So, was it ever explained what the different Ajahs did?

[ThatBlacksmithingDude]

Here’s the ones I know

 

• Black - Darkfriends
• Yellow - Healing 
• Green - Battle and take lots of Warders
• Blue - Investigative
• Red - Gentle men who can channel, don’t generally take warders
• Brown - Seeks knowledge 

 

I don’t exactly know the other two though, does it ever explain what the Grey and White ajahs do? I know that the White is described as being “logical and unfeeling,” but what do they do? And I swear that Grey was never touched on. 

 

 

EDIT: Thanks everyone! Your answers have really cleared things up for me.

Edited July 10, 2023 by ThatBlacksmithingDude

[Gypsum]

I thought it was fairly clear.

 

Grey = international diplomacy. UN peace negotiators, though they rarely seem very good at it.

 

White = math. Probably lots of pure math, but maybe applied math because people still build things so you need to know something about engineering.

[Samt]

My understanding of the whites is that they are not just math, but logic more generally. Frankly, I think the white Ajah is one of the weirdest. Logic is a tool that takes you from premises to conclusions. It is neither a goal, nor a guiding principle on its own. If the purpose of the Ajah is to study and understand the principles of logic and math better, I feel that is a very specific subset of the Brown Ajah anyways.  
 

The blues are also fairly poorly defined or formed in my opinion. They are described as the Ajah of causes. They are quite engaged in the world and want to do stuff, which is good. But ultimately it feels like they are created to give Moiraine and Siuan an Ajah that doesn’t really do anything to specific.  It’s just an Ajah that believes and does whatever the plot needs it to do.  
 

All of that said, all of the seven Ajahs (black being different for obvious reasons) are mostly just political clicks in the white tower by the time of the main story.  They do some small actions and things in regard to their specific missions, but the white tower has completely lost its way as a coherent body.  And that lack of purpose bleeds into the individual Ajahs as well.

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

I remember grays being described as mediators and whites were always about “cool logic” but I also was confused about their function. Every other ajah has at least some vague function attached to their ajah, but I have no clue what use there is for the white. I agree that the blue is difficult to define to some degree, but the blues themselves seem to believe they have a purpose. I always saw them as more of an intelligence agency than “cause” fighters, but either way they seem to know what they’re about even if they’re secretive about it. The whites, on the other hand, I don’t understand and can’t figure out why anyone would be drawn to choosing it. It does seem like they could have easily been incorporated into the brown with no need for white to exist. 

[Kalessin]

Every Ajah seems to take the tack that it alone is central to the White Tower.

 

As a fan of the sciences and even mathematics and logic, I can see why the Aes Sedai who likewise find it fascinating, would gravitate to the company of fellow scholars of the abstract. Ergo, the White Ajah, dedicated to the study of numbers and syllogisms.

 

The Brown Ajah is dedicated to the study of history and natural philosophy, the study of the natural world in all its messy, muddy, smelly muck. They appear to be treating them as aspects of the same science, the study of humans in the natural worlds, even aspects of it that existed a few hundred years ago.

 

The Blue Ajah actually do have a mission. We see them primarily through Moiraine and Siuan, but we also see reflected, the success of Deane Aryman is extricating Tar Valon from the siege Artur Hawkwing had laid on it in response to Bonwhin Meraighdin's arrogant treatment of him.

[Gypsum]

I always figured the Blue was mostly involved in politics/intelligence.....In our world, somewhere between the State Department and the CIA. The Grey tries to be a broker between nation-states and/or rulers in international disputes, whereas the Blue manipulates things behind the scenes, for instance, with advisors close to kings and queens and a significant network of 'assets.'

Edited July 10, 2023 by Gypsum

[Samt]

It definitely seems that the blues are doing a lot, and far more than some of the other Ajahs are actually doing.  It was just always unclear to me as to what specifically their assignment/mission was.  The yellows, for instance, have a very clear mission, but don't actually seem to be doing very much at all.  

