Can anyone tell me if it was ever revealed what made handling sadin near Ebou'dar difficult in a Path of Daggers? Thanks guys.

 

 

Yeah. Essentially what caused it was that the Bowl of the Winds was only designed to control the weather over a small area. The Windfinders used their superior knowledge of weaving the winds to push it to fix the weather for the entire world, which overstressed the ter'angreal, causing the affect. The same thing also occured along the 'spokes' that radiated out from Ebou Dar.

 

This was confirmed by RJ.

??? That was confirmed by RJ? I'll take your word for it Luckers, but I was always convinced it was because of how Aviendha dismantled that Waygate, and the subsequent explosion and 'Aes Sedai weapon'. Guess I was wrong.

 

Really though, thanks for pulling that quote out and summarizing its meaning.  Although now I am even more curious as to why Cyndane isn't as powerful.

 

Coz she was burned out and healed by a woman.

I'd say its because she transmigrated into another body, not as strong in the power (see Osangar for example).

The ability to channel is tied to the soul; not simply the body.  For example, RJ said that the Dragon soul would always be able to channel.  There's a genetic component to channeling, yes, but RJ described it as if the genetic dice are tossed, and if the body is capable of channeling, then a channeling-soul is allocated to the body. It follows that bodies for transmigration would likewise have to satisfy the genetic-channeling component to be a candidate for transmigration of a Forsaken.  The extent of the ability to channel, I would think, lies with the soul and not the body.

With regard to

(see Osangar for example)

you seem to be trying to infer he was weaker than Aginor, but I didn't think he was.

Have another quesiton:

 

Is channeling ability genetic? Or has anything to do with genes?

Yes, but it can also be tied to souls.  Whether a child can channel is based on the genes of the parents, but certain souls, like the Dragon's, are required to and will always be able to channel.  RJ explained all this in a few interviews.  In the main continent, Aes Sedai gentle men and for the most part do not have children, so channeling is dying out.  Aiel Wise Ones and Sea Folk channelers have children, so it's not dying out as quickly there although male channelers are still removed.  Sul'dam remain in the breeding pool in Seanchan so it's not so bad, although sexual relations with da'mane are forbidden as a 'perversion', as Tuon tells Mat.  Only in Shara that we know of do all female channelers as well as male channelers remain as breeding stock for a short period of time, so one would imagine the ratio of channelers to non-channelers in Shara is similar to the AoL ratio.

The soul-aspect is more confusing, but one would have to assume that the genetic dice have to be rolled first, after which a compatible soul is selected for the child.  Thus, if Rand's genes were unable to permit channeling, the Dragon soul would have been transferred to another body.

I believe Bair is a Dreamwalker that cannot channel.  So was Seane (again, if memory serves) who died by Draghkar in Book 5 during one of the raids on Rand's camp in the Waste.

Both Perrin and Slayer appear to be restricted in their movement as compared to full Dreamwalkers... They can take a step and walk a mile, but nothing we've seen has indicated they can find things with 'need', or zoom across the world by thinking of their destination.  Granted, nothing we know says they CAN'T do this, they may simply not know how.  Yes, Perrin was shown windows in TAR of events that appeared to be the future.  This is different than Egwene's dreams.  Egwene's 'true' dreams are actual dreams that she actually can feel are true (or just dreams), not TAR manifestations like Perrin randomly has access to on occasion.