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In The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan, the One Power is the force that maintains the continuous motion of the Wheel of Time. The Wheel of Time (abbreviated by fans to WoT) is a series of epic fantasy novels written by the late American author James Oliver Robert Jordan was the Pen name of James Oliver Rigney Jr ( October 17, 1948 &ndash September 16, 2007) under which he It comes from the True Source, and it is separated into two halves: saidin (pronounced 'sah-ih-DIHN'), the male half, and saidar (pronounced 'sah-ih-DAHR'), the female half. It is used in the series (like magic) by people who can wield it, who are known as channelers. Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a Conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events objects people and

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Nature of the One Power

The One Power is divided into male and female halves, saidin and saidar respectively, that work both with and against each other to drive the Wheel of Time. The True Source cannot be consumed by channellers, even as a river cannot be consumed by a waterwheel. Each half of the One Power is able to be used only by people of the associated sex (the only known exception is the Forsaken Aran'gar, a male channeler who was re-incarnated into a female body but still uses saidin), and men and women have very different experiences in channeling. Balthamel (BAHL-thah-mell is one of the primary antagonists of the Wheel of Time Fantasy series by Robert Jordan.

Channelers

Not everyone has the ability to "channel" the One Power. Most men and women cannot reach it at all; of those who can, most must be taught to access it to varying extents, and can go their entire lives without touching (or even knowing they can touch) the Source. Generally they find out when a member of the series' only formally-organized group of channelers, the Aes Sedai, visit their town on a recruiting trip. The Aes Sedai are a society in the fictional universe of Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time book series Aes Sedai visitors also search for the few channelers who are born with "the spark," an innate gift that will inevitably lead them to touch the Source. If left untrained, these gifted channelers often die without ever gaining control over their innate ability; the Aes Sedai estimate the mortality rate at 75% or more. Those who do survive, called "wilders" by the Aes Sedai, do not realize that they have channeled, only that "things happen" if they want them to. To aid in this self-deception, they are frequently saddled with a "block," an instinctive self-preservation behavior that keeps them from channeling in all but exceptional circumstances. Known blocks include only being able to channel while angry, in the presence of men, with one's eyes closed, and so on. These blocks can be eventually overcome, but only after significant and sometimes drastic counseling. The trainee, Theodrin Dabei, who could only channel in the presence of men, for instance, was broken of her block when the handsome young stableboy who had been attending her training sessions revealed that "he" was actually the handsome young stableboy's twin sister.

Channelers must first tap into the One Power before being able to channel it, and can "hold" the Power within themselves without using it; the feeling of accessing the Source is described as being "more alive than ever before," a powerful feeling of joy for women, and a feeling of "holding a river of frozen fire and burning ice" for men, as well as a significant increase of sensory acuity. The "sweet" and addictive nature of the Power is problematic in itself, as drawing too much of it can kill the channeler, render them brain-dead, or—if they are lucky, relatively speaking—only "burn out" the ability to channel permanently. Brain death is a legal definition of death that emerged in the 1960s as a response to the ability to resuscitate individuals and mechanically keep the heart and lungs working Channelers can also be temporarily cut off from touching the Source using shields woven of Spirit, and or permanently cut off from it by outsiders; modern Aes Sedai call it "stilling" when done to women and "gentling" when done to men, while historically it was called "severing" for either sex. Regardless of the circumstances, those who lose the ability permanently also tend to lose the will to live, and are often dead within a year. Very recently, Aes Sedai Nynaeve al'Meara and Asha'man Damer Flinn have (independently) discovered how to heal severing, but the process only works completely when the healer is of the opposite sex to the healed; when Nynaeve healed fellow Aes Sedai Siuan Sanche and Leane Sharif from their stillings, they were left with significantly reduced strength. Nynaeve al'Meara (pronounced NIGH-neev al-MEER-ah (formally and currently el'Nynaeve ti al'Meara Mandragoran) is one of the main characters of The Wheel of Time The Asha'man are an organization of men who can channel in the Fictional world of Robert Jordan 's Fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Siuan Sanche (pronounced swan) is a character of the Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan.

Channelers are not born equal: some are stronger in the Power and can handle larger quantities of it than others. Men and women, furthermore, are different in many regards when it comes to the One Power, as covered below.

