True Power shield in AMOL

[Guest Theorist]

I was hunting for a couple of things in old RJ interviews when I came across this:

 

Week 8 Question: When a person that can channel is shielded, where is the shield placed? Is it placed around the whole body of the person or around the head of the channeler where they sense saidin/saidar? If you are shielded from the One Power, are you also shielded from the True Power? What happens if someone in a circle is shielded? Can a Warder feel that his Aes Sedai is shielded?

 

Robert Jordan Answers: A shield exists both as a barrier around the entire person and as a single point along with everything in between. . (In a way, this is like the Bore, which does not actually exist as Shayol Ghul. The Bore exists everywhere, but Shayol Ghul is the place where it can best be detected. Which is not to say that there is any connection between the Bore and a shield. Both simply exist in different states simultaneously.) Someone who is shielded and trying to get past the shield can "feel" their way along its inner "surface" hunting for weaknesses, such as the points that indicate where the shield is being maintained or has been tied off. Shielding against the One Power will indeed stop someone from reaching for the True Power. It isn't possible to shield one person out of a circle since, in effect, the circle has become a single person for the purpose of channeling. You would have to shield the entire circle, which would require either a circle of your own or a pretty hefty sa'angreal. A Warder cannot feel that his Aes Sedai has been shielded, though he would be aware of any agitation on her part. But this would tell him no more than that she was agitated.

 

 

 

Emphasis mine. Source: http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Source:Tor_Questions_of_the_Week,_1_February_2005_-_19_July_2005

 

It made me think of that scene when Demandred shields Taim in AMOL. Sharan channelers shield Taim first, on Demandred's command. Taim reaches for the TP, so Demandred shields him with TP shield. That seems to contradict the statement made by RJ above.

 

Another thing it made me think of is the scene towards the end of ToM where Rand discusses things with the Borderlanders. He tells them that "The Guardian blocks the One Power only", which would indicate that the Guardian must work differently from shielding, since it doesn't block the True Power.

 

I'm not sure whether other cases of being shielded/blocked from the One Power applies equally to the True Power. For example, when Semirhage held Rand in the male a'dam, could she have prevented him from also reaching for True Power? What about others of the Forsaken who were captured - Moghedien, Asmodean. They could have escaped, had they access to the True Power. So why did the DO prevent them from using it?

 

Just speculating...

[mb]

about the mentioned male adam scene, it seems to me that none of them were aware that the True Power could be accessible to Rand.  not sure what would have happened if they attempted to block the True Power as well.

 

Asmodean; he seemed to choose his captivity.  He seemed to have many chances of escape.

 

Moghedien; she could have avoided capture in the first pace by dismissing the Telaranrhoid adam and/or the Telaranrhoid forkroot.

[Sabio]

Also could be Rand assumed the TP would work there. For all we know he might of been wrong.  After all his knowledge about the TP was pretty limited.  It could of been just an assumption that since he could use the TP with the male 'adam on he could use it where people normally couldn't channel like a stedding.  As for a'dam since its not really a shield it probably isn't possible to stop them from getting to use the TP.  An A'dam is more of them controlling your ability.  Asmo escaping, to where?  Once Lanfear said he turned well he was pretty screwed.  He knew he needed Rand for protection.  He couldn't run back to the DO since every forsaken would kill him.  He accepted his captivity especially with the block Lanfear put on his ability to channel. 

 

Simple the TP was seen as a reward, until the last battle where everyone seemed to use it.  Being captured is hardly going to make the DO want to reward them by allowing them to use the TP.  TP was a sign of the DO's favor.  But even if he allowed more to use it, few wanted to since it was addictive with side effects.  Look what happened to Ishy.  But those who were captured were not going to be allowed to use the TP.

[Mr Ares]

It made me think of that scene when Demandred shields Taim in AMOL. Sharan channelers shield Taim first, on Demandred's command. Taim reaches for the TP, so Demandred shields him with TP shield. That seems to contradict the statement made by RJ above.

Most likely that was something Brandon was unaware of when he wrote the books. Either that or RJ misspoke or changed his mind before it came to that.

 

I'm not sure whether other cases of being shielded/blocked from the One Power applies equally to the True Power. For example, when Semirhage held Rand in the male a'dam, could she have prevented him from also reaching for True Power? What about others of the Forsaken who were captured - Moghedien, Asmodean. They could have escaped, had they access to the True Power. So why did the DO prevent them from using it?

In Asmo's case even if he had the means to escape he had nowhere to escape to, as Lanfear spread the word he had gone traitor. Asmo's best bet was to wait it out and look for opportunities - an actual betrayal of Shai'tan to side with Rand, or a betrayal of Rand to get him back in his master's good graces. Escaping and running off wouldn't help. The TP was not handed out willy-nilly, and it was sufficiently dangerous to use that no-one bar Ishy/Moridin was prepared to use it unless they had to. So even if the captives did have access to the TP, waiting it out might be seen as a safer bet. It seems reasonable that the male a'dam would also prevent use of the TP - my reasoning would be the same as Sabio's, that an a'dam is a case of them controlling your ability - and the male a'dam grants greater control than the regular one. So if your ability to channel is controlled, it should be capable of controlling your ability to channel the TP. Perhaps it could have prevented it, but Semi didn't think to block TP (why would she?).

[Sabio]

Also it could of been something as simple as by adding the TP shield, it might not of been necessary but it had the added effect on the shielded person that we saw happen to Taim.  But it could of been an extra precaution.  Does a shield of the TP also stop you from channeling the normal power?  Could of been simply to ensure all basis were covered.    But I agree with Area that probably was an error on BS part or RJ changed his mind.

 

As Ares said Semi would have no reason to think that she should block Rand from the TP since how would he get access to it?  She had no idea of his link to Moridin.  You must be linked to the DO to get the access and it was rarely given.  Since you can't sense someone channeling the TP it would seem pretty wasteful and pointless to block everyone you captured from using it.