The First Channeler

[Galeros]

Hey guys.

 

Do you think that the first Channeler was Male or Female? Or do you think that it was discovered at the same time by both a man and a woman? How powerful do you think s/he was? I know there is not technically a "first" Channeler due to time being cyclical, but for our purposes I am talking about the person who first discovered it during this cycle of the Wheel.

[Jethro]

I cant remember anything about the first channeler, but I seem to recall Lanfear (before she was Lanfear) was the one who "discovered" the True Power by making the original hole in the Bore in the AoL. Is that right?

[Galeros]

I cant remember anything about the first channeler, but I seem to recall Lanfear (before she was Lanfear) was the one who "discovered" the True Power by making the original hole in the Bore in the AoL. Is that right?

 

I am talking about the first person to channel Saidin or Saidar, not the True Power.

[ArolasFlinn]

As for the first channeler, I want to say it was a guy, based on absolutely zero evidence from the text. But thats just because they've had such a raw deal ever since the end of the War of the Power and the taint. It could also be my subconcious sexist coming out.

 

It was definitely Lanfear who helped to drill the Bore. With Beidomon, or something like that, I think.

[CUBAREY]

Do you think that the first Channeler was Male or Female? Or do you think that it was discovered at the same time by both a man and a woman? How powerful do you think s/he was?

 

Impossible to tell who the first channeler was. However it is very likey that the first channelers were quite weak and had very short lfe spans. The first channelers would have been those wo were born with the ability but sense there was no one to train them its very likely that a lot of the early channelers would have burnt themselves out, died of the sickenss known to kill wilders or killed themselves by taking too much power into themselves.

[The Watcher and Wanderer]

Do you think that the first Channeler was Male or Female? Or do you think that it was discovered at the same time by both a man and a woman? How powerful do you think s/he was?

 

Impossible to tell who the first channeler was. However it is very likey that the first channelers were quite weak and had very short lfe spans. The first channelers would have been those wo were born with the ability but sense there was no one to train them its very likely that a lot of the early channelers would have burnt themselves out, died of the sickenss known to kill wilders or killed themselves by taking too much power into themselves.

 

This is a very good point, the first channels probably did have very short life spans, burned themselves out etc.  In fact I would surmise that there has never been an age that did not have channelers, only some where there was no knowlege of channeling.  I guess the real question who was the first person to understand what the One Power was and lean to control it?  I would guess that it was discovred initally by one gender and there was problay a period when it was believed that only that gender could use the One Power.  Since balance is a common them in WOT I like to think the first person to understand and control channling was a man since it provides a nice balance with what is going down in the third age.

[MikeRiley]

I wouldn't call that a nice balance. For it to be, women were the first to knowingly channel. Imagine the witch hunts that would come about at first. Men don't need to be hunted down again.

[Fjong]

I have links to back me up on this, but i seem to remember that men where hunted down and burnt too, just not in the same amounts as the women

[Majsju]

Week 18 Question: Who were the first channelers, and how did they learn? By trial and error? Are there any Ages where channeling does not exist?

 

Robert Jordan Answers: The first people to discover the ability to channel learned through trial and error, with fairly high casualty rates until they learned enough not to kill themselves accidentally. Their appearance marked the beginning of the previous Age to that of the books, or at least the end of the Age before that one.

 

Yes, as I have set things up, there are Ages when no one has any idea of how to channel or even that the One Power exists. Our own, for one. (The Wheel of Time turns.)

 

[Mr Ares]

The first channler was called (or is believed to have been called) Tamyrlin.

 

I have links to back me up on this, but i seem to remember that men where hunted down and burnt too, just not in the same amounts as the women

Hanging was a far more common punishment for witches than burning. Furthermore, most witch trials ended in acquittal.

[nnokwoodeye]

The first channler was called (or is believed to have been called) Tamyrlin.

 

True, I don't remember where, but I remember that I read it somewhere.

Anyway I think that Tamyrlin was probably a male because it just seems to me more likely that men would notice that they are channeling. Saidar is too comfortable. It easy for a woman not to know that she use the power even if she did developed some kind of control. Saidin on the other hand... it hard not to notice that you are fighting for your life!

[CUBAREY]

The first channler was called (or is believed to have been called) Tamyrlin.

 

 

Where do you get this information. Only mention of Tamyrlin I can find is in page 31 (paperpack copy) of the BIG White Book in which it is stated that LTT, "who was then First Among Servants, wore the ring of the Tamyrlin, and summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion."  Which seems to indicate that the ring was a sign of being the leader of the Aides Sadie(and is the origin for the title "Amyrlin" the title of the leader of the White Tower) and not the name of the first channeler.

[Majsju]

The glossary of the "young adult" version of TEOTW...

 

Ring of Tamyrlin (TAHM-ehr-lin): a legendary ring, believed mythical by most people, worn by the leader of the Aes Sedai during the Age of Legends. Stories about the Ring of Tamyrlin include that it was an angreal or sa'angreal or ter'angreal of immense power. It supposedly was named after the first person to learn how to tap into the Source and channel the One Power, and in some tales, was actually made by that man or woman. Despite what many Aes Sedai say, no one knows whether it was a man or a woman who first learned to channel. Some believe that the present title of Amyrlin is a corruption of Tamyrlin.