Sharina & Bode

[Nightstrike]

BWB says that leading a circle depends on both strength and skill:

The greater the combination of strength and skill, the larger the circle that a woman, or man, can lead.

[Charlz Guybon]

You would probably have to be both very strong and very skilled to lead a circle of 72.

 

I don't know about strong--I see no reason that would be a prerequisite. Skilled, certainly.

 

 

Probably the same reason you need to be strong to use a powerful sa'angreal. The body wouldn't be able to stand the strain otherwise.

[Luckers]

Mmmm. That does make sense.

[Jemlin]

You would probably have to be both very strong and very skilled to lead a circle of 72.

 

I don't know about strong--I see no reason that would be a prerequisite. Skilled, certainly.

 

 

Probably the same reason you need to be strong to use a powerful sa'angreal. The body wouldn't be able to stand the strain otherwise.

 

Except for the fact that in a circle, every woman has the same amount of power flowing throw her as the person leading it, since they are linked.  Circles don't work the same as Angreal in that regard.  I have a feeling the "organic buffer" effect of a circle would be enough taht even the weakest Aes Sedai could lead a powerful circle...she is going to experience the heavy flow of power regardless of her position. 

[Thor]

Does it matter? Like the Aiel wouldn't abandon newly made spears, all are needed at the last battle, so what does it even matter whether they are full AS or not.

 

I suppose you might argue that being full AS would allow them to lead circles and plan some tactics, but really not that important.

[supergirlfriday]

Egwene can think novices like Sharina and Bode are ready all she likes - after all, they still have to go through the ring <i>ter'angreal</i> and survive. And as we know, Power strength and survival of the rings are unrelated. Readiness for testing is based on maturity as much as any Power skill (which is what I think was trying to be said in the Elayne diversion earlier in the thread).

[Ozzie_aiel]

I agree with Luckers, Elayne does not have the maturity to be Aes Sedai or indeed Queen of Andor. Her running off after the BA was an atrocious betrayal of everyone around her and resulted in hundreds of avoidable deaths simply because she wanted to be a hero. Sorry girl, you're QUEEN now, you can't go running off at the drop of a hat anymore.

 

come on, enough with the Elayne bashing. Nyneave, who is older, and supposedly more mature, started a war between the Prophet, the Whitecloaks, and anyone unfortunate to et caught between them, simply because she was afraid. The number of deaths from that little mishap ran into the tens of thousands, and its effects were still being felt.

[Luckers]

And if you look in my original post you will see I stated that I did not think Nynaeve was mature enough for the shawl then, either. She has since grown older.

[bubbified]

Oh man, every thread I go to is the same, mostly.  Lame girls thinking they're women.  The strongest women we've seen were verin and morain, probably some of the aiel WOs too, but their culture is a bit different and we see them more from the outside than in, so its a bit harder to be sure.  I think a few of the older men are strong too.  Sharina might be strong, but we haven't seen her tested more than one way.  I think Ny might get there.  Salidar and ebudar pounded her a bit, let her change a little.

 

Anyway, the AS will continue to be against the novices.  They don't like powerful women like sharina, who are also powerful in the power, pass them up.  The AS have a system set up that the fresh faces serve the ones above them until a gap opens up, then they let them move up, and so on until you are oldest out of the strong or strongest out of the old, with rare exceptions.

 

It's too late to stop it outright, but they can try to stop or slow it in otherways.  If the LB comes soon enough, few AS will take the time to set up any "accidents", but there are a few who won't have enough to do, so sharina better watch her back.  If we see her start to become careful, then we'll see how mature she is because I think she knows they want her gone.  For example, the wonder girls were only careful when they got a 2-3 vote to be careful.

[Charlz Guybon]

I think Ny might get there.  Salidar and ebudar pounded her a bit, let her change a little.

 

More like Lan pounded her a bit.

[bubbified]

I wonder what Lan's nickname was in warder school.  It had to be something that many an AS heard when she walked the walk of shame.

 

 

(I know lan was already stuck with moraine, so don't ruin my little humorous vision)

[StefanR]

I think Ny might get there.  Salidar and ebudar pounded her a bit, let her change a little.

 

More like Lan pounded her a bit.

 

Ha. Nicely played

[DaughterOfNight]

I may have missed a comment or two about this but, what about Sharina's role as an advisor to... um... either Egwene or Nynaeve?  One of them saw her during the Accepted test through the arches.  Given that Sharina definitely stands out already, I think she will play a pretty significant part pretty soon.

 

I'm not sure about whether I think Egwene will survive the Last Battle or not but I do think, however, that Egwene will change the standards in regard to the definition of Aes Sedai.  I mean, she has already -- like suspending the age restriction for Novices.  I wonder about how all these non-AS female channelers will fit into the White Tower proper, like Egwene suggesting that AS could retire into The Kin and be released from their oaths.

 

I've been reading through the Encyclopedia a lot the last few days and I'm surprised at how much I've overlooked all these years, like the whole history of the Breaking and such!  One tidbit that stood out was that back in the day, Ajahs were 'an informal and temporary group of people gathered together for a common purpose or goal, or by a common set of beliefs'.  The passage then goes on to describe the ajahs as constantly shrinking, dividing, combining, melting away only to be reborn in some new guise and begin the process once more.

 

That in mind, I think that the ajahs as we know them will be no more.  I think that women, whether AS proper or one of the 'other' channeler types, will gather together for a common purpose -- not unlike how the current Ajahs are but less restrictive.  That also brings to mind what Egwene said about the Reds and how their purpose will need to change with the times.  The current hierarchy of the White Tower seems to be too 'rigid' for today's problems.  It worked fine when everything was just lovely and predictable but these days, desperate times call for desperate measures... and the AS, like everyone else, need to go with the ebb and flow.

 

Maybe one of you could elaborate on some of these ideas?