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Strength was "prized" in the AoL ... but lack of strength was not a negative darius_sedai Send a noteboard - 12/12/2010 01:41:08 AM

In general it sounds like you had to exceed greatly the current Tower's standards to make a career in the Guild or in the Guild-based faciliities like the Collam Daan. OTOH, it's also likely a great deal of women put out by the Tower would have managed to meet the AOL standards to be an Aes Sedai (if they followed the OP training, of course), as few ever seem to be put out for lack of channelling skills, but rather for not fitting the mold. The OP aside, I bet fairly few sisters in the White Tower would meet the standards of the Guild in issues like ethics, behaviour and mentality.


I can't prove this from the text but I always figured that strength in the One Power was a lot less important to the Age of Legend Aes Sedai than it is to present day Aes Sedai.

Weak channelers are considered unfit by present-day Tower because they wouldn't be able to kill a trolloc horde by themselves while weaving a 100 useless weaves but in the Age of Legends that wouldn't be so important. There's a reason why they made all of those angreal. It was an equalizer that enabled channelers with small inborn strength to realize her talents. Circles, so common in the Age of Legend, functioned similarly. They were headed by the most talented person among them, not the strongest.


From my interpretation I think the very Strong Channelers had great status, probably because they are typically so versatile in their OP abilities. But equally important were those gifted with strong Talents or particularly gifted in certain areas (think Naeff with Air). Those seemed to be the type of people who would add an extra dimension to a circle and thus would have been in great demand. In the AoL Egwene probably would have wound up in a vocation involving Earth, mining or perhaps building ... Naeff perhaps in the Weather business etc...

