Oldest Rand lander?

[Ashaman Kovan]

I'm not sure if this has been answered of not, but I was just reading PoD and all the stuff with the kins ages and whatnot. And I was curious if anyone knows or at least has a really good idea of who the oldest person actually is. Not counting of course the Forsaken. Or Gholam or anything like that.

[Luckers]

There is a Kinswoman in Tear who is over six hundred years of age. To date she is the oldest character referenced.

[vinay87]

Well, the forsaken are older. but yeah, if you exclude them, then that kinswoman is the one.

[Tyrell]

The forsaken arn't nessecerily older per se, they've been in suspended animation, that doesn't really count.

[Luckers]

Ishamael, Aginor and Balthamel were all aware over the course of their imprisonment, and Ishamael was even active.

[Ashaman Kovan]

Yeah I think I said in the first post that I wasn't counting the forsaken.

 

Also another question if anyone knows. Perrin. What exactly did he get from his connection to the wolfs? Besides the eye sight and smell and hearing I mean. Because obviously he's good with his axe and all that. So did he somehow gain any like idk I guess, better reflexes or some kind of juiced up thought process or anything like that. I can't think that whatever training he got from Lan in TGH was enough on it's own for him to survive all the battles he's been in. Rand has LT i'm sure he got something from that, he also trained with Lan quite a bit more extensively. And Mat of course has all the memories. So with Perrin I would think he has to have....Wolf like reflexes? lol. Or maybe it's simply the old blood of Manatheren coming out?

[Luckers]

Maybe. He does seem to have some more wolfish instincts.

 

But he doesn't have any particular special abilities in that light.

[Darth_Andrea]

Well generaly speaking it would have to be a channeler of somekind. A windfinder or a damane, someone with the ability. We all know that people who can channel have very extended lifespans. It seems to me that If your looking for old people thats where ya look.

 

 

 

 

 

[glow=green,1,500]Darth_Andrea[/glow]

[lou]

elder hamon?

[Luckers]

No, Ogier live 'up to' six hundred years. There are channelers about that are older than six hundred.

[deidof]

I never thought of it till reading this but the basis of the concept has always been that the kin grow so old compared to aes sedai because channeling extends life and the oath rods decrease it. So the kin grow old because they channel without being bound yet so do the both the windfinders and channeling wise ones yet I dont recall ever seeing any discussion (in the books themselves) about them growing so old.

 

 

[Shendare]

Stress decreases one's will to live, which shortens one's lifespan.

 

I imagine the Three Oaths cause quite a bit of additional stress in an already stressful heavily scheming and deceptive environment (i.e., the White Tower).

 

The Kin are in a less hostile environment and are not hampered by the Three Oaths, so I would expect their median stress level to be lower, encouraging longer lives.

 

Windfinders and other unbound channelers are probably close to the Kin in lifespan, too, depending on their environments and genetics.

[RobertAlexWillis]

The shortening of life is an effect of the Oath Rod ... and is increased by taking more than one Oath ... this is confirmed in multiple POVs and RJ quotes ...

 

Bair tells of the Wise One Mora who trained her ... Mora died of a snakebite when she was about 300 years old, and she looked as young as Melaine and Amys.  (see LoC ch 15)  Clearly, there are Wise Ones who live to extreme old age.  We don't see any Windfinders like that, simply because we don't see very many Windfinders, much less get their POVs.  I'm sure they're out there.

 

The extent to which life is extended seems to be linked to strength in the Power ... the stronger you are, the longer you live.

[DemandredFO]

Robert, it isn't, Sorilea is nearly 600 years old if not a little beyond and she can barely channel.

[deidof]

Thankyou RAW I did not recall that. It amazes me how you remember all this!

 

As far as what another poster said about the kin living less stressfull lives. While I agree stress does natural effect ones health I dont really beleive the kin are living very stress free. From pretty much all descriptions these women had been living their lives in nearly incompacitating fear of the white tower finding them. Lving in fear is pretty darn stressfull.

[aevogt]

Robert, it isn't, Sorilea is nearly 600 years old if not a little beyond and she can barely channel.

 

Sorilea speaks of her "great son's youngest great son" as being around Egwene's age. 

 

If it's her great grandson's, youngest great grandson, that's 6 generations which would make Sorilea probably in her middle hundreds but not likely to be over 200

 

If she was over 600 there is no way any of her non channeling relatives 6 generations back would be alive unless they were having kids at the age of 100.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tyrell]

I think theres a quote somewhere stating that Sorilea isn't quite as old as everyont thinks she is. But it isn't beyond the bounds of possibility that the oldest channeler is an Wise One or a Windfinder, though I consider the latter more likely because of the harshness of the Three-Fold-Land.

