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Re: We do not know if Cadsuane or any of the Forsaken are Sparkers TheCrownless Send a noteboard - 31/10/2012 12:30:52 AM

And Tarna and Theodrin were both Wilders (meaning they had the Spark) and neither of them are in the very top tiers of AS strength, which shows the Spark is not linked to strength. In fact there are many AS who had the Spark and are weak, we just don't see a ton of them onscreen. But they must exist since there is a special classification for them within AS hierarchy and we hear from Verin how many women come to the Tower with "tricks".


I'm sorry but that's a leap too far for me. A few outliers are not sufficient to make that kind of claim, especially when Theodrin nor Tarna are 'weak' and virtually all of the channellers stronger than Nicola (on the female side) are born with the spark.

I assume most things RJ implemented are literary devices, which is probably why we get grey areas like this.


Given that Cadsuane is from Far Madding it's impossible to tell since she would never have Channeled naturally within the Guardians.

We know that Flinn is strong and he is not a Sparker nor is Grady or Neald, both strong males. In fact the ONLY male Sparker we know of in the BT is Narishma (aside from Taim and Logain) and we don't know how strong he is at this point. Again, RJ seemed to use the Spark for the strong main characters because if they were not born with the Spark they had no reason to leave the TR.

Immediately assuming Spark and strength go hand in hand is a flawed assumption since we know for fact that the Strongest woman we know of in AS world is Sharina and she is not a Sparker, while there are many Sparkers who are weaker. Tarna and Theodrin are specifically called out because they each came to the Tower with a Block, but there are clearly many others who are weaker or there would be no need to have special hierarchy rules for Wilders.


