It's doubtful Egwene's plan is the "final resolution", as the more developments there are, the less her plan makes any sense. She doesn't yet realizes how early in life the sisters die, for one thing. She doesn't yet know some could live for over 600 years ( I think the oldest she knows about is 400 years old, IRRC.. so she thinks AS die early in their old age, around the equivalent of 60-65 instead of 80 y.o. - that they are deprived of their old age in peaceful retirement, in other words. That's wrong, they rather die at their peak, in mid-life).
No, Egwene knows from Elayne and Nynaeve that there are Kinwomen who have reached almost 600 years of age and are still alive.
WH, ch. 10
"“That’s madness!” Nynaeve burst out, leaning forward in her chair. Surprisingly, still the same chair. And still the same dress. Very surprising. Her hands were fists resting on her lap. “You know what it does; the Kin are proof! How many Aes Sedai live past three hundred? Or reach it? And don’t tell me I shouldn’t talk about age. That’s a ridiculous custom, and you know it. Egwene, Reanne was called Eldest because she was the oldest Kinswoman in Ebou Dar. The oldest anywhere is a woman called Aloisia Nemosni, an oil merchant in Tear. Egwene, she’s nearly six . . . hundred . . . years . . . old! When the Hall hears that, I wager they’ll be ready to put the Oath Rod on a shelf.”
“The Light knows three hundred years is a long time,” Elayne put in, “but I can’t say I’m happy myself at the prospect of perhaps cutting my life in half,
"“That’s madness!” Nynaeve burst out, leaning forward in her chair. Surprisingly, still the same chair. And still the same dress. Very surprising. Her hands were fists resting on her lap. “You know what it does; the Kin are proof! How many Aes Sedai live past three hundred? Or reach it? And don’t tell me I shouldn’t talk about age. That’s a ridiculous custom, and you know it. Egwene, Reanne was called Eldest because she was the oldest Kinswoman in Ebou Dar. The oldest anywhere is a woman called Aloisia Nemosni, an oil merchant in Tear. Egwene, she’s nearly six . . . hundred . . . years . . . old! When the Hall hears that, I wager they’ll be ready to put the Oath Rod on a shelf.”
“The Light knows three hundred years is a long time,” Elayne put in, “but I can’t say I’m happy myself at the prospect of perhaps cutting my life in half,
What I don't get about Egwene's plan is how she could so sure the effects of the Oath Rod on life expectancy of channellers are reversible. What if they are not? Then an Aes Sedai who normally would've lived 500 years and has been bound to the oath Rod for 220, gets unbound, but it only left her with a few decades more to live, not two and a half centuries? The Oath Rod would still cost almost half the life the Aes Sedai, unless they retired much earlier, when they reach 100 for example.
Sure, the fact that Siuan and Leane looked younger after their stilling, seem to suggest the effect is reversible, but it's not a 100% proof. The whole thing is a big gamble. It's strange that Egwene and everyone else in the Hall accepted it so quickly.
Even without the life shortening effect, the usefulness of the Three Oaths for the Aes Sedai is rather dubious. The oath against lying makes them so used to twist their words and evade saying stuff straight out that not only people trust them even less as a result, they so get mentally used to evasion and half truths they have problems saying the truth straight out even when they want to. The Third Oath was useful through the years to make people less fearful of them, but it puts them into big disadvantage against the Seanchan now and should've been modified after the tower attack in TGS, there was the perfect chance for that with all the reswearing due to the Black Ajah purge.
*Spoilers From TOM* - That Criminal Binder...
- 19/12/2010 01:42:46 PM
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Egwene already has it figured out...
- 19/12/2010 08:51:26 PM
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Re: Egwene already has it figured out...
- 19/12/2010 10:04:07 PM
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I see this as a chance to break the hold of the WT on the world
- 19/12/2010 10:19:33 PM
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Re: I see this as a chance to break the hold of the WT on the world
- 20/12/2010 03:28:49 AM
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