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2.3.3: Effects of the Oath Rod: Binding, Agelessness, and Death

[Daniel Rouk, Burr Rutledge, Andrea Leistra, Korda]

Binding

One of the first references to "binding" is in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 136]. Graendal is showing off her Sharans. While discussing the Sharan channellers, Sammael asks her if they 'bind themselves like criminals.' Sammael thinks he's revealing something Graendal didn't know, but she thinks about how she found out about the AS use of the Oath Rod from Mesaana [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 138]. We later find out Mesaana is in the White Tower. The only 'binding' that we know about that occurs in the White Tower is the bonds willingly taken by Aes Sedai via the Oath Rod.

Next scene: [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139-143] Semirhage is torturing the Aes Sedai, and thinking on how she was 'wronged' because the Age of Legends Servants didn't understand why she gave a little pain with her healing. After all, nobody complained when they owed their life to her. She recollects that she was given two choices, to be severed, or to accept binding. The actual quote is "to be bound never to know her pleasures again, and with that binding be able to see the end of life approach." This illustrates that 'binding' is in fact as Sammael said, something done to criminals.

In [Guide: 3, The Age of Legends, 37], we learn about the criminal justice system in the AOL. "When the perpetrators of violent acts were caught, they were not sent to prison. Rather, they were constrained... against repeat offenses. This binding made it impossible for the criminal ever to repeat his crime." In [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 54], we also find out that this binding was done with the OP. Describing Balthamel, ne Eval Ramman, it says, " More than once he supposedly came very close to being bound with the Power against doing violence."

Finally, we have [ACOS: 40, Spears, 630-631], in which Sammael gives Sevanna an OR, which he probably got from the Ebou Dar stash. He explains how it works: "'You might call it an Oath Rod,' Caddar said...'It only came into my hands yesterday, and I immediately thought of you.'... 'All you need do is have your AS...or any woman who can channel, hold the rod and speak whatever promises you wish while someone channels a little Spirit into the number. The marks on the end of the rod?'...'It only works on women?' [Sevanna said.] 'Women who can channel, Sevanna,' Caddar said."

We learn a few other things about the OR and binding:

1. It can be used to remove Oaths, according to Sammael [ACOS: 40, Spears, 631], and from Pevara and Seaine's experiments described in [TPOD: 26, The Extra Bit, 503]. It makes sense that there should be some way to remove the Oaths, since it was a method of punishing criminals. If the criminal was later proven innocent, or truly reformed, one would want the OR binding removed, considering its unhealthy effects (see below).
2. It is harder to bind non-channellers than to bind channellers [ACOS: 40, Spears, 631]. This implies that the OR's binding mechanism involves the bound individual's channelling ability.
3. The OR is NOT a "Rod of Dominion." The way the Nine Rods of Dominion were mentioned in TEOTW Prologue, they were something special. The OR, OTOH, is referred to as a "binder," lower case. Nothing special. Furthermore, in TPOD, we find out what Sammael meant by "the number" in [ACOS: 40, Spears, 630-631]-- the Oath Rods are numbered. The Tower's Rod is number three, while Sevanna's Rod is number one hundred and eleven [TPOD, 11, Questions and an Oath, 253]. So, it seems like there are way more than nine Oath Rods.

Agelessness

The question is: is the "ageless" look attributed to Aes Sedai in the Third Age something unique to them, or is this appearance attained by all channellers? If it is only found in modern AS, then it seems likely that the look is caused by the Oath Rod-- one of the only major differences between the current Aes Sedai and other channellers.

What is the Ageless Look? It is not mere youthfulness. People looking at AS with the look are unable to put any age at all to them. Here is evidence:

1. In [TDR: 3, "News from the Plain," 23] Perrin describes Moiraine: "She was a slender, dark-haired woman no taller than his shoulder, and pretty, with the ageless quality of all Aes Sedai who had worked with the One Power for a time. He could not put any age at all to her..."

2. In [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 25-26], Elayne describes Janya Sedai and Anaiya Sedai: "Janya Sedai was quite neat, every short dark hair tidy around the ageless face that marked Aes Sedai who had worked long with the Power.... "You are making great strides, Elayne," Anaiya said calmly. The bluff-faced woman was always calm. "Motherly was the word to describe her, and comforting usually, though Aes Sedai features made putting an age to her impossible."

