A misunderstanding...

[Bob T Dwarf]

It has been asserted on these boards that the Da'shain Aiel of the Age of Legends were "Pledged  to Peace in Battle."

 

That is incorrect.

 

There is no really enclosed, short-form definition for "Da'shain Aiel."   They were simply those people sworn to a covenant that bound them to serve the Aes Sedai and uphold the "Way of the Leaf."

 

Those who are "Pledged to Peace in Battle" are the gai'shain, any Third Age Aiel taken prisoner by other Aiel and required by ji'e'toh to serve his or her captor humbly and obediently for a year and a day, touching no weapon and doing no violence.

 

Similar spelling and an understandable mistake, but an important distinction, nonetheless.

[Guest Dreadlord]

Good point. The Way of the Leaf is like a religion where you refuse to do violence even to protect your own life. The Pledged to Peace in Battle is how the Aiel reduce the shame they have incurred, and while Gaishan can be seen as a remnant of the Way of the Leaf it is a twisted and distant form of it at best.