Current AS are more "generalists" with the Power and thus Strength plays a more important role ... the Stronger you are the more stuff you can do being the theory. Since Talents are so rare with AS, or rather they go unidentified, that dimension was lost to them. It's one of the major problems with the Tower IMO.
Domani Drag Queen in the White Tower ... Aran'gar watch out!
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Nynaeve's stupidity and the test for Aes Sedai - 07/12/2010 08:27:05 PM 4317 Views
Just like all women. - 07/12/2010 09:15:12 PM 1190 Views
Way to totally misunderstand the chapter - 07/12/2010 09:39:08 PM 1670 Views
I second this - 07/12/2010 10:10:24 PM 1358 Views
your bold is stuck. *NM* - 07/12/2010 10:21:22 PM 578 Views
He BOLDLY seconded it... *NM* - 08/12/2010 03:04:33 PM 553 Views
which is quite excellent. I was just leting him know *NM* - 08/12/2010 03:28:24 PM 463 Views
I think that statement says it all. - 07/12/2010 10:19:50 PM 1391 Views
Thanks. That's exactly what I think. - 08/12/2010 08:29:28 AM 1254 Views
+1, well said *NM* - 08/12/2010 11:19:29 AM 515 Views
Agrees *NM* - 09/12/2010 03:27:53 PM 965 Views
Yes, the OP totally whiffed here. Nyn couldn't remember.. - 11/12/2010 01:50:11 AM 1208 Views
On the whole, the test is innappropriate IMO - 07/12/2010 09:40:08 PM 1485 Views
I agree with this entirely *NM* - 07/12/2010 10:07:52 PM 512 Views
very well said *NM* - 07/12/2010 10:23:06 PM 464 Views
It's kind of a chicken and egg thing - 07/12/2010 11:13:19 PM 1136 Views
Re: It's kind of a chicken and egg thing - 08/12/2010 12:37:20 AM 1429 Views
nice post - 08/12/2010 09:20:02 AM 1255 Views
Isn't it implied - 08/12/2010 02:16:58 PM 1021 Views
no they were students together - 08/12/2010 05:33:17 PM 974 Views
No, Lanfear was older than Lews - 08/12/2010 07:21:45 PM 1192 Views
Where on earth did you get that from? - 08/12/2010 08:41:16 PM 1121 Views
Re: Where on earth did you get that from? - 09/12/2010 10:27:20 AM 1125 Views
Re: Where on earth did you get that from? - 09/12/2010 03:56:32 PM 1207 Views
I always got the impression that they were together for quiet some time - 09/12/2010 04:34:23 PM 1155 Views
I think skill with Saidar is easy enough to judge as it's a simple matter to see the skill - 08/12/2010 05:37:27 PM 1049 Views
I think the greens should have been on Nynaeve's side as well - 08/12/2010 06:18:16 PM 1173 Views
Problem is they are Aes Sedai and thus more likley to be political rather than rational! *NM* - 08/12/2010 08:52:00 PM 814 Views
too f'n true *NM* - 09/12/2010 12:17:58 AM 522 Views
Re: nice post - 09/12/2010 01:23:50 PM 1230 Views
On the matter of strength - 09/12/2010 08:51:36 PM 1076 Views
Re: On the matter of strength - 10/12/2010 10:38:42 AM 1067 Views
Strength was "prized" in the AoL ... but lack of strength was not a negative - 12/12/2010 01:41:08 AM 1037 Views
The test is stupid and it was about time someone pointed it out - 07/12/2010 10:29:38 PM 1068 Views
Channeling under duress IS necessary for ALL Aes Sedai - 05/01/2011 12:04:53 AM 1193 Views
Well - 07/12/2010 11:03:38 PM 1119 Views
Status is not an end in itself. *NM* - 07/12/2010 11:52:37 PM 533 Views
They're not really stupid... - 08/12/2010 01:00:20 AM 1152 Views
They're constantly outsmarted by a teenage girl that has spent most of her life in a damn farm. - 08/12/2010 10:32:50 AM 1134 Views
yeah because that's so realistic - 08/12/2010 12:17:29 PM 1085 Views
Egwene had everything handed to her on a silver platter. - 08/12/2010 11:50:17 PM 1062 Views
Bah... - 09/12/2010 10:56:24 AM 1173 Views
Nope, the Sitters were always stupid - 09/12/2010 12:37:05 PM 1102 Views
cause being rural automatically makes you dumb?..... *NM* - 09/12/2010 05:34:11 PM 598 Views
It makes you uneducated - 09/12/2010 05:46:49 PM 1033 Views
You are not only wrong in your call, - 08/12/2010 04:39:44 AM 1349 Views
Re: You are not only wrong in your call, - 08/12/2010 09:13:37 AM 1368 Views
if that is the purpose of the test - 08/12/2010 01:34:45 PM 1075 Views
minor disagreement - 08/12/2010 05:27:51 PM 1155 Views
Yes, but you can be not-panicked and not calm of body - 08/12/2010 06:38:56 PM 975 Views
not really the same thing as what the AS are getting at though - 08/12/2010 09:02:05 PM 1626 Views
that's retarded, imo - 09/12/2010 12:21:27 AM 1101 Views
About Elaida... - 09/12/2010 12:29:21 PM 1070 Views
...no wonder the Aes Sedai are floundering - 09/12/2010 01:43:42 PM 879 Views
Oh it's totally stupid! - 09/12/2010 04:37:14 PM 1125 Views
No I know why she took the job. I just don't understand why she got it - 09/12/2010 04:52:34 PM 1064 Views
I think Elaida just smarmed up at the right time, Morgase was very young then - 09/12/2010 05:52:29 PM 1112 Views
hmm. curse smarming, then *NM* - 09/12/2010 07:47:26 PM 464 Views
As I recall... - 10/12/2010 05:18:25 AM 1094 Views
Oh. Well, I'm sorry then. - 08/12/2010 06:48:50 PM 1122 Views
I think it has already been established that the purpose of the test is to ensure that - 08/12/2010 09:59:18 PM 868 Views
Yeah, but how does that work? - 08/12/2010 10:24:35 PM 1031 Views
Somewhere in the sub-conscious they know what they're doing is important to them. - 09/12/2010 12:20:47 AM 1138 Views
Even so, it wouldn't work. - 09/12/2010 03:32:55 AM 1053 Views
Another headless chicken example. - 09/12/2010 12:30:02 AM 1040 Views
the headless chicken is just such a lovely metaphor for panic *NM* - 09/12/2010 04:48:11 AM 468 Views
Re: Oh. Well, I'm sorry then. - 09/12/2010 12:07:15 PM 1126 Views
Re: Oh. Well, I'm sorry then. - 10/12/2010 05:32:27 AM 1194 Views
The main difference - 10/12/2010 05:50:43 AM 1057 Views
I'm not sure I agree. - 08/12/2010 12:17:12 PM 1118 Views
You seem to have no grasp of the difference between "politic" and "right" - 09/12/2010 02:59:50 AM 1175 Views
I hate it when I love you just a little *NM* - 09/12/2010 04:46:57 AM 499 Views
Re: You seem to have no grasp of the difference between "politic" and "right" - 09/12/2010 09:26:21 AM 1087 Views
That's not the dilema - 09/12/2010 05:23:19 PM 1280 Views
That's not what it's really about - 10/12/2010 05:44:12 AM 1039 Views
The paralells are not obvious to me... - 15/12/2010 11:42:51 AM 1110 Views
More like - 15/12/2010 01:26:40 PM 1030 Views

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