He apparently amended himself the next day... - Edit 1
Before modification by DomA at 21/04/2012 08:10:04 PM
... pointing out in his defense he didn't write that chapter, RJ's draft was printed almost as is.
It sounds (it isn't confirmed) he made the same type of mistake when he claimed the bracelet Moiraine was given by the Finns isn't the one she snatched from Lanfear and they forcibly grabbed from her or she would still have it... The description is the same, so it sounds like Brandon, who didn't write those scenes, is simply wrong.
It suggests however that Moiraine's precise strength is irrelevant in what he's written so far and he didn't have to check the notes on that recently. Not surprising, in few scenes in previous books except those involving bikering on AS hierarchy, the actual precise strength of any character is very relevant.
With the angreal, Moiraine is somewhat stronger than she was. In traditional AS thinking however, she's reduced to a nobody if one who has inconveniently grown a legendary status since her "death". The second is more likely to have relevance in AMOL than the first, if you ask me (in the sense that Moiraine's channelling will otherwise have barely changed and she can do pretty much was she could do previously, less than in her more "impressive" (bof...) moments with her statue angreal. If anything, Moiraine's new situation highlights the absurdity of the hierarchy. As long as she has her angreal, she's even more capable with the OP than she used to be, and through her experiences since EOTW she's a far more formidable woman and channeler than she used to be. And yet, the Tower right now would reduce her to a nobody like Siuan at best.
I get the feeling Rand might have some insight to share soon about judging the capabilities of AS on raw strength vs. the AOL AS and their personal angreal that presumably equalized things a lot for the capable but much weaker channelers...
For now we only have the power mad Forsaken as our sample of AOL thinking on raw strength - and even among them none would admit they aren't as good if not better than the others because they're weaker. They're all too aware it's far more a matter of skill and that with an angreal that gap in raw strength no longer exists. It sounds to me likely that in the AOL there were no doubt prejudices among AS based on raw strength, but officially strength didn't play a role in status (the strongest woman we know of was an obscure scientist without even a third name, after all). The Third Age AS have institutionalized/officialized the prejudices and most likely this had a lot to do originally with the loss of the ability to make personal angreal that in effect brought any woman to her optimal strength for her weaving skills and the kind of tasks she was supposed to accomplish.
The Tower likely has a ton of rather naturally talented women, who remain undertrained and underused because they were never or all too rarely loaned an angreal. Who knows what sort of talents and skills even someone like Daigan had in her which she could never exploit or even discover because she didn't have an angreal to channel? It doesn't seem part of WT common practice for women to develop their weaving skills much beyond what their raw strength permits. They see angreal for special tasks or intensive channeling rather than as a device for weaker channelers to use most of the time (not that they have near enough for that). San'angreal it's even worse, they barely ever bring out of the vaults.
In any case, it seems that Moiraine's loss of raw strength is linked to Siuan's, in the sense that Siuan was also a political failure and would have been opposed even if she had retained all her strength. Yet, Egwene learned working with her that Siuan was as competent (or incompetent, let's not get into that debate) after her loss of strength as she was before.
Moiraine's situation is similar yet different. She's seen as a legendary hero and Forsaken-killer among the Blues at least, and beyond. Why should she be turned to little better than an Accepted and not listened to now? Either the Blues will be forced to do that and reject Moiraine to the bottom, or they'll be forced to break with tradition. It's not only Egwene who knows this, the likes of Lelaine and Romanda also knows how wrong they were to consider Siuan a negligible quantity because of her strength.
Moiraine's like the living proof this thinking is absurd, and I think there's a fair chance the main purpose of making her lose her strength is a late game plot device to start seriously eroding this principle among AS at last. Also, she's probably about to reunite with the very rare perhaps nearly unique Aes Sedai who place very little importance on raw strength in how she chooses and organizes her followers: Cadsuane (who however have a low opinion of Moiraine for other reasons... but now has made mistakes with Rand even greater than those she blames Moiraine for and might change her tune). And Rand of course, who isn't likely to consider Moiraine is in any way "reduced".
