Theoryland Chronicles

Members :Tamyrlin : The Black Cord

Introduction:

As we read this series we find many references to gentling, stilling, severing, black cords, white cords, cut off from the source, blocked, and shielded. This terminology pertains to channelers, most of which we understand to a point. I hope by putting these quotes together we can get a more full comprehension of their meanings. In particular I would like to define the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the Cord.

Important quotes about the Cords

• Rand meets Aginor face to face, (TEoTW pg. 634):

  "Suddenly he felt something, saw it, though he knew it was not there to see. A glowing rope ran from Aginor, behind him, white like the sunlight seen through the purest cloud...Mine! Flame shot from Aginor's mouth, broke through his eyes like spears of fire and he screamed.

  
  The pure pool of saidin in the 'Eye' was without taint. To pull on that saidin Rand and Aginor were both connected by a bright, white cord extending to the source. Rand had nothing to do with Aginor's death, Aginor pulled on to much trying to rest control from Rand, and killed himself.
  
  
• Rand then meets Ishamael in Tel'aran'rhoid, (TEoTW pg. 637):

  "...Ba'alzamon had a cord, too, he saw. A black cord, thicker by far than his own, so wide it should have dwarfed the human body...each pulse along that black vein ate light...Rand shifted, glancing back through the door as if seeking a way to escape....Beyond the doorway was still the black of nothing, split by the shining thread that ran from his body. And out there Ba'alzamon's heavier cord ran as well, so black that it stood out in the dark as if against snow."

  
  
• Rand meets Ishamael again in the Stone of Tear and the following quote again occurs while both are in the flesh in Tel'aran'rhoid, (TDR pg. 569-570 Hardcover):

  "Black lines like steel wires seemed to run off from Ba'alzamon into the darkness mounding around him...Callandor spun in his hands...severed the steel black lines around Ba'alzamon and he convulsed. As if there were two of him, he seemed to dwindle and grow larger at the same time."

  
  
• Rand and Asmodean traveling through Darkness to Rhuidean, (TSR pg. 671 Hardcover):

  "What seemed to be black threads, like fine steel wires, ran from the man, dissappearing in the surrounding dark."

  
  Then Rand and Asmodean meet in Rhuidean, (TSR pg. 674-676 Hardcover):

  "He had not seen those strange things, like black steel wires around Asmodean since leaving that dark place, but he could visualize them even in the Void...he formed it like a sword of light, and struck, one with the sword, one with the imagined wires...For an instant there seemed to be two of him(Asmodean) shivering away from eachother and then back together."
  "You Chosen gave your souls to the Dark One, you let him attach himself to you. How many times had he replayed his battle with Ba'alzamon? How many times before he began to suspect what those black wires were? I cut him off from the Dark One Lanfear. I cut him off!"
  "Her eyes widened in shock...I did not think that was possible."

  
  
• This is one of the few times we get the Point of View from one of the male forsaken pulling on Saidin, (TFoH pg. 24 Hardcover)

  "(Rhavin)Snatching at saidin, he filled himself with the Power, the taint on the male half of the True Source rolling off the protection of his bonds and oaths, the ties to what he knew as a greater power than the light, or even the Creator."

  
  
• Lanfear is trying to shield Rand off from the One Power, (TFoH pg. 632 Hardcover):

  "It was not at him directly that she struck this time. It was at his link to saidin. Panic rang the Void like a gong at the first knife-sharp touch, the Power diminishing as it slid deeper between him and the Source...Her attempted shield vanished, reappeared, returned as fast as he could cut it...moments when it almost failed..."

We can make the following conclusions from these encounters:

1. When a channeler draws on the One Power a 'link' is made between he/she and the Source. This link is described as a cord, like Rand could see connecting to him when drawing on Saidin from the pool. "The cord was all, it hummed, it sand, it called Rand's soul." This occurs for both females and males alike.
2. All channelers can not see the cord that attaches themselves or others to the One Power, although they may be able to feel the cord that attaches them to it. Rand perceives the cord at first, feeling it, before he sees the cord attached to Aginor, "Suddenly he felt something, saw it, though he knew it was not there to see." It appears that his ability to see the cord may be a talent. Although we do notice above, that to cut off someone from the One Power or to block them you must know where to put the shield of Spirit, Fire, and Earth as Lanfear tries to do to Rand in Cairhien.
3. To this point we have never seen the black cord in the real world. And we do not know that it is possible for a male to identify the cord of a female although Lanfear was able to locate Rands cord. But we do know that Rand saw the black cord/s on Ishamael and Asmodean.
4. The Black wires are not the Forsakens access to the One Power but they do offer protection(for the males) from the taint when drawing on saidin. As seen in Asmodean's case, although cut off from the Dark One he can still draw on saidin but he does not have protection from the taint, "It was my link to the Great Lord that allowed to me touch saidin without going mad...All you have done is make me as vulnerable as you." Thanks to Rhavin, we know that the "bonds and oaths" are part of that protection.
5. We can quess that the Black Cord, if not for the express purpose of channeling the One Power, then the cord gives the Forsaken access to the True Power, the Dark One's gift.

Stilling-Shielding-Gentling-Burning Out

When a male is cut off from the One Power it is called gentling, how quaint. When a female is cut off from the One Power it is called stilling. In both of these cases he/she can still feel the presence of the Source but cannot reach it. When a male or female channeler draws to much of the One Power they may burn themselves out, in this case they cannot feel nor sense the One Power ever again. Although, both male and female may be blocked from drawing on the One Power, or more well know as shielded. Shielding is like a huge knot in a hose, when it is tied off the channeler can slowly untie the knots. I think the questions that should be formulating in your heads would be, what is being cut, what is being blocked or knotted, or what is being burned, that stops someone from channeling?

Using one of the quotes above, Lanfear tries to shield Rand from the One Power by blocking his 'link' to the Source. In other words, the connection that each channeler experiences to either saidin or saidar is like a hose or may we call it a cord. Gentling and stilling are literally taking a knife and slicing the cord in half. Shielding is cutting off the flow and then knotting it to prevent the usage of the OP. Burning out is literally burning that connection, removing the end connected to the channeler from the cord itself, therefore they feel no presence of the Source and never will again, or they are killed by the excessive amount of the Power.

Synopsis

The Lord of the Grave has 'attached' himself to each of the Forsaken. This he does through the Black Cord which enables him to give them 'eternal life', they will live forever. The oaths that they have sworn to him allows him to do so. Their bodies might die but their souls will always 'live'and always be in the possession of the Dark One. Can the link between the Dark One be restored? Can the DO resurrect them, does he have that power over their souls without that bond? I do not believe so.