The Taint

[Garat Jax]

Continuing my bout of new revelations as I go through the books for the second time (just getting to the end of the Great Hunt). I was thinking about the taint on Saidin and it suddenly hit me that the taint may actually be the dark one’s True Power.

Now there is no one specific thing that has made me think this so I’ll just ream off a couple of the more prevalent ones and those of you with a more extensive knowledge than my own can shoot them down or agree with them as you choose.

 

1. At the end of The Eye of the World when Rand is seeing the Saidin “power lines†running from himself and the forsaken running to either the eye itself or to the one power (I’m sure someone will tell me which) and while Rand’s was white the cords coming from the forsaken were black (I think they may even have been described as oily but I’m not sure) which struck me as strange as they are I had assumed coming from the same place

2. The way the taint is described through out the series as floating on the top of the source like an oily covering struck me as having a fairly close resemblance to the Saa going across the eyes of the various people we have seen with them as a result of using the True Power.

3. In the prologue of The Eye of the World when Ishamael heals Lews Therin of the madness the light in the area gets dimmer and Ishamael says something about the Dark Lords healing not being as painless which I assumed to mean he was using the True Power.

 

There were several other points that I can remember off the top of my head but all in all it had me wondering. What does everyone think? Am I onto something or do I need a trip to the yellow ajah to have them look at my head?

[Hugh]

Answering point 1 there, as I've just finished tEotW (for the umpteenth time)..

 

My understand was that:

 

The black lines were connecting the wielder to tainted saidar.

The white (I imagined them to be more golden) lines were connecting the wielder to the pure saidar that was in the Eye of the World. Hence Aginor having a white line, as he was drawing from the Eye also.

[old hob]

As far as I understand the black lines were Ishy's connection to the DO the same connection asmo had in tFoH.

[bcxanth]

I don't want to spoil the books for you, so let me just say that in WH an event happens that makes it clear that the Taint itself is not the TP. At lesat, that's not the source of it. It could be a manifestation of the TP, but it's not the source of the TP.

[Dragon89]

from what i read from forsakens PoVs the TP comes from the DO himself and when you stand in the Pit of Doom you can feel the essence of the DO which is sometimes used to decribe the TP

[bcxanth]

Ah, I just realized you said you were on your second time through the books, so no need for spoilers then.

 

In that case, the Taint can't be the source of the TP. If that was the case, after Rand cleansed Saidin, the TP would be gone. Yet we've had the PoV of a few Foresaken since then and they've never even once thought about that being gone. And it seems to me that something like the TP vanishing would have them a bit upset and afraid.

[Garat Jax]

Only read the first ten books as number eleven has yet to make it out on paperback in the UK. so for me the taint has only been gone a short time. I get your point about the forsaken getting shaken if it dissappeared totally. Although, off the top of my head I don't remember any mention of there being a constant awarnessof the true power like there is with the one power. I had it in my head as being more like a boon from the Dark lord for his current favorites.

[bcxanth]

Ishy/Moridin is actually the only one currently allowed to touch the TP anymore. He uses it pretty much to the exclusion of the OP. He would definitely have had something to say about it after the cleansing if the TP had vanished.

 

Also, like was said, it's a boon from the DO. It's power drawn directly from him.

[Wolfsbane]

When Ishy was trying to turn Rand, he was making offers of teaching him how to use the OP and not touch the taint. The DO had taught the Forsaken how to avoid the taint and still use the OP w/o going nutters.. Didn't help Balthamel but ehhh what can you do?

I do take Ishy's statement with a grain of salt that the Father of Lies' companions are equal in their renditions of the truth- but that statement stuck out to me. Ish has battled LTT/Rand/Any other Incarnation, too many times throughout the turnings of the Wheel that he may have genuinely wanted Rand on his side.

But returning to the point in question, the taint was always explained as the 'counter-stroke,' the return volley of the DO.. Not his power.. It's more like it invested some of its being of darkness and hate and corruption and madness upon saidin. Everything about the DO is formed in malice and rot, so anything to do with it must share the same likeness. Ish in tEotW was drawing power from the DO by his connection with the TP, while Aginor was filling himself with pure saidin rather than using tainted saidin which he could avoid none-the-less. None of the Forsaken males demonstrate the characteristics of the taint in any of the PoV's since they emerged from the Bore, so we must assume they are avoiding the effects somehow.

 

and that, is my two cents.

im brock kentman, good-night

 

wolfs

[Guest Thom Merrilin]

I agree with most everthing you all said, except that I thought those "cords" were what protected the forsaken from the taint. I dont know about aginors white / golden one, but I do know that when Rand captured asmodean, he cut his cord(imagine a none wot fan reading that, sounds like rands a doctor)and asmodean said that he would go mad like every other man channeler then.

 

From that,i aways thought that the cord just was a touch of the DO preventing his madness from being unleashed on them.

 

would say more but i have to go.

[Trib4l]

Rand was seeing Aginor's connection the tEotW at that moment.