I am fully aware of that. I acknowledged the effects of the binder, I simply am stating that it is not absolutely given that the binder cuts your life in half. She never even absolutely states that life is shortened, only that she would feel the end approaching. "...to be bound never to know her pleasures again, and with that binding be able to see the end of life approach..."


That's only comparing Aes Sedai longevity to the Kin. It's an extrapolation from incomplete data, not absolute knowledge. And there is nothing that says stronger sisters live longer. Elayne just says that she isn't happy about the idea of cutting her life in half - she was speaking figuratively, not precisely and it was only an approximate. As I said, there is no proof one way or another that the binding shortens your life span by a relative or absolute amount. Maybe it cuts EVERYONE down to about 300 years or maybe it halves your remaining life expectancy. In that SAME conversation, they raised the possibility of a woman who is past the 300 year mark dying if she were to be bound by the Oath Rod. The conversation YOU cite as proof is one in which they admit ignorance.

But that sentence is still extrapolation based on assumptions. There is no hard and fast proof anywhere in the text of the exact effect and the rules for it.

Because they were Sitters and were experienced sisters and had supported Elaida in her rise to the Amyrlin Seat. There is not one word in that PoV of Joline where she is contemplating that insult that she expected better due to her strength.

In a later book, Egwene believes that a group sent out to check on the Cleansing were not very strong, when she believed that they should have sent the strongest, only to discover it was based on skills. Merana is not particularly strong, and heads the embassy over several stronger sisters, and there were a number of weaker women as well.

And that might mean the slightest thing IF there was ANY proof that ANYONE from the Tower had a hand in their appointments! Elaida's own recollections are that it was HER choice to seek the job and she did so by attaching herself to Morgase once she realized Morgase was going to win the Succession. Not one word about her appointment or receiving permission. The Tower does not select Aes Sedai advisers, the rulers do. The Tower might choose who would represent the Tower's interests as ambassadors, but the ruler chooses whom he or she will take advice from.

And there is not the slightest evidence that ANYONE is "placed" or that it is ordained by Tower authorities.