Who has the best/worst chance of resisting the Shadow?

[Barid Bel Medar]

So, a big thing in the WoT is the strength of Aes Sedai's will, and we have some very strong-headed characters (male and female).

 

Since the LB is here, and the DO spreads despair and gloom around the world, I thought this would be an interesting topic.

 

Hypothetical question here: If the Shadow managed to get their hands on all the people in the poll, and began interrogating them all, who would stand the best chance of remaining faithful and resisting the...persuasion... of the DO? Who has the strongest conviction? Purely on willpower, nothing else.

 

Since circumstances and such give certain characters an advantage, for the sake of "equality" and being based purely on willpower alone, a few conditions to be set:

 

1. The characters do not know the fates of any of the others, as far as they are concerned, they are the only ones captured. The rest are still resisting, as far as they know.

 

2. The Shadow doesn't have hostages or loved ones to use as leverage. They certainly can lie about it and threaten, but they can't roll out, say, Min, and threaten to kill her in front of Rand.

 

3. The OP, TP, TAR, Wolf Dream, Bond and Rand's new found abilities (the sun around him etc.) have no bearing on the situation. It is purely willpower alone.

 

4. The characters are in the mindset they are going into aMoL. So post VoG Rand, post-Seanchan/Mesaana Egwene, post-Faile captured Perrin etc...

 

5. No mindtraps, Domination Bands, a'dam, Binders etc... to force certain people to comply.

 

6. The Shadow can use any threat. like threaten to have Faile killed, or put the a'dam on Egwene, they can use physical torture, but no actual threats followed through with. Although they can lie and say they have a loved one in custody.

 

7. With Rand, Mat, Perrin etc., there is still hope of escape, they are not doomed because the DR has been defeated and captured (more like the Tower Kidnapping scene) Although it would certainly be a worry for Rand, his fate is not sealed.

 

8. We are talking about the Characters betraying the Light, not death, or pain, or torment. The Shadow here wont kill or permanently damage their minds. They want them to betray the Light, through information, and forcing them to fight against the Light etc.. So no "I will sacrifice myself to save people" type thing.

 

 

Basically, with those conditions, I am trying to make it based on willpower as totally as it can get, without other issues standing in the way.

 

 

 

So having said that, who do you think would last the longest? And who would crack the fastest?

 

 

My vote for the strongest goes to Moiraine. She is a bastion of Light. She has suffered under the Finns and still managed to keep herself in good condition, she willingly sacrificed herself, knowing she had months of torment at the hands of the Finns to save Rand from Lanfear. She has more steel than any man woman or child in the Wheel.

 

The "weakest" although none of them are weak, just the most likely option, would unfortunately have to be with Perrin. Faile is too big a weakness with him. He has said he would deal with the DO to keep her safe.

[WhiskyJack]

King in the North!

[FarShainMael]

I voted for Nynaeve to hold out the longest, considering how long it took for her block against channelling to break against all the AS coould do.

 

Who woould break first.. Tricky. I voted for Tuon. The props holding up her own worldview are frighteningly (for her!) fragile.

[Barid Bel Medar]

it is a pretty tight one, because there are a lot of strong characters here, it isn't really large gaps between the top contenders.

 

The Top 5 I think is more accurate:

 

1. Moiraine still for me, she could win a staring contest with a rock. She has already risked herself far more than any other character. Willing sacrifice, not just enduring what came along, but was strong enough to go through with her plans even though she knew what was coming.

 

2. Rand. The Shadow has already tried its hardest to turn him, and while he did nearly break for a moment there, post-VoG, he is much stronger and more determined. Most of the characters would have been completely broken around WH if they had been through what Rand had. I always respected how he stayed true to the cause, even in tGS, he never quite crossed the line. The only thing that makes him second is his fragility in terms of women.

 

3. Lan. He could endure the most torture, and nothing much could get to him psychologically, what puts him down the list is Nynaeve, I am not sure how he would react in regards to threats against her.

 

4. Egwene. She has proved her willpower with Mesaana and her capture in the Tower. However, she is below top 3 because, unlike them, she has not truly been tested by the Shadow, not to the extent the others have. Mesaana, I don't know if it was the writing or something, but I found it underwhelming, I don't consider it a true test for Egwene. Being collared in TAR is fair different from being collared in the waking world. Her hatred and fear of the Seanchan is a weakness, and the Aes Sedai methods of trying to break her are...soft...compared to the Shadow. They never truly wanted to harm her, only "put her in her place."

 

5. Mat. I think a lot of people underestimate his will. He is loyal and always keeps his word, when things get serious he doesn't mess around. Only number 5 for a few reasons, his relationship with Tuon, and the tGH portal stone event, where he sees himself betraying Rand. Not to say that he would, just it is enough to doubt.

 

 

Note that these would all be pretty close, I don't think there would be much separating them all, just some have a slight edge.

[Majsju]

Min, Avi and Elayne has a huge advantage with their bond to Rand. no matter what happens, they will know if he is alive and (fairly) well. And Rand gets the same benefit, though for him it can also become a huge disadvantage if any of the women dies.

 

Same goes for Nyn and Lan.

 

(I could add Egwene, Siuan and Moiraine to that list, but as they are bonded to people not on the list, I chose to interpret this hypothetical situation as they have a much higher risk of feeling the bond snap. Especially Egwene, who is bonded to a complete moron who would get himself killed within the hour if she was captured).

[Random Man]

I voted for Cadsuane to last the longest. She's really got nothing to lose except her life and she's already accepted the fact she's in her last years, being nearly 300. Additionally she has no strong emotional attachments left in the world, and we've already seen her think upon how she'd be broken -- through humiliation. How exactly would the Shadow be able to humiliate her at this point in her life?

 

I say Faile would crack the first as she's already taken some steps in a dark direction in justification of a greater good, such as the murder of Masema. I could see her breaking in an attempt to regain control over the situation at hand.

[RandA lThor]

I voted for Moiraine to resist the longest. She literally sacrificed her life to go against the Shadow. It is her whole life, she would be the one to crack the easiest.

 

I voted for Faile to crack the easiest like as Random Man said, she has already done some things like that and thinks to politically and for Perrin.

[TristanWebb]

Egwene would break instantly, all you would have to do is say Rand wants her to stay strong and she would turn to the shadow to spite him.

 

I would say Rand is the least likely to break without threatening anyone else just because he has pretty much gone through it all before.

[GB]

i voted moiraine for the longest....and for the one who will crack the fastest, i ended picking perrin because of what he said..although if faile is not in the picture, then i dont think he would crack so fastly