I think we can grade each of the Ajahs on clarity of mission, importance of mission (including whether or not the mission requires use of the one power to be successful), and actual implementation/ execution as shown in the books (meaning how well the members of the Ajah execute their mission or just generally make important contributions to the world).  I would say:

 

Yellow:

      Clarity: A.  They do healing.  This is clear and specific.

      Importance: A.  Healing people and finding new cures is important.  Also, the one power helps to heal people, so it's important that channelers be committed to this.

      Implementation: D.  The yellow Ajah in the books (pre-Nynaeve) is super bad at actually healing people and learning new methods of healing.  They don't seem to be particularly well placed in order to heal the general population and address outbreaks, serious injuries, etc.  The yellows should be doing a lot to build the image of the white tower and improve the lives of the general population, but they don't really seem to be doing any of that.  They also don't appear to be effectively researching new healing weaves or methods.  

Red: 

     Clarity: A.  They protect the world from crazy male channelers.

     Importance: A.  You can't let crazy people with super powers run around and destroy the world.  And really only channelers would have a reasonable chance of stopping crazy male channelers.

     Implementation: A.  The red Ajah seems to actually be interested in fulfilling its mission and is more or less doing a good job of it.  Male channelers do sometimes do some damage when they go crazy, but they aren't doing anything on the same scale as happened during the breaking and you can probably thank the reds for this.  

 

Gray:  

     Clarity: B.  They are negotiators and that basically makes sense.  However, it's a bit murky as to whether they are just negotiating to keep peace, or to better the white tower, or for the world in general.  Negotiation is a means to an end.  They don't exactly have a clear goal, but we can assume that it's mostly just keeping order in the world.  

     Importance: C.  Negotiation is important, but I think it's unclear why channelers should be the negotiators.  It is not shown that the grays use compulsion or other weaves in order to aid in negotiation.  They just talk.  And anyone could do that. That said, just being Aes Sedai gives them more leverage and credibility, so it's not completely ridiculous.  

     Implementation: B.  They more or less do what they are supposed to.  The grays get credit for being out there and doing the things that they claim to be their mission, even if it isn't exactly something that only Aes Sedai could do.  

 

Green:  

    Clarity: B.  They are the battle Ajah and that is clear.  The reason I don't give this an A because they are supposed to be preparing for the last battle in particular, and that kind of mucks things up.  If they were just committed to fighting shadowspan, that would be clearer and more actionable.  

    Importance: A.  Evil is real and using the one power to fight it is important and practical.  

    Implementation: D.  Seriously, the green Ajah is a disappointment in how they actually act in the books.  Of course, some of this is because they are preparing for the last battle rather than fighting right now.  But still, Trollocs are regularly attacking the borderlands.  While some parts of the world think they are ghost stories, there are lots of people that very much know shadowspan are real and appear regularly.  Why is the green Ajah apparently not involved at all in defending the borderlands?  This would give them actual battle experience, weaken the shadow, and generally actually have an effect on the world.  Instead, in TEoTW, there are no Aes Sedai in Fal Dara when the main characters show up.  This is literally one of the critical geographic choke points to hold off the blight.  What are the greens actually doing?  Warder orgies?

 

White:

   Clarity: C.  The whites are logic and math, but maybe also philosophy and just generally abstract reasoning.  It's pretty vague and it's unclear what level of math and logic they actually have.

   Importance: D.  I don't think this really rises to the level of something that you should dedicate an Ajah to.  And I say that as something with an advanced STEM degree.  There is a reason that governments don't have a department or ministry of logic.  Logic is not really a goal or mission.  It is a tool.  It should be applied everywhere, but doesn't need it's own thing dedicated to it.  Also, it's not clear why you need the one power to study logic.  

    Implementation: D.  The whites don't seem to really be doing anything useful with their mission and don't seem to contribute otherwise.  

 

Brown: 

   Clarity: B.  Acquisition of knowledge is a pretty clear goal.  The only thing that isn't super clear is if they are focused on things related to the one power and AS history or are they sort of just interested in everything.  

  Importance: B.  Knowledge is very important and some of the research requires the one power to do.  However, I mark this down since I don't think the one power is required for some of the research they do and so that seems a bit of a waste.  

