l***@gmail.com
2006-10-07 17:04:28 UTC
I was just thinking, now that even healing's been discovered, what
about angreal and s'angreal.
It's been mentioned numerous times through the Wheel of Time that the
making of s'angreal had been lost since the Breaking of the World.
But right now in Randland, a lot of things assumed to be lost since the
Age of Legends are being rediscovered, and even some things (ex:
stilling) not even known to the AOL Aes Sedaiare being practised. Thus
it bugs me that after all that no one has discovered how angreal and
the s'angreal work still yet. Elayne's studies enabled her to make
ter'angreal, and though everyone believes she'll go on to figure
out the making of ter'angreal, no further developments have been
mentioned yet. There's also the fact that, when Nynaeve and Elayne
held Mogehdien captive and extracted the secrets of the One Power from
her, they neglected to ask her about the making of angreal. I don't
think Robert Jordan just let such an opportunity slip. I think he was
really just not mentioning it because it was supposed to be a secret
until the end of the book.
On to how I think sa'angreal (and angreal) are made. Since they
magnify how much one power you can use, I think they involve a
chaneller sacrificing his/her abilities in order for them to be made. I
say this because something worth as much as an angreal requires a
decent price to be made. It's worth its weight in blood, not gold.
And the most precious thing an Aes Sedai possesses, more than even
their life, is their ability to channel. Maybe angreal only require
that you give up a portion of our chanelling abilities, but I believe
to make a s'angreal, an Aes Sedai would have to effectively
still/gentle themselves. This also explains why some angreal /
s'angreal can be used only by men while other can be wielded only by
men - it depends on whether a male of female gave up their chanelling
abilities.
Thus proposed, this leads us to think, why were s'angreal even made
in the first place, if the price paid to make them was so high? The
only answer is, they weren't made routinely. I'm guessing that the
only time when they made them was during the War of Power, when the Aes
Sedai of the Light desperately needed every advantage they could have
above the Forsaken and the Dreadlords. Times were hard enough then that
Aes Sedai could actually see sense in giving up their abilities so the
more powerful of them could channel powerfully enough to stand up to
the likes of Lanfear and Ishamael.
Still not convinced? Well, there's also the fact that while the
making of angreal and s'angreal were both lost since the Age of
Legends, the making of ter'angreal was lost too, but there's still
a lot more ter'angreal in the world than either angreal or
s'angreal. Since they were all lost about the same time after the
Breaking of the World, then it makes sense that even before the
Breaking, ter'angreal existed in larger numbers because they were
much easier to make, the price much more easily paid.
There's also some proof from the context of the books that compounds
my theory. Let's take Callandor, for instance. Callandor is pretty
much famous among Wot fans as the only sa'angreal without a buffer
from the Dark One. It think the reason for this is, Callandor was made
by the original dragon, Lews Therin himself, when he died. His own
chanelling abilites were transferred to Callandor and whether it was
Ishamael's intervention (read EoW prologue) or the Dark One's
counterstroke that made Lews Therin's chanelling so harmful is
anyone's guess, but Callandor is unique in that way due to the fact
that Lews Therin himself made. It can also explain why Rand was the
only one able to wield it.
about angreal and s'angreal.
It's been mentioned numerous times through the Wheel of Time that the
making of s'angreal had been lost since the Breaking of the World.
But right now in Randland, a lot of things assumed to be lost since the
Age of Legends are being rediscovered, and even some things (ex:
stilling) not even known to the AOL Aes Sedaiare being practised. Thus
it bugs me that after all that no one has discovered how angreal and
the s'angreal work still yet. Elayne's studies enabled her to make
ter'angreal, and though everyone believes she'll go on to figure
out the making of ter'angreal, no further developments have been
mentioned yet. There's also the fact that, when Nynaeve and Elayne
held Mogehdien captive and extracted the secrets of the One Power from
her, they neglected to ask her about the making of angreal. I don't
think Robert Jordan just let such an opportunity slip. I think he was
really just not mentioning it because it was supposed to be a secret
until the end of the book.
On to how I think sa'angreal (and angreal) are made. Since they
magnify how much one power you can use, I think they involve a
chaneller sacrificing his/her abilities in order for them to be made. I
say this because something worth as much as an angreal requires a
decent price to be made. It's worth its weight in blood, not gold.
And the most precious thing an Aes Sedai possesses, more than even
their life, is their ability to channel. Maybe angreal only require
that you give up a portion of our chanelling abilities, but I believe
to make a s'angreal, an Aes Sedai would have to effectively
still/gentle themselves. This also explains why some angreal /
s'angreal can be used only by men while other can be wielded only by
men - it depends on whether a male of female gave up their chanelling
abilities.
Thus proposed, this leads us to think, why were s'angreal even made
in the first place, if the price paid to make them was so high? The
only answer is, they weren't made routinely. I'm guessing that the
only time when they made them was during the War of Power, when the Aes
Sedai of the Light desperately needed every advantage they could have
above the Forsaken and the Dreadlords. Times were hard enough then that
Aes Sedai could actually see sense in giving up their abilities so the
more powerful of them could channel powerfully enough to stand up to
the likes of Lanfear and Ishamael.
Still not convinced? Well, there's also the fact that while the
making of angreal and s'angreal were both lost since the Age of
Legends, the making of ter'angreal was lost too, but there's still
a lot more ter'angreal in the world than either angreal or
s'angreal. Since they were all lost about the same time after the
Breaking of the World, then it makes sense that even before the
Breaking, ter'angreal existed in larger numbers because they were
much easier to make, the price much more easily paid.
There's also some proof from the context of the books that compounds
my theory. Let's take Callandor, for instance. Callandor is pretty
much famous among Wot fans as the only sa'angreal without a buffer
from the Dark One. It think the reason for this is, Callandor was made
by the original dragon, Lews Therin himself, when he died. His own
chanelling abilites were transferred to Callandor and whether it was
Ishamael's intervention (read EoW prologue) or the Dark One's
counterstroke that made Lews Therin's chanelling so harmful is
anyone's guess, but Callandor is unique in that way due to the fact
that Lews Therin himself made. It can also explain why Rand was the
only one able to wield it.