22 hours ago, Sir_Charrid said:

I thought that they bonded each other there so ashaman bonded to the aes sedai and vice versa? That is what led to the strange link, but might be misremembering it. Rand, on the other hand, had just the standard one way bond. 

You are absolutely correct. I forgot about the two way/reciprocal bond. Thanks for clarifying!

19 hours ago, Stedding Tofu said:

Yes, the bond has always been between a woman who could channel and a man who could not.  Alanna bonding Rand meant he could ignore the bond when she tried to compel him but he never bonded her in return.

 

The Pevara - Androl bond was reciprocal and had unintended consequences.  Whether it's unique or not is unclear (Androl's ability with gateways despite his low strength in the power being unique - and theoretically impossible) but Cadsuane's group bonded other Asha'man in Cairhien, Pevara's group numbered 50, all of whom were bonded by Asha'man and then Rand allowed Egwene to send 50 Aes Sedai to bond Asha'man in "compensation".  It's quite possible one of these 100+ bondings was also reciprocal but BS makes it a new discovery and explores it through Androl and Pevara.

 

There's also the question of Rand's multiple bondings with Elayne and Aviendha (in addition to Alanna) but I forget how that bonding worked.  There's certainly no mind reading between them.

 

Mind-reading is too intrusive so I'm glad this has not been established as a rule or inevitable consequence of channelers boding each other.

Ohhh! Yes, that makes sense. I forgot about the bond being mutual/reciprocal. Thank you for clarifying. Some of the later books have elements that are still kinda hard to unpack though.  Not complaining about BS or judging, I honor and respect what Sanderson took on and completed. 

On 1/18/2023 at 5:28 PM, Valeterios said:

 

I've started the wheel of time a few months ago and I'm in love with it. I have only read up to book 11, and am almost done with that one. I'm here to join a big community of fans, and to meet some new people! 🐍

Hi! I’m new to the community as well, from one newb to another, nice to “meet” you 

In the final couple of books we see a different sort of bond with ashaman and aes sedai where they seem to become telepathic. Was this some sort of fluke that only happened in one case? Because Rand and Alanna didn’t show signs of telepathy, and I don’t recall any evidence of it when he bonded his ladies who could channel. I’m only on my first reread and my initial read through was a little while back, so it may be simply bad recollection or understanding on my part. 

Besides Rand and birgitte, do we know (or suspect) any past embodiments of other characters?

Just doing my first reread, on LOC. Maybe it doesn’t matter, but I can’t help but want answers for every question. Any clues why liah wasn’t found on initial trip? Where was she, what happened? 

AHHHH I like that a lot. It makes me consider the nature of taveren and the apparent strength differences, kind of like how channelers are all able to touch the source but there is a vast and broad variation in terms of their strength. We have 3 known taveren, but only Rand seems to have fully embraced it at the highest level. Thanks for your perspective. 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I tend to agree with you that if his lighting the pipe in that way is because he has mastered the ability to shape or even control reality by thought (much the way tel’aran’rhiod works), potentially pointing to the possibility that the way to awakening or enlightenment or mastery or whatever is to realize the world is much like a dream, and it’s his dream, so he would be the only one to exhibit that ability. It’s a pretty common theme/belief in metaphysics and spirituality in our world as well, “reality” being illusion/dream/simulation etc

Thank you 😊 

Hi fellow WoT fans! I’m new to the community so I please forgive me if I may have missed this potential discussion in a thread posted previously. Is it just me, or did anyone else interpret the lighting of Rands pipe as almost a nod to the Aiel and one other culture (tremalking perhaps? I am only on first reread so my memory of initial read isn’t the best) who viewed life as a dream, combined with what we know about tel’aran’rhod. If you become a master of the world of dreams, whatever you think becomes so. Could it be that Rand conquered the next level of “the dream”? Seeing the world as the aiel so much so that thought becomes reality?

Hi WOT fandom!  I’m new to this community and this is my first post. I’ve read through the series once, currently on LOC in my reread. Bear with me as I’m not experienced with forums and social media in general…please be kind and gentle…this may be the wrong thread and a bit off topic but regarding names, do the aiel have surnames?