a few questions..

[phantom-semi]

sorry if these have been discussed before, just want some fresh thoughts on a few things...

 

firstly, my understanding with balefire is that if a person is blasted with it, rather than just being killed their thread in the pattern is erased and they cease to exist. right? if this is the case the thread would have to burnt back all the way to when theyre born in order to be destroyed. my question is that if say one of the forsaken is balefired, their thread erased, then everything theyve ever done should not have happened, drastically chnging the course of events in the future..i mean,it means they never existed in the first place, would this not unwind the whole pattern or atleast mess with reality considering how old a forsaken is, and therefore how long their thread is in the pattern??

 

my other thought was that when an AS has been stilled, do you think that becasue the've been around the one power so long and living in such sterile conditions that maybe they die of illness or infection due to the fact that they havent let their bodies build up a natural defense or immunity to simple diseases/bacteria/infections etc.? i dont buy the simply giving up thing, physically a body cant die unless something drastic happens. do they just give up eating and performing simple tasks and die of malnutrition?? i dunno.

 

thanks in advance for any time spent replyin to my ramblings...

[RAND AL THOR]

SPOILER ALERT FOR PRACTICALLY ALL THE WOT BOOKS!!!

Continue reading only if you have read all the books!

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thanks in advance for any time spent replyin to my ramblings...

 

That what we are here for. ;)

 

1) Balefire burns a person's thread back but how far depends on the strength of the person channeling. It does not burn it all the way back to birth-unless you balefire a baby. :o

Some forsaken have been balefired and the world hasn't fallen apart yet. When Rand balefires Rhavin, only the last few hours of Rhavin's doings are erased. And the balefire that Rand used was very strong indeed.

 

2) Throughout WOT we see how AS love the power and how normal life seems dull and mundane without it. (I have come to envy that-I wish I could experience such a feeling.) Having the Power severed from them forever would be like breaking our spine and all our limbs and leaving us cripples. The various female channeler POVs tell us how much an AS is terrified of getting stilled. When Rand stills 3 AS at end of LOC, some sisters actually vomit when they hear of it. The One Power is a major part of an AS. To them, if they cannot channel again then their futures just look totally meaningless. Their will to live just dies away. You can think of it as extreme depression.

 

[trakand_01]

I have always thought that the Aes Sedai died from a combination of shock (at not having the Power, and also at having that bridge broken), malaise (at the death of their warder / breaking of the bond / lack of the ability to channel) and more than likely in the case of stilling - the treatment they go on to receive. They need to find something to occupy them.

 

I think of it this way - a mother loses the one thing which is her life-essence: her child. Her child dies, and she is left... empty. She has an empty space inside her and nothing can fill it. She neglects her health and her appearance, she forgets to feed herself, to water herself, so consumed with her loss is she. Eventually, in severe cases she becomes so ill as to die.

 

It rarely happens in the modern day because of the support network available but in the third world, or in history it has been known to happen.

 

I see it that the AS has lost her 'child', and simply stops taking care. Which is why it's so important for them to find something else to fill that void, to keep them getting up in a morning.

[phantom-semi]

cheers for the patience... im gettin round it now, my line of thought was perhaps a bit astray. my thoughts had been that in order to be destroyed the whole thread would have to be destroyed, as opposed to in addition to the person being destroyed part of the thread is also destroyed.. time paradoxes boggle the mind...lol

 

 

i understand the ideas regarding stilling, yet still have difficutly in believing that they just give up, i dunno, maybe im stronger than that... iv lost important things in the past but i get on with it... maybe the one power is an emotional crutch (the physical power creates the illusion of mental power), or an addiction, in that regard iill concede that such a breakdown is possible.

[RAND AL THOR]

trakand is right except for one thing:

The death of a warder is not felt after stilling. And, if an AS is stilled there is no reason to kill the warder!

 

Example: Siuan- she only feels the loss of warder after NYnaeve Heals her.

[Mr Ares]

And, if an AS is stilled there is no reason to kill the warder!

Except for the fact he may be uncontrollable with murderous rage because of his snapped bond. Then it might help to kill him.

[RAND AL THOR]

And, if an AS is stilled there is no reason to kill the warder!

Except for the fact he may be uncontrollable with murderous rage because of his snapped bond. Then it might help to kill him.

 

Well yes it would be helpful but it would be highly cruel. The Light would never do that. Better if the AS releases the warder from the bond prior to the official stilling.

[Andrew the Great]

And, if an AS is stilled there is no reason to kill the warder!

Except for the fact he may be uncontrollable with murderous rage because of his snapped bond. Then it might help to kill him.

 

Well yes it would be helpful but it would be highly cruel. The Light would never do that. Better if the AS releases the warder from the bond prior to the official stilling.

 

Is that even possible? I know its possible to pass the bond, but can you release someone entirely?

[RAND AL THOR]

yes it is possible. Moiraine once tells Lan that not even once in the last 20 years had he ever asked her to release him from the bond. That implies that it is possible. Also Lan proposes something similar to Nynaeve early in TSH in the Stone of Tear.

[cloglord]

2) Throughout WOT we see how AS love the power and how normal life seems dull and mundane without it. (I have come to envy that-I wish I could experience such a feeling.)

 

It's called heroin and I would not recommend it...

[Lille]

2) Throughout WOT we see how AS love the power and how normal life seems dull and mundane without it. (I have come to envy that-I wish I could experience such a feeling.)

 

It's called heroin and I would not recommend it...

 

Exactly what i thought, the One Power is like a strong drug, you want more and more of it, even some aes sedai who have been channeling for a hundred years still feel the loss when they release it and the urge to fill themselves with Saidar. What do you think would happen to a heroin addict who've been using for over 20 years if you suddenly just cut him off?

[RAND AL THOR]

2) Throughout WOT we see how AS love the power and how normal life seems dull and mundane without it. (I have come to envy that-I wish I could experience such a feeling.)

 

It's called heroin and I would not recommend it...

 

omg-never in a thousand years!

 

The comparison between the One Power and an addictive drug is excellent.

That suddenly makes the One Power seem dangerous and intimidating! This is the first time I have actually though of it in a negative way!