Swithin
2005-10-20 02:07:00 UTC
A lot of people have assumed that channeling will disappear from
Randland after Tarmon Gaidon. I disagree with this idea, but I've been
thinking about how it could be accomplished so quickly, which led me to
a little theory.
Thinking upon Mat's ter'angreal, and RJ's comment that a channeler
wearing one would both have protection from others' flows but still be
able to channel, I had the notion that a channeler wearing the
ter'angreal might be immune to Far Madding's artificial Stedding-ness.
Then I recalled that, according to RJ, Cadsuane *is* wearing one, and
she'd still need a Well to channel in Far Madding.
That got me to thinking about what Far Madding's anti-channeling TA
actually do. They don't block each individual channeler from getting to
the OP, since Wells work, nor do they interpose between each channeler
and the source directly, since wearing the medallion would break up
whatever flows would be used for that effect. They don't dissipate
whatever amount of OP is in a Well, nor do they prevent it from being
accessed. So what do they do?
The best I could come up with was that the ter'angreal which prevent
channeling actually push the source away, in a sphere, making Far
Madding something akin to a city built on an artificial island in a
stream. You can bring water in in cups, but you don't get your ankles
wet walking around, that kind of thing.
Which led me to wonder if Stedding are really so naturally-occurring as
they seem. If Stedding have the same effect, pushing the source away,
and the Pattern is permeated by the source, the Pattern wouldn't
naturally form Stedding. In fact, it *couldn't* form Stedding. The
Stedding also have to be somehow artificial.
Now this leads to even further wackiness. If the Stedding are remnants
of artificial no-source zones, who made them originally and why? One
would assume the Ogier or Nym, or the Ogier and Nym, once they came to
Earth. That would presuppose, however, that the Ogier or Nym have the
power to create them, or the ability to explain to channelers exactly
what they needed and how to form it with the OP. If that were the case,
then every Stedding, and its shifting movements, is actually an anti-OP
ter'angreal hidden somewhere deep beneath the ground, and the
Steddings' movements over centuries have to do with tectonic shifts.
That actually jives with what we know of the Breaking, and what
happened to the Stedding afterwards.
Now, here's the cool part.
First off, the Book of Translation. My take on that, quite simply, is
that it's a Portal Stone "map". It's also a time-limit plot-wise on how
long the Ogier are going to stick around. More on this later.
We know that people will lose the ability to channel again. It happens
apparently once per revolution of the Wheel, as does regaining the
ability. It's unlikely that losing the ability to channel will have to
deal with a genetic culling of the gene, since channeling is so useful,
and somewhere around the world at any given point in time channeling
will be in vogue. The Taint got it down a bit, but it never really
disappears, and since it's there at least some of the time in every
turning of the Wheel in a large amount of the population, it's unlikely
it disappears and somehow re-emerges on its own.
So why do people stop channeling? Does the world change, and suddenly
prevent access to the OP, on its own? That too is unlikely, for the
same reason that naturally-occurring Stedding are unlikely... which
means that at some point, the OP must be blocked artificially. The most
likely culprit for this is anti-OP ter'angreal, as in Far Madding. In
fact, pretty much the only way to achieve this is to create a patchwork
network of ter'angreal all across the surface and oceans of the earth.
But *why* would someone do this, especially when the project would take
the collaboration of thousands of channelers all willing to give up
channeling forever? The only answer to that is that it's done to
prevent the DO from touching the world. It's done to prevent anyone
breaking the Seal. It's done to protect the world from the horrors that
will be seen at Tarmon Gaidon. It's the only thing that can be done to
make sure humanity is safe. It's the equivalent of total multilateral
disarmament.
Here's the hitch. Nobody knows how to make these ter'angreal. In fact,
no-one can even study them with the Power. Aviendha might be able to
"feel" what they do, but everyone knows anyway and that doesn't help
determine *how* they do it. The only people hypothetically capable of
recreating them are channelers with some serious outside help, or
Ogier/Nym and Song of Growing capable humans. In both cases, the likely
parties are Ogier, either to guide others or to do it themselves, but
they're leaving. How does it make sense for the Ogier to be unable to
leave before helping to make the world a Stedding, when the world's
about to become a Stedding they can live in comfortably? Well, it's
probably one of those Prophecy things. How else would they guess now is
the time to open the Book of Translation?
So here's my theory, in short. After Tarmon Gaidon, the heroes somehow
learn from the Ogier how to make the world a giant Stedding. Rand sets
up the plan, which will take perhaps many generations, and either the
Ogier help or the Song is discovered and the Tuatha'an are the ones who
actually go around planting these things, most likely both. So,
hundreds of years after the Dragon Reborn, who is now legend or myth,
people talk about channeling as if it were some fancy fairy-tale that
the backwards people of long ago believed in, even though somehow
everyone can feel it ring true. Some people, those with the genes, even
feel as if there should be more to the world, but of course, everybody
knows you can't just move things with your mind...
Only one thing left... how do people regain the ability to channel? I
guess the obvious answer is some kind of cataclysmic war involving
nuclear bombs, but it really could be anything.
