Are there still BA

[Sharaman]

Yeah Sharaman that's the simple answer I know, I was more interested in the question that if Mesaana can avoid the oaths (if she swore/reswore them in the purge), that it could be possible that she was sworn as one of Pevara and Co.'s hunters (ferrets).

 

All the BA Hunters know each other very well and they're all well-known to other people as well. Difficult to conceptualise ID-theft in those circumstances. All it would take is Pevara saying "Oi Seane, remember the time we put ice-pepper down Yukiri's bosom?" or such-like for Mask of Mirrors weirdness to surface.

The "ferrets" are all transplanted rebels - Mesaana was in the Tower, not the Rebel camp.

[balefireruinssteaks]

Mesaana would have easily beaten the Oath Rod, even if she had to take the Oaths and then later retrieve the Oath Rod and remove them.

 

The Oath is to tell no word that is not true, and the statement is "I am not a Darkfriend" or "I am not Black Ajah". As a Chosen, Mesaana would not consider herself either a Darkfriend (people FAR beneath her) OR Black Ajah (so-called Aes Sedai who did whatever she wanted them to).

 

So it seems safe to me that she wouldn't have had to do anything out of the ordinary except consider how to remove the Oath afterward.

 

Also...the Oath Rod has a series of symbols on it, and I always thought that the Aes Sedai/Forsaken from the Age of Legends would have understood what those symbols meant. Perhaps she channeled into the Oath Rod according to a particular symbol (remember the ones on Galina's Oath Rod were different but accomplished the same thing) and avoided the Oaths in that way. Perhaps because the Oath Rod was used to bind criminals (or whatever) the various symbols are various ways that a person can be bound.

[Durinax]

there is what 5 or so BA that escaped the Rebels over half the BA pop that escaped the tower and a full number of BA that was with teh other third of AS that sat to the side

[Grig]

 

I agree that Mesaana is still in the Tower. There is a way around the Oath Rod. We had tried to figure it out on the old forum, but never managed it. She likely knows the way around the oath. IMO, I think it is the distinction between "I am not a darkfriend" and "I am not in the black Ajah", how some people use one, and others use the other.

 

That's not even a necessary distinction. The Chosen would consider themselves to be neither. Unless the statement they are forced to say under the Oath against lying is something to the effect of "I have no ties to the Dark One/GLOTD", none of the Forsaken would be caught. It's obvious why Egwene doesn't realize this as she didn't get the same spiel Mat (and possibly Rand?) unknowingly got from Lanfear contemptuous of Friends of the Dark (or laughing at modern AS "Ajahs"), but it puzzles me how it can't be obvious to anybody actually reading the series from our perspective.

[FarShainMael]

Symbols on the OR:

 

The Oath Rod has the numeral 3 on it. The binder currently held by Therava has three numerals on it, 111 in the old script, which Galina reads (tPoD11) as one hundred and eleven.

 

A sideways thought, prob not significant: Any programmer, on seeing three recognisable '1's, would think 'hey that's seven in binary'. Any clockmaker or student of antiquities might think 'hey, that's 3 in Roman numerals'.

[mikedh]

Silviana and Leane are 100% not BA because they have resworn the oaths. Could they be Mesaana? Super unlikely and goes against all of the character development they've had.

[Moon Sedai]

There are certainly many BA still about.

 

The 20+ who escaped the Rebel purge, and a majority of those escaped the Tower purge (50+). Plus we have a handful of Liandrin's group about, and those BA who were unaffiliated in the Tower/Rebel struggle and haven't re-sworn yet (around 20-30 or so if Verin is to believed.

 

Egwene thought there were 'some seventy' in camp. And she discovered 3 more. More than 50 were killed, and nearly 20 escaped. Best guess: 73 total = 54 killed = 19 escaped.

 

If a "majority" of Blacks escaped the Tower, 'some sixty'. I'd say anywhere from around 100-119 in the Tower.

 

Thus, some sixty + nearly two = 80 escapees + whatever was with the AS standing aside. If indeed there were 100 in the Tower + 70 with the rebels, that would leave around 33 or so with the others. So, over 100 BA still around.

 

Dang, that's what, nearly 1/5 of the tower? How many AS are there, anyway?

[yoniy0]

There are about 1K AS out there, all told. But once the girls Egwene collected mature sufficiently, there will be many more.