In tGS, I ran across a passage that I found perplexing, noticing it on my first read-through. On page 588, where Egwene is wandering the rebel camp in Tel’Aran’Rhiod, she has the following stream of consciousness, as she contemplates an alternative to overthrowing Elaida or Elaida taking the rebels back under her control:

“Setting up a second White Tower. It would mean leaving the Aes Sedai broken, perhaps forever…How could they encourage the Kin or the Wise Ones to tie themselves to the Aes Sedai if the Aes Sedai themselves were not unified? The two White Towers would become opposed forces, confusing the leaders of men as rival Amyrlins tried to use nations for their own purposes. Allies and enemies alike would lose their awe of the Aes Sedai, and kings very well might start up their own centers for women talented in channeling.”

What, exactly, is wrong with the scenario Egwene envisions? It appears to be the best of all possible outcomes to the Tower struggle, with the sole flaw I can find in it being Egwene’s reduction in power, from Amyrlin of all Aes Sedai to Amyrlin of one group. But what if we stipulate that this represents her ideal, and that even if she personally stood to gain nothing from any particular resolution, she would still see the above scenario as a negative outcome? What is the problem with that in the big picture? Why is it so necessary that the Aes Sedai dominate the nations and be supreme? Let us compare the outcomes where channelers reign to where they are excluded from power, or have only a limited role to play in the order of their society.

Channelers rule:
- The stagnant and fading wetland culture which the Pattern must be devastated with chaos to allow the Dragon Reborn to rise to leadership
- The secretive and tyrannical empire of Shara, with its xenophobic, dishonest and alien culture, including violent methods of preserving secrecy and chattel slavery
- The chaos of the Land of Madmen under channelers of both genders and the Seanchan continent under their own Aes Sedai rulers before Hawkwing’s son began conquering the latter
- The culture that fell to the Shadow in the Trolloc Wars, and gave rise to Aridhol and a Tower that betrayed Manetheren to its destruction

Others rank higher than channelers:
- The Sea Folk, whose understanding of those arts and skills which are necessary to their lifestyle is at the top of the world: weather-channeling, shipbuilding, navigation, sailing, trading.
- The Aiel, a vibrant and expanding culture, that currently consists of the main strength of the Light as Tarmon Gaidon draws near
Note as well that without the channeling contributions developed in spite (or perhaps, because) of their estrangement from the Tower, the situation of the Aes Sedai, their society and the forces of the Light would be substantially worse
- Artur Hawkwing’s empire, founded and built by an ordinary, if brilliant, man, with no preternatural abilities and in the face of much opposition from the White Tower, despite a demonstrable lack of personal prejudice against them on his side and an established willingness to cooperate with the Tower and Aes Sedai.
- The Seanchan Empire, which has supplanted the madness of Seanchan under Aes Sedai rule, and done the same for Tarabon. While it is not without flaws, most of those are a legacy of the land ruled by Aes Sedai, and certainly not the society from which the Imperial Family came, and most who encounter it seem to prefer the Seanchan brand of law and order to what they have experienced prior to the Return.

N.B. There can be no purpose to placing the Age of Legends under either category, since not enough is known. While we know of the prominent role channelers played in its leadership, we do not know if they were the only ones to hold power or if they ruled only their own organization. All possibilities being equal, it is just as likely that normal people ran the world with the Aes Sedai organization relegated to a position appropriate to its name, as it is that a council of channelers presided over a benevolent society.


Plainly, when channelers do not dominate the society, but are relegated to a place in it like every other area of human activity, the society works out for the better. The best way to prevent that dominance, short of slavery or murder, is by checking their power, which requires other channelers. If there are two separate White Towers, they cannot dominate the wetlands any more, and the way is open for other options regarding channeling as well. Egwene herself seems to think this would be the natural result of a separate White Tower.

And leaving aside the liberation of the world from the White Tower’s excessive influence, what about the ramifications for channeling? Egwene seems to think there is no way they could associate with the Kin or the Aiel if the Towers were separate, but that is plainly not true. The Kin might not want anything to do with the second Tower, but the first Tower had no interest in developing them, either. Regardless of their institutional reverence for the White Tower, the prospect of acceptance by a group of real Aes Sedai would probably be enough to get most if not an overwhelming majority of Kinswomen to join up with the separatists. The Aiel Wise Ones did not seem to hold the political circumstances of the White Tower against their Aes Sedai associates. What Egwene truly means, is that without the unified authority of the Tower and its political clientele among the nations, it would be impossible to SUBORDINATE these groups entirely under the Aes Sedai, just as it would be impossible to subordinate the world. And I fail to see what the benefit to the other groups or the world is in closer association of the sort that would be pleasing to Egwene. Would Aiel have developed their superior techniques and unknown skills with the excessive caution of their Aes Sedai superiors suppressing experimentation? Would the Sea Folk Windfinders have been able to perfect their weather-working abilities to the extent that they were able to undo the Dark One’s touch with the Bowl of the Winds? As Moridin makes it plain, they are the only group in the known history of channeling who could have done so! If their development was different, could they have developed something that is so obviously of interest to them and not to the centralized channeling authorities, who are satisfied with knowing enough to move the Amyrlin’s rivership swiftly and damn the environmental and meteorological repercussions? Even setting aside those extra-cultural developments, competition between the Towers will mean improved abilities. Competition benefits the consumer, and is detrimental to one producer’s ability to dominate the market. In the case of the White Tower(s) that means the people whom the Aes Sedai are supposed to be providing One Power services for are better served, and the Aes Sedai are impeded from dominating the world. How is this anything but good for everyone but the egos of the Amyrlins and Sitters who, in a multi-Tower world, must negotiate and deal in good faith where they had previously commanded or manipulated?

