Verin senses Rand channeling?

[John Everyman]

This is something I remembered quite randomly. In The Great Hunt, in Rand's meeting with Siuan, Moiraine and Verin, it's hinted that Rand inadvertently embraces saidin, and that it's felt by Verin, if not all three of the Aes Sedai.

 

She touched her forehead, then peered at the dampness on her fingers. “He is strong. And as stubborn as you said, Moiraine. Much stronger than I expected. We may have to gentle him after all before.  .  .  .” Her eyes widened. “But we cannot, can we? The Prophecies. The Light forgive us for what we are loosing on the world.”

 

“The Prophecies,” Moiraine said, nodding. “Afterwards, we will do as we must. As we do now.” “As we must,” the Amyrlin said. “Yes. But when he learns to channel, the Light help us all.”

 

At the time, I thought it was awesome- the fact that Rand's strength in the power was already showing. However, later it's obviously established that women cannot sense men channeling without special methods. Now, the most realistic explanation is that Robert Jordan hadn't neatly hammered out all of the details to his magic system. Even so, when working this into the rest of the series, does this mean that Verin has a special ter'angreal? If so, it's strange that it's never mentioned again (as far as I'm aware), but I suppose she might not have much more use for it. Or maybe she ends up giving it to Cadsuane?

 

I suppose Verin could simply be speaking of his strength of character or something, but that seems very flimsy to me, particularly since she mentions gentling in the same breath. Anyway, this might be a noob question that's been resolved for ages, but I'm curious if there's any explanation/fix.

[michellem]

I've always just interpreted it as her speaking of his strength of spirit.

[zshadez]

Exactly. They're linked and trying to manipulate/awe him. Not anything to the level of compulsion, but sort of the way the coin token was supposed to make the boys more amenable to Moiraine, just making him more agreeable/accepting of what they have to say. You can see it in the way he acts, almost giving in and then rebounding back.

[yoniy0]

Also, he achieved the Oneness, but iI don't think he embraced saidin.

[John Everyman]

Exactly. They're linked and trying to manipulate/awe him. Not anything to the level of compulsion, but sort of the way the coin token was supposed to make the boys more amenable to Moiraine, just making him more agreeable/accepting of what they have to say. You can see it in the way he acts, almost giving in and then rebounding back.

 

Ah, that would make sense.  Is it confirmed that they were actually trying to influence him with the Power? 

[Sunrise Lord]

I thought it was his ta'veren nature.  Maybe not.

[John Everyman]

I suppose the Ta'veren nature could make sense, but again it feels like an odd thing to pair with gentling, unless they're talking about the danger of allowing a male channeler to gain so much influence.  And we don't really see Rand's ta'veren nature actually physically effecting someone until TOM (unless I'm forgetting something). 

 

 

 

@yoniy0 "Also, he achieved the Oneness, but iI don't think he embraced saidin."

 

 

In TGH, he wasn't really aware of the sensation of grasping saidin, much less on how to do it; when I read it, I personally got the impression that he often would snatch at saidin when entering what he called the Void, though I could be wrong about that.  It's only when he uses the portal stones that he realizes what he's doing.  I'm led to believe this more by the fact that his senses are said to be enhanced when drifting in "The Void", which is very similar to what happens when he holds saidin.

[yoniy0]

There's a distinct difference between the usual effect of the Oneness and the heat/cold/vivid colors of the Source. Even in TGH (and even in TEotW).

[John Everyman]

There is, as it's also present in Lan's POV, but throughout TGH Rand seems to grab and let go of saidin without realizing it, often in an attempt to reach for the Void.  The most prominent example is with his fight with Ishamael.  And of course, in TEOTW, he grabs saidin multiple times without realizing it.  While it's obviously a widely used technique among the Borderlanders (and maybe among Randlanders in general, I can't remember exactly), I always got the impression that, for Rand, it sometimes served as a way for him to unknowingly touch the Source, something of a bridge.  

[theblacksmith]

This is something I remembered quite randomly. In The Great Hunt, in Rand's meeting with Siuan, Moiraine and Verin, it's hinted that Rand inadvertently embraces saidin, and that it's felt by Verin, if not all three of the Aes Sedai.

 

She touched her forehead, then peered at the dampness on her fingers. “He is strong. And as stubborn as you said, Moiraine. Much stronger than I expected. We may have to gentle him after all before.  .  .  .” Her eyes widened. “But we cannot, can we? The Prophecies. The Light forgive us for what we are loosing on the world.”

 

“The Prophecies,” Moiraine said, nodding. “Afterwards, we will do as we must. As we do now.” “As we must,” the Amyrlin said. “Yes. But when he learns to channel, the Light help us all.”

 

At the time, I thought it was awesome- the fact that Rand's strength in the power was already showing. However, later it's obviously established that women cannot sense men channeling without special methods. Now, the most realistic explanation is that Robert Jordan hadn't neatly hammered out all of the details to his magic system. Even so, when working this into the rest of the series, does this mean that Verin has a special ter'angreal? If so, it's strange that it's never mentioned again (as far as I'm aware), but I suppose she might not have much more use for it. Or maybe she ends up giving it to Cadsuane?

 

I suppose Verin could simply be speaking of his strength of character or something, but that seems very flimsy to me, particularly since she mentions gentling in the same breath. Anyway, this might be a noob question that's been resolved for ages, but I'm curious if there's any explanation/fix.

I believe the sweat on the brow, and feeling of power were also experienced in ToM..by the AS in the audience and can be explained as the affects of tavereen...