Lanfear expressed surprise when she confronted Alivia, because she was stronger than Lanfear before she was taken by the 'Finns. I highly doubt there is such a thing as a maximum potential, not in the abstract. Not any more than there is a strongest man in the world. It is a title that can only be claimed until it is toppled by another.
Which told Cyndane immediately that Alivia must have an angreal, because she is familiar with the highest known level of female strength. RJ himself said that there are maximums for strength in the Power. We're meant to extrapolate that Rand and Lanfear are probably these people, though RJ refused to confirm it.
There's also no proof that a nation of procreated channelers have a higher average strength in the Power, and definitely no proof that it allows them to break the bounds of the highest strengths. Channeling is a genetic recessive and hides even in non-channelers, and even then there is a physical component that is essential. It therefore hides in the general population, as is obvious in the huge amounts of Ash'aman who were easily gleaned from the general population over 3000 years later.
I also tend to disagree with you about your assertions as to the social makeup of the land of Madmen. From what we do know (ie the Sea Folk chronicles outlined in the BWB), foreigners were just as likely to encounter a male channeler as female. The implications of this very fact is important, because 3000 years with unfettered tainted men should have wiped humanity off the whole continent.
Why? The mad male channelers destroy the mad female channelers. It's a balance that's been going on for thousands of years. Incidentally, there is no established civilization there. The entire area is constantly being ripped to pieces by active volcanos and storms, and they live in hovels.
The fact that it didn't is at the very least intriguing, since it is counter-intuitive. It implicates some level of social compromise. Perhaps they have formed into tribal societies. Perhaps there is a caste system, and the Sea Folk have only had contact with the lowest caste. Who knows? The important thing is, there are enough people inhabiting the place to deter the Sea Folk more or less completely. The numbers don't add up, even taking into account the apparent lack of societal development.
It implies no such thing. There is no evidence that Demandred or any army of channelers could bring this place under control. There are males who are frequenly insane, and the women seem to be barbaric enough to the point that they might as well be insane. There is no compromise - there's a balance of destruction. We are told directly that the place never recovered from the Breaking. According to your theory, the Breaking of the world implies social compromise because male and female channelers seemed to co-exist for 300 years, when in actual fact they destroyed each other on sight.
The Land of Madmen is no mystery - it's merely unknown to the main plot as of now. It's a huge landmass. They're a barbaric nation without any hint of order. It's likely that the male and female channelers encounter one another occasionally and kill each other, but the same is probably true if two women meet, or two men.
My supposition was that in order for society to continue without being extinguished entirely in a world with tainted saidin, the men would either have to be destroyed, as they are in every other society, or they would have to be controlled, however unsuccessfully. This latter case is what I believe has happened in the Land of Madmen. And the only ones who would be able to do this would be female channelers.
The BWB directly contests this theory.
Domani Drag Queen in the White Tower ... Aran'gar watch out!
If Demandred isn't Roedran (or controlling Roedran)
- 07/07/2010 10:08:19 AM
1704 Views
Others suggest...
- 07/07/2010 10:31:33 AM
776 Views
Re: Others suggest...
- 07/07/2010 10:46:31 AM
635 Views
Yeah...
- 07/07/2010 11:03:21 AM
683 Views
Re: Yeah...
- 07/07/2010 12:58:04 PM
785 Views
The thing is...
- 07/07/2010 01:30:11 PM
617 Views
It all began....
- 07/07/2010 11:49:39 AM
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The idea is...
- 07/07/2010 12:39:19 PM
630 Views
Lol. So Slayer is the easy solution to every single mysterious death in the series? Dull as hell *NM*
- 07/07/2010 12:57:12 PM
241 Views
Fain and Slayer
- 07/07/2010 08:47:48 PM
569 Views
Fain playing a significant role in the LB would too much allude to LotR, IMO. *NM*
- 07/07/2010 11:28:29 PM
562 Views
As would Moiraine returning.
- 08/07/2010 02:13:25 AM
628 Views
I agree. I think this refers to The Great Battle done but the world not yet done with battle
- 07/07/2010 04:07:05 PM
518 Views
One reason the Murandy-New SL theory makes sense...
- 07/07/2010 07:19:56 PM
501 Views
That's most likely just coincidence. *NM*
- 07/07/2010 11:30:00 PM
239 Views
Re: That's most likely just coincidence.
- 08/07/2010 02:13:36 AM
503 Views
They followed Fain all the way to Caemlyn and shot arrows at Rand
- 08/07/2010 04:21:14 AM
481 Views
Murandy just doesn't fit Demandred. Also, Sammael could have been wrong.
- 07/07/2010 07:57:19 PM
755 Views
Sammael probably refered to the Dragonswron in the south of the Westlands...
- 08/07/2010 08:37:04 AM
445 Views
What if Demandred's base is...
- 08/07/2010 04:52:40 AM
523 Views
my problem with this
- 08/07/2010 04:59:35 AM
510 Views
Well, I tend to agree with you
- 09/07/2010 12:27:04 AM
456 Views
I actually think he only made the island to poke fun at Australia *NM*
- 09/07/2010 05:13:25 AM
251 Views
Definitely possible.
- 08/07/2010 02:06:57 PM
496 Views
Now here's a man with... vision!
- 09/07/2010 12:24:13 AM
475 Views
not really
- 10/07/2010 12:25:31 PM
475 Views
That's factually incorrect
- 12/07/2010 12:41:48 AM
537 Views
yes, factually incorrect by you
- 12/07/2010 08:02:23 AM
554 Views
- 12/07/2010 04:40:45 PM
486 Views
- 12/07/2010 08:02:23 AM
554 Views
- 12/07/2010 04:40:45 PM
486 Views
this is why i keep thinkin shara, with their tattoed pedigrees for channelers. *NM*
- 12/07/2010 02:17:53 AM
215 Views
Re: this is why i keep thinkin shara, with their tattoed pedigrees for channelers.
- 13/07/2010 04:20:19 AM
465 Views
