The Eye of the World, Does it Still Have a Use?

[farthammer]

It's possible the Eye was nothing more than a failed attempt to cleanse saidin, and had no intended use.

 

In TSR we see one of the AS have a major foretelling and an argument breaks out because it lacked a 'when'.  Someshta was there, as was the banner and callandor.  So why would they bring the banner out there and give the Green Man his charge in advance of making the Eye if it was a failed attempt at cleansing saidin only?  Actually it wasn't  even a total failure in that regard.  It seems they needed a way to preserve something for safe keeping.

 

Actually do we even know what that prophecy/foretelling was?

[MikeRiley]

It was probably the one regarding the Horn of Valere being found right before the Last Battle. Or maybe that it had to be hidden and guarded from the Shadow until that time. That would certainly fuel an argument.

 

I just listened to the part with Aginor at the Eye, "he guided us", pointing at Mat "an old friend an old enemy.  I'm guessing the Foresaken must know what the SL evil is.  I wonder if it was some type of Shadowspawn that turned on its creators.  I'm guessing no one knew of this evil or Saidin could've been cleansed 3000 years ago.

 

Mordeth was a man that went in search of ways to fight the Shadow using its own methods. He found some ancient things he shouldn't have and became what we know him as now. He corrupted Shadar Logoth. It's not the Dark One's evil but it is a similar thing and they would be aware of it.

[aunt_pol]

Saidin sang to Rand at the Eye. Then it did through the CK at Cairhien.

[whiteyfats]

I've always thought (okay, not always, but at least ever since I entered WOT fandom) that the Eye was underused.  It really seemed like the Dark One at least had set it up to be some major thing, that without, the Dragon would lose.  One could argue, I suppose, that the entire purpose for the Eye was so that Rand would have enough saidin to draw in his first conscious channeling, but that seems like a bit weak to me - almost turns the Eye into nothing but a MacGuffin.  So, I wish it had more of a purpose.  But I sadly don't believe anything else will ever come of it.

I think it would be considered much more important if the series had remained a trilogy, as originally planned.

[aunt_pol]

Duskfire - yep the Green Man is old English. We've similar, but not quite same. (Ireland)

[Luckers]

It's possible the Eye was nothing more than a failed attempt to cleanse saidin, and had no intended use.

 

In TSR we see one of the AS have a major foretelling and an argument breaks out because it lacked a 'when'.  Someshta was there, as was the banner and callandor.  So why would they bring the banner out there and give the Green Man his charge in advance of making the Eye if it was a failed attempt at cleansing saidin only?  Actually it wasn't  even a total failure in that regard.  It seems they needed a way to preserve something for safe keeping.

 

Actually do we even know what that prophecy/foretelling was?

 

It was the prophecies about the Dragon that formed the basis of the karetheon cycle.

 

And I wasn't speaking of the guarding of the items. Obviously that was important. I'm suggesting the Eye itself, the Well of saidin, may have had no specific use and may just have been a failed attempt to clean saidin.

[bobothebarbarian]

Do Ogier are a construct of Man ? Do Aes'Sedai built everything in the known World of wot ?

 

It would piss me off if Someshta was only a thing construct by Aes'Sedai

 

The Ogier come from another world. Someshta and all his kind were constructs of the One Power created for agricultural purposes.

One particularly interesting fragment records Aes Sedai participating in an avenue of research that led to the development of living constructs made with and/or able to utilize the One Power. Chora trees were one such construct. Their large green trefoil leaves emitted an aura of peace and well-being to any who passed beneath them. The Nym, another construct, were sentient beings with the ability to utilize the One Power for the benefit of plants and growing things. As a nameless scribe in Paaran Disen wrote, “Where a Nym touched, all manner of green and growing things thrived.”

It's possible the Eye was nothing more than a failed attempt to cleanse saidin, and had no intended use.

 

In TSR we see one of the AS have a major foretelling and an argument breaks out because it lacked a 'when'.  Someshta was there, as was the banner and callandor.  So why would they bring the banner out there and give the Green Man his charge in advance of making the Eye if it was a failed attempt at cleansing saidin only?  Actually it wasn't  even a total failure in that regard.  It seems they needed a way to preserve something for safe keeping.

 

Actually do we even know what that prophecy/foretelling was?

 

It was the prophecies about the Dragon that formed the basis of the karetheon cycle.

 

And I wasn't speaking of the guarding of the items. Obviously that was important. I'm suggesting the Eye itself, the Well of saidin, may have had no specific use and may just have been a failed attempt to clean saidin.

from what the Green Man said

A hundred of them made it, men and women together. The greatest Aes Sedai works were always done so, joining Saidin and Saidar, as the True Source is joined. They died, all, to make it pure, while the world was torn around them.

it sounds to me they knew what they were doing and they knew it would kill them so I don't think it was a failed attempt.I think it more Likely that they knew rand would not be able to use the power on his own consciously when he arrived at the Eye but as was said in the EotW

I begin to wonder," Moiraine said. "The Eye of the World was made against the greatest need the world would ever face, but was it made for the use to which . . . we . . . put it, or to guard these things

The thing that bothers me about the Eye is how did it heal Aginor it imposable to heal yourself isn't it?