  Implementation: C.  The Browns get caught up researching lots of stuff that doesn't matter.  But they are still also learning interesting and useful things, so you have to give them some credit.  

 

Blue:  

   Clarity: D.  I have no real idea what the blues are doing.  They have "causes."  They also have the best spy network.  But what is the plan?  

   Importance: C.  They do lots of important things, but we don't really know if that is even related to their mission.  

   Implementation: B.  The blues kind of just do whatever they want, but they do accomplish some important things.  

Edited July 10, 2023 by Samt

[Gypsum]

I think that's a fair summary, Samt.

 

By the time we encounter the Aes Sedai, it appears that the main purpose of the White Tower is to consolidate/maintain the power of the White Tower. A few people in it, i.e. Moiraine and Siuan and Nynaeve, are working towards the greater good (the greaaater gooood) but most Aes Sedai are pretty Machiavellian about gaining power and influence for the sake of power and influence.

 

Therefore, some of the 'missions' as you put it, of the Ajahs could be vestigial remains from the Age of Legends. That was a technologically advanced society, more akin to the 21st century, but knocked back to the 16th century (give or take) after the Breaking. The AoL Yellows could have been pursuing new knowledge in medicine, and the AoL Whites could have been using math and logic to advance science and technology. AoL Greens were probably not useless and doing more than having Warder orgies.

 

Browns were probably like people who have PhDs in history or philosophy. Reading lots of books and forever wondering why they joined that Ajah because there are no jobs and no one gives a damn (yes, I have a PhD in history).

 

Joking aside, by the time we meet these people in the Third Age, the Tower has stagnated, and they are doing none of these things. Just being catty and manipulative, maintaining a status quo that attempts to preserve the White Tower as the most geopolitically significant power in Randland, but not actually using the One Power or the vast knowledge contained in their library to advance society.

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by Gypsum

[bringbackthomsmoustache]

I think you are overlooking 2 things in these responses:

 

The grey are also dedicated to law as well as negotiation - and most nations do have a reasonable code of law and respect for other nations laws (even if it is by tradition rather than written laws when implemented at the village level) and until the disturbances of the book era there is no widespread anarchy or banditry.  As the main international body the grey are doing rather better than the UN at fostering international respect for law.

 

The yellow are likely to be taking action in the event of any outbreak of communicable disease (hence having a spy network at all) - otherwise the 3000 years of history since the breaking ought to have several instances of widespread devastation from this and none are mentioned in the histories.   While the disease theory of medicine appears to have been retained (e.g. the Emond's Filed plague house in the woods to isolate fever cases) this would really only help in rural communities.  This just does not arise in the books.

 

Also the relative size of each Ajah appears to be in line with the importance (red much the largest followed by green, white the smallest followed by blue).

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

10 hours ago, Samt said:

It definitely seems that the blues are doing a lot, and far more than some of the other Ajahs are actually doing.  It was just always unclear to me as to what specifically their assignment/mission was.  The yellows, for instance, have a very clear mission, but don't actually seem to be doing very much at all.  

I think we can grade each of the Ajahs on clarity of mission, importance of mission (including whether or not the mission requires use of the one power to be successful), and actual implementation/ execution as shown in the books (meaning how well the members of the Ajah execute their mission or just generally make important contributions to the world).  I would say:

 

Yellow:

      Clarity: A.  They do healing.  This is clear and specific.

      Importance: A.  Healing people and finding new cures is important.  Also, the one power helps to heal people, so it's important that channelers be committed to this.

      Implementation: D.  The yellow Ajah in the books (pre-Nynaeve) is super bad at actually healing people and learning new methods of healing.  They don't seem to be particularly well placed in order to heal the general population and address outbreaks, serious injuries, etc.  The yellows should be doing a lot to build the image of the white tower and improve the lives of the general population, but they don't really seem to be doing any of that.  They also don't appear to be effectively researching new healing weaves or methods.  

Red: 

     Clarity: A.  They protect the world from crazy male channelers.

     Importance: A.  You can't let crazy people with super powers run around and destroy the world.  And really only channelers would have a reasonable chance of stopping crazy male channelers.