It sounds (it isn't confirmed) he made the same type of mistake when he claimed the bracelet Moiraine was given by the Finns isn't the one she snatched from Lanfear and they forcibly grabbed from her or she would still have it... The description is the same, so it sounds like Brandon, who didn't write those scenes, is simply wrong.
It suggests however that Moiraine's precise strength is irrelevant in what he's written so far and he didn't have to check the notes on that recently. Not surprising, in few scenes in previous books except those involving bikering on AS hierarchy, the actual precise strength of any character is very relevant.
With the angreal, Moiraine is somewhat stronger than she was. In traditional AS thinking however, she's reduced to a nobody if one who has inconveniently grown a legendary status since her "death". The second is more likely to have relevance in AMOL than the first, if you ask me (in the sense that Moiraine's channelling will otherwise have barely changed and she can do pretty much was she could do previously, less than in her more "impressive" (bof...) moments with her statue angreal. If anything, Moiraine's new situation highlights the absurdity of the hierarchy. As long as she has her angreal, she's even more capable with the OP than she used to be, and through her experiences since EOTW she's a far more formidable woman and channeler than she used to be. And yet, the Tower right now would reduce her to a nobody like Siuan at best.
I get the feeling Rand might have some insight to share soon about judging the capabilities of AS on raw strength vs. the AOL AS and their personal angreal that presumably equalized things a lot for the capable but much weaker channelers...
For now we only have the power mad Forsaken as our sample of AOL thinking on raw strength - and even among them none would admit they aren't as good if not better than the others because they're weaker. They're all too aware it's far more a matter of skill and that with an angreal that gap in raw strength no longer exists. It sounds to me likely that in the AOL there were no doubt prejudices among AS based on raw strength, but officially strength didn't play a role in status (the strongest woman we know of was an obscure scientist without even a third name, after all). The Third Age AS have institutionalized/officialized the prejudices and most likely this had a lot to do originally with the loss of the ability to make personal angreal that in effect brought any woman to her optimal strength for her weaving skills and the kind of tasks she was supposed to accomplish.
The Tower likely has a ton of rather naturally talented women, who remain undertrained and underused because they were never or all too rarely loaned an angreal. Who knows what sort of talents and skills even someone like Daigan had in her which she could never exploit or even discover because she didn't have an angreal to channel? It doesn't seem part of WT common practice for women to develop their weaving skills much beyond what their raw strength permits. They see angreal for special tasks or intensive channeling rather than as a device for weaker channelers to use most of the time (not that they have near enough for that). San'angreal it's even worse, they barely ever bring out of the vaults.
In any case, it seems that Moiraine's loss of raw strength is linked to Siuan's, in the sense that Siuan was also a political failure and would have been opposed even if she had retained all her strength. Yet, Egwene learned working with her that Siuan was as competent (or incompetent, let's not get into that debate) after her loss of strength as she was before.
Moiraine's situation is similar yet different. She's seen as a legendary hero and Forsaken-killer among the Blues at least, and beyond. Why should she be turned to little better than an Accepted and not listened to now? Either the Blues will be forced to do that and reject Moiraine to the bottom, or they'll be forced to break with tradition. It's not only Egwene who knows this, the likes of Lelaine and Romanda also knows how wrong they were to consider Siuan a negligible quantity because of her strength.
Moiraine's like the living proof this thinking is absurd, and I think there's a fair chance the main purpose of making her lose her strength is a late game plot device to start seriously eroding this principle among AS at last. Also, she's probably about to reunite with the very rare perhaps nearly unique Aes Sedai who place very little importance on raw strength in how she chooses and organizes her followers: Cadsuane (who however have a low opinion of Moiraine for other reasons... but now has made mistakes with Rand even greater than those she blames Moiraine for and might change her tune). And Rand of course, who isn't likely to consider Moiraine is in any way "reduced".