I can see a flaw in theory 1. If having one copy of the channeling gene makes one a learner, and two makes one a sparker, then Rand, being a sparker, must have gained copies from each of his parents. Which means Tigraine must be a learner. But she went to the Aiel. She became a Maiden of the Spear. Not a Wise One. And all channeling women in the Wast become Wise Ones. Therefore, if Tigraine could channel, she would become a Wise One. She didn't, so she probably couldn't. So, looks like theory 2 then.

It is a hazy matter, Tigraine becoming a Wise One. She is a wetlander. Should she be allowed in Rhuidean? Also, Aviendha was allowed to go in search of He Who Comes With the Dawn and remain Far Dareis Mai until The Shadow Rising despite the Wise Ones knowing she has the spark in her. So while I agree (as I said before) that theory 1 is not very good, Tigraine not becoming a Wise One doesn't present a definite flaw in it.

Ta'verenism works backwards in time? Cool.

Time is also quite the hazy matter in a world where the Wheel turns and time is cyclical. But it doesn't need to work "back" in time. It could work in the present - for instance, in finding Galad a mentor.

There are options that Galad doesn't channel and still has an important role. For once, if Gawyn were to die (ye, ye, he has to be with Egwene and all that, but who knows... we could use some sad endings :)), Galad becomes Elayne's First Prince of the Sword and leads the Whitecloak legions to protect the Queen of Andor in TG... All sorts of interesting options, so he doesn't have to be a channeler to be revealed as an important character. :)

Exhaustive research! But where did you get the info that only if both parents have the channeling gene, one can be a sparker? Take Nynaeve for example. You're suggesting that her parents have the channeling gene?

I assume you're talking about theory 1. Well, while I was doing my small research I came accross this theory 2-3 times in different WoT communities and was left with the impression it is a main-stream notion. And yes, according to theory 1, Nyn's parents should be at least learners if she's a sparker. That is why I tend to distance myself from this theory - it suggests a much higher number of channelers than we actually see in the books. You could say I put it out there for the sake of completeness :)

Okay this topic really got me excited and I did some research on how likely it is for Galad (and Gawyn, for that matter) to be channelers. First off, here is a small genealogical tree I made, leading down to Rand, Galad, Elayne, and Gawyn. Known channelers are marked. Secondly, the two gene theories - 1. the more common one is that having one copy of the channeling gene makes you a learner, two copies (one from each parent) make you a sparker, and no copies make you all in all a loser. :) 2. the more complex (and more spot-on,imo) theory is presented here and I think it's pretty well explained.

A couple of tables I created in analyzing from the perspective of Theory 1 can be found here. Looking at the Morgase+Taringail=Elayne table and knowing that Elayne is a sparker, we can definitively say that both parents should carry a copy of the channeling gene => Taringail has the channeling gene. Looking at the Tigraine+Janduin=Rand table and knowing that Rand is a sparker, we can definitively say that both parents should carry a copy of the channeling gene => Tigraine has the channeling gene. Since both parents have at least one copy of the channeling gene then their son, Galad, has 50% chance of being a learner and 25% of being a sparker (the Tigraine+Taringail=Galad table looks the same way as the other two). This theory also leads to the conclusion that Gawyn has the same odds as Elayne at being a channeler (25%-non-channeler, 50% - learner, 25% - sparker). Thus both Galad and Gawyn tend to have rather big chances of being able to channel (75%). However, I find that theory overly simplified and personally lean towards Theory 2.

A couple of tables I created in analyzing from the perspective of Theory 2 can be found here. Knowing that Morgase can channel, we can say that she has the genotype X¹X¹. Since Elayne is a channeler she also has the genotype X¹X¹. Therefore, her father Taringail has either X¹Y or X¹Y¹(Fig. 3). Moving to Rand, he is also a channeler and thus has X¹Y¹ genotype. Therefore, he gets the Y¹ from his father and Tigraine has to be the supplier of X¹- she is either X¹X or XX¹ or X¹X¹. Combining the information about Tigraine and Taringail in one table we get Fig. 5. From that table we see that in 4 outcomes out of the total of 12 (looking only at male offspring) we get a boy that has the potential of channeling. However, even if the boy is X¹Y¹ he may be DD and therefore still not be able to channel (odds: 25% of 33% or approx 8.5% of being a non-channler). In addition, he has the same probability (8.5%) of being a sparker and another 16.5% of being a learner - much more realistic numbers in my opinion.

So there we have it - the odds of Galad being a channeler... and with a ta'veren for a brother this ain't such bad odds. ;)

If I left something unexplained or made a mistake somewhere, I'd be happy if you point that out. Oh yes, and I do realize that these theories are just assumptions so I can't argue with a "Hey, you made a false assumption" statement since none of us know if it's false or not. I'm not sure if RJ ever thought about genetics behind channeling but I'm pretty sure he'd proud of theory n.2 :)

Just last night I ran into a passage that says he is about a year younger than Nyneave(TDR), but I didn't know the upper age limit for male sparking - so thanks, Luckers, finally someone answered my question. :)

As to the uses of his channeling... well, he doesn't need to be the next Elan Morin in power to be useful in TG. If Galad was to become a channeler maybe he would rethink his view of Rand and reduce the chances of 10k Whitecloaks riding towards TG to kill the Dragon(quite the uneducated bunch, arent they.. :)) So I'll really be looking forward to a Galad PoV having him wonder why he suddenly dropped on the floor and started burning and having chills and all that jazz :)

Galad is simply in a state of extreme concentration and focus...

Is the situation extreme enough to be called the biggest need he ever had? The need that gets you channeling? I'm just shooting blindly there as I fail to remember how old is Galad. Can anyone answer this for me? If I remember correctly he's a couple of years older than Rand, but does that definitively put him out of sparking age?

On the other hand, I'm thinking about him sparking earlier in his life. However, I find that less likely since he should've probably started goin looney by now.

Something I forgot to mention earlier is that he might have actually managed to rein in saidin without knowing. Much like any female wilder. And taint might not have affected him because (since he doesn't know what he is doing) he channels very rarely/channels very insignificant amount of the OP/started channeling only recently while doing his regular concentration exercises. And metallicafan08 puts forth another strong argument - the way the paragraph is written tells us that RJ wanted us to think of channeling when we read it. Whether that is just a red herring or actually setting basis for later revealing that Galad can channel, we can only speculate at this point.

Galad is also past the age where he would have sparked already and he's quite sane so I doubt there's any chance he's been only channeling on the sly, like Thom's nephew did.  He may have the gene to pass on, but he can not channel.

Note that you don't have to be a sparker to be a channeler. Sparkers are just very strong channelers who are bound to channel at a certain age. But a lot of channelers, including a respectful number of Aes Sedai, are learners - they can be thought to channel, but if noone took on teaching them they would've never channeled.

Quite some channelers related (or at least partly related) to Galad. So you truly might be up to something. Not definitive proof of anything but still opens a solid possibility of character development. He is son of Taringail, who fathered Elayne, who can channel. He shares the same mother with Rand, who can channel. So the gene of channeling is certainly present. Almost certainly from Taringail's side; he is Moaraine's half-brother, etc. And possibly from Tigraine's side as well, after all she gave birth to the Dragon, that's gotta count for something when it comes to genes. :)