3. In [ACOS: 1, High Chasaline, 60] Perrin describes the TAS who were captured, discounting the ones who were stilled: "The others looked ageless, of course, maybe in their twenties, maybe in their forties, changing from one glance to the next, always uncertain. That was what their faces said, though several showed gray in their hair." From this, we know that if an observer can put a definite age to a channeller, then the channeller DOES NOT have the Ageless Look.

Note: the Ageless Look takes some time to manifest itself after a woman is raised to full AS. 1) Elaida's spy in Caemlyn is "'A Red Sister....Newly raised, so she can easily pass for other than AS.' She meant that the woman had not yet taken on the agelessness..." [TFOH, Prologue, The First Sparks Fall, 16] 2) In [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 408], Elayne says, "I don't think anyone has ever reached that [the Ageless Look] until they've worn the shawl at least a year or two, sometimes five or more."

Now, let us look at the descriptions of all other channellers, to see that they do NOT have the Ageless Look.

A Look at non-Aes Sedai Channellers

Aiel Wise Ones

• Perrin describing the WOs after rescuing Rand: "Every Wise One who had come here from Cairhien was able to channel, though none had the ageless look." [ACOS: 1, High Chasaline, 64] Amys is one of these WOs--she appears in [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 80].
• Sevanna describing Graendal, lets slip what is perhaps the most glaring example that the ageless look is actually different from what the Wise Ones have:

  As dark of face and hair as he [Sammael], and beautiful enough to tighten Sevanna's mouth, she wore red silk, cut to expose even more of her bosom than Someryn showed.... Right then, she did not care whether the woman could move mountains or barely light a candle. She must be Aes Sedai. She did not have the face, yet some Sevanna had seen did not. [She's probably thinking about Egwene, who was masquerading as AS]

  If the WOs had the same ageless look as Aes Sedai, Sevanna would not think of "the face" as an identifying feature of AS.
• In [TSR: 23, Beyond the Stone, 262], we have a description of Melaine from Egwene's point of view, before she knows that Melaine can channel. "The last of the four, a handsome woman with golden-red hair, no more than ten or fifteen years older than Egwene, hesitated." Note that Eg puts a definite age to her.
• Egwene, describing Amys: "Suddenly Amys's youthfully smooth features beneath that white hair leaped out at her for what they were, something very close to Aes Sedai agelessness." [TSR, 23, Beyond the Stone, 262]. "Amys was white-haired, too... but she did not look old. She and Melaine could both channel -- not many Wise Ones could -- and she had something of the look of the Aes Sedai agelessness about her." [TFOH: 5, Among the Wise Ones, 99] Note that Amys is close to ageless, has something of the look, but NOT the exact same look.
• In [TGH: 28, A New Thread in the Pattern, 345], Urien meets Ingtar's party, and says to Verin, "No, Wise One. But you have the look of those who have made the journey to Rhuidean and survived. The years do not touch the WOs in the same way as other women." This seems to tell us that the WOs do have the Ageless look. However, the huge quantity of contradictory quotes, especially Perrin's and Sevanna's above, leads us to believe that either RJ changed his mind, or Urien was mistaken, or Urien only meant that Verin doesn't look as old as her grey hair would indicate.

Sea Folk Windfinders:

• Elayne and Ny do not recognise Jorin, the Windfinder of Wavedancer, as a channeller until Elayne actually SEES her channel [TSR: 20, Winds Rising, 233]. If she had the distinctive Ageless look, they'd have noted it immediately. This is not merely a case of Jorin being young; she is not. Her sister Coine has "gray touches in her black hair and fine wrinkles at the corners of her...eyes....It was a surprise that the two were sisters. Elayne could see the resemblance, but Jorin looked much younger." [TSR: 19, The Wavedancer, 217]. Furthermore, Joine has children older than Elayne. [TSR: 20, Winds Rising, 234]
• The Windfinders Rand meets in [ACOS: 34, Ta'veren, 535-536] look young, not ageless:

  "Harine did a lot of the talking, and so did a young, pretty woman in green brocade with eight earrings altogether, but the pair in plain silk put in occasional comments....Harine turned so calmly there might never have been any hasty conference. "This is Shalon din Togara Morning Tide, Windfinder to Clan Shodein," she said with a small bow toward the woman in green brocade, "and this is Derah din Delaan Rising Wave....""