Suddenly he felt something, saw it, though he knew it was not there to see. A glowing rope ran off from Aginor, behind him, white like sunlight seen through the purest cloud, heavier than a blacksmith's arm, lighter than air, connecting the Forsaken to something distant beyond knowing, something within the touch of Rand's hand. The rope pulsed, and with every throb Aginor grew stronger, more fully fleshed, a man as tall and strong as himself, a man harder than the Warder, more deadly than the Blight. Yet beside that shining cord, the Forsaken seemed almost not to exist. The cord was all. It hummed. It sang. It called Rand's soul. One bright finger-strand lifted away, drifted, touched him, and he gasped. Light filled him, and heat that should have burned yet only warmed as if it took the chill of the grave from his bones. The strand thickened. I have to get away!"No!" Aginor shouted. "You shall not have it! It is mine!" Rand did not move, and neither did the Forsaken, yet they fought as surely as if they grappled in the dust. Sweat beaded on Aginor's face, no longer withered, no longer old, that of a strong man in his prime. Rand pulsed with the beating in the cord, like the heartbeat of the world. It filled his being. Light filled his mind, till only a corner was left for what was himself. He wrapped the void around that nook; sheltered in emptiness. Away!"Mine!" Aginor cried. "Mine!"

Warmth built in Rand, the warmth of the sun, the radiance of the sun,

then about this question

Saidin sang to Rand at the Eye. Then it did through the CK at Cairhien.

 It hummed. It sang. It called Rand's soul. I think it was rand's ta'verenes (is that a word? :D) the pattern pulling him to do what was needed. and when it happened when he stole the horn he had just put together the void and sadin so he was trying not to use the void but used another type of concentration

[mossman87]

With the right knowledge you can do anything with the power.  It makes the world, so as long as you knew how to manipulate the threads to your purpose and had enough power to do so.

 

Think of it this way, if we had enough knowledge and power, we could build anything out of atoms.  All channeling is really is manipulating atoms, or threads, or whatever you want to call them, and flowing them into something.  Whether to create a lightning bolt, make a Nym, or open a hole through space.  So yeah with Aginor's knowledge of creating things, it makes sense that he could rejuvenate himself.

 

That's just my guess.

[Barid Bel Medar]

Regarding the CK and Saidin at the Eye, I always thought that it was metaphorical for it been seductive.

 

1. The use at the Eye was the first time he actually held the power properly (knowingly, not just unleashing random stuff)

 

2. The CK is the most powerful Sa'angreal in the world, both events would emphasise the seductive quality of saidin and would be particularly special.

[Luckers]

Quote from: Luckers on July 23, 2010, 10:52:08 PM

Quote from: farthammer on July 22, 2010, 02:25:01 PM

Quote from: Luckers on July 22, 2010, 12:25:41 AM

It's possible the Eye was nothing more than a failed attempt to cleanse saidin, and had no intended use.

 

 

In TSR we see one of the AS have a major foretelling and an argument breaks out because it lacked a 'when'.  Someshta was there, as was the banner and callandor.  So why would they bring the banner out there and give the Green Man his charge in advance of making the Eye if it was a failed attempt at cleansing saidin only?  Actually it wasn't  even a total failure in that regard.  It seems they needed a way to preserve something for safe keeping.

 

Actually do we even know what that prophecy/foretelling was?

 

 

It was the prophecies about the Dragon that formed the basis of the karetheon cycle.

 

And I wasn't speaking of the guarding of the items. Obviously that was important. I'm suggesting the Eye itself, the Well of saidin, may have had no specific use and may just have been a failed attempt to clean saidin.

 

 

 

from what the Green Man said

Quote

A hundred of them made it, men and women together. The greatest Aes Sedai works were always done so, joining Saidin and Saidar, as the True Source is joined. They died, all, to make it pure, while the world was torn around them.

 

 

it sounds to me they knew what they were doing and they knew it would kill them so I don't think it was a failed attempt.I think it more Likely that they knew rand would not be able to use the power on his own consciously when he arrived at the Eye but as was said in the EotW

 

They may have gone into it knowing they would die--in fact that seems likely. Someshta's numbers place those involved at more than the maximum link, indicating that in the lack of something like Shadar Logoth the Age of Legends Aes Sedai saught to absorb the displaced taint themselves, something which was bound to be either fatal, or to drive the Aes Sedai mad and make it necessary for them to be put down--but that doesn't mean it wasn't a genuined attempt, which failed.

 

I mean the methodology was sound (if you can take the excess numbers to indicate that they were draining the taint out of saidin and using a second circle to contain it). It worked for Rand, but he had resources they did not.

 

The thing that bothers me about the Eye is how did it heal Aginor it imposable to heal yourself isn't it?

 

The power can rejuvinate flesh--we see this with Sharina, and RJ confirmed it. Presumably the unique circumstances of their age combined with the natural rejuvinating effects of the One Power to cause this effect.

[farthammer]

It'd be funny if it turned out that all the AS who made the pool were darkfriends like Verin and were able to draw pure saidin as a result of their protection, but had to suicide themselves in order to betray him and actually begin working on it.