And what is wrong with nationalized channeling organizations? What is wrong with patriotic channelers serving their homeland rather than a monolithic entity unconcerned with their nation’s issues except as it affects their schemes. In such a circumstance, how long could either Tower extract that noxious tribute from the nations, as described in tGS? Is not the money extracted from the citizens of the Borderlands by their rulers not money that is supposed to go towards funding their defense from the Shadow and maintenance of such things as is the ruler’s duty to provide? How much of that money taken from the national treasuries actually purchases services to the benefit of those nations, and how much goes to the support of White Tower functions that mean nothing to the people of the nations so desperate for any aid that might be forthcoming against the Shadow that they are willing to fork over sums of money merely to stay on the Tower’s good side. With local channelers, there would be more interest in studying or developing weaves specific to the needs of the people they serve, as happens among the Sea Folk with the Windfinders achieving a level of expertise with weather unheard of in the AoL. Might al’Lan Mandragoran be King of a living nation of Malkier if the nation had its own channeling corps to augment its defense against the Shadow? How could an Amyrlin Seat subvert the power of the ruler of a nation from defending her people from foreign invaders in order to fulfill her own schemes, which were not at all in the interests of the subverted nation, if that nation had its own channelers who could support their Great Captain when he tried of give their queen better military advice than she could get from an upjumped Tairen peasant?

No one objects to rulers having their own armies of soldiers, and no one would be insane enough to suggest all soldiers enlist in one single army that serves all the wetlands equally and looks out for its own interests above those of any nation, so why this assumption that all channelers must do the same? Manetheren itself is an example of the evil of such a policy. In the voice of the author of the BWB, Robert Jordan moronically criticizes the Ten Nations maintaining their own armies (John C Calhoun & Wade Hampton were probably spinning in their graves at a South Carolinian writing such idiocy) while giving a hint of exactly why all the nations rightfully pursued such a course (whether he realized it or not). The Amyrlin Seat betrayed Manetheren for petty personal reasons. As it is, the heroic last stand of the army and the irregulars saved their land and their blood even if the nation was devastated and the state lost for all time. Had they been subsumed into a unified single organization, organized as a whole, rather than by contributing nation, the men of Manetheren would never have been able to return home in force to successfully defend their nation. Men who were stationed with units remote from Manetheren might all individually have foregone the heroic march home felling it was impossible to get there in time, and they could not contribute anything significant to the defense alone, in contrast to the army deciding, or being ordered by their king, to try anyway knowing that if they did make it, all their comrades would be there. In the One Big Army scenario, even if a sufficient force DID manage a mass desertion, they might not have been able to properly organize as a cohesive armed force in time to resist the Trollocs to the extent that they were able.

Quite frankly, a single Tower benefits no one but the political leadership of that Tower. There are also the theoretical benefits of prestige, but how does that genuinely benefit a sister? For the most part it seems to make them complacent and arrogant and they get hammered when they run into someone better. Does anyone think the Great Captains go around smugly assuming they can kick anyone’s ass because they are the top generals of their armies? Of course not! There are too many armies out there and they have to constantly test their prowess against military foes, so they know exactly how they can fail or lose. The Aes Sedai in the solo Tower cannot imagine anything other than their Tower and its perfect little insulated world, and as a result the Sea Folk and Kin are able to deceive them about their numbers and strengths, because the Tower cannot imagine anyone would not want to be part of their little self-congratulatory society or that they COULD hide something like this from the Aes Sedai. Some of the more worldly sisters are shown to have suspicions, of the Sea Folk at least, but Tower policy is made by a pack of older women who sequester themselves hundreds of miles from any major city and well outside the borders of any nation. It is a similar demographic of sisters who train the lower-ranking initiates and are responsible for inculcating the attitudes of the Tower into the upcoming sisters. In a world where they had to constantly be aware of the competition, there would be no such complacency. They could not help but be aware of what the other side was doing, whereas they can laugh off events in the world as unimportant now. Witness, for example, the Tower struggle, which almost seemed to occur in a vacuum with little direct effect on the rest of the world and not very responsive to events in that rest of the world. The condition of the world was radically different on Siuan Sanche’s last day in office and Egwene’s first day as the genuine Amyrlin Seat, but very few steps were taken by the Tower that did not concern them directly. And what few efforts they DID make to the rest of the world ended mostly in disaster, because Aes Sedai breezed in thinking they were still the top dogs who could work their will on the involved parties as they saw fit, and never imagining that the opinions of those parties might actually end up counting for something!

