Who is the Fiend? *spoiler*

[Soule]

We know Shal is the Fiend..but I was wondering how he became the Fiend? How did he lose his sanity but at the last moment hid the ring ahead? And why did he become insane?

[Dominus]

insane: he found a book called "the mysteries of usecode" and from that moment on his mind was twisted in directions no mind was ever meant to be ...

[Paulon]

He made a bargain with the Serpent of Chaos - for the power to make the ring he would give up his sanity once it was done. So he took steps to make sure the ring didn't get into the hands of a total lunatic and gave the automaton the orders before he paid the price for the ring's completion.

[InfernalCatfish]

So, then, what was the point of making the ring if he was just going to hide it from himself?

[MV]

He would have been a little insane to begin with to make a bargain with the chaos serpent. Maybe he wanted to become insane and babble and drool all day, and the only way to do that was with the deal, but, he probably figured he didn't want the ring to distract him when he did become insane.

Or maybe he wanted the ring to get out into the world and be known as the famous lunatic who crafted the most powerful artifact known.

Or just crafting such an object was pure lunacy in itself.

I dunno.