Rand: Unique among chanellers??

[Manjunathan]

Is Rand the only one around who can see the Forsaken's  link with the dark one?

He severs this link thrice( if I remember correctly)twice with Ishamael, and once with Asmo.

None of the other channelers seem to notice this link. (eg. Nynaeve and others didn't with Moghedien)

 

Please provide d link if this has been discussed bfore.

[Balefire to da face!]

Is the link there for women? I thought the whole point was that it was a link that protected the male Chosen from the taint?

[Manjunathan]

I got the impression that the link was what tied all forsaken together, that it was something created when they were made chosen, given immortality etc.

[el Nynaeve]

I definitely recall Asmodean explaining to Rand that now he's cut his link to the DO, he's cut his protection from the taint. Given that, I suspect that the link is for that purpose and is why women don't have one.

[OptimusPrime]

It might be some Talent Rand has, like Logain, Siuan and Nicola, who can all see Ta'veren.

[Luckers]

Seeing the black threads is not because of some special talent Rand has. He cannot see them except in specific places--TAR, the place where skimmers go and so forth. Now I don't know if others could see them in such places, but given Rand can't see them outside of those places it seems more that the places themselves were the reason, and not the individual.

 

I definitely recall Asmodean explaining to Rand that now he's cut his link to the DO, he's cut his protection from the taint. Given that, I suspect that the link is for that purpose and is why women don't have one.

 

There has been conjecture about what those threads are--the FAQ http://www.siliconcerebrate.com/faqs/wotfaq/1_dark/1.3_how-work-dark/1.3.1_threads.html more or less goes for the same point as you, and I've written a response to that which probably covers the issue more clearly than I could off the top of my head now.

 

The thick black threads are the Forsaken's connection to the DO. The connection with the DO is what keeps the male Forsaken from falling prey to the madness from the taint on saidin (see Asmodean's statements to Rand in TSR after his black "thread" was severed). Rand's thread in TEOTW was silver and thinner because it was from that pure pool of saidin that was the Eye of the World.

 

RJ commented on this issue. Here is what he had to say.

 

 

Q61: I’m trying to verify Rand’s impression he has at the end of book four, regarding the connection [the Black Cords] he cuts [from] Asmodean. Rand seemed to believe [the Black Cords] was the connection directly from that individual to the Dark One. So what I am wondering is, is that connection key to transmigration?

 

RJ: No, because what you are thinking of wasn’t a connection, Rand thought it was.

 

 

Now, this is somewhat confusing given that when Asmodean's cords were cut he was exposed to the taint, which is probably what the FAQ was on about. So, the cords are not a connection, but they are at least involved. My suggestion would be that they are in fact the Chosen Mark. We know that as well as losing protection from the Taint Asmodean lost his ability to order Shadowspawn which is a direct use of the Mark--which we know from tFoH--55--The Threads Burn when he is forced to fight Shadowspawn.

 

If this is the case it answers a problem with this quote...

 

It's also been suggested that the threads are a connection for channeling the True Power. This isn't very likely. The problems with this idea are:

 

1. The female Forsaken can use the TP, but nobody ever sees the black cords on them;

2. The black cords were seen on Asmodean, and of all the Forsaken, Asmodean is the one who we'd least expect to use the very dangerous TP in an instance where the OP would serve just as well (Skimming); and

3. From [ACOS book signing, Dunwoody, Georgia; 9 October, 1996, report by Erica Sadun], "Access to the TP is a matter of wanting it and the Dark One letting you. NOT black cords."

 

 

The problem with this being that when Rand cut Ishamael's threads he lost the True Power [tdR--55--What Is Written In Prophecy]. My answer for this contradiction would be that the threads, as the Mark, are what enable Ishamael to ask--as in it serves as permission to ask. Whatever it is its involved in the process of asking and recieving in some way.

[Aiemond]

I agree with somewhat with Luckers on this. This cannot be a connection to the TP as only one who can use the TP should be able to see it. Anyone else, no matter male or female, should have zero indication that it is being used, beyond the darkening around the person (which may be an effect that happens everywhere and was just a byproduct of the weaves Ishy was using). No cord should be seen. Last point on this, I believe Ishy had his cord cut in TDR? When he asks for aid, the air darkens, so I believe he was going to do something with the tp (and was) but Rand plain and simply killed him before he got it off.

 

What I believe the cord does...it is not a direct connection to the dark one per se, but Saidin. It does not allow the DO to monitor what is going on beyond seeing when Saidin is tapped. He cannot see thoughts, he cannot see events beyond what he could of any other person. What it does is take off the taint...that is it. We know the Forsaken do not know how it works or they would have said something during the WH meeting (ie we know this is how the DO does this, so maybe Rand is going to use a similar principle). So, it may not even be a direct connection to the DO, but a connection to something the DO created or a connection to a place the DO created/already had that takes taint off and then puts it back into the sea of Saidin.

 

What we do know though is it protects from the taint and that the taint sloughs/rolls off when a male forsaken uses it. Everything else is speculation.

[Blackhoof]

it definetely protects from the taint, but i reckon that it is the Chosen Mark or some-such, as previously stated. When we has Asmos pov in tFoH, he says that he l;ost his immortality, and he had to fight shadowspawn (although that could be that they didn't know he was forsaken and he had no way to prove it.)