Differences between Male and Female Channelers

The One Power is "woven" in "flows" or "threads" of one of five elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Spirit. Men are generally stronger with Fire and Earth, while women are generally stronger with Air and Water; strength in Spirit is equal, and equally rare. Male channelers, in general, are capable of holding more of the Power than female ones, while women generally are more dextrous in weaving the Power. Also, male channelers cannot link to form a "Circle" of multiple channelers working together without a woman's aid; only women can initiate a Circle, although there cannot be more men than women in a circle and no more than thirteen women may be joined without including any men. These differences allow for rough parity between male and female channeling, and it is known that the greatest works of the Age of Legends (a golden age that ended some 3,000 years before the start of the novels) were performed by men and women channeling in cooperation. This article is about the fictional world history of Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time Fantasy fiction series

Female channelers can tell when other women are touching the Source: a white glowing aura appears around their body, though only visible to those trained to touch the One Power. In Parapsychology and many forms of spiritual practice an aura is a field of subtle luminous radiation surrounding a person or object like the Halo or It is also relatively easy for them to gauge each other's strength in the Power. Men, on the other hand, can only sense intuitively when another man is channeling, and both must weave saidin in each other's presence for a length of time (half an hour or more) before being able to even guess at the other's strength. Male channelers can sense a woman holding saidar as goosebumps on their skin; women have no innate method of sensing male channeling, though certain ter'angreal and weaves have been crafted which do the job for them. Goosebumps is a series of children's Horror fiction Novellas created and authored by R

Most vividly, male and female channelers experience the Power differently: a woman would describe it as a gentle force that she must submerge herself in, as trying to exert control over it would lead to being instantly consumed; a man, on the other hand, faces a cataclysmic torrent requiring perfect control, immense willpower and ceaseless vigilance. In short, women "embrace" saidar, surrendering to it and influencing it from within, while men "seize" saidin, manipulating it by force. This essential difference in the "feeling" of the Power means that a woman cannot teach a man to channel, and vice-versa (though it has been tried—many, many times), especially since many weaves which work for one sex do not work the same way (or at all) for the other. As an example, men can use flows of Fire to transfer the heat of a candle flame to another location (for instance, the stones of a fireplace), but women who try that have been grievously injured, some even bursting into flame—just from a candle. (Women use a thread of Water or Air to snuff a candle. ) Male and females also grow in the One Power differently; women gradually increase in strength, whereas men gain strength in sudden leaps.

Some other differences include:

  1. A woman's shield for her dreams is a crystal barrier between the dreamwalker and the dream, while a man's shield for his dreams is described as a barrier showing dreams as if looking into "muddy water. "
  2. The weaves for healing with saidin are specific to each ailment, whereas Aes Sedai use the same weave of Air, Water and Spirit no matter the condition or the degree; results vary based on that Aes Sedai's particular affinity for Healing. However, it has since been discovered that the Aes Sedai use a relatively primitive weave of Healing, whereas Damer Flinn has re-discovered a number of more advanced (and, presumably, efficient) weaves. It is also known that, after the Yellow Ajah discovered Nynaeve's use of all five powers in Healing, they began to discuss the use of different combinations of elements for treating different ailments.
  3. A female gateway for Traveling is made by "folding" the Pattern of an Age, making the two places to be Travelled as one (similar to a tesseract). Geometry The tesseract can be constructed in a number of different ways A male gateway is made by "boring" a hole through the Pattern, from one place to another.
  4. Two women in a circle can usually best a man who is in the same comparative power level, even if they are weaker than he individually.
  5. Women are more susceptible to compelled Circles like the a'dam. An a'dam is an item in the fictional Wheel of Time universe created by Robert Jordan. A female a'dam, which allows a "sul'dam" controller to control her leashed damane's channeling ability, is essentially flawless and allows perfect control of the captured woman. A male a'dam, on the other hand, requires two women to safely handle and maintain the link to the man, though one would do for a short time, and the man will eventually be able to reverse the flow of control to some extent, causing the three to fight for dominance.
  6. Women are able to create a bridge of Air further than men can, regardless of the fact that men are generally stronger in the Power.
  7. Saidin seems to be more based in brute force,being complete will and pure instinct and thus,it is done bluntly, whereas saidar is more organized,more like weaving silk into patterns.

The Taint on Saidin

In the current age, the Dark One's taint on saidin causes any male with "the spark," whether or not he learns to channel safely, to inevitably go mad and succumb to a wasting sickness which causes the sufferer to rot alive (these curses may come in either order, or concurrently, at varying speeds for each male channeler). The Dark One is a fictional entity and main antagonist of The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The taint came into being at the end of the Age of Legends, when Lews Therin Telamon and the Hundred Companions (actually 113 male channelers) re-sealed the Dark One into his prison, but not before the Dark One caused saidin to become tainted, driving all of those attempting to seal him immediately and irrevocably insane (other male Aes Sedai took longer for the taint to affect them). This article is about the fictional world history of Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time Fantasy fiction series Lews Therin Telamon is a Fictional character in Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time fantasy series The ensuing chaos and destruction caused The Breaking of the World or the Time of Madness. This article is about the fictional world history of Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time Fantasy fiction series Men who can channel, in short, are a threat. With this in mind, members of the Aes Sedai formed a faction, the Red Ajah, dedicated to the hunting down and gentling of male channelers before they can cause (much) trouble. An Ajah is a sub-organization within the Aes Sedai of Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time series As with all severed channelers, these men rarely live for long afterwards, and few have children. Coincidentally, by the time of the novels, fewer and fewer people of either gender are being born with any channeling ability. The logic-minded White Ajah have suggested that there is a link between this and the thousand-plus years of gentling, comparing it to the breeding-out of distasteful traits in domesticated animals. An Ajah is a sub-organization within the Aes Sedai of Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time series Despite this, increasingly powerful channelers have been discovered throughout the series.

