Does an a'dam's link hold in a Stedding?
I believe so. It doesn't require active channeling to work - it responds both to young girls who haven't sparked yet, and learners who never channel. Since the ability to channel and not the act of channeling are all it requires, it should still hold. It's possible that the sul'dam will lose the ability to cause sensation through it, however. Siuan and Leane couldn't, when stilled.
I believe so. It doesn't require active channeling to work - it responds both to young girls who haven't sparked yet, and learners who never channel. Since the ability to channel and not the act of channeling are all it requires, it should still hold. It's possible that the sul'dam will lose the ability to cause sensation through it, however. Siuan and Leane couldn't, when stilled.
I tend to agree. However, if what you posit is true about losing the ability to cause sensations, then it would stand to reason that the ter'angreal would fail in every other aspect. Mistress Anan couldn't do more than Siuan and Leane, and toting Joline around still caused the Aes Sedai to sick up.
Setalle Anan couldn't do anything with the a'dam, whereas Siuan and Leane were able to complete the link, just not use it. I believe this was because Setalle had been burned out, while they'd only been stilled. But being in a stedding is not like being burned out, though objectively it may seem similar - completely unable to sense the Source, not like stilling, where you can sense it, just not touch it. Warder bonds don't snap if either party enters a stedding; they do if you're stilled. So however a stedding works, it must act on the presence of the Source, not the people or objects who enter. It was possible to channel in Far Madding, after all, if you brought your own saidar. So active channeling links would certainly fail, but the passive a'dam link should hold.
How is it that the Seanchan Ogier have not developed the Longing?
Something to do with their service to the Empress, I'd bet. But we can only theorise. I'd be curious to see what happens to a Seanchan Ogier if they enter a Stedding. Do they even know about Stedding? Maybe they're a myth, to them.
Something to do with their service to the Empress, I'd bet. But we can only theorise. I'd be curious to see what happens to a Seanchan Ogier if they enter a Stedding. Do they even know about Stedding? Maybe they're a myth, to them.
Intriguing. What service would you expect would drive them to that? Perhaps there acceptance of there violent nature...? Or do you suggest it is the devotion to the Throne that allowed them to cope?
I think it's their service to the Empress, but I can't guess any further than that. And I could be completely wrong. Maybe they never had the Longing to begin with - it was a product of the Breaking, when Ogier were wandering the world lost, and they found in the years after that that they had become dependant on the stedding. But Seanchan has been completely separate from the Westlands since the Breaking (well, until Hawkwing). Maybe that experience was limited to Westland Ogier only.
How do the Seanchan control their Fortelling damane's visions? Do they make it up most of the time, and get lucky others? Or has the social constraints forced the ability to be controlled? If the latter, could that Talent be controlled by other Aes Sedai, with proper discipline? Could Elaida gain such a control, now she is damane?
We see many different ways of telling the future, from the Wise Ones and their dreams, to Min and her visions. It's possible the damane do something different still. But in a more prosaic sense, you may have it backwards - possibly there are damane who Foretell like Aes Sedai do, but I doubt they'd be serving the Empress or the Daughter of the Nine Moons. A damane who could start shaking and ranting in public at any time would be an embarrassment. They'd be more likely to choose one who has a more discreet, controllable talent.
Perhaps... though I would rather think that when a damane had her first Foretelling, it would be viewed as a sign that they have the Talent, and it is being expressed much like a growing pain. Said damane would then be marked for training and would thereafter be pampered for her abilities.
As for your first supposition, that it is a Seanchan exclusive Talent, I tend to think it unlikely. With the sole exception of Min, Talents have not been seen to be very segregated. Oh, the Wise One's have more dreamwalkers, true, and the Kin have better Healers. But these are products of the society being aware of the Talents and being able to nurture the Talents. Whose to say how the Foretelling might be nurtured? Given the proper... motivations.
Not sure I agree. Talents have been very segregated among the various channeling groups. Until very recently, only Aes Sedai could Heal, only Aiel could Dream, only Seanchan could make ter'angreal, and only the Ayyad practised widespread Compulsion. See no reason why the Seanchan couldn't have Foretelling in their grab bag too; it's the kind of thing they'd like, they're a superstitious lot who believe in signs and omens and fates.
Will Elaida and/or the Seanchan-captured Aes Sedai be bargained back to freedom?
Hm. The capture of Elaida was terribly convenient, narratively speaking; it got her out of the way with no bloodshed on Egwene's part (only one of many, many ridiculous and unbelievable events in that whole story arc). I suppose she could come back now that Egwene's rule is secure. Maybe she'd even be grateful and wouldn't plot and scheme to overthrow her. But we do know that after the series end Mat and Fortuona were supposed to return to Seanchan to try and reclaim Fortuona's throne, and I can't see how they expect to do that without a lot of damane. Seems more likely they'd bring them all with them.
