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2.6.1: What is the deal with Callandor? Who will use it?

The "Into the heart" prophecy (see section 4.05), suggested that maybe somebody besides Rand would remove Callandor from the Stone: "Who draws it out shall follow after". In TPOD this did happen, although not in a very dramatic fashion. Narishma went to Tear to retrieve the Sword That Ain't for Rand. Bo-ring. Fortunately for our active imaginations, we got lots of new fodder for Callandor theories.

What's the deal with the "flaw"?

In [TPOD: 27, The Bargain, 539-540], Cadsuane tells Rand about a flaw in Callandor, which she claims to have discovered in some moldy documents in the Tower Library:

"It is flawed, lacking the buffer that makes other sa'angreal safe to use. And it apparently magnifies the taint, inducing wildness of the mind. So long as a man is using it, anyway. The only safe way for you to use The Sword That Is Not a Sword, the only way to use it without the risk of killing yourself, or trying to do the Light alone knows what insanity, is linked with two women, and one of them guiding the flows."

This not only explains the mess Rand made of things at the end of the Ebou Dar campaign (which was compounded by the Ebou Dar Power Anomaly), but also the megalomania displayed by Rand during and after the attack in the Stone in [TSR: 10, The Stone Stands 136-138]. What insanity? As John Rowat points out, "He went a little nutso, thought he could raise the dead, and it took him an hour or so to realize that he could just fry all the bad guys at once." Also, it explains a statement by SS in [TDR: 29, A Trap to Spring, 276] in which she refers to a woman wielding Callandor. In particular, she's talking to Eg and Ny, and says, "With Callandor in your hands, child, you could level a city at one blow." Previously, that seemed really silly, since Callandor was, as far as we knew, a male-only sa'angreal. However, Cadsuane's statement indicates that Callandor can at least be used by a circle of two women and one man, with a woman controlling the flows (and thus, effectively, wielding the Sword That Ain't). Given that SS has made the Dragon Reborn her life's work, it is reasonable to suppose that she may have discovered and read the same moldy documents as Cadsuane.

Now we must ask, why was the thing flawed in the first place? John Novak gives us some ideas:

"Given that it was made in the shape of a sword and seems to have no other real purpose than as a weapon, I think it is safe to say that it was created either during or after the War of Power. In either of these cases, it was probably the result of one serious-assed QRC (Quick Response Contract). That alone will increase the probability that things aren't exactly up to specifications. Further, if it was made after the war, then by definition it was made after the Taint was created by the Dark One. I would hazard a guess that men are needed to make a male-oriented angreal or sa'angreal, so there's another potential reason for it to be screwed up. Hell, for all we know, that was the last attempt ever made at creating a male (sa')angreal."

Who will use Callandor?

When Rand finds out about the flaw in Callandor, he decides not to use Callandor in the future. This means that we can just change all of our "Who will retrieve Callandor" theories with "Who will use Callandor" theories.

Logain is still the most popular candidate. This could be the "future glory" envisioned by Min. Even though Verin said that Logain would be burnt to a crisp trying to control the sa'angreal, we know by now that AS don't know everything. Furthermore, any man who would use Callandor safely needs two trusted female channellers with whom to work. (In fact, since a woman must control the flows, better to say that any woman who would use Callandor needs another woman and a man to assist her!) Conveniently, Logain has started his own personal Green Ajah, and has bonded two Aes Sedai. Perhaps Logain and his two women will use Callandor, before all is said and done.

Another candidate for Callandor-using is the same Asha'man who brought it out of the Stone, Jahar Narishma. He is one of the few Asha'man under Rand's influence, rather than Taim's, and he demonstrated his loyalty by bringing the Sword to Rand, rather than taking it for himself, so Rand might trust him to use Callandor. On the other hand, given Cadsuane's warning, and Rand's own experiences with the Sword, it is not certain that he'd be willing to let anybody use it. In any case, the prophecy does say "who draws it out will follow after." Narishma drew it out, and perhaps "following after" means that he will use the Sword.

Eg's dream of a dark young man holding something glowing [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 203] could refer to Logain and Callandor or Narishma and Callandor, although I don't think that Logain exactly qualifies as young, from Egwene's perspective (26 to her 18).

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The Wheel of Time FAQ. Copyright 1999 by Pamela Korda and Erica Sadun. HTML implementation by Matthew Hunter. This site maintained by Matthew Hunter (mhunter@andrew.cmu.edu). Comments and questions regarding the content itself should be directed to Pam Korda (kor2 @ midway.uchicago.edu).