Efficiency of the Yellow Ajah

[RAND AL THOR]

The Yellow Ajah specializes in healing and the Yellow Aes Sedai spend their time studying Healing etc......

 

Any Healing done by Aes Sedai is accidental, unless someone is specifically brought to the Tower for Healing.

 

WHAT ON EARTH DO THEY DO?

 

They don't learn any new stuff since Healing has been virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. I can't provide proof of that but the general attitude of the sisters suggests it.

They have no organized hospitals set up in various cities to Heal people. So their talents are more or less wasted.

 

Discuss please.

[Lews_Windu]

I get the feeling that Yellows do what most of the other Ajah's do- wander around until something piques their interest. In the case of Yellows, they probably spend their time traveling from place to place, Healing what wounds they come to. Such an existence would bring a lot of praise from people they Healed, which could serve to show why most Yellows are even more arrogant than Aes Sedai.

[balefireruinssteaks]

Likely the Sisters of the Yellow Ajah travel about and keep an eye out for anyone who might need Healing that the local Wisdom or Wise Woman cannot treat. 

 

When Nyneave Heals Siuan and Leane the conversations of surprise and observation were something like "you can see how she used Fire like she was boring a hole in something" and "see how Fire can be used in issues of the heart" or "blend Earth with Water..." etc.  The Yellow Sisters are skilled in their knowledge of the human body, disease and how to use weaves to work against such things.

 

For an Ajah specifically designed for the study of Healing, there isn't much else TO do if no one is sick except continue to study various ways to Heal.  Although the general method of Healing has been the same for millenium, one of the Kin worked out Nyneave's Healing before Nyneave even showed her...or at least had a different way of Healing than the standard one.  So it seems that there are channelers out there who can Heal who study various methods of it, but I also think that it probably is a dismal echo of what Restorers used to be like.

[RAND AL THOR]

But we have not seen any Yellow Ajah leaving the Tower and journying through Randland merely to Heal people.

[MystErikEry]

Have we actually seen any Grays leaving the tower in order to mediate?

 

Have we actually seen any Greens fighting in the borderlands as they ought to, being the Battle Ajah?

 

I'm sure there are some that do (after all, the Sisters who aren't in the Tower anymore must be doing SOMETHING with their time) but it's their own things they do, for their own reasons.  :)

[RAND AL THOR]

We have seen quite a lot of Aes Sedai by now. There are many POV's inside the tower and also among the rebels.

 

We have seen embassies reaching Rand to negotiate, we have proof that various Aes Sedai have been sent to various rulers by Elaida to bully/force/convince them into following Elaida.

 

There is another thread currently discussing the Battle nature of the Green Ajah.

 

If Yellows really were Healing people in an organized way, I'm pretty sure we would have come across it. Most people go to a Wise Woman when ill. Aes Sedai involvement among ordinary people in the Healing matter is not mentioned at all.

 

The closest resemblance to mass Healing by AS among ordinary people is just after the Aiel War. Siuan mentions at the beginning of Book 2 that every sister capable of Healing was outside the Tower doing that just after the Battle. But again that only occured because the battle was fought outside Tar Valon itself.

[Guest Dreadlord]

QUOTE

Have we actually seen any Greens fighting in the borderlands as they ought to, being the Battle Ajah?

UNQUOTE

 

I can think of two Green sisters who are actually doing something. Alanna (who bonded Rand against his will, I still wonder why the Aes Sedai havent exploited this yet but there you go) and Cadsuane, who is helping Rand prepare himself for Tarmon Gaidon, which is exactly what the Green Ajah is supposed to do.

 

The Yellows dont do very much, Ive wondered about this as well. That being said, most Ajahs seem to take a back seat other than Blues (well, Moiraine is the only significant Blue) and the Red Ajah, who are constantly doing stuff involving the Black Tower.

 

RJ definitely concentrated more on individual Aes Sedai rather than their Ajahs

[Luckers]

My thoughts about this were stated in the battle ajah thread, so ill simply restate them since i don't think i could phrase it better.

 

My position is that this is yet another issue resulting from a character flaw in Aes Sedai. By waiting for girls to approach the Tower--girls already awed enough to risk the world to find the Tower--and then segregating them from the world for up to twenty years in their period of training I think that by the time Aes Sedai become Aes Sedai they are so enured with the 'image' of what an Aes Sedai is that they don't actually 'do' anything... after all, if Aes Sedai haven't already done it, then its hardly worth doing.

 

It's not so much that they don't want to do it, it simply doesn't occur to them. Despite their so-called skill, they actually achieve very little. And not just Greens in the fight against the Shadow in the blight--where are the Yellows? Why don't they have hospices set up around the world. They are supposed to dedicate their lives to healing, but any healing they do is at best accidental, a result of circumstance. Indeed the only major organised and planned healing we've seen done was of Mat, and there was not a single yellow involved.

 

What of the Grey? They are supposed to mediate, yet where is the evidence of their success? Arad Domon and Tarbon were on the edge of war before Rand and the Seanchan came up. Tear outlaws channeling, Amadacia forbids Aes Sedai entrance. Their efforts have engendered no great peace amongst the nations. No concordance or alliance. The Reds? 24 men found in the last twenty years including those like Owyn who were never brought to the Tower. There are near to a hundred thousand men with the trait for channeling in the westlands, there has to have been more male sparkers than that. Even with the three in four dying of a lack of training. And what of the simple fact of False Dragons?