     Implementation: A.  The red Ajah seems to actually be interested in fulfilling its mission and is more or less doing a good job of it.  Male channelers do sometimes do some damage when they go crazy, but they aren't doing anything on the same scale as happened during the breaking and you can probably thank the reds for this.  

 

Gray:  

     Clarity: B.  They are negotiators and that basically makes sense.  However, it's a bit murky as to whether they are just negotiating to keep peace, or to better the white tower, or for the world in general.  Negotiation is a means to an end.  They don't exactly have a clear goal, but we can assume that it's mostly just keeping order in the world.  

     Importance: C.  Negotiation is important, but I think it's unclear why channelers should be the negotiators.  It is not shown that the grays use compulsion or other weaves in order to aid in negotiation.  They just talk.  And anyone could do that. That said, just being Aes Sedai gives them more leverage and credibility, so it's not completely ridiculous.  

     Implementation: B.  They more or less do what they are supposed to.  The grays get credit for being out there and doing the things that they claim to be their mission, even if it isn't exactly something that only Aes Sedai could do.  

 

Green:  

    Clarity: B.  They are the battle Ajah and that is clear.  The reason I don't give this an A because they are supposed to be preparing for the last battle in particular, and that kind of mucks things up.  If they were just committed to fighting shadowspan, that would be clearer and more actionable.  

    Importance: A.  Evil is real and using the one power to fight it is important and practical.  

    Implementation: D.  Seriously, the green Ajah is a disappointment in how they actually act in the books.  Of course, some of this is because they are preparing for the last battle rather than fighting right now.  But still, Trollocs are regularly attacking the borderlands.  While some parts of the world think they are ghost stories, there are lots of people that very much know shadowspan are real and appear regularly.  Why is the green Ajah apparently not involved at all in defending the borderlands?  This would give them actual battle experience, weaken the shadow, and generally actually have an effect on the world.  Instead, in TEoTW, there are no Aes Sedai in Fal Dara when the main characters show up.  This is literally one of the critical geographic choke points to hold off the blight.  What are the greens actually doing?  Warder orgies?

 

White:

   Clarity: C.  The whites are logic and math, but maybe also philosophy and just generally abstract reasoning.  It's pretty vague and it's unclear what level of math and logic they actually have.

   Importance: D.  I don't think this really rises to the level of something that you should dedicate an Ajah to.  And I say that as something with an advanced STEM degree.  There is a reason that governments don't have a department or ministry of logic.  Logic is not really a goal or mission.  It is a tool.  It should be applied everywhere, but doesn't need it's own thing dedicated to it.  Also, it's not clear why you need the one power to study logic.  

    Implementation: D.  The whites don't seem to really be doing anything useful with their mission and don't seem to contribute otherwise.  

 

Brown: 

   Clarity: B.  Acquisition of knowledge is a pretty clear goal.  The only thing that isn't super clear is if they are focused on things related to the one power and AS history or are they sort of just interested in everything.  

  Importance: B.  Knowledge is very important and some of the research requires the one power to do.  However, I mark this down since I don't think the one power is required for some of the research they do and so that seems a bit of a waste.  

  Implementation: C.  The Browns get caught up researching lots of stuff that doesn't matter.  But they are still also learning interesting and useful things, so you have to give them some credit.  

 

Blue:  

   Clarity: D.  I have no real idea what the blues are doing.  They have "causes."  They also have the best spy network.  But what is the plan?  

   Importance: C.  They do lots of important things, but we don't really know if that is even related to their mission.  

   Implementation: B.  The blues kind of just do whatever they want, but they do accomplish some important things.  

I appreciate your summarization and really like your point about if the one power is actually of any relevance to the purpose of certain ajahs. Also I agree with your assessment regarding the green and how much more they could/should be doing to fight against the shadow and its spawn. 

[Agitel]

Brown: Scholarship. Interested in preserving/archiving history and other knowledge.

 

White: Philosophers, logicians, theologians

 

Yellow: Healers, the art of healing.

