Which is why I was so specific about Nynaeve’s & Flinn’s discoveries being the reason to adopt this tactic. Your contention is as absurd as stating that people being placed under arrest should not be divested of their weapons because they are innocent until proven guilty. Now that just about everyone is aware that it can be Healed, it should be obvious to all that the ability can be restored once innocence is established.


And…? Degree of pain is not a moral issue, only the reasons and methods of inflicting it. When the pain is merely a side effect, and one that is not under the control of those administering it, the severity of the pain of severing is irrelevant as a practical or moral concern. Since they are not doing it to be cruel or to induce some sort of behavior in response to the pain, this is not a problem. Think about the absurdity of this contention: “Severing should not be used to secure Darkfriends because it is briefly painful.”


Tough noogies. Suck it up. See above, re: pain. As for Amico, she shows no sign of real character or strength of will beforehand either. She was Black Ajah which indicates a rather severe lack of character and deficient personality at the outset. While you associated the (meta)physical pain of stilling with despair over the prospect of never again touching the Power, in my opinion, that despair is more properly categorized in this area – as the psychological effect. In fact, there is little or no evidence that the psychological suffering of stilling is anything more than the despair over its permanence – an issue that is made moot by the very impermanence of severing these days.

They know it can be done. What more do they need? Both characters have done it three times, so it can hardly be written off as a fluke. While there are some questions as to the possibility of Healing burnt-out channelers, as opposed to severed, all attempts to Heal the various severed people have been successful. The mental shortcomings of the Aes Sedai do not interest me, and any severed woman who would prefer permanent loss of their ability to channel to being touched with the Power by even a tainted man has her own problems. It is suggested that restoration of that ability is sufficient to tempt channelers from the Light to the Shadow, so your hypothetical that a woman might refuse an attempt to restore her because the Healer wields tainted saidin is extremely far-fetched.

But they are not as secure. Channelers have escaped just about all of them. Channelers have been shielded, and escaped when those holding their shield are attacked or drugged. Channelers have had shields tied off and broken free, they have been collared with an a’dam, they have been drugged with forkroot, and they have escaped from each. In some cases, such as the a’dam or a shield, as soon as it is disrupted, and the channeler escapes, he or she can then assist in facilitating his or her escape, as Rand did at Dumai’s Wells, or Moghedian was able to flee immediately upon breaking Nynaeve’s shield or being loosed form the a’dam. Egwene was able to blast away at the Seanchan upon being un-collared (unwisely as it turned out, but still capable). Severing a prisoner would remove that option, or at least add another step to the rescue process. As for the forkroot (note that it IS the preferred method for those who know of it, and most closely resembles severing in effect), that requires a continuous application. A channeler who is stilled requires no further maintenance or keeping a supply of a particular herb on hand.

ONE method exists – using an Oath Rod to remove them. Severing or its Healing does not require any special paraphernalia. Pevara is under special circumstances – the disappearance of her captives would be remarked on, as would their loss of the ability to channel. Severing is counter-indicated in her situation.

The prejudices and reluctances of the Aes Sedai are not valid arguments against the efficacy of the tactic. They are good arguments for why it may not be done, or why the Aes Sedai would not adopt the tactic willingly (though I never contended that they would or even might – I said they SHOULD do it, and their personal distaste does not answer that argument.




1. I mentioned this in my original post. It doesn’t alter the efficacy of the tactic, just its popularity. I have more than enough issues with the Tower’s attraction to archaic habits over reasonable behavior.
2. This is number one repeated in a different way.
3. DARKFRIENDS. Big whoop.
4. No evidence
5. As far as our ability to judge, there IS sufficient information, and we know it would work, because, IIRC, RJ confirmed how restoration works. For the characters, this is simply another reason why they might not want to. As I have said, I don’t care about their opinions, merely about how good a plan this is.
6. And they are inferior to this one. Which is why I proposed this one.
7. No, they don’t.
8. With restoration possible, there is no real risk to innocents, since if it turns out that they ARE, in fact, innocent, they can be Healed.

Those are the kinds of cases I was talking about. I was not referring to some hypothetical organized effort to dig out the Black Ajah or a theoretical purge, I was talking about the situations that arise in the books when they catch a Black sister or bunch of them in the act.

Well, I know it wouldn’t fly with most of the characters. But they’re idiots. Just because they don’t want to do it doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea. And I would hardly call this long-winded.

I don’t want to say. I’m very shy with my opinions