Hm. The capture of Elaida was terribly convenient, narratively speaking; it got her out of the way with no bloodshed on Egwene's part (only one of many, many ridiculous and unbelievable events in that whole story arc). I suppose she could come back now that Egwene's rule is secure. Maybe she'd even be grateful and wouldn't plot and scheme to overthrow her. But we do know that after the series end Mat and Fortuona were supposed to return to Seanchan to try and reclaim Fortuona's throne, and I can't see how they expect to do that without a lot of damane. Seems more likely they'd bring them all with them.
Well, there is also the point to consider that the Seanchan and White Tower very likely have another confrontation to sort through prior to Tarmon Gaidon. I just wonder what will come of that. The captured Sisters are bound to come up, no?
They'd be mad to use the captured sisters in that attack - there hasn't been time to break them, not properly. They're cowed, but it takes months/years for the Stockholm to take root and for them to become properly 'loyal'. Use them against the White Tower so soon after capture and at best they'll refuse orders, and at worst they'll attack 'their own' side, the other Seanchan.
I have no real idea how the Seanchan/damane issue is going to be worked out, or even if there's time for it to be worked out. But it would be a huge loose end for RJ/BS to leave unresolved.
Will Elayne walk into yet another trap in aMoL?
Don't even get me started on Elayne and her utter, mindless, criminal stupidity over the past few books.
Don't even get me started on Elayne and her utter, mindless, criminal stupidity over the past few books.
Heh heh. She will probably place her own soul in a cour'souvre and hand it to Moridin right before Rand confronts him.
See, you think you're joking, but she's still playing with ter'angreal even when she can barely channel half the time. She could burn herself out tomorrow and still live and bear healthy babies. Or she could get in a fight and lose a hand or an arm or half her face and be blinded. She's an idiot! *grinds teeth*
Is Perrin going to die? Does the Prophesy of the Shadow even say he will die? Will the prophesy come true?
I don't think it comes true. It's clear that all three of them need to be at the Last Battle if they are to win, and I don't think anyone expects Our Heroes to lose (though it would be something a bit different if they did). Obviously, he can die after the Last Battle, but he's going to die at some point - one year or seventy, you know. So I don't think that dark!prophecy will come true.
I feel very uneasy about this prophecy. I interpret it as Faile will die, and Perrin will lose his mind in the process.
I tend to think it will come true. And it makes me sad. Sanderson I think did some of his best work with Perrin in these last two books. I've grown fond of him again.
Hm. Faile has made a point of telling him 'if I die, I expect you to marry again'. Foreshadowing? You may be right. Sigh. I never liked Faile, but I don't want that to happen to Perrin
Does Demandred command the Black Tower? If not, what does he command?
He'd better. We've not seen anything of what he can do, so whatever strategy he uses better be spectacular and very evil, or I'll be disappointed. We've spent too much time being shown the growth of the shadow in the BT for it to come to nothing.
Agreed. It would be funny if Demandred's only influence throughout the series turned out to be Weiremon Saniago.
It would be tragic. And infuriating.
What can we glean from Aviendha's visions in Rhuidean? Proof that channeling will continue post Tarmon Gaidon?
Glean? That RJ knows little about the intricacies of industrial/technological development. Inventing gunpowder =/= an industrial revolution.
I am extremely ignorant on the subject, but isn't that a little harsh? Aviendha's vision did span the length of an Age. Gunpowder alone might not spark an industrial revolution, but Rand's school did produce a steam engine as well. And there's the man who "captured lightning in a jar."
The industrial revolution wasn't just about invention; it was built on coal, a concentrated, cheap, high-energy fuel. You can have all the technology in the world but it's no use if you can't power it. They could make a working steam engine back in biblical times, but it was nothing more than a curiosity, because there was no way to power it that was more efficient than the human/animal/water power that was used at the time.
The obvious solution here is the Power itself - a free, inexhaustible power source, if you can figure out how to get a machine to tap it (the standing flows?). Nothing in Avi's vision indicated that use, however. And it actually seems rather unlikely that there'll be readily available fossil fuels for them to tap - the Second Age was technological, and the First Age - wasn't that supposed to be ours? Most of the easily accessible coal/oil/gas reserves will have been exhausted. I still remain unconvinced of how, exactly, this new age of technology is supposed to come about.
Random Questions Time!
- 04/08/2011 07:35:12 PM
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