Iaszaphiel. Known beyond any doubt to have been the most powerful of the Forsaken. He is a handsome man in his middle years, with dark eyes and cruel looking lips. He has a mellifluous voice, which usually trails off to a drone when he grows bored.
The strongest Forsaken was not always named after an angel. During his human years, he went by the name Elend Terran, a critically acclaimed philosopher and theologian who wrote several influential books, among them Analysis of Perceived Meaning, Reality and the Absence of Meaning and The Disassembly of Reason. Despite his acclaim however, his writings and philosophies were often considered too esoteric for popular appeal.
During the Collapse, an event caused by a rupture of magical energy as a result of Exar'ad-heuld's battle with Solarium, Elend put forth a theory that the war between the soul of Herald Maximus and the Dark One had occurred since the beginning of time, recurring at intervals along the Humanity Ephermis. This theory led him to realize that, due to the Empheris's cyclical nature, the Dark One would invariably receive an infinite number of chances to escape from his prison. As such, he realized that humanity would have to continually fend the Dark One off so long as the pattern of repetition continued.
The Dark One, on the other hand, needed to win only once, as once he did, that victory would be absolute as it would be impossible for humanity to combat him once freed from his prison.
He also realized that because the Dark One had a theoretically infinite number of chances to win, it became a statistical certainty that he eventually would. In accordance with his belief that the Dark One's victory was inevitable, he aligned himself with the elder deity, becoming the first Forsaken.
During the subsequent War to End All Wars, he became the Dark One's greatest champion and the only Forsaken equal to Herald Maximus in his control of mana. At some point during the war, he was named Chief Captain-General of the Shadow, despite the fact that he never held a field command. This title gave him supreme command over the forces of the Shadow and made him the de-facto leader of the Forsaken.