One or True

[Caelan Arendor]

I have been reflecting on the forces that prevail within the universe—at least the universe we humans inhabit, and not that of the strange beings known as the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, who dwell within some kind of multidimensional continuum. There exists the One Power, whose male half has been corrupted, and the True Power, which is attributed directly to the Dark One. I wonder whether there is a difference in strength between the two, and whether, following the Dark One’s defeat, the power ascribed to him would vanish from the sphere of human influence altogether. Furthermore, I cannot recall whether the epic ever mentioned that one of the female Forsaken had access to the True Power. If not, I find myself asking why that should be the case.

 

Furthermore, I have forgotten—since my reading lies several years in the past—how Rand accomplished the cleansing of saidin by means of the very saidin that had been tainted. How can something corrupted possibly cleanse itself?

[Tovya]

I believe that in terms of raw strength, the True Power is stronger and also far more intoxicating than the One Power. Both male and female Forsaken can access it with the Dark One's permission, Rand is able to through his connection to Moridin. 

 

Following Tarmon Gai'don the True Power and the Dark One don't disappear, they are simply sealed away as they were before. It was the True Power that led to the Dark One being released, as the Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends sensed it and bored a hole through the pattern to tap it, thus releasing the Dark One. The draw of it was that they sensed an undivided power, and seeing as how the greatest feats of channeling were achieved through men and women working together, they thought this power that was usable by both would be able to achieve even more marvels. 

 

The cleansing was accomplished by making a conduit of pure saidar (provided by Nynaeve) and funnelling pure saidin through it. The two ends of the conduit touched saidin itself and Shardar Logoth and Rand was able to use the two different evils to basically cancel each other out. The taint was siphoned off against Shardar Logoth, which resulted in the city being destroyed.