Again, single isolated examples (and one in Sharina who has serious question marks over exactly who she is and what her purpose is) isn't really evidence one way or the other. I've always gotten the impression from reading the books that a wilder has a much higher chance of being strong than someone who isn't born with the spark. The number and strength of wilders the tower has acquired over time is never really stated, other than the hand full we do know being reasonably strong as far as Aes Sedai go.
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The Bell Curve revisited - 29/10/2012 09:44:09 AM 1526 Views
Re: The Bell Curve revisited - 29/10/2012 10:21:27 AM 910 Views
That's incorrect... - 29/10/2012 10:26:49 AM 1483 Views
Re: That's incorrect... - 29/10/2012 10:36:32 AM 912 Views
RJ the physicist didn't know math, so that Shannow could be right... - 29/10/2012 02:11:19 PM 829 Views
Response to a few of your poorly researched points... - 29/10/2012 02:31:17 PM 772 Views
Re: RJ the physicist didn't know math, so that Shannow could be right... - 29/10/2012 02:37:33 PM 790 Views
Exactly... - 29/10/2012 02:39:30 PM 788 Views
there are dozens of reasons for this - 29/10/2012 08:18:18 PM 806 Views
Excellent point. - 29/10/2012 08:24:37 PM 835 Views
Re: there are dozens of reasons for this - 29/10/2012 09:07:35 PM 736 Views
Again I don't argue that genetics play no role - 30/10/2012 01:57:24 AM 713 Views
Re: Again I don't argue that genetics play no role - 30/10/2012 07:07:17 AM 742 Views
I don't think it plays much role in the plot - 30/10/2012 03:17:55 PM 889 Views
Once again just so,we are clear on my stance with Genetics and Strength - 30/10/2012 03:27:11 PM 752 Views
That the 1000 Novices aren't a random sample of the population? - 29/10/2012 08:23:47 PM 689 Views
And why would it be biased towards those with lower strength? - 29/10/2012 09:11:25 PM 696 Views
Absolutely no reason... - 30/10/2012 01:35:35 AM 794 Views
Re: Absolutely no reason... - 30/10/2012 06:43:54 AM 697 Views
Only if it was a random sampling. Which this is not. - 30/10/2012 01:58:34 PM 784 Views
That's exactly the point. I want you to explain why it wasn't random. - 30/10/2012 02:14:59 PM 707 Views
It wasn't random because it was a self-selected sample! - 30/10/2012 02:43:03 PM 722 Views
Re: It wasn't random because it was a self-selected sample! - 30/10/2012 02:47:30 PM 720 Views
Go read a stats text will you? - 30/10/2012 02:54:16 PM 715 Views
Done - 31/10/2012 09:34:11 AM 1452 Views
You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 10/11/2012 10:14:19 PM 977 Views
Re: You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 11/11/2012 11:37:16 AM 812 Views
Re: You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 11/11/2012 07:14:48 PM 676 Views
Re: You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 11/11/2012 08:33:59 PM 1484 Views
Re: You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 11/11/2012 08:43:19 PM 1005 Views
Still nothing? - 10/11/2012 03:33:15 PM 798 Views
Still doesn't explain the difference - 30/10/2012 07:01:53 PM 663 Views
Re: Still doesn't explain the difference - 10/11/2012 10:21:00 PM 742 Views
Yes that totally makes sense - 30/10/2012 08:07:16 AM 834 Views
Thank you! *NM* - 30/10/2012 10:19:15 AM 386 Views
That's not what happened... - 30/10/2012 02:01:52 PM 762 Views
Re: That's not what happened... - 30/10/2012 02:15:57 PM 720 Views
Who said it would? - 30/10/2012 02:44:17 PM 721 Views
let's not mix up "random" and "representative" - 30/10/2012 05:28:09 PM 790 Views
Doesn't mean RJ applied it to his series - 30/10/2012 08:23:29 AM 802 Views
But of course he did.. - 30/10/2012 02:13:07 PM 822 Views
I hate to get into these things - 29/10/2012 05:45:50 PM 864 Views
I would love for you to be right, because it would solve all our problems, but 0 is the challenge... - 29/10/2012 07:56:34 PM 820 Views
In the truest sense, you are probably right that it is skewed - 29/10/2012 08:20:52 PM 845 Views
Overwhelm Lanfear, not match her. *NM* - 29/10/2012 08:26:09 PM 421 Views
Truth is, Moiraine was being overly optimistic... - 29/10/2012 08:39:17 PM 767 Views
You're pathetic... - 30/10/2012 01:20:01 AM 706 Views
The quote isn't specific - 30/10/2012 08:32:36 AM 824 Views
Its highly specific... - 30/10/2012 02:15:38 PM 661 Views
Yet neither of them are at full potential and at least equal a Forsaken - 30/10/2012 03:45:24 PM 1312 Views
Honestly! - 30/10/2012 02:07:37 AM 757 Views
Re: In the truest sense, you are probably right that it is skewed - 29/10/2012 09:10:27 PM 763 Views
Lots of people mean perfectly normal distribution when they say it - 30/10/2012 05:25:35 PM 703 Views
Couldn't the Towers method of obtaining Aes Sedai be to blame? - 30/10/2012 12:04:01 AM 904 Views
Re: Couldn't the Towers method of obtaining Aes Sedai be to blame? - 30/10/2012 09:33:44 AM 829 Views
Are you sure about that? - 30/10/2012 12:03:43 PM 830 Views
Re: Are you sure about that? - 30/10/2012 12:19:34 PM 736 Views
That doesn't seem a coherent narrative to me - 30/10/2012 04:26:25 PM 1054 Views
Sharina did not have the Spark, nor did Nicola - 30/10/2012 05:16:40 PM 845 Views
Re: Sharina did not have the Spark, nor did Nicola - 30/10/2012 05:54:41 PM 725 Views
We do not know if Cadsuane or any of the Forsaken are Sparkers - 30/10/2012 10:33:55 PM 856 Views
Re: We do not know if Cadsuane or any of the Forsaken are Sparkers - 31/10/2012 12:30:52 AM 804 Views
you're confusing 2 things - 30/10/2012 04:27:32 AM 971 Views
+1 *NM* - 30/10/2012 09:17:07 AM 833 Views
Re: you're confusing 2 things - 30/10/2012 09:21:39 AM 803 Views
Not true... - 30/10/2012 11:49:57 AM 816 Views
One thing - 30/10/2012 05:23:17 PM 791 Views
That's the problem. The BC RJ has "built" has a minimum and a maximum value - 30/10/2012 05:48:55 PM 810 Views

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