Oldest people living/most experienced

[Braus]

So one or the other, it kinda caught me the other day that most of the forsaken arent that old, right? Or have i missed something about the AOL, did they live for hundreds and hundreds of years before they were sealed away? because thing is, a dreamless sleep for 3000 years can hardly give any real benefits, right? if anything it would make you abit unsteady once you are awakened again.

 

So say Semiragh vs Cadsuane. We got one forsaken who knows alot of AOL weaves, and politics from that age + proberly abit from Randland since she was awakened. But all in all - unless she lived for hundreds and hundreds of years before she was sealed, she can hardly match Cadsuane in raw life experience.

 

 

Am i wrong? or are the forsaken superior in life experience aswell, or are they only superior in being of the old blood and strong channelerers/know alot of weaves.

[Germs]

In the age of legends Aes Sedai didn't bind themselves with the oath rod. The oath rod shortens the life span of a channeler significantly, by around half, I think. The Forsaken, even before they were granted immortality, had lived for few centuries, like every other Aes Sedai of the time. I'm not quite sure what the maximum age for a Rod-bound Aes Sedai is, but Cadsuane, as she is bound by the oath rod, probably isn't more than two or maybe three hundred, tops, and at the end of her life. She's probably like 250-280. We don't really know how old the Forsaken were before being sealed in the Bore, but assuming Semirhage is around average/middle age, (300 or so) the two are probably pretty close life-experience-wise. To conclude, the Forsaken are significantly more experienced than most modern Aes Sedai, but the very oldest might approach the same level.

[OptimusPrime]

I'd have thought Semirhage would have a decent amount more experience. I say this because, as mentioned, the AoLers werent bound by Oath Rods so I assume that there would be more channelers in general with as much experience as Cadsuane. What Im getting at is, Cadsuanes experience makes her a living legend. The Forsaken were living legends in a time where wonders were performed, they were famous. I feel that in a time like AoL, with society at what might be called its peak, it would take a lot more experience/mettle/force of personality to achieve the reputation Cadsuane has now. And the Forsakens reputation seemed to be way more noteable than Cadsuanes.

 

That being said, I do think Cadsuane might kill Semirhage, or succeed over her in whatever rivalry they have. I hope so anyway, Cadsuane is the next best thing to Moiraine.

[mb]

The lifespan of a channeler bound to the Oath Rod I take relates to when the oaths are sworn.  The time left I take is halved.

The Aes Sedia who have forsworn then re-sworn, I guess will live longer than other Aes Sedia bound to the Oath Rod.

 

The lifespan of a channeler not bound, the Guide tells is about 600 years; some reach 700 years.

 

[Luckers]

So one or the other, it kinda caught me the other day that most of the forsaken arent that old, right?

 

Well, Moghedian was between 300 and 350 when sealed in the bore (it depends on how long the Collapse really lasted, and there are conflicting bits of information about that). Rahvin, with grey in his haid, would have been older still. Probably well into his four hundreds.

 

I'm not quite sure what the maximum age for a Rod-bound Aes Sedai is, but Cadsuane, as she is bound by the oath rod, probably isn't more than two or maybe three hundred, tops, and at the end of her life. She's probably like 250-280

 

Cadsuane is 295 years old, born in 705NE in Far Madding.

 

The lifespan of a channeler bound to the Oath Rod I take relates to when the oaths are sworn.  The time left I take is halved.

The Aes Sedia who have forsworn then re-sworn, I guess will live longer than other Aes Sedia bound to the Oath Rod.

 

We actually don't have any information to that effect. It could be based on wear and tear, for instance--the channeler looses the same amount of time that they wear the Oaths. Or it could be acumulative, based on how many oaths one swears. Or it could be the way you say, we just don't have that information.

