Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  For this week, I've got some questions about the standing flows in the Age of Legends.

SPOILER WARNING.  This will include content from A Memory of Light.  Please DO NOT read this if you have not completed the book.

The standing flows are only mentioned in passing once, but they are alluded to a few times throughout the series.  They are a product of the Age of Legend, a mixture of One Power and technology that allowed non-channelers to use ter'angreal.  It's not clear how much of their technology ran on the One Power.  Or if it was just for frivolous things, not really worthwhile.  But let's take a look at the actual quote about them from the series.

Crossroads of Twilight

Chapter 21, "A Mark"

 

For a moment, Alviarin only stared at the package. Her most precious possession, a thing from the Age of Legends, but she had never dared use it before. Only in the worst emergency, Mesaana had said, the most desperate need, yet what need could be more dire than this? Mesaana said the thing could take hammer blows without breaking, but she undid the wrappings with the care she would have used with a piece of fine blown glass, revealing a ter’angreal, a brilliant red rod no larger than her forefinger, utterly smooth except for a few fine lines worked into the surface in a sinuous interconnecting pattern. Embracing the Source, she touched that pattern with hair-thin flows of Fire and Earth at two of the interconnections. That would not have been necessary in the Age of Legends, but something called the “standing flows” no longer existed. A world where almost any ter’angreal could be used by people unable to channel seemed odd beyond comprehension. Why had it been allowed?

Not much to go on, but the Wheel of Time Wiki expands on it a bit:

"Standing Flows"

 

It was hinted by Mesaana that most common ter'angreal used in the Age of Legends, even those that required channeling, could be used by non-channelers. When describing the function of a slender red call rod, she mentioned that powering it required simulating what she called the Standing Flows, described as an "always on" power source energizing any number of objects. This was done by weaving "hair-thin" flows of Fire and Earth at two of the "interconnections". No specification is given regarding the total number of "interconnections", but the wording implies multiple. No additional hints were given regarding the range and limitations.

It's interesting that Alviarin thinks of the standing flows only in context of the ter'angreal—as if only ter'angreal can access the standing flows.  However, current knowledge of the Age of Legends is very scant, and mostly wrong.  Alviarin's understanding would most likely be incorrect, no matter how much Mesaana told her.  That means the One Power—through the standing flows—could be used for other things.

Or, it could mean that all the technology used was developed through ter'angreal.  Making angreal, sa'angreal, and ter'angreal was common in the Age of Legends.  Many people had the Talent.  It would make sense for them to develop new ter'angreal, ones that could use the standing flows, to better the lives of the common citizens.

Either way, I think a vast majority of items were One Power based.  Even sho-wings and jo-cars.  The One Power is an endless energy supply.  The Aes Sedai would be stupid to not harvest its power and put it to practical use.

But how would the standing flows be harnessed?  I can see two ways.  First is that the Aes Sedai make pools of saidar and saidin for the ter'angreal to feed off of.  If there are vast pools all over the world, the weaves could be tied off—connecting the ter'angreal and the pools—making all the items work without someone actively channeling into it.

It's implied that men and women working together could form these pools without difficulty (The Eye of the World, Chapter 50, "Meetings at the Eye").  The only reason the ones who made the Eye of the World died was to make saidin pure and clean.  If creating pools of pure Power could be done, Aes Sedai could regularly refill the "reservoirs," allowing all the items linked to it to draw on the Power stored within.  

Or, taking on a more sci-fi perspective, the standing flows could be pure Power left to run wild.  It's all around, and all the devices programs to feed off the flows would work.  Maybe a good analogy would be a wind generator.  The wind is all around, and the device—the windmill—can access that power as long as the wind is there.

This might seem a bit confusing, but let me elaborate.  When we see scenes from the Age of Legends during Rand's trip into the glass-column ter'angreal, we see a group of Aiel, Ogier, and a Nym seed singing.  During this scene, it's speculated that the Nym uses weaves of the Power (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 26, "The Dedicated").  The phrase is that the Nym, "took those threads and wove them into his dance," which sounds a lot like channeling.  So, where is the Nym getting the flows?  From the standing flows, the Power that is surrounding them.  It's like wind all around them, and the Nym—a construct, like a ter'angreal—can access them.

Another point I'd like to touch on is whether or not the standing flows will come back.  They disappeared when the Bore was breached.  The Wheel of Time Wiki has something interesting on this that might shed some light on how they disappeared:

Allegedly, immediately after the Breaking began, sho-wings disappeared from existence, and not even tales of them managed to survive to the Third Age.

If sho-wings are running off the standing flows, they stopped working "immediately" after the Breaking.  If the standing flows are pools of the One Power, that makes sense since the Aes Sedai wouldn't go about refilling the reservoirs.  And if the standing flows are wild threads of Power running free, their threads could have been disrupted by the appearance of the Dark One.  He could have broken the weaves.  He could have taken away the wind.

But is it fixable?  Alviarin's comment of why such a thing had been allowed is telling.  I think most Aes Sedai would feel the same way.  The Power is for them, not for others.  The White Tower may claim to serve all, but I don't see them wanting to give up even an ounce of their power.

The Asha'man might be more likely to create standing flows again.  They learned the lesson that they are men, not weapons, so they might want to be more of a help to society.  But it would require the cooperation of women, if the standing flows are pools.  Men and women need to work together to accomplish that task.  

Two of the female Forsaken are still alive, Graendal and Moghedien.  Graendal is under compulsion, and fawning over Aviendha.  A lot of information might come of that.  Moghedien is a collared damane, captured and taken back to Ebou Dar.  Some information might come from that.  Honestly, I don't think the Seanchan would want to use any items that use the Power, so they wouldn't want the standing flows to reform.

But Graendal could be key to setting up a lot of wonders from the Age of Legends.  I wouldn't be surprised if she could help recreate the standing flows as well, if there were willing participation among the current channelers.

The last idea is that—if the Dark One blocked the flows, his resealing could heal the weaves on their own.  The standing flows could instantly be reinstated, without any help from another source.  That would lead to a lot of confusion, but probably some advances in civilization pretty quickly.

That's all for this week's edition.  Next time, I want to look at the Aiel and their new role in society.  Thanks for reading!