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Re: We do not know if Cadsuane or any of the Forsaken are Sparkers TheCrownless Send a noteboard - 31/10/2012 12:30:52 AM

And Tarna and Theodrin were both Wilders (meaning they had the Spark) and neither of them are in the very top tiers of AS strength, which shows the Spark is not linked to strength. In fact there are many AS who had the Spark and are weak, we just don't see a ton of them onscreen. But they must exist since there is a special classification for them within AS hierarchy and we hear from Verin how many women come to the Tower with "tricks".


I'm sorry but that's a leap too far for me. A few outliers are not sufficient to make that kind of claim, especially when Theodrin nor Tarna are 'weak' and virtually all of the channellers stronger than Nicola (on the female side) are born with the spark.

I assume most things RJ implemented are literary devices, which is probably why we get grey areas like this.


Given that Cadsuane is from Far Madding it's impossible to tell since she would never have Channeled naturally within the Guardians.

We know that Flinn is strong and he is not a Sparker nor is Grady or Neald, both strong males. In fact the ONLY male Sparker we know of in the BT is Narishma (aside from Taim and Logain) and we don't know how strong he is at this point. Again, RJ seemed to use the Spark for the strong main characters because if they were not born with the Spark they had no reason to leave the TR.

Immediately assuming Spark and strength go hand in hand is a flawed assumption since we know for fact that the Strongest woman we know of in AS world is Sharina and she is not a Sparker, while there are many Sparkers who are weaker. Tarna and Theodrin are specifically called out because they each came to the Tower with a Block, but there are clearly many others who are weaker or there would be no need to have special hierarchy rules for Wilders.