Anyway, thoughts?
Randland after Tarmon Gaidon. I disagree with this idea, but I've been
thinking about how it could be accomplished so quickly, which led me to
a little theory.
Thinking upon Mat's ter'angreal, and RJ's comment that a channeler
wearing one would both have protection from others' flows but still be
able to channel, I had the notion that a channeler wearing the
ter'angreal might be immune to Far Madding's artificial Stedding-ness.
Then I recalled that, according to RJ, Cadsuane *is* wearing one, and
she'd still need a Well to channel in Far Madding.
That got me to thinking about what Far Madding's anti-channeling TA
actually do. They don't block each individual channeler from getting to
the OP, since Wells work, nor do they interpose between each channeler
and the source directly, since wearing the medallion would break up
whatever flows would be used for that effect. They don't dissipate
whatever amount of OP is in a Well, nor do they prevent it from being
accessed. So what do they do?
The best I could come up with was that the ter'angreal which prevent
channeling actually push the source away, in a sphere, making Far
Madding something akin to a city built on an artificial island in a
stream. You can bring water in in cups, but you don't get your ankles
wet walking around, that kind of thing.
Which led me to wonder if Stedding are really so naturally-occurring as
they seem. If Stedding have the same effect, pushing the source away,
and the Pattern is permeated by the source, the Pattern wouldn't
naturally form Stedding. In fact, it *couldn't* form Stedding. The
Stedding also have to be somehow artificial.
Now this leads to even further wackiness. If the Stedding are remnants
of artificial no-source zones, who made them originally and why? One
would assume the Ogier or Nym, or the Ogier and Nym, once they came to
Earth. That would presuppose, however, that the Ogier or Nym have the
power to create them, or the ability to explain to channelers exactly
what they needed and how to form it with the OP. If that were the case,
then every Stedding, and its shifting movements, is actually an anti-OP
ter'angreal hidden somewhere deep beneath the ground, and the
Steddings' movements over centuries have to do with tectonic shifts.
That actually jives with what we know of the Breaking, and what
happened to the Stedding afterwards.
Now, here's the cool part.
First off, the Book of Translation. My take on that, quite simply, is
that it's a Portal Stone "map". It's also a time-limit plot-wise on how
long the Ogier are going to stick around. More on this later.
We know that people will lose the ability to channel again. It happens
apparently once per revolution of the Wheel, as does regaining the
ability. It's unlikely that losing the ability to channel will have to
deal with a genetic culling of the gene, since channeling is so useful,
and somewhere around the world at any given point in time channeling
will be in vogue. The Taint got it down a bit, but it never really
disappears, and since it's there at least some of the time in every
turning of the Wheel in a large amount of the population, it's unlikely
it disappears and somehow re-emerges on its own.
So why do people stop channeling? Does the world change, and suddenly
prevent access to the OP, on its own? That too is unlikely, for the
same reason that naturally-occurring Stedding are unlikely... which
means that at some point, the OP must be blocked artificially. The most
likely culprit for this is anti-OP ter'angreal, as in Far Madding. In
fact, pretty much the only way to achieve this is to create a patchwork
network of ter'angreal all across the surface and oceans of the earth.
But *why* would someone do this, especially when the project would take
the collaboration of thousands of channelers all willing to give up
channeling forever? The only answer to that is that it's done to
prevent the DO from touching the world. It's done to prevent anyone
breaking the Seal. It's done to protect the world from the horrors that
will be seen at Tarmon Gaidon. It's the only thing that can be done to
make sure humanity is safe. It's the equivalent of total multilateral
disarmament.
Here's the hitch. Nobody knows how to make these ter'angreal. In fact,
no-one can even study them with the Power. Aviendha might be able to
"feel" what they do, but everyone knows anyway and that doesn't help
determine *how* they do it. The only people hypothetically capable of
recreating them are channelers with some serious outside help, or
Ogier/Nym and Song of Growing capable humans. In both cases, the likely
parties are Ogier, either to guide others or to do it themselves, but
they're leaving. How does it make sense for the Ogier to be unable to
leave before helping to make the world a Stedding, when the world's
about to become a Stedding they can live in comfortably? Well, it's
probably one of those Prophecy things. How else would they guess now is
the time to open the Book of Translation?
So here's my theory, in short. After Tarmon Gaidon, the heroes somehow
learn from the Ogier how to make the world a giant Stedding. Rand sets
up the plan, which will take perhaps many generations, and either the
Ogier help or the Song is discovered and the Tuatha'an are the ones who
actually go around planting these things, most likely both. So,
hundreds of years after the Dragon Reborn, who is now legend or myth,
people talk about channeling as if it were some fancy fairy-tale that
the backwards people of long ago believed in, even though somehow
everyone can feel it ring true. Some people, those with the genes, even
feel as if there should be more to the world, but of course, everybody
knows you can't just move things with your mind...
Only one thing left... how do people regain the ability to channel? I
guess the obvious answer is some kind of cataclysmic war involving
nuclear bombs, but it really could be anything.
Anyway, thoughts?