Can Aes Sedai heal everything?

[Nikmi]

Currently doing my second re-read and something came to my attention..

 

I am pretty sure but not certain that it has been stated that no illness is beyond the Aes Sedai's healing (At least when performed by any Aes Sedai with the talent to heal).

 

Yet in The fires of heaven. Egwene and Nyaneve finds out that Siuane is no longer the Amylin. Their first reaction is to comment to eachother "Maybe she died by some illness that the yellows couldn't heal or fell down the stairs and broke her neck."

 

Now while this can easily be read as denial because they want to believe that instead of the alternative (stilling) It made me think about if I might be wrong in my perception of the Yellows ability to heal.

 

Are they actually able to heal any "normal" disease or is there a established limit by the books that I have somehow missed?

 

 

[fikkie77]

Well... mental illnesses are certainly above Aes Sedai's abilities of healing.

 

There's a difference between Aes Sedai's pr talk (and what the would like to believe to be true) and the actual truth. The supergirls knew that and thought about it when they heard of Siuan.

[Nikmi]

Well... mental illnesses are certainly above Aes Sedai's abilities of healing.

 

There's a difference between Aes Sedai's pr talk (and what the would like to believe to be true) and the actual truth. The supergirls knew that and thought about it when they heard of Siuan.

 

Yeah of course Disease could be more than physical disease but for something to have killed Siuane in a relatively short time I'd almost have to be some sort of bacterial or Viral disease right? (Not that they are aware of what this is in the books). And unless I am wrong both things are within the healing abilities of the yellow Ajah?

[Tyrell]

I think the present day Aes Sedai, certainly the Aes Sedai of Suian Sanche's era are very limited in their healing abilities. The recent 'breakthroughs' started by Nynaeve and Damer Flinn have done a lot to increase the general/overall level of healing they are capable of now.

 

Still, the Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends were far superior in their abilities; I can certainly imagine extremely talented Restorers such as Nemene Damendar Boann (later to become known as Semirhage) being capable of healing everything and anything, she was reputed as such, and while takes from the AoL are liable to inflation this report is somewhat justified by her own thoughts.

[JenniferL]

The Healing weave the Aes Sedai use at the beginning of the series is extremely crude. It's likened to a battlefield wound dressing several times. It gets the job done, but there's no finesse to it. It's like using a battle axe to trim a hang nail. Nynaeve's weave that she developed on her own is more effective, presumably because she weaves all five powers, not three.  And the Salidar Aes Sedai realize that you can create specific weaves to deal with specific ailments.

[Graendals favourite]

The third age Healing is essentially simply a matter of stimulating the body's own self-healing, that is skin growing or the sort. There is some flexibility there, as when Samitsu thought it when Healing Dobraine, which pretty well showed the limitations of that Healing also, but really it all depends what the body has strength to do for itself with the aid of the Power. Its advantage as battlefield work is that presumable less of the Power is needed from the channeller as much of the strength comes from the patient.

 

The new Healing means the Healer will have to know what they are doing with the specific bodypart, since they are healing the wound/whatever ailment. If they treat an eye, they must know what to do to the eye, for a wound they must know how to grow the skin together. Here the strength for it does not come from the patient. They are editing the biological material in the patient, not helping it grow as Elaida might do to her roses. Someone very good at this will probably be able to Heal anything, they simply need to know what to do. Nynaeve did not know how to Heal a hand back for instance. The body cannot Heal the ability to channel back, since part of it is independent of the body, a part of the mind I guess, so the traditional Healing could not work there. Semirhage really did have the reputation of being able to restore a person if the tiniest flicker of life remained, though she could not Heal stilling then, as Graendal could Heal pretty much any disease of the mind, though even she usually failed with those like Rand, per Semirhage.

[Nikmi]

The third age Healing is essentially simply a matter of stimulating the body's own self-healing, that is skin growing or the sort. There is some flexibility there, as when Samitsu thought it when Healing Dobraine, which pretty well showed the limitations of that Healing also, but really it all depends what the body has strength to do for itself with the aid of the Power. Its advantage as battlefield work is that presumable less of the Power is needed from the channeller as much of the strength comes from the patient.

 

The new Healing means the Healer will have to know what they are doing with the specific bodypart, since they are healing the wound/whatever ailment. If they treat an eye, they must know what to do to the eye, for a wound they must know how to grow the skin together. Here the strength for it does not come from the patient. They are editing the biological material in the patient, not helping it grow as Elaida might do to her roses. Someone very good at this will probably be able to Heal anything, they simply need to know what to do. Nynaeve did not know how to Heal a hand back for instance. The body cannot Heal the ability to channel back, since part of it is independent of the body, a part of the mind I guess, so the traditional Healing could not work there. Semirhage really did have the reputation of being able to restore a person if the tiniest flicker of life remained, though she could not Heal stilling then, as Graendal could Heal pretty much any disease of the mind, though even she usually failed with those like Rand, per Semirhage.

 

So when the Aes Sedai is healing diseases they cant actually remove the disease they can only boost the bodies immune system to combat the disease. Give it a power boost so to say. So if i understand it right healing disease can probably depend on how sick the patient is to begin with. as it both speaks to how "much" of the disease is present and the persons strenght.. not to mentions the disease strenght to begin with.. Have I understood this correct?

[Graendals favourite]

It's how I've understood it. Though, since the One Power is involved, perhaps more can be achieved than just a boost. That is, perhaps the One Power when directly involved makes the whole process more effective. I understand, as with Damer and Aginor's conversation in connection with Healing Rand, Aes Sedai use the same weave for Healing tuberculosis and a bone fracture.