Again, single isolated examples (and one in Sharina who has serious question marks over exactly who she is and what her purpose is) isn't really evidence one way or the other. I've always gotten the impression from reading the books that a wilder has a much higher chance of being strong than someone who isn't born with the spark. The number and strength of wilders the tower has acquired over time is never really stated, other than the hand full we do know being reasonably strong as far as Aes Sedai go.
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The Bell Curve revisited - 29/10/2012 09:44:09 AM 1495 Views
Re: The Bell Curve revisited - 29/10/2012 10:21:27 AM 892 Views
That's incorrect... - 29/10/2012 10:26:49 AM 1464 Views
Re: That's incorrect... - 29/10/2012 10:36:32 AM 897 Views
RJ the physicist didn't know math, so that Shannow could be right... - 29/10/2012 02:11:19 PM 812 Views
Response to a few of your poorly researched points... - 29/10/2012 02:31:17 PM 758 Views
Re: RJ the physicist didn't know math, so that Shannow could be right... - 29/10/2012 02:37:33 PM 774 Views
Exactly... - 29/10/2012 02:39:30 PM 770 Views
there are dozens of reasons for this - 29/10/2012 08:18:18 PM 787 Views
Excellent point. - 29/10/2012 08:24:37 PM 818 Views
Re: there are dozens of reasons for this - 29/10/2012 09:07:35 PM 718 Views
Again I don't argue that genetics play no role - 30/10/2012 01:57:24 AM 695 Views
Re: Again I don't argue that genetics play no role - 30/10/2012 07:07:17 AM 721 Views
I don't think it plays much role in the plot - 30/10/2012 03:17:55 PM 875 Views
Once again just so,we are clear on my stance with Genetics and Strength - 30/10/2012 03:27:11 PM 734 Views
That the 1000 Novices aren't a random sample of the population? - 29/10/2012 08:23:47 PM 673 Views
And why would it be biased towards those with lower strength? - 29/10/2012 09:11:25 PM 679 Views
Absolutely no reason... - 30/10/2012 01:35:35 AM 780 Views
Re: Absolutely no reason... - 30/10/2012 06:43:54 AM 680 Views
Only if it was a random sampling. Which this is not. - 30/10/2012 01:58:34 PM 767 Views
That's exactly the point. I want you to explain why it wasn't random. - 30/10/2012 02:14:59 PM 689 Views
It wasn't random because it was a self-selected sample! - 30/10/2012 02:43:03 PM 704 Views
Re: It wasn't random because it was a self-selected sample! - 30/10/2012 02:47:30 PM 703 Views
Go read a stats text will you? - 30/10/2012 02:54:16 PM 699 Views
Done - 31/10/2012 09:34:11 AM 1369 Views
You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 10/11/2012 10:14:19 PM 955 Views
Re: You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 11/11/2012 11:37:16 AM 726 Views
Re: You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 11/11/2012 07:14:48 PM 657 Views
Re: You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 11/11/2012 08:33:59 PM 1395 Views
Re: You seem to have perfected whining to a Talent... - 11/11/2012 08:43:19 PM 918 Views
Still nothing? - 10/11/2012 03:33:15 PM 710 Views
Still doesn't explain the difference - 30/10/2012 07:01:53 PM 644 Views
Re: Still doesn't explain the difference - 10/11/2012 10:21:00 PM 728 Views
Yes that totally makes sense - 30/10/2012 08:07:16 AM 818 Views
Thank you! *NM* - 30/10/2012 10:19:15 AM 378 Views
That's not what happened... - 30/10/2012 02:01:52 PM 742 Views
Re: That's not what happened... - 30/10/2012 02:15:57 PM 704 Views
Who said it would? - 30/10/2012 02:44:17 PM 709 Views
let's not mix up "random" and "representative" - 30/10/2012 05:28:09 PM 773 Views
Doesn't mean RJ applied it to his series - 30/10/2012 08:23:29 AM 783 Views
But of course he did.. - 30/10/2012 02:13:07 PM 804 Views
I hate to get into these things - 29/10/2012 05:45:50 PM 845 Views
I would love for you to be right, because it would solve all our problems, but 0 is the challenge... - 29/10/2012 07:56:34 PM 805 Views
In the truest sense, you are probably right that it is skewed - 29/10/2012 08:20:52 PM 829 Views
Overwhelm Lanfear, not match her. *NM* - 29/10/2012 08:26:09 PM 410 Views
Truth is, Moiraine was being overly optimistic... - 29/10/2012 08:39:17 PM 749 Views
You're pathetic... - 30/10/2012 01:20:01 AM 690 Views
The quote isn't specific - 30/10/2012 08:32:36 AM 812 Views
Its highly specific... - 30/10/2012 02:15:38 PM 642 Views
Yet neither of them are at full potential and at least equal a Forsaken - 30/10/2012 03:45:24 PM 1295 Views
Honestly! - 30/10/2012 02:07:37 AM 742 Views
Re: In the truest sense, you are probably right that it is skewed - 29/10/2012 09:10:27 PM 746 Views
Lots of people mean perfectly normal distribution when they say it - 30/10/2012 05:25:35 PM 685 Views
Couldn't the Towers method of obtaining Aes Sedai be to blame? - 30/10/2012 12:04:01 AM 888 Views
Re: Couldn't the Towers method of obtaining Aes Sedai be to blame? - 30/10/2012 09:33:44 AM 810 Views
Are you sure about that? - 30/10/2012 12:03:43 PM 813 Views
Re: Are you sure about that? - 30/10/2012 12:19:34 PM 719 Views
That doesn't seem a coherent narrative to me - 30/10/2012 04:26:25 PM 1014 Views
Sharina did not have the Spark, nor did Nicola - 30/10/2012 05:16:40 PM 824 Views
Re: Sharina did not have the Spark, nor did Nicola - 30/10/2012 05:54:41 PM 709 Views
We do not know if Cadsuane or any of the Forsaken are Sparkers - 30/10/2012 10:33:55 PM 838 Views
Re: We do not know if Cadsuane or any of the Forsaken are Sparkers - 31/10/2012 12:30:52 AM 790 Views
you're confusing 2 things - 30/10/2012 04:27:32 AM 886 Views
+1 *NM* - 30/10/2012 09:17:07 AM 817 Views
Re: you're confusing 2 things - 30/10/2012 09:21:39 AM 788 Views
Not true... - 30/10/2012 11:49:57 AM 799 Views
One thing - 30/10/2012 05:23:17 PM 776 Views
That's the problem. The BC RJ has "built" has a minimum and a maximum value - 30/10/2012 05:48:55 PM 797 Views

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