Re: I don't think the trait is that simple as the four box diagram with the peas in a bio textbook
Sidious Send a noteboard - 26/04/2012 01:30:54 PM
So, does anybody else find it weird that neither Rand's patrilineal ancestors (nor his mother, as Andor's requisite training in the White Tower would have undoubtedly detected even the potential to learn) nor his descendants through Aviendha after the first über-channeler generation could channel? None of them have the inevitable ability, and in some cases (Coumin, Ladalin) it is specifically mentioned that they could not even have been trained.
Only 3% at the best of times have the ability at all. It cannot be as simple as "both parents can channel, therefore the kids can" like blonde hair or blue eyes on those grade-school level explanations of heredity. Even for two channelers, the odds of a channeling child have to be slim. The uberchannelers would be unique, so who can explain what their rules were? Maybe the circumstances of their conception imparted the ability, rather than any hereditary factor. After all, if it was heredity, then Elayne's kids should have been even more likely than Aviendha's to get it, since their parents were equally as strong, and their maternal grandmother could channel too. We also know that twins who can channel are very rare, which sinks the simple genetic theory completely. Vandene and Adeleas were identical twins with the same genetic code and yet Moiraine says that the occurence is rare. They both obviously have the genes and the appropriate souls.
The soul question implies that Rand and his wives might not have children who all have the ability to channel, even though they are both carrying the relevant recessives.
Besides that, even if the laws did follow simple genetics there are issues like non-penetration whereby the genes just dont express despite the parents having all the necessary genes. That's the most likely explanation for a squib in the harry potter universe.
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Genetic channeling and the Rhuidean columns
24/04/2012 08:48:40 PM
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Re: Genetic channeling and the Rhuidean columns
24/04/2012 11:43:53 PM
- 770 Views
Re: Genetic channeling and the Rhuidean columns
25/04/2012 05:29:45 AM
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The hair...
25/04/2012 05:14:52 PM
- 875 Views
Yeah, that was bothering me too.
25/04/2012 07:12:31 PM
- 645 Views
Yup ... Suppose the Moridin body switch theory would explain the dark hair
26/04/2012 12:28:42 AM
- 694 Views

Re: Genetic channeling and the Rhuidean columns
25/04/2012 05:57:02 AM
- 826 Views
Yes, I wasn't claiming this was a plot hole or anything...
25/04/2012 06:06:53 AM
- 774 Views
Agreed that it is a rather strange twist and seems very sudden to happen within a generation
25/04/2012 11:15:09 AM
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Re: Agreed that it is a rather strange twist and seems very sudden to happen within a generation
25/04/2012 04:11:55 PM
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Well the Sharans seem to know as they breed channelers and kill the male offspring
26/04/2012 12:26:39 AM
- 638 Views
Re: Well the Sharans seem to know as they breed channelers and kill the male offspring
26/04/2012 01:42:19 AM
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I don't think the trait is that simple as the four box diagram with the peas in a bio textbook
26/04/2012 01:38:32 AM
- 879 Views
I don't think the trait is that simple as the four box diagram with the peas in a bio textbook
26/04/2012 01:39:05 AM
- 996 Views
Re: I don't think the trait is that simple as the four box diagram with the peas in a bio textbook
26/04/2012 02:17:17 AM
- 663 Views
True, but the odds of Channelers having children with the ability are vastly higher
26/04/2012 10:48:00 AM
- 714 Views
But in that very revelation, Nynaeve claims that "mother following daughter was rare"
27/04/2012 03:24:21 AM
- 788 Views
Re: I don't think the trait is that simple as the four box diagram with the peas in a bio textbook
26/04/2012 01:30:54 PM
- 667 Views
I believe there is a quote that the soul is only part of what determines the Channelers strength
27/04/2012 10:31:22 AM
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