Morgase was never the Daughter-heir

[kilika]

If Morgase took control of Andor after a succession war, then she was never the Daughter-heir, so she should never have gone to the tower.

 

She can't have gone after she gained control of Andor as she would have been queen then.

But she also can't have gone before then as there was another queen and if she went during the succession war then she would never have won the thrown.

 

I'm confused.

 

Doing a re-read and I am sure it is caught later on in the series, maybe when Faile and Morgase and co get kidnapped, but it is sorta bugging me right now.

 

Cheers.

[Phelix]

Morgase was the heir to a High Seat in a House that had enough lines to Ishara that they thought they stood a chance to succeed if the current Queen died childless. Sending Morgase to the Tower to train made a lot of sense, politically. It gave her time to build connections with the Tower, and gave them a reason to support her over other High Seats. At the time Morgase would have been sent to the Tower, the current Queen (Modrellein?) had just lost her son Luc, and was in a spiral. People close to her, as well as her political enemies, would have noticed her downward trend.

 

Sending Morgase to the Tower was a bold move that essentially began the War of Succession. It is unlikely that any of the other Houses had heirs who were of the appropriate age to go to the Tower and had the ability to channel (even if only a tiny bit).

 

So, no, Morgase was never Daughter Heir, but the tradition was well enough known that any House in Andor would know what it meant when Trakand sent their heir to the Tower to be trained.

[David Selig]

TFOH, Ch. 19

 

She had worn that ivory silk dress the day she had gone to the White Tower, never dreaming at the time that she would be Queen, only harboring the vain hope that she might become Aes Sedai.

 

Absentmindedly she thumbed the Great Serpent ring on her left hand. She had not earned that, precisely; women who could not channel were not awarded the ring. But short of her sixteenth nameday she had returned to contest the Rose Crown in the name of House Trakand, and when she won the throne nearly two years later, the ring had been presented to her. By tradition, the Daughter-Heir of Andor always trained in the Tower, and in recognition of Andor’s long support of the Tower was given the ring whether or not she could channel. She had only been the heir to House Trakand in the Tower, but they gave it to her anyway once the Rose Crown was on her head.

 

Lots of young noblewomen go to the Tower to see whether they can train to be Aes Sedai. This is what Morgase did too. She had some minimal ability to channel, plus she was the heir of an influential family, so the Aes Sedai trained her for some time, then she left when the Succession War started. I don't think it was a political move to go to the Tower, at least on her part, she just had the desire to become an Aes Sedai. Her mother though may well have planned for a possible claim for the Lion Throne. Though IIRC Tigraine was still at the court by that time Morgase went to the Tower, so the possibility of a Trakand claim for the Lion Throne was really slim.

[Phelix]

I agree, it likely wasn't her political move... but her mother was probably thinking it. Her mother probably wasn't planning on dieing before her daughter finished training in the Tower, forcing Morgase to become the High Seat either. If her mother had survived, Morgase could have kept studying at the Tower, learning all kinds of useful things, while her mother fought the War of Succession.

 

Yes, Tigraine was still around when Morgase went to the Tower, but she'd been married to Taringail, and it was apparently a poorly kept secret that he wanted the throne for himself... and if not himself, than his children. Their marriage was likely very turbulent, and an astute player of the Game would notice that, and lay the groundwork for their House to ascend. If Taringail had acted against Tigraine, then Trakand could have swept in and said "See, we have a High Seat ready to be Queen... and in fact, her daughter is currently studying at the White Tower, just as tradition would have it."

 

The current Queen was unlikely to bear more heirs, her Daughterheir was married to a rather vicious Cairhienin who was plotting against Tigraine already... it doesn't take much to see the opportunity for another House to move in.

[yoniy0]

Morgase [...] had some minimal ability to channel

I believe this is key. I assumed @Phelix read in the BWB about the last Succession (I didn't read it myself), but after your last post I'm not so sure. I don't think there's any reason to look farther than her ability to channel, unless you have it canon from the books.