 

 

[Seaine Sedai]

On the surface I would say Cadsuane has the advantage.  She has lived her entire life in this age (where people have ALWAYS been aware of the DO and his influence in the world), she has exclusive access to some pretty awesome ter'angreal and she knows how (almost) all of them work.  (Would be cool if Aviendha could "read" the ones she doesn't know about for her).  Cadsuane has had a lot of experience in dealing with people in this day and age and she is really smart.  The Forsaken spent at least some if not most of their lives (depending on how old they are) in a world that was much more advanced as a civilization (think if suddenly we no longer had the internet or electricity and whatnot and woke up and it was the Bronze Age or something) AND before the Bore.  After the Bore people became aware of the DO and that's when everything started going to the pit of doom in a silverpike basket.  (sorry, that's my WOT version of "hell in a ham basket")

 

OTOH, The Forsaken for the most part have shown themselves to be remarkably adaptive.  They did bring with them the knowledge they had from the AOL, and they probably know a lot more about how Ter'Angreal work than anyone in this age.  Sure, they probably don't know everything, but I figure it's kind of like finding someone else's cell phone...you know what it is and probably don't have to blunder through at least figuring out how to make a call.  I would think the hardest parts of all for them would be adapting to today's modern language, and yet they picked up on that remarkably well, I'd say, since we don't see anyone screwing up so far in that.  They've all been smart enough to pay attention and see what things this Age brought that even the AOL had never even dreamed up, and knowing the things they do they have done very well maneuvering into making it all an advantage for the dark.  I would have given a pretty to have seen the POV from a Forsaken, ANY Forsaken (except maybe Ishy who we think was only partially bound so he had a sort of unfair advantage in seeing the world change in the 3k years since) when they woke up and had to figure out just what kind of world they had woken up into.

 

So, I'd say Cads has the advantage overall of having lived in this Age her entire life and knowing what all she has learned, but obviously it's really stupid to underestimate a Forsaken just because they HAVEN'T lived their entire lives in this Age and have just come to know about it in the last 2-3 years (except Ishy/Mor), and ESPECIALLY when they get their hands on Ter'Angreal and Angreal because they are much more experienced in the use of those than the modern AS.

[Braus]

So the old tounge was the common language in AOL? since that havent really been explained in the books, say the Rhuidian experiences or the prologue Dragonmount...

[Seaine Sedai]

So the old tounge was the common language in AOL? since that havent really been explained in the books, say the Rhuidian experiences or the prologue Dragonmount...

 

From what I understand, it works like this.  The Old Tongue is the language that was used back in the day, kind of like Olde English for us (or High German if you're German as opposed to Modern German, etc), and that actually the modern language they use in Randland has some similarities to the Old Tongue (like modern English does to Olde English) but what we read is what is would be like if it were actually English. (So, translated via Jordan and it just so happens modern Randland language is conveniently syntaxed so that the sentence structures are like English sentence structures)  :)

 

In any case, we do know that languages evolve over time, and that Jordan based a lot of the way society evolved on how ours did.  Otherwise, what use would the Old Tongue be anyway?  Why would people write and study in a language that was not commonly used?

[Braus]

No idea, im just curious if the old tounge coexisted, like in todays Randland(but maybe more people knew it), in the AOL. Or if it was the only language.

Say if it was like the Greek and Latin was back in the days, or if it was the only language used.

[Seaine Sedai]

No idea, im just curious if the old tounge coexisted, like in todays Randland(but maybe more people knew it), in the AOL. Or if it was the only language.

Say if it was like the Greek and Latin was back in the days, or if it was the only language used.

 

That is a good question.  We haven't seen any indication of any other languages, and the only real difference we've seen in the modern day so far is just that different regions have different dialects, so it would seem that from everywhere in the world it all evolved from the same main language, and just didn't change enough so that people could actually understand each other, even if maybe the slurring or change in sentence structure sometimes made it a bit difficult.  I would think if there was more than one language in the world you'd wind up getting certain areas of the world that had a mixture of languages that would evolve into new languages.