Surviving Stilling Long Term

[Barid Bel Medar]

Because women who can't channel are so common among AS right? Suian and Lelaine weren't AS any more which is why they could rechoose ajah's, seems pretty kicked out to me.

 

Well, they were stilled and to be executed for treason. It is a different matter, they didn't get kicked out, they ran for their lives.

 

They keep women who are stilled to punish them and set an example. They made the Red Amyrlin who was stilled a kitchen maid as an example.

 

They allow the women who are burned out or stilled (unless they committed some treason or are Black Ajah) leave the Tower and try to live a normal life because a) the woman doesn't want to be constantly reminded of what they are missing.

b) AS are uncomfortable being reminded of what could happen to them.

 

And whats this about Logain being fine in the Tower? He was a mess, moping round and such all the time. He would have killed himself if the AS didn't prevent him. He only found new hope after Suian told him about getting revenge on the Reds.

[Naggash]

And whats this about Logain being fine in the Tower? He was a mess, moping round and such all the time. He would have killed himself if the AS didn't prevent him. He only found new hope after Suian told him about getting revenge on the Reds.

So you're with me. To survive the stilling they need to find a new motivation.

I think the greater problem here is that AS are so full of themselves that after losing the channeling ability they aren't strong-willed enough to say 'Ok, I'm AS no more, now I'm going to be as pathetic a person as everyone else and have a low work like common people, let's find something worth of living'.

We see this 'status change' with Suan's PoVs; I think many women aren't strong enough to face it. Besides, Suan had a reason to keep on going.

[jsbrads]

 

Most WOTlanders have lifespans of 40-50 probably -we're talking about a society with lots of violence, food shortages and no antibiotics.

 

[jsbrads]

oops, wanted q sharaman

 

i think your numbers are a little low, the little thief, non-descript guy who works for Elayne is at least 40. Tam 50-ish, Cenn 80s? Lini 60?70? master Gill 40+ morgase 40ish, gareth 60 ish, thom 60s? egwene's dad 50ish and most of them do not seem old for society, but in their prime.

 

Violence and food shortages weren't that common until recently during the Age ending upheaval

 

And Nynaeve was testing that woman in Tear, I'm sure one of them mentioned spoiled bread

[Naggash]

Most WOTlanders have lifespans of 40-50 probably -we're talking about a society with lots of violence, food shortages and no antibiotics.

 

A few examples that this is wrong can be clearly found in Lan's chapters in ToM while riding to Tarwin's Gap. Quite a lot that join him are in his 70s, bringing sons and greatsons, and Lan states that they are as hard fighters as any, more than some.

 

Also what jsbrads sais is further prove. Tam, Morg, Bran, etc are 40-50s and they are never thought as 'old' people. Morgase for example has been said quite a few times to be mature beauty in her prime.

 

Olso people like Cenn and Sharina are called 'old' or 'very old' but they never caused an impact or raised any further comment, so it is not seen as an uncommon thing.

[Sephie913]

For the record, Morgase has slowed to some degree. (5 years? 10, maybe?) The rest of them look reasonably close. I would say the high end is 80, with very few being older.

 

Taking into account that very often, it took 30-40 years to become AS, you have a woman anywhere from 45-80 years old. Then the additional time they were AS before being stilled/burned out, you likely have women of at least 70. Many people today don't make it into 70's, let alone past. Add a few years before they died, and you might have 85 year old woman dying. This is very young for channelers, as they often lived to at least 200, and a lot of the time into 300.

 

I'm not saying I believe one way or another, but I don't think we can dismiss the theory out of hand.

 

 

 

*edited for grammer, clarity, and to point out that I meant for this to be read in a scholarly Brown Ajah tone, as opposed to cold, Red Ajah tone :)

[Sharaman]

Taim's in his late 20s as per RJ's quotes and internal evidence -- he's a sparker who's been channeling 10-odd years without going mad as he says.

The existence of specific characters who are in their 60's / 70s doesn't really prove that the average lifespan is more than 40-50.

Still for argument's sake, assume the average lifespan of a non-channeler in WoTland is 70 - that's more than any known historical era before the late 20th century

it's still pitifully short compared to average AS lifespans and I'd say the subjective argument holds that AS consider a stilled woman to die "early" when she just reverts to the normal lifespan.