the
Age of Legends, by
Aginor one of the male
Forsaken. They were specifically designed to hunt out people who could wield the
One Power. On outside they look like normal people. However they are boneless - they can squeeze into any hole. They are also extremely strong and quick (even faster then
Myrddraal). Among their other abilities - they can also sense a person using One Power. Due to these qualities even
Forsaken were uneasy about them. A total of six gholams were created by Aginor: three male and three female. Nothing is known of the rest of the gholams. It is assumed however that this one survived
The Breaking in a
stasis box.