The Eye of the World

[reaper_0131]

Hey everyone I'm new here so if this has been discussed already I apologise, but what is to stop a bunch of darkfriend channelers (possibly 13x13'd ) from banding together and creating a NEW giant pool of saidin. I've just started another re-read and a couple of times it's mentioned that the amount of power there was enough to re-seal the bore . . . or tear it open completely. So my question is - Why haven't they? Any thoughts would be great thanks guys.

[Blackhoof]

probably because it took 100 channelers for each sex channeling their powers to create a the Eye. (i think?) plus they died doing it. sacrificed themselves willingy, even.

 

also, they probably dont know how to do it.

[reaper_0131]

Makes sense, thanks mate

[Luckers]

Also the claims about the amount of Power contained in the Eye were likely exagerated.

[Xader]

Was the Eye anything more than a Well? It didn't seem to serve any purpose but to contain a finite supply of Saidin, near as I could tell.

[Evoke]

Was the Eye anything more than a Well? It didn't seem to serve any purpose but to contain a finite supply of Saidin, near as I could tell.

 

Yes, but a well of cleansed Saidin during the time of the Taint. Curious, what filter did they use to clean it? Rand used Shadar Logoth, but what did they use?

[PhoenixUK]

Yes but remember, men and women working together is what made the AOL a utopian age in terms of the Power. They obviously were able to clean a limited amount of saidin.

 

What WAS the purpose of the Eye? It helped Rand acknowledge his channelling abilities and helped him defeat Ishamael and undo the Dark One's grip of winter, but was that it's true purpose? They made it sound like the Shadow had tricked Jain Farstrider into panicking the Forces of Light into using the Eye earlier than was intended

[Luckers]

Was the Eye anything more than a Well? It didn't seem to serve any purpose but to contain a finite supply of Saidin, near as I could tell.

 

Yes, but a well of cleansed Saidin during the time of the Taint. Curious, what filter did they use to clean it? Rand used Shadar Logoth, but what did they use?

 

Nothing. I theorize that this is what killed them--they drove the Taint out of the saidin they had welled--and it had nowhere to go, and as such went into them. Remember the Taint is ultimately fatal with enough exposure.

 

What WAS the purpose of the Eye? It helped Rand acknowledge his channelling abilities and helped him defeat Ishamael and undo the Dark One's grip of winter, but was that it's true purpose? They made it sound like the Shadow had tricked Jain Farstrider into panicking the Forces of Light into using the Eye earlier than was intended

 

It protected the Horn and a Seal. It also provided the first suggestive evidence that saidin could be cleansed.

[Agitel]

Given what was found there, I'm pretty positive that the intent was that it be used to train the Dragon. That way he could learn to channel and not go mad before doing what needed to be done.

[Blackhoof]

too bad he used it all up in one sitting.... what a waste. :(

[Beidomon]

It's been about 6 months since my first re-read of Eye of the World, and I've already forgotten: did Moraine offer any explanation of the purpose of the Eye? I know there wasn't any explanation in the Rhuidean ter'angreal sequence. It just doesn't seem to have had any significance at all, other than to hold the Horn and one of the seals (which was broken anyway).

 

And why would Aginor or any other Forsaken need the Eye? As we learn in later books, the Dark One allows the male Forsaken to touch Saidin free of the taint.

[W_A]

Maybe the eye acted sort of like an angreal, in that you could use the whole thing at once.

[Samhain]

It's been about 6 months since my first re-read of Eye of the World, and I've already forgotten: did Moraine offer any explanation of the purpose of the Eye? I know there wasn't any explanation in the Rhuidean ter'angreal sequence. It just doesn't seem to have had any significance at all, other than to hold the Horn and one of the seals (which was broken anyway).

 

And why would Aginor or any other Forsaken need the Eye? As we learn in later books, the Dark One allows the male Forsaken to touch Saidin free of the taint.

 

The way I see it, they, the Forsaken, don't need the Eye. Rand needed it in order to discover/learn some of saidin without the taint, because this turn of the wheel would have been the first with the taint.

 

DO: That's right. No clean saidin for you Light warrior this time.

Aginor: Uh, dude, isn't there a bunch at the Eye of the World?

DO: Crap!

[Beidomon]

The way I see it, they, the Forsaken, don't need the Eye. Rand needed it in order to discover/learn some of saidin without the taint, because this turn of the wheel would have been the first with the taint.

 

DO: That's right. No clean saidin for you Light warrior this time.

Aginor: Uh, dude, isn't there a bunch at the Eye of the World?

DO: Crap!

