Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

TPOD Signing Report - John Novak (Paraphrased)

John Novak

black ajah, warders, darkfriends, oath rod,

LOC Signing Report - Erica Sadun (Paraphrased)

Is the "binding like criminals" meant to be using the Oath Rod?

No comment.

oath rod, age of legends,

Twitter 2009-2010 (WoT) (Verbatim)

How does the Oath Rod work? Does it accelerate the aging irreversibly, or add years that you get back upon Oath removal?

A good question that people in world don't know the answer to yet, and only time will tell.

oath rod, three oaths, aes sedai,

Twitter 2011 (WoT) (Verbatim)

JWIEDOW

JWIEDOW

TEREZ

JWIEDOW

BRANDON SANDERSON

BRANDON SANDERSON

oath rod, three oaths, first oath,

Balticon XXX - Bill Garrett (Paraphrased)

Verin is older than most Aes Sedai think, but not as old as some fans think she is. Jordan said specifically that she is not from the Age of Legends. Other than that, he was fairly vague, but he implied that she's no older than, say, 300. "There's a reason why Aes Sedai respect a sister with gray hair," he said.

Additional note: One fan claimed that, at the convention, Jordan said that Verin had never held the Oath Rod. Jordan later denied having said any such thing.

verin, oath rod, black ajah,

BaltiCon XXX - Pam Korda (Paraphrased)

Verin: Considerably older than anyone expects. (I presume he was talking about the characters, not the fans, considering that our guesses range up to 3000 years old.) He also said that Age of Legends lifespans are not known in modern Randland. (Thus, I presume that Verin is NOT 300 years old.) He said something about "the effects of the Oath Rod," I don't know whether this was with reference to aging, or effects on something totally unrelated.

Well, that's that.

—Pam

verin, oath rod, three oaths, age of legends, oath rod,

Compuserve Chat (Verbatim)

One of the Forsaken once said of the current Aes Sedai, "They bind themselves like criminals." Was the Forsaken referring to the Oath Rod?

Read and find out! (He twirls his moustache maniacally.)

oath rod, aes sedai, age of legends, forsaken, three oaths,

AOL Chat 1 (Verbatim)

According to several of AOL's members in our discussion forum, you stated at a Balticon conference that Verin Sedai had never held the Oath Rod, or had circumvented the Oaths. I was wondering if that was true, and if so, has Cadsuane also done so?

No, I did not say that Verin had never held the Oath Rod. Cadsuane has also held the Oath Rod.

verin, cadsuane, oath rod,

AOL Chat 1 (Verbatim)

Does using the Oath Rod shorten one's lifespan?

Read and find out. :) You guys have to know by now that I like to leave you hanging if I can!

oath rod,

East of the Sun Con - Karl-Johan Norén (Paraphrased)

On the subject if the Oath Rod shortens lifespan or causes infertility he answered, not surprisingly, "Read and Find Out".

oath rod, three oaths, aes sedai,

ACOS Signing Report - Lara Beaton (Paraphrased)

Ageless look and Oath Rod—RAFO. (I thought Greebs was going to explode when he didn't answer that one directly.)

oath rod, three oaths, aes sedai,

ACOS Signing Report - Erica Sadun (Paraphrased)

Once and for all end the ageless look thing. Is it obvious that it is tied to the Oath Rod?

RAFO.

aes sedai, oath rod, three oaths, agelessness,

DragonCon SciFi Channel Chat (Verbatim)

Would making all Aes Sedai reswear the Three Oaths on an Oath Rod, and then asking them, reveal if they are Black Ajah? (It should...)

There are certain difficulties with this. It might answer the question but how many sisters do you think will meekly submit to being asked to do such a thing? Being asked to do it is in effect an accusation.

oath rod, three oaths, black ajah, aes sedai, first oath,

COT Signing Report - Brandon (Paraphrased)

Also if anyone cares I asked him to describe the texture and feel of Bashere's baton of the Marshal-General. I was hoping he would say it "felt not like ivory, not like glass, but more like glass," as is the description of the known Oath Rods (note the only times we've seen it have been in Rand POVs and at first it was "what appeared to be an ivory rod", then later Rand assumes it is an ivory rod). However, I was greatly disappointed. He said, "it was smooth and heavy...ivory capped with gold." Oh well I guess Rand's later assumptions that it is just ivory are correct.

bashere, oath rod,

Wotmania Interview (Verbatim)

What happens to objects left in Tel'aran'rhiod? Could an Aes Sedai free herself from the Three Oaths in Tel'aran'rhiod by creating an Oath Rod?

The only way for an object to enter Tel'aran'rhiod would be for it to be carried there by someone who entered physically rather than through a dream state. If left there, it would remain until it was retrieved by someone else who entered physically. And, yes, an Aes Sedai could free herself of the Three Oaths with an Oath Rod created in Tel'aran'rhiod, but remember that relatively few sisters actually have access to the World of Dreams, and for those who do want to remove the Three Oaths—sisters joining the Black Ajah—there is the Oath Rod in the White Tower to serve that purpose.

tel'aran'rhiod, oath rod, three oaths, black ajah,

Budapest Q&A (Verbatim)

Is it true that the Three Oaths is why Aes Sedai [mumble mumble] I thought it might be because, when you try to avoid the Three Oaths, you get a lot of dangerous situation [mumble mumble]...

No...now you have to be careful with this, because this is a kind of spoiler for people that haven’t read far enough, but the Oath Rod is what was in the Age of Legends called a binder. It was used on criminals. If you committed a violent act, or some sort of criminal act, with a binder, someone who could channel could be constrained from ever doing that again, and the result of having three of the Oaths, is the ageless appearance. One would not produce agelessness, but even one would shorten life, and three of them put a cap on Aes Sedai’s lives, on how long they could live.

Question

Does this mean that the Black Ajah has also at least three oaths sworn on the Oath Rod?

Robert Jordan

Yeah, they do. Just not the same ones.  [laughter]

Question

Of course. Does this imply that the Oath Rod is definitely not one of the Nine Rods of Dominion?

Robert Jordan

Oh yes, definitely. No. I don't think it was. No, the Oath Rods are not the Nine Rods of Dominion, no. There were a fair number of binders available around the world.

Question

Were they numbered?

Robert Jordan

Yes, they were numbered.

Question

Because we've seen two so far and they had numbers on them . . .

Robert Jordan

Yeah, they were numbered.

