How would a man notice a link?

[Caedn of the Taardad]

In tFoH there is a meeting of the forsaken that cought my eye on this readthrough:

 

“Nothing has changed,” the scarred man growled. “Least of all, my trust for you. I will be part of the

link, or it ends now.”

The golden-haired woman threw back her head and laughed. “Poor man,” she said mockingly, waving a

beringed hand at him. “Do you think he would not notice that you were linked? He has a teacher, remember. A

poor one, but not a complete fool. Next you will ask to include enough of those Black Ajah children to take the

circle beyond thirteen, so you or Rahvin must have control.” -

 

We know that women can see a link by the blending of the glow they see, but how would a man, who only feels a sense of menace be able to notice a link between men and women?  I don't mean how is it possible, just in what manner do you think he would sense it?

[Sentinel78]

Good question.

 

First let's consider saidar only links.

 

In Chpt. 49 of LoC, 'Mirror of Mists', Rand assumes the 7 Aes Sedai are linked when they're channeling and LTT dissuades him from attempting to shield all of them, but aside from sensing saidar being channeled there is nothing to indicate that Rand could sense the actual link.  The basis for this determination appears to be a simple assumption made by Rand/LTT.

 

Similarly, in Chpt. 51 of LoC, 'The Taking', Rand only sees three Aes Sedai faces and assumes they are the only three women channeling.  He does not realize his mistake until after he is shielded.  He is certainly unaware of their link extending beyond the three visible Aes Sedai until that point.

 

It would appear that Rand cannot sense saidar-only links to the degree necessary to ferret out who is actually linked in the circle. 

 

Turning to links involving both saidin and saidar, the best example we have is from Chpt. 35 of WH, 'With the Choedan Kal', Demandred's POV has the following:

 

Abruptly the old man stopped and thrust out his hand straight toward Demandred, and Demandred found himself fran tically fending off a net of saidin that struck his warding much harder than it should have, as hard as his own spinning would.  That tottering old man was an Asha'man! And at least one of the women must be what passed for Aes Sedai in this time, and joined with the fellow in a ring.

 

The only basis by which Demandred infers that Flinn is linked is that the strength or impact of Flinn's channeling was stronger than it should have been had it been cast with saidin alone.

 

Conclusion:  Graendal would expect Rand to recognize that Sammael's channeling was unusually strong, or had an unusually strong impact, from which Rand would conclude Sammael had to be linked and would then run away.

[Caedn of the Taardad]

Ah, good point that, I hadn't found the reference for WH.  So maybe it isn't so much "sensing" as "noticing", which is probably what Jordan meant.  Thankyou, this is why I love DM, the only place I can find people who know more about WoT than I do :)