Rand's continued dizziness with One Power

[dalic]

This has probably been mentioned before so forgive me if it has.

 

To me it's still a mystery why Rand still feels the Taint on the Power.

 

While reading other posts about the connections between Rand and Moridin after their balefires touched, I had an idea. Rand was using the One Power and Moridin was using the True Power. More than likely the Taint came from the DO "injecting" the True Power into the male half of the True Source. Even though Rand and Nynaeve cleansed Saidin, Rand still feels the True Power whenever he touches Saidin because of his connection to Moridin. So in effect Rand still feels the Taint.

[dyring]

Since we know from early on in the series that if a man had turned partly mad from the taint before he was severed, he would not get sane again, and also, the wasting sickness would not go away, Id think it is rather logical that Rand keeps feeling dizzy, if that is an effekt of the taint from when it did exist.

 

Afterall, if clearing the taint should remove earlyer ill effekts, the wound ishamael did in his side should have healed to I´d think.

 

Guess its not impossible that Flinn or Nynaeve manages to heal it thou, theyv both managed a few things that were supposed to be impossible after all.

 

(not that it is impossible that the dizziness comes from his balefire-made connection with moridin, I just find it less likely).

 

//dyring

[Luckers]

You see, i disagree. I don't think the dizziness was ever a symptom of the taint; it appeared only after Rand and Moridin crossed balefires.... which, i know, doesn't nessasarily mean your wrong. I think that we have to wait and see if Moridin is also suffering the dizziness in which case it wouldn't be an effect of the taint.

 

Also, there is no direct evidence that the Taint was caused by the dark one injecting the True Power into the One Power... indeed, we know that the Forsaken are shielded away from the taint, which means it would hurt them too... we've seen the effects of the True Power, they don't match or fit those of the taint.

[Guest cwestervelt]

I agree with Luckers that the dizziness had nothing to do with the Taint. It was a backlash of crossing True Power and One Power Balefire. Now we know what happens when you "cross the streams".

 

Sorry, couldn't help the Ghostbusters reference on that one.

[dalic]

All Ghostbuster references are welcome here. I once convinced a classmate in middle school that I had found the river of slime under my Great Grandma's well. It was hilarious.

 

Seriously thanks for the feedback guys. I had completely forgotten that the dizziness started after the balefire mishap with Mordy.

[TheDiceAgain...]

We do actually have some hint that Moridin feels the "sickness" or dizziness too. At one point in KoD, Rand sees Moridin in his mind and I believe it says that he looks ill and murderously angry. COuld be the same things that Rand is feeling.

[Kaznen]

We know that, despite the dangers, Mordin just uses the TP. Ishy used Saidin until the very end when he tried to use the TP in TAR Stone of Tear.

[Luckers]

That is true, but there are indications that Moridin turned to the TP completely before the incident with Rand, which means we can't be certain its a wish to avoid the sickness

[Jellybelly]

No, it is not entirely true. We know that Ishamael used the True Power when he confronted Lews Therin in TEotW. We also know that the fiery eyes and mouth is a result of prolonged use of the True Power, which really does suggest that Ishamael used it extensively. Since we know that use of the True Power is highly addictive, we must also assume that Ishamael used it exclusively. Off the top of my head, I can not think of more persuasive evidence than that, as I do not have the books with me, but I think it is a stretch to say that Ishamael used saidin all the way to end.

 

Anyway, to get back on track, I support the view that Rand's sickness is due to the balefires crossing in ACoS.

[Luckers]

He was using it during the battle with Rand.

[demonspawn]

I thought it was the black flecks or Saa that was a sign of using the TP and that the fire in his eves and mouth were just to cement the belief in people that he was Ba'alzamon.

Also what about the fact that Rand severed the black cord which was Ishamaels link to the Dark One, as he did later to Asmodean, during their first confrontation? What if that had some long lasting effect on his ability to Channel the OP and had to start using the TP. Bearing in mind Rand was using the power from the Eye of the World.

[RobertAlexWillis]

I thought it was the black flecks or Saa that was a sign of using the TP and that the fire in his eves and mouth were just to cement the belief in people that he was Ba'alzamon.

Also what about the fact that Rand severed the black cord which was Ishamaels link to the Dark One, as he did later to Asmodean, during their first confrontation? What if that had some long lasting effect on his ability to Channel the OP and had to start using the TP. Bearing in mind Rand was using the power from the Eye of the World.

 

RJ has stated that the fiery appearance of Ba'alzamon's eyes and mouth, and the fact that Ishamael's corpse had no eyes, was the result of long time use of the True Power. Think of it as a super-advanced case of a disease for which the saa are just the first symptom.

 

Rand was not always channeling the Eye of the World when he cuts the "black wires", but interestingly, he IS always using a big power-booster. (The Eye itself in TEOTW, Callandor in TDR, and the male Choedan Kal against Asmodean in TSR. When they fought in the sky above Falme in TGH Rand did not "cut the wires"). However, there is no reason to suppose that they are anything other than what Rand deduced them to be: the Dark One's connection to his servants. Ishamael/Moridin has been using the True Power since the War of the Power. In the prologue to TEOTW, he told Lews Therin "I follow a different power now." The declarative denotes a total shift, by which I mean that he had abandoned the One Power in favor of the True Power. This fits his profile as an insane philosopher totally dedicated to, and possibly dominated in will by, Shai'tan.

[Luckers]

Rj was asked about them once, and their nature, and his reply was 'that's what Rand thinks they are.'

 

Its not nessasarily indicative of anything other then that RJ is playing with us, but i thought it an interesting reply.

[Iceman]

I agree with Luckers that the dizziness had nothing to do with the Taint.

 

I had thought this before too, but I am currently rereading the Fires of Heaven and in the early chapters of Rand in Rhuidean, it says that when he embraces the One Power, he feels more alive and aware, but also dizzy and wanting to vomit from the effects of the Taint.

 

It sounds like a lingering effect, only amplified now. Why it is so exaggerated for him still, now that the Taint has been removed, I'm still not sure myself.

[demonspawn]

I wasn't talking about the battle at Falme, I was the battle at the end of TEOTW

 

"It is ended" Rand said, and he swung the sword at Ba'alzamon's black cord.

 

TEOTW p. 762

[grump]

Are you saying that when Rand loses his hand in KoD that the black flecks are saa and the blurryness is a result of some use of the true power by someone else in attacking him or himself in defense?

[RobertAlexWillis]

The True Power is not in any way related to Rand's eye problems after the attack by Semirhage. His eye problems are caused by having a fireball explode an arm's length from his face.

 

Seriously, people, all eye problems are not saa. I've been hit in the head hard enough to see "black flecks", and I wasn't using the True Power.

 

If I could, don't you think I would have come for some of you by now? :D