At the conclusion of Winter's Heart, the ninth book in the series, saidin has purportedly been cleansed through the use of two of the most powerful sa'angreal ever made, called the Choedan Kal. Winter's Heart (abbreviated as WH by fans is the ninth book of the Wheel of Time Fantasy series written by American In Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time fantasy series the Choedan Kal are the two most powerful Sa'angreal ever made They were used by Nynaeve al'Meara and Rand al'Thor in a linked Circle. Nynaeve al'Meara (pronounced NIGH-neev al-MEER-ah (formally and currently el'Nynaeve ti al'Meara Mandragoran) is one of the main characters of The Wheel of Time Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, is the protagonist and main character of The Wheel of Time, a series of fantasy Novels by Robert Jordan The complex process destroyed the ruined city of Shadar Logoth and was "felt" by most, if not all, channelers of both genders in the Westlands. In the fictional world of Robert Jordan 's Fantasy series The Wheel of Time, Shadar Logoth, formerly known as Aridhol, was However, some have confessed doubt over the effectiveness of the cleansing, due to three thousand years of fear. The question was not answered definitively until the eleventh book, Knife of Dreams, in which both Rand al'Thor and various Asha'man confirm that saidin has been cleansed completely of the taint. Knife of Dreams (abbreviated as KoD by fans is the eleventh book in the Fantasy series The Wheel of Time by Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, is the protagonist and main character of The Wheel of Time, a series of fantasy Novels by Robert Jordan The Asha'man are an organization of men who can channel in the Fictional world of Robert Jordan 's Fantasy series The Wheel of Time. However, any taint absorbed by a male channeler before saidin was cleansed was not removed from that channeler; men who had gone half- or entirely mad due to the taint were not returned to sanity, though they will also not suffer further deterioration.

Organizations of Channelers

Aes Sedai

Main article: Aes Sedai

The current Aes Sedai are the most visible organized group of channelers; led by the Amyrlin Seat, they are a female-only organization due to the (former) taint on saidin. The Aes Sedai are a society in the fictional universe of Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time book series The Aes Sedai are a society in the fictional universe of Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time book series The Amyrlin Seat is a fictional title from Robert Jordan 's Wheel of Time series The Aes Sedai headquarters, the White Tower, is on the island city of Tar Valon. This article is about the countries cities towns and other important locations in Robert Jordan ’s The Wheel of Time Fantasy fiction series Aes Sedai see themselves as the guardians or caretakers of the civilized world, and serve as a neutral, altruistic party (almost theocratic, though the Aes Sedai are not and have never been a religious order) in the socio-political climate of the series' main continent. Theocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler

Many other cultures have their own groups of channelers, such as the Sea Folk's Windfinders, the Aiel Wise Ones, and a network of expelled or disgraced Tower trainees, the Kin, who operate under the Tower's nose; however, these groups keep themselves secret because of the open Aes Sedai ambition to control every living female channeler. In Robert Jordan 's Fantasy series The Wheel of Time, the Aiel are a race of people Relatedly, some Aes Sedai will disparage any female channeler who is not Tower-affiliated and Tower-trained as a "wilder," even if she has received training from her own culture's institutions.

Asha'man

Main article: Asha'man

Formed by Rand al'Thor in preparation for Tarmon Gai'don, the Asha'man are an all-male group of channelers. The Asha'man are an organization of men who can channel in the Fictional world of Robert Jordan 's Fantasy series The Wheel of Time. This article is about the fictional world history of Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time Fantasy fiction series Their name, an adaptation of the Old Tongue word for "guardian" or "guardians", is meant to distinguish them from the matriarchal Aes Sedai; in addition, the word "asha'man" has connotations of nobility; they will not fight for an unrighteous cause. The Old Tongue is a Fictional language from Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time Fantasy series Their headquarters is called the Black Tower (though the name is purely symbolic; the actual territory is a farm in Andor, just outside Caemlyn).

Windfinder

Main article: Atha'an Miere

Windfinders, an organization within the Atha'an Miere though not entirely, but is primarily composed of female channelers. The Atha'an Miere are a fictional group of people in Robert Jordan 's series of fantasy novels The Wheel of Time. They are especially efficient in handling thick weaves of Air and Water, in what is called the "Weaving of the Winds".

Notable Weaves

This is an incomplete list of significant or important "weaves" (spells) of the One Power. While none of the weaves are necessarily important in their own right, they illustrate the breadth, scope, limitations and dangers of channeling.


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