Active Users:362 Time:15/05/2024 12:04:03 PM
Forget the "locals"... IIRC Aes Sedai have kids "rarely" not "never". Dunstan Send a noteboard - 14/10/2016 06:40:56 AM

View original post
The Companion lists the nationality of the vast majority of the named Aes Sedai in the series, of the 300 or so that we see a nationality, not a single one actually hails from Tar Valon itself. Given that we have 5 from Far Madding and 3 Mayeners (the only other city states) I find it interesting that Jordan never mentions a Sister who was born in Tar Valon, which has a population most likely larger than Far Madding and Mayene combined.

Anyone have any theories about why there are no known Aes Sedai that are actually from Tar Valon? Seems like there should be a whole ton of women from Tar Valon who would go to the Tower, and one would expect nearly every Sparker to be noticed. With a population of 1M people we can extrapolate at least 500k women, even if there are only 1% of them with the ability that would be 5,000 women and if even only 1% of those had the Spark there should be at least 50 women. Maybe these women aren't directly noticed by an Aes Sedai living in Tar Valon, but the residents of the city would be far more likely to recognize a girl with the ability as she began to Spark and given where they live a family would seem far more likely to take her to the Tower for training if they even suspected she could Channel.

I suppose you could make the argument that resident families in Tar Valon might choose to not go to the Tower so as to avoid the scrutiny that might come should there also be boys in the family, but it still seems wildly strange to me that not a single woman of the Tower seems to have been born in Tar Valon.


Given that Aes Sedai live three hundred years, you'd think there would be at least one or two second generation Aes Sedai in the Tower in any given century.
This message last edited by Dunstan on 14/10/2016 at 06:41:08 AM
Reply to message
Noticed something odd - 13/10/2016 09:31:54 PM 1070 Views
Familiarity breeds contempt? - 14/10/2016 12:41:44 AM 939 Views
I can see how this would keep a woman from attaining the Shawl - 14/10/2016 03:00:32 PM 559 Views
Re: Familiarity breeds contempt? - 17/10/2016 06:35:20 PM 705 Views
Ironically, that was a rather ill-informed comment - 18/10/2016 11:25:44 AM 635 Views
Re: Ironically, that was a rather ill-informed comment - 18/10/2016 03:54:23 PM 580 Views
Re: Ironically, that was a rather ill-informed comment - 18/10/2016 04:02:54 PM 557 Views
Re: Ironically, that was a rather ill-informed comment - 18/10/2016 05:03:58 PM 506 Views
Re: Ironically, that was a rather ill-informed comment - 18/10/2016 07:18:13 PM 647 Views
I think politics keeps women away from the Blue - 18/10/2016 10:20:50 PM 534 Views
I think it's RJ's gender commentary - Blue are ambitious, which is not a stereotypical female trait - 19/10/2016 02:57:51 AM 728 Views
Re: I think it's RJ's gender commentary - 19/10/2016 01:01:14 PM 576 Views
Sorry, I am gonna ramble a bit - 19/10/2016 09:19:01 PM 698 Views
Re: Sorry, I am gonna ramble a bit - 19/10/2016 09:48:17 PM 515 Views
Re: Sorry, I am gonna ramble a bit - 20/10/2016 06:13:27 PM 610 Views
Re: Sorry, I am gonna ramble a bit - 20/10/2016 07:14:51 PM 483 Views
I guess that's my issue with it - 20/10/2016 09:53:38 PM 625 Views
Grays=political power... How exactly? - 21/10/2016 08:38:07 AM 561 Views
Re: Grays=political power... How exactly? - 21/10/2016 09:21:13 AM 659 Views
Comparative to joining the Red is how I meant that - 21/10/2016 03:22:46 PM 578 Views
Forget the "locals"... IIRC Aes Sedai have kids "rarely" not "never". - 14/10/2016 06:40:56 AM 556 Views
Another good point! - 14/10/2016 03:28:44 PM 542 Views
Re: Noticed something odd - 11/11/2016 12:54:24 AM 672 Views
Possibly, - 11/11/2016 08:45:15 PM 750 Views

Reply to Message