The embassy to Rand from the Tower went down in disaster when he proved too resistant to their influence. In addition, they overlooked crucial parties involved in that disaster because those parties were not part of the status quo Aes Sedai were used to maintaining and were new pieces in a game where the Aes Sedai thought they knew every possible play. Perrin & Rhuarc, virtually ignored by the Tower’s embassy, and Dobraine & Berelain, who clung to Rand despite the attempts by sisters to sway them into returning to their proper places on the gameboard, were the ones most instrumental in that defiance. The underestimated Rand’s abilities, thinking him to be another common wilder, and his ability or sincerity in gathering Asha’man. They also attempted to use the Shaido, never dreaming the Shaido were instead using them all along, with a non-channeler as the mastermind. Elaida sent a force to quell the Black Tower, and in the first clash of the White Tower with another channeling organization since they busted up the Daughters of Silence, the Tower grievously overestimated their superiority and ended with every sister reduced to a tame lapdog. The rebel’s embassy fared just as poorly as the Tower’s, believing they could act as they wished with no repercussions and believing they could impose their will on Rand, only to end up beneath his thumb. The rebels made a deal with the Sea Folk, that despite being a relatively fair price with significant gain for both sides, is nonetheless highly disliked by all Aes Sedai because the price, however fair, is high. Aes Sedai do NOT pay high prices for things! The world hands them what they wish on a silver platter or they make those responsible for thwarting them regret it! The experience of individual sisters in deal with the Sea Folk has universally (with the exception of a single individual best described as unique & a maverick among the Aes Sedai) been an unpleasant shock, with the sisters in question rapidly finding themselves in over their heads, no matter how accomplished, open-minded or experienced the sisters or whatever their motivation for dealing with the Sea Folk.

Both sides were guilty of arrogance in dealing with one another, as well. The rebels, in thinking they could do as they wished without setting Elaida ever more irreconcilably against them; the Tower, in underestimating the resolve of the rebels; Egwene, in thinking that her advantages in the Power and political position within her group meant she could act at will against Elaida and the Tower; the rebel Hall in thinking they could rule their faction as they wished, without realizing that by setting up a rival Hall they undermined all authority connected to the Tower and paved the way for a group of disaffected minions to hijack their mission; and Elaida herself in thinking that the Amyrlin Seat, as top dog in the Tower, could get away with anything.

With multiple channeling organizations in the world, or at least with multiple organizations existing openly and aware of each other, the unpleasant shocks experienced by various sisters in the recent days discussed in the series would have been institutionally experienced long ago, and the sisters themselves would have been prepared to deal with their channeling rivals as part of their education or indoctrination.

Finally, there is the morality or justice of the current practice. Setting aside all questions of practicality or utility, by what RIGHT does the White Tower forbid other channelers from congregating or associating? By what RIGHT do they forbid wilders from sharing their knowledge, or women who are rejected from the Tower by reason of age or strength deficiency from seeking out other teaching? There are even practical issues in that last question. Some readers have protested the White Tower having to bear the entire price for the Sea Folk deal to end the drought, but who else is there? No one, by act of the Tower. Perhaps if there were other channeling organizations or independent channelers, the Tower could be justified in demanding their share the price for the bargain, but the Tower has stripped all other channelers from the world. Yes, it is the nations that will benefit because their people can now grow food again, but it was the Tower that left the nations helpless before the Dark One’s touch. The Tower has forbidden any other association or teaching of channelers, so it is their moral responsibility to provide solutions to preternatural threats. If they cannot handle it on their own, it is their responsibility to pay whatever it takes to get that solution. Given the squawking over the price the Sea Folk require, how can the Tower justifiably refuse a nation the right to seek their own protection from threats that can only be addressed by channeling? And what happens to a channeler who seeks the White Tower’s teaching and is refused for being too old or too weak or too long channeling on her own? They have NO other recourse, and any Aes Sedai can attest to the lure of the One Power. How many channelers might turn to the Shadow if it was the only way they could learn to hone their ability?

In maintaining their monopoly, the White Tower is falling down on their obligations to the world and actively robbing them and infringing on their rights, and doing itself a disservice as well, choosing power and supremacy over lessened prestige and improved abilities. The Tower has no more right to a monopoly on channeling than a single business enterprise has a right to a monopoly on distribution of a product or service, and the practical drawbacks of such a scenario are the same as in a commercial monopoly.