 

Green: Battle against the Shadow.

 

Red: Preventing another Breaking by gentling male channelers, as no other method has been found.

 

Gray: Diplomacy, mediation, politics.

 

Blue: Devotion to particular causes within the outside world, justice. I'd say a belief that Aes Sedai need to really involve themselves.

 

The Ajahs weren't made by the Tower, so much as they are what are left of the original factions that founded the tower, and their beliefs about what Aes Sedai should be devoted to.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Agitel

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

The more I think about the point made earlier by Samt about how/if the ability to channel has any relevance to the purpose of the ajahs, the more it interests me. Most of the ajahs have a purpose that does not inherently require the ability or use of channeling. Red, green and yellow highlight the ability but the others don’t. My point is just that to me it illustrates how AS see themselves as being important and superior in general, whether channeling is involved or not. 

[Samt]

23 hours ago, Agitel said:

The Ajahs weren't made by the Tower, so much as they are what are left of the original factions that founded the tower, and their beliefs about what Aes Sedai should be devoted to.

This is a really insightful observation.  The 7 Ajahs seem like a weird set of mismatched approaches that don't seem to support a top down theory of their creation.  However, if you think of them as the result of every Aes Sedai just choosing to focus on the one thing that she thinks the mission of the tower overall should be, they actually make a lot of sense.  

 

It's easy to argue that the most important thing for the tower to do would be to 

• preserve knowledge
• negotiate peace
• fight the shadow
• heal people
• prevent another breaking
• rely on logic
• (whatever the blues do, seek justice maybe)

Actually, I think this approach explains the blue as well.   Blue might just be the "none of the above" answer.  It's just the Ajah of any Aes Sedai that thinks the answer to "what should the white tower do" is not covered in the other 6 Ajahs.   

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

9 hours ago, Samt said:

This is a really insightful observation.  The 7 Ajahs seem like a weird set of mismatched approaches that don't seem to support a top down theory of their creation.  However, if you think of them as the result of every Aes Sedai just choosing to focus on the one thing that she thinks the mission of the tower overall should be, they actually make a lot of sense.  

 

It's easy to argue that the most important thing for the tower to do would be to 

• preserve knowledge
• negotiate peace
• fight the shadow
• heal people
• prevent another breaking
• rely on logic
• (whatever the blues do, seek justice maybe)

Actually, I think this approach explains the blue as well.   Blue might just be the "none of the above" answer.  It's just the Ajah of any Aes Sedai that thinks the answer to "what should the white tower do" is not covered in the other 6 Ajahs.   

Good point. I wish the ajahs had more communication and collaboration between them though. The clear division of each ajah and the way they stick to themselves and don’t work together is irritating to me. The WT is symbol enough in my opinion that AS consider themselves superior to the general population and therefore should be separated, isolated and mysterious. The fact that they take this even further and create divisions and secretive factions even among themselves strikes me as catty, petty, self indulgent behavior that in many ways prevents them from actually contributing to the greater good, like the AS of the AOL, because they’re too busy maneuvering and manipulating circumstances for their own purposes. 

[Samt]

9 hours ago, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

Good point. I wish the ajahs had more communication and collaboration between them though. The clear division of each ajah and the way they stick to themselves and don’t work together is irritating to me. The WT is symbol enough in my opinion that AS consider themselves superior to the general population and therefore should be separated, isolated and mysterious. The fact that they take this even further and create divisions and secretive factions even among themselves strikes me as catty, petty, self indulgent behavior that in many ways prevents them from actually contributing to the greater good, like the AS of the AOL, because they’re too busy maneuvering and manipulating circumstances for their own purposes. 

But to be fair, the fact that the white tower is a hot mess is sort of the point. It’s supposed to be frustrating and disappointing.

[Elendir]

Gentling male channelers isn't primary purpose of reds. I don't remember it exactly, but from Pevara arc it looks like reds was about fighting darkfriends. They saw gentling men as similar task and took it as their agenda. It is more like corruption of original purpose, that some of them focus only on it.