  "She [Derah] made a small bow toward the fourth woman, in yellow. "This is Taval din Chanai Nine Gulls, Windfinder of White Spray." Only three rings hung from each of Taval's ears, fine like those of the Sailmistress. She looked younger than Shalon, no older than himself."

Seanchan Damane and Sul'dam

• In [TGH: 40, "Damane," 477] Egwene sees Renna, her new sul'dam: "With long, dark hair and big brown eyes, she was pretty, and perhaps as much as ten years older than Nynaeve." Note she can put a specific age to Renna.
• In [TGH: 40, Damane, 482], a damane is described: "One of the other sul'dam snorted loudly; she was linked to a pretty dark-haired woman in her middle years who kept her eyes on her hands." Again, we have a specific age.

Forsaken and Other Old-time Aes Sedai

• AoL Aes Sedai don't seem to have had the look, although we have little evidence one way or the other. (Plus, aging was weird in the AoL. Jonai [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 300] is 63 years old and considers himself young. Jonai doesn't mention his Aes Sedai having an "ageless" look, but he doesn't mention her lack of it, either. He says she "looked younger than he." None of the Forsaken are "ageless."
• Many years after the Breaking, when Rhuidean is built, the Aes Sedai with the Jenn Aiel are described as "ageless." [TSR: 25, The Road to the Spear, 284]. While one of these AS has the same name as one of the AOL AS we see in TSR, it is not the same person. At a post-POD book signing in Dayton, RJ was asked, "Was the Aes Sedai who initiated the Pact of Rhuidean from the Age of Legends?" RJ's answer: (Pause)"No." (Pause)"No, she was not from the Age of Legends." [from Michael Martin] When was the OR first put into use? The first of the Three Oaths to be put into effect, the Second Oath against making weapons with the Power, was adopted after the War of Power [TGH: 1, The Flame of Tar Valon, 5], [Guide: 24, The White Tower, 213]. However, Sheriam's statement in [TGH: 23, The Testing, 282] implies that the Oath Rod itself wasn't put into use until after the Trolloc Wars. Needless to say, this point needs clarification.

Stilled Aes Sedai

• After being stilled, Siuan and Leane look like young women again, not "ageless." [TSR, 47, The Truth of a Viewing, 535] They look different enough that it is hard to recognise them. When they get the OP back, they don't get the Ageless look back, either: In [LOC: 44, The Color of Trust, 556], Mat sees SS after she has been healed by Ny--"He gave her a shallow bow and walked quickly to where a pretty blue-eyed young woman was tapping her foot to the music. She had a sweet mouth, just right for kissing, and he bloody well wanted to enjoy himself."
• The BA stilled in Tear (Amico) looks different: 'Amico looked young, perhaps younger than her years, but it was not quite the agelessness of Aes Sedai who had worked years with the One Power. "You have sharp eyes, Aviendha, but I don't know if this has anything to do with stilling. It must, though, I suppose. I don't know what else could cause it."' [TSR: 5, Questioners, 84]
• The TAS stilled by Rand at Dumai's Wells also look young, as opposed to ageless [ACOS: 1, High Chasaline, 60].

Students in the Tower and the Kin

As noted above, no AS gets the Ageless look until after they've been raised to full AS [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 408]. This is not a matter of time spent channelling, or of strength in the OP, but of passing a certain point-- being raised.

• Elayne mentions an Accepted who is older than 40, (and thus has been channelling a LONG time, at least as long as some of the younger sisters) and looks YOUNG-- Ny's age, not ageless [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 408].
• In [ACOS, 31, Mashiara, 497], Elayne and the AS meet the Knitting Circle: "Most wore Ebou Dari dresses, though only one possessed the olive skin; most had lines on their faces and at least a touch of gray; and every last woman of them could channel to one degree or another." No AS has a lined face; it's part of being Ageless.
• In [ACOS, 23, Next Door to a Weaver, 393], Ny meets Reanne Corly: "From the exchange, she had expected someone younger than Setalle Anan, but Reanne had hair more gray than not and a face full of what might have been smile lines..." Again, Reanne is old-looking.
• It can't be put any clearer than this: "There had to be a reason why the Kin looked neither ageless nor anything near the ages they claimed." [TPOD: 3, A Pleasant Ride, 94]