 

This may be what the Aes Sedai intended by creating the Eye. It's as plausible a theory as any other. But if this is the case, it certainly didn't serve its intended purpose. In fact, it didn't seem to have much purpose at all. Rand didn't learn anything (that we know of) and the Eye only ended up saving Rand from one of the Forsaken... who wouldn't have been there anyway if not for the Eye!

 

Just seems strange that the Eye, which is both the name and objective of the first book, serves no real point in the overall story. In fact, I think it would be fair to call it a "MacGuffin."

[Orderofolde]

Was the Eye anything more than a Well? It didn't seem to serve any purpose but to contain a finite supply of Saidin, near as I could tell.

Everyone is forgetting that it was made when Saidin was tainted, which is what killed the 100 that made it. Now with no taint, and with the location now encroached or swallowed by the blight, it could be done. Lots of debate as to whether it was used as it was intended for, lots of speculation why two of the Chosen who already were protected from the taint wanted it, they had to be close to it to link to it or anyone that knew of it could access it from anywhere, and it was formed during the breaking after the Forsaken were locked away from it, so how did they know of it? Also the Forsaken that tapped it seemed to be regenerating, the aged nature of his body was going away. Might have been a well, but a well is not an Angreal or a Sangreal allowing more power than one could usually draw, so a pool with power to break the seals or to seal the Dark One away maybe for a hundred or more tapping it at once. Maybe it was concentrated into liquid form allowing it to be a purer form of both Saidin and Saidair.

 

One thing is for sure, and that is there were a lot of Aes Sedai doing a lot of different things at the end of their Age of Legends, what with the Choedan Kal (sp?), the Eye of the World, whatever things LTT and his Hundred companions used up. Maybe it was all needed, maybe each would have worked, however Lanfear as Selene seemed to fear the CK Rand saw in the Great Hunt. They also would not support LTT. If we put the pieces into order, maybe things have already been averted that had happened in the past, such as a division in the women's tower, with both not supporting LTT, each half doing their own thing hence rebels working with males to form the Eye, the other half making the CK. The store of Ter'angreal, Angreal, and Sa'angreal in Rhudian, the one in the tower itself, the origins of the caches that the Kin had as well as the Tairens, things tucked away in stasis boxes(the Forsaken know where to look for them but don't know what to expect to find in them if anything, so they didn't do the tucking away, maybe stasis boxes are a form of time capsules from different times, why else would there be cloth like Strithe in them, minor ter'angreal, minor angreal? Glow bulbs and other trinkets from the past age? "Oh #$%^! It's the end of the world! Hurry Martha! Throw that bolt of cloth in and some lightbulbs and that hat for controlling the harvester there! The broken shock lance too! No, don't worry about the harvester, let the Aiel carry it!") It is obvious that the Aes Sedai had lost their seat of power and roamed the lands scattered in the breaking, the men went mad and some sheltered for a time at Steadding, other men formed the eye, still others continued to break the world. We'll just have to hope for more peeks into the past and fit them together like a puzzle for a hope of a better glimpse at the larger picture. Probably will have a chapter named, "Revelations" in the next book or one heck of a Prologue.

[herid]

The way I see it, they, the Forsaken, don't need the Eye. Rand needed it in order to discover/learn some of saidin without the taint, because this turn of the wheel would have been the first with the taint.

 

DO: That's right. No clean saidin for you Light warrior this time.

Aginor: Uh, dude, isn't there a bunch at the Eye of the World?

DO: Crap!

 

This may be what the Aes Sedai intended by creating the Eye. It's as plausible a theory as any other. But if this is the case, it certainly didn't serve its intended purpose. In fact, it didn't seem to have much purpose at all. Rand didn't learn anything (that we know of) and the Eye only ended up saving Rand from one of the Forsaken... who wouldn't have been there anyway if not for the Eye!

 

Just seems strange that the Eye, which is both the name and objective of the first book, serves no real point in the overall story. In fact, I think it would be fair to call it a "MacGuffin."

this has likely been discussed to death in the past but I've always felt that Rand and co were baited into using the Eye by Ishy. He mentioned in tEoTW that he sent Jain Farstrider to the Ogier with the tale of danger to the Eye on purpose (Ch 51). as to why he did that the only conjecture I have is that it had something to do with breaking the first seal. It was found broken under the Eye but it is different from the later seals. It's not brittle like the other seals. when Lan strikes it with a knife the knife breaks so it seems it was broken using a different method than the rest of them. perhaps the DO needed someone to break the first seal so that he could then weaken the rest of the seals from inside using TP as he seems to be doing.