So you're saying the Dark One can't replace the channelers he loses by promoting others? That sucks (for him). Maybe there is a lot of red tape involved with that, but I can't see it, since he should be the Ultimate Boss. If that's the case, I wonder how the original Forsaken got to their positions of power.

Thanks for pointing that out about who died where, Fanatic-Templar! It was kind of confusing to see Ba'alzamon have a sword driven through his heart at end of The Great Hunt and then reappear as a ghastly ubiquitous force at the end of The Dragon Reborn.

As for the knowledge of Moiraine Aes Sedai, she seemed to know a lot. She figured out that the Forsaken ruling Tear was Be'lal, for example, from very little evidence we could see. She seems to know so much, more than I would expect of an average Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah. So, that she could mention a new Forsaken (or Forsaken-level) character cannot be dismissed so easily, because she could just be breadcrumbing knowledge of another character.