Re: Your theory is based on rather severely flawed assumptions - Edit 1
Before modification by Tor at 04/02/2012 07:00:41 PM
1. The calendar changed twice after rather long times of uncertainty. First after the Trolloc Wars ended and again after Hawkwings empire disintegrated. Between these times and the establishment of a new calendar people, including the AS lost track of the official date.
Ah, I knew about those. I assumed he was talking about the time during or just after the breaking. I don't see it as relevant, though. There were always Aes Sedai in the tower, even during the Trolloc wars, which means they could have passed on Travelling if they knew it.
Also, for the record, forgetting about the date is another thing I see as unlikely.
2. Not sure where the direct quote is on this one, possibly the Big White Book, but he is correct that it's stated at some point that no AS survived the entirety of the Breaking. Don't forget that there was a good amount of time before the Breaking really got going when the AS still fought the remaining forces of the Dark One. LPD took over leadership and spent years destroying the remaining Forsaken.
Ok. I'd still like the source if anyone has it, but I'm willing to accept that no Aes Sedai lived through all of the breaking. It still doesn't invalidate my point that it seems like a thing that's incredibly useful and relatively quick to learn without requiring a special Talent.
3. He's only harmless because he happened to be with someone who knew what had happened to him and had been given a specific task. It was only a matter of time until he lost control or threw a temper tantrum and did some real damage. A child mind with the power to level buildings is a dangerous combination... Just because he his death was sad doesn't mean he wasn't a ticking time bomb.
I'm not saying he wasn't dangerous, just that the fact that he got the mind of a child disproves Cannoli's original statement, which was
Remember, these are not random nutjobs, their madness comes from the Dark One's touch and in every case we have seen, it has manifested itself as delusions which incite or inspire violence and destruction.
4. The years leading up to the Breaking (meaning the Collapse and the War of Shadow) had systematically torn down most of the advanced technologies like Ter'angreal factories ... This would have left the remaining AS more concerned with either the Prophesies of the Dragon, or with finishing the War ... Then the Breaking really hit... Suddenly rather than a few handful of men, we have millions of men going bat shit crazy. What's left of the AS women are fighting a war on two fronts. Why mention this? Because now they'd be over taxed and probably more focused on the tasks at hand than on finding and training women. This left teaching those they found the fundamentals, likely many of the same weaves that still exist and where deemed useful ... battlefield healing, shielding, and a handful of other critical weaves.
This bit isn't actually relevant to the argument, since you agree that Travelling may have been of the essentials, which would have been passed on if it was useful.
Traveling may have been part of this for those with the Talent and enough strength, but as others have mentioned world conditions would have eventually made Traveling dangerous and eventually they would have stopped teaching a weave that most likely would end up killing people.
This is an assumption. I agree that if it is true, it seems reasonable that Travelling got lost, but I don't agree with the assumption that the conditions would turn Travelling into "a weave that most likely would end up killing people".
5. It's clear from the BWB that there were several groups that had probably decended from AoL AS mentalities (AKA proto-Ajahs) ... The obvious ones that would have come from AoL women are the Blue, Red, Yellow and Green ... Once the Breaking ended groups like the Brown and White would have grown and as first nations evolved the Grey would have found purpose. So rather than a single group we had several, I believe the BWB has some commentary on the various groups, but it also makes it clear that it took several hundred more years for the AS of the WT to build their own infrastructure and begin teaching in a formal manner. Prior to this it seems there were nomadic groups of AS following their own purposes ... Note one of the first acts the WT accomplished was to hunt down the AS not associated with them and force assimilate them... At this point there is no evidence that any AoL women had a hand in what can only be viewed as a bastardization of their system, not too dissimilar from what happened to the Aiel.
The damane system is more dramatic since in Seanchan the AS never united ... There would have been many more weaves circulating and many more damaging ones since for several thousand years rogue AS we're fighting wars amongst themselves and likely operated much more like the AoL Forsaken, the stronger ones likely had several weaker minions who they would have taught ... Imagine an evil Nynaeve with half a dozen Daigian level minions ... Once these women became damane the weaves they each knew would have been consolidated and taught to all damane, thus the Empire only became stronger with each new damane (I imagine the AS who came up with the a'dam was seeking such knowledge). So not only were they recruiting from the general population, they were increasing their knowledge all the time. Kind of like the Borg actually
The damane system is more dramatic since in Seanchan the AS never united ... There would have been many more weaves circulating and many more damaging ones since for several thousand years rogue AS we're fighting wars amongst themselves and likely operated much more like the AoL Forsaken, the stronger ones likely had several weaker minions who they would have taught ... Imagine an evil Nynaeve with half a dozen Daigian level minions ... Once these women became damane the weaves they each knew would have been consolidated and taught to all damane, thus the Empire only became stronger with each new damane (I imagine the AS who came up with the a'dam was seeking such knowledge). So not only were they recruiting from the general population, they were increasing their knowledge all the time. Kind of like the Borg actually
All of this is also not relevant to the argument. But it makes me think I should dig out my copy of the BWB.
6. The Stone of Tear was built using similar weaves, and even today the weaves are being used for Elaida's palace and the chain towers in the Harbors of Tar Valon. Seems like one of those basic weaves taught to AS because it was quick and useful during the breaking.
True.
It seems to me that this whole discussion boils down to "Do you see it as likely that people who knew how to Travel stopped using it during the Breaking, for some reason or other?" I say no, but since we don't know it's just a matter of opinion.