 

Browns--where are the new discoveries, new ideas? Three thousand years of highly intelligent women dedicated to discovery, and none of them using it to any degree. They conduct no research. Perform no experiments.

 

Thankfully i don't think this will continue much longer. Already events are enforcing them into being more pro-active.  They are learning the difference between the image of achievment and actual innovation, especially with the examples of Nynaeve, Elayne and Egwene. And that innovation and fresh thought will continue now, especially once some of the older novices gain the shawl.

 

 

[D24g0n]

I can think of two Green sisters who are actually doing something. Alanna (who bonded Rand against his will, I still wonder why the Aes Sedai havent exploited this yet but there you go)

Alanna has said that she had tried to use the bond to control Rand, but that she couldn't.  Besides, knowing where Rand is at all times, even just a general direction, is extremely useful.  Imagine a Forsaken capturing Alanna and using just that ability to find Rand.  That would be an easy way to catch him off guard and kill him.

 

I agree with what Luckers quoted.  Aes Sedai tend to disbelieve anything that they deem impossible unless proof is shoved under their noses.  The Yellows probably think there is no need to go out into the world, because there is nothing left to be discovered.  They probably listened to some White's "infallible" logic about how it would be a waste for Yellows to be out in the world.  "You can't heal everybody, so why heal anybody?"

[RAND AL THOR]

The Yellows probably think there is no need to go out into the world, because there is nothing left to be discovered.

 

I suggested that they ought to leave to Tower to Heal ordinary people, not to research any new Healing weaves.

 

They probably listened to some White's "infallible" logic about how it would be a waste for Yellows to be out in the world.  "You can't heal everybody, so why heal anybody?"

 

If any White sister said anything like that then the White Ajah needs to be abolished instantaneously. That is the most illogical thing I have ever heard.

 

 

[Bob T Dwarf]

There are probably any number of ancillary situations that we don't know much about because they don't directly bear on the main story.

 

How many Yellow Sisters are out of the Tower and working throughout Randland being one of them.  What we do see is that as soon as anyone has so much as a hangnail, any AS with any real Healing Talent isn't at all shy about healing them as best they can whether they ask for it or not.

[maximuswynn]

I agree!The Yellow Ajah could easily found hospitals to Heal those ailments diificult or slow to heal. I mean, what better way to befriend the people than to Heal them, literally!!!!!! Instead they sit on their butts, just talkin' about it. Well they're not helping the situation are they?!

[Cockta]

No, but they should make hospitals in the major cities, to help as many people as possible. Have many nurses as well, and the thoughts about Aes Sedai are improven a lot.

[Dedicated Santana]

it's a common know fact that most of the people distrust or even hate Aes Sedai.  why would u go out to try and help people if they feared u or hated u.  they probably would rather die a wasted death then let someone help them.  most Aes Sedai try to better their art, and their ajah.  even though healing hasn't changed drastically, befor nynaeve arrived, doesn't mean they haven't made small accomplishments.  besides as rigid and structured as the white tower is, thinking outside the box was unheard of, they thought they knew it all.  anyways, back to the case, why wonder around trying to help people who probably wouldn't want to be helped, it would be easier to just stay in one place and let those who seek the help come, know that if it could be healed then it would, if the yellow were so inclined, and that if it couldn't be healed it would give the yellow a chance to study and learn

[RAND AL THOR]

Agreed.

 

Furthermore If I were the Amyrlin, I would set up offices in all major cities so that people are more connected to the Tower. To make petitions to the Amyrlin, people have to go to Tar Valon itself. Intead, having offices in cities would be more useful. People would trust AS more and the WT would gain more respect and not just awe. People would respect AS for all that they do intead of curtysing merely for the the fact that they can channel.

[Dedicated Santana]

u make a valid point.  the only flaw with that is that posting offices would severely weaken the WT.  AS are small in number, compared to what they used to be.  not to mention that posting offices in cities would not only make a threat to any political power, be it monarchy or republic, but would also make those AS posted in those cities themselves a power threat to the WT. people would come to trust and value the AS in their own city more than they would AS anywhere else.  much safer for the Amerlyn to keep all AS under one roof instead of giving them their own. 

[RAND AL THOR]

politics politics ;D

Dedicated Santana, I never thought of that though it makes perfect sense.

 

May you be promoted to Asha'man status soon! ;)

[Mysterious]

u make a valid point.  the only flaw with that is that posting offices would severely weaken the WT.  AS are small in number, compared to what they used to be.  not to mention that posting offices in cities would not only make a threat to any political power, be it monarchy or republic, but would also make those AS posted in those cities themselves a power threat to the WT. people would come to trust and value the AS in their own city more than they would AS anywhere else.  much safer for the Amerlyn to keep all AS under one roof instead of giving them their own. 

 

It's true. The one thing that the WT fears the most is a renegade Aes Sedai that has a strong following. Look what happened at Manetheren...

[Silver]

That's easily solved. Just rotate Sedai between cities and the Tower. And about their low numbers, they wouldn't be so low if they were actually out in the world where they could find potential Sedai instead of waiting for those brave enough to go to the Tower.