[Samt]

2 hours ago, Elendir said:

Gentling male channelers isn't primary purpose of reds. I don't remember it exactly, but from Pevara arc it looks like reds was about fighting darkfriends. They saw gentling men as similar task and took it as their agenda. It is more like corruption of original purpose, that some of them focus only on it.

I think that fighting dark friends is something that all Aes Sedai see as part of their responsibility.  The more general formulation of the red purpose is stopping those who misuse the one power.  In the present age, that has become a predominant focus on male channelers, but I think it could theoretically include rogue female channelers.  Any dark friend that can channel also falls into their particular purview.  Of course, all Aes Sedai will fight dark friends when they encounter them, just like they will all confront male channelers when the situation arises.  

[Gypsum]

On 7/14/2023 at 7:46 AM, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

Good point. I wish the ajahs had more communication and collaboration between them though. The clear division of each ajah and the way they stick to themselves and don’t work together is irritating to me. The WT is symbol enough in my opinion that AS consider themselves superior to the general population and therefore should be separated, isolated and mysterious. The fact that they take this even further and create divisions and secretive factions even among themselves strikes me as catty, petty, self indulgent behavior that in many ways prevents them from actually contributing to the greater good, like the AS of the AOL, because they’re too busy maneuvering and manipulating circumstances for their own purposes. 

 

I think that's one of the most true-to-life aspects of the series. Have you met the US Congress? Or the British Parliament, for that matter.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Gypsum

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

1 hour ago, Gypsum said:

 

I think that's one of the most true-to-life aspects of the series. Have you met the US Congress? Or the British Parliament, for that matter.

Exactly. Whether in our world or WOT, the witnessing of grown adults behaving in such selfish and inhumane ways is extremely upsetting to me. I don’t fault the portrayal of the AS in the books, as you pointed out it’s quite realistic. I love and appreciate the authenticity. It is one of those things that gets to me, not because I don’t grasp its reality and reasons for existing (our world or WOT). I should have included a disclaimer in my post that my intent was to vent my frustration with the fact that this is so prevalent in society, but I genuinely appreciate RJ portraying it so honestly. 

[JyP]

I guess this is  muddled a bit for us because we follow Marie Sue Moiraine - the somewhat perfect Aes Sedai who shows multiple Aes Sedai best qualities right from the first book. I feel it was somehow amplified in the TV show.

 

=> brown ajah aspects : Moiraine knows all about prophecies about the Dragon Reborn and then knows What Must Be Done (explained by her mission), but so does Verin. I feel like some Brown sisters should know more than Moiraine, but it was not so clear.

=> white ajah feeling : Moiraine is cold and fails to endear Emon Fielders - well, it was a tall order anyway (and being raised as high nobility in Cairhien does not help). I feel like Herid Fel then Min somehow took the point for philosophical and logical needs (and it was a good thing, Aes Sedai are not always the best at everything), while Moiraine never explained herself - anyway, only her and Siuan had the right reasoning on how to handle the Dragon Reborn.

=> green ajah : what about multiple encounters with Trollocs and Darkfriends and having the ultimate Warder, an Uncrowned Battle King of the Malkieri... and passing this Warder to another Aes Sedai (in kind with Greens shenanigans about men)

=> yellow ajah : taking fatigue away, protecting Mat from the dagger... even though the dagger is doing mental corruption, something which only Nynaeve seems able to handle, much later.

=> red ajah : not in the book, containing Logain alongside 2 other sisters. In the book : containing Aginor all by herself.

=> gray ajah : coralling Emond Fielders against their will, manipulating them so the girls go to the White Tower (so Rand must rely on Moiraine), always having others doing the chores through social cues - note that it feels a bit strange - how can someone being so alert on social aspects but completely missing on the empathy part. And evidently, dancing around the 3 Oaths, especially the one about lying.

=> blue ajah : spycraft, multiple identities, never missing any details, recognizing whenever there's a ta'veren or a major Darkfriend influence over towns.

 

=> missing "magical research" ajah : reconstructing Balefire from old books.

=> missing "woodscraft" ajah : capturing fish better than Emond Fielders, ability to track (may have been done through the One Power)