Physical Effects of the Oath Rod

In L:NS and TPOD, we get ample evidence that swearing on an Oath Rod produces a physical effect-- some kind of "tightening" of the skin:

• [L:NS, 653]: Moiraine, a newly-raised Aes Sedai, thinks, "The Three Oaths still made her skin feel too tight."
• [L:NS, 662-663]: Merean is describing how Moiraine and SS were punished for putting mice in Elaida's bed the night before they were raised: "I doubt any other women have been raised Aes Sedai while still too tender to sit from their last visit to the Mistress of Novices. Once the Three Oaths tightened on them, they needed cushions a week."
• [TPOD, 11, Questions and an Oath, 256]: Galina takes an Oath on Sevanna's OR, after being tortured by the Shaido WOs: "Galina felt the oath settle on her, as if she suddenly wore a garment that covered her far too tightly from her scalp to the soles of her feet.... it suddenly seemed as if the burning of her skin was being pressed deep into her flesh..."
• [TPOD, 26, The Extra Bit, 504]: Seaine reswears the Three Oaths: "Seaine retook the Oaths in turn, each producing a slight momentary pressure everywhere from her scalp to the soles of her feet. In truth, the pressure was difficult to detect at all, with her skin still feeling too tight from retaking the Oath against speaking a lie.

This "tightening of the skin" could be what causes the Ageless Look, kind of like a permanent face lift.

Conclusions

• The Ageless look is not the result of anything the AS experience until the actual raising ceremony. The Kin are made up of women who trained in the Tower, who flunked out or ran away at various points in their training. This includes women who have passed the Accepted Test, and even women who made it through various parts of the AS Test [ACOS, 24, The Kin, 405-406]. None of them are ageless.

• The Ageless look is not the result of strength in the OP. The Kin contain women who are fairly strong channellers: "Of course, Reanne could channel -- she had expected that; hoped for it, anyway -- but she had not expected the strength. Reanne was not as strong as Elayne, or even Nicola -- burn that wretched girl! -- but she easily equaled Sheriam, say, or Kwamesa or Kiruna." [ACOS: 23, Next Door to a Weaver, 394]. So do the WOs and the Windfinders. The strongest channellers of all, the Forsaken, definitely do not have the Ageless Look.

• The agelessness is not the result of the total amount of OP channelled. The obvious example of this is the Forsaken. Certain members of the Kin are very old (Reanne Corly is older than 400), and must have channelled as much in their lifetime as any of the younger AS.

• Here is the part where Elayne starts putting it all together: After talking about the 40+ Accepted who looks 26, she says, "We slow, Nynaeve. Somewhere between twenty and twenty-five, we begin aging more slowly. How much depends on how strong we are, but when doesn't. Any woman who can channel does it. Takima said she thought it was the beginning off achieving the ageless look, though I don't think anyone has ever reached that until they've worm the shawl at least a year or two, sometimes five or more. Think. You know any sister with gray hair is old, even if you aren't supposed to mention it. So if Reanne slowed, and she must have, how old is she?" [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 408]

Nobody in all of Randland has the Ageless look besides AS raised in the White Tower. Thus, there must be something done to them in the raising ceremony which brings about the Ageless Look. The only such thing of which we know is swearing on the Oath Rod. Given the evidence that we have, it must be the OR which causes agelessness. The only other possibility is that there is something else done in the Raising ceremony which we don't know about and which causes the agelessness. Any such thing would have to involve the woman's channelling ability, in order to explain why the Agelessness vanishes when a person is stilled. There may indeed be other items used in the AS-Raising ceremony besides the Oath Rod, as indicated by this quote: [LOC: 39, Possibilities, 513] "Romanda wanted to use gateways to remove the OR and certain other items...from the Tower so they could make true AS in Salidar while depriving Elaida of the ability." These items may be used in the AS TEST, as opposed to the actual final ceremony, though.

Misc. Notes

• Stilling and the Oaths: When an AS is severed from the Source (i.e. stilled), she loses the ageless look, AND is freed from the Oaths. This, combined with the fact that the OR only works on channellers, implies that the OR somehow works by tapping into the AS's own channelling ability, causing the binding and the agelessness.

• Egwene's Accepted Test: In one of Egwene's three experiences in ter'angreal used in the test to be raised Accepted, she is the Amyrlin seat. She looks in a mirror, and sees that she has the Ageless Look [TDR: 22, The Price of the Ring, 203]. A few pages later, she says that she has not sworn on the Oath Rod. If she never held the OR, then why does she look Ageless?

  Richard Boye' explains this nicely: "The reason is that the ter'angreal weaves illusions and testings from what the subject knows, expects, and fears. How else would it know that Nynaeve wants to marry Lan or that her mother's name was Elnore? Egwene saw herself with the Ageless look because from her knowledge and point of view, she was supposed to." Note that in that same vision, Egwene's Keeper, Beldeine, was stilled, but she still had the Ageless Look. In the real world, we know that stilling removes the Look. However, at that point in time, Egwene didn't know that.

Death

A final effect of the OR is that it seems to shorten the lifespan of channellers bound by it. It seems to work this way: use of the OP increases one's lifespan by a great deal. The more you channel, the better the anagathic effect. Being bound by the OR decreases one's lifespan, or perhaps lessens the anti-aging benefits of channelling. In any case, the net effect is that OR-bound channellers live longer than non-channellers, but not as long as channellers who are NOT bound by the OR.

Evidence that Oathbound channellers don't live as long as nonbound ones:

• Cadsuane Melaidhrin is most likely the oldest living AS, at around 295 years old [ACOS: Glossary, 671]. She considers herself to be very old, expecting to die RSN: "Over two hundred and seventy years had passed since she last encountered a task she could not perform. Any day now might be her last, but young al'Thor would be a fitting end to it all." [ACOS: 19, Diamonds and Stars, 347].
• Elayne to Reanne Corly: "apparently no Aes Sedai since the Breaking has lived as long as any of you in the Knitting Circle claim....In your own case, not by over a hundred years." [ACOS: 37, A Note from the Palace, 577]. Reanne Corly is 411.

From these quotes, we can conclude that the maximum lifespan of modern AS is around 300 years.

Ages of other channellers:

• The above quote also tells us that the Kin live at least 25% longer than AS. Since Reanne Corly is hardly on her last leg, Kin probably outlive AS by an even greater amount.
• In [LOC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 262], we have a reference to an Aiel WO who died at age 300 of a snake bite, but still looked young. Since she looked young, she probably still had a good bit of her natural lifespan ahead of her. So, from this, we know that WOs at least have the potential to live longer than 300 years, i.e. longer than AS. In practice, they probably don't live that long (the WO telling the story of the 300-year-old WO regards it as a legend, and possibly exaggerated), due to the harsh conditions in the Three-Fold Land.
• The Forsaken are all way old, and were even before they got locked up in the Bore.
• We have no evidence as to the longevity of Seanchan or Sea Folk channellers.

From the evidence that we have, modern-day AS have a shorter maximum lifespan than other channellers. As with the Ageless look, there must be something done in the AS-raising ceremony which causes this. The only such thing of which we are aware is being bound by the OR. Again, there is a possibility that there is some other thing in the ceremony which we don't know about, and which causes this effect. However, there is less chance of this being the case with the shorter lifespan than with the ageless look.

This is because we have independent evidence from Semirhage. In [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139-143] Semirhage is thinking about how the AOL AS wanted to "bind" her to put an end to her medical malpractice. The actual quote is "to be bound never to know her pleasures again, and with that binding be able to see the end of life approach." Now, we know that "binding" of channellers (esp. female channellers) was done with an OR. Semirhage seems to be thinking that the binding would cut her life short.

Conclusions

The primary effect of the OR is to compel obedience to oaths sworn on it. It probably does this by tapping into the oathbound channeller's own channelling ability in some unknown way. (We know this bc the binding to the oaths vanishes when the oathbound woman is severed.) It has some secondary effects, in particular 1) it probably shortens the lifespan of the bound channeller, and 2) it probably causes the bound channeller to develop the "ageless look" unique to modern AS. It is unknown if these secondary effects are deliberate (i.e. a kind of death sentence and a way of marking criminals, respectively) or if they are an inherent side effect of the binding mechanism.

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