[DemandredFO]

That maybe so but 300 seems to be called just into middle years which Amys is and she does not look old.  Sorilea looks really old, she's way more than 300.

[aevogt]

I never got the inpression that Amys was that old either.  Mid to late 50's like Rhaurc, her husband and Lian, her sister wife.  Unless it's common practice for Wise Ones to take a new clan chief husband/roof mistress when the old ones die and that was not the impression I got either.

 

 

[RobertAlexWillis]

Amys is in her mid-40's, certainly not more than 50.  We know this because she met Tigraine (Shaiel) while she was still a Maiden, before she gave up the spear.  She would have had to give up the spear before she was 20 ... Aviendha was late in doing so and wasn't even 20 herself, so Amys was, at the very most, 18 in 972 when Tigraine crossed the Dragonwall, meaning she was born, at the earliest, in 954.  That would make her 46 or 47 now ... she's probably more like 42 or 43.

 

Sorilea's statement about her great-great grandson is the only thing we have to date her age ... she is at  least 150 and may be as much as 200-250.  But she looks really old ... she's near the end of her life.  A stronger channeler (and Mora, to use as an example, was noted as being especially strong) would look quite young at that age (indeed, Mora looked, at 300, like Amys at 45, and Melaine at just over 30).

 

Cadsuane, who is the strongest Aes Sedai outside of the Wonder Girls, is about at the end of her life, and she is 295 years old.  Swearing the Three Oaths seems to take (as a very rough estimate) just over half of your lifespan ... so the Wonder Girls probably have about 650-800 years to look forward to, if they don't swear on the Oath Rod, and someone like Logain might have even more (assuming things work the same way for men ... which is a pretty big assumption, actually).

[Luckers]

Indeed, Amys is barely into her fifties. We know that she was a sparker, and was only sparked after meeting Rand's mother, so at the latest she would have been twenty-five, and would now be at most fifty. More likely though she is around forty-five.

 

We actually don't have a clear statement about Sorilea's age, or the degree that strength effects the slowing. Clearly Morgase has only decreased very minimally in the rate at which she ages, but Morgase can almost never touch the source, and even when she does, cannot hold it for long. Sorilea on the other hand can touch the source whenever she chooses, and hold it as long as she wishes. So whilst Robert is correct and it is very doubtful that Sorilea will reach the six hundreds, she very likely is at least see three or even possibly four hundred years.

 

As i said though, we don't have any clear statements on this. The closest we have is her comment about her greatsons greatson, in which I disagree with Roberts assessment. Whilst his math certainly set a lower limit, given her ability to channel it is entirely possible that Sorilea didn't have children until into her hundreds. And then there might be another Wise One descendent that did the same. It's simply not conclusive. We do have Cadsuane's comment that she 'felt Sorilea was as old as she' but that seems to have more to do with her wisdom and air of experience.

 

What can be said is that whilst weak, Sorilea can channel effectively (as in she can touch the source and weave whenever she wants, unlike, say, Morgase). That means she will have experienced the slowing, and for her to appear as old as she is she very likely must be at least pressing three hundred years, if not more. She is not, however, going to be anywhere near six hundred years of age.

 

And it's entirely possible that there is a Windfinder or Wise One out there nearing that age. RJ stated that Wise Ones tend to die alot younger just due to the nature of the Waste (for instance Moira died at 300 of a snake bite) but that doesnt mean there arn't exceptions.

[Luckers]

Sorry, we posted at the same time.

 

I think i misunderstood what you were saying about Sorileas greatson, so ignore that.

 

Also, I remember somewhere a comment about 750 being the absolute oldest age--i think it was in the guide, but im not sure. I'll see if i can't find it.

 

 

[RobertAlexWillis]

Also, I remember somewhere a comment about 750 being the absolute oldest age--i think it was in the guide, but im not sure. I'll see if i can't find it.

 

See if you can ... because that would fit with Mesaana's recollection in the prologue of LoC ... she had lived for over 300 years in the Age of Legends and was just barely into middle age ... lets say a modern analogue would be low 40's (40 is the new 30 :P ) and put 100 as the upper limit ... 300 is exactly 4/10 of 750. (Actually that extrapolation may be the source of 750 as the upper limit ... I couldn't find it in the BWB).

 

That would mean that the Wonder Girls probably could expect 650-700 years.

 

Also, for reference purposes, the oldest person actually named is Aloisa Nemonsi.  She is the Kinswoman in Tear that Luckers mentioned, and in WH ch 10 it is said that she is nearly 600 years old.  She is an oil merchant ...

[Khorja]

Who are the Wonder Girls?

 

Nynaeve and Alivia?

[Ashaman Kovan]

Who are the Wonder Girls?

 

Nynaeve and Alivia?

 

Nynaeve, Elayne and Egwene. I'm not sure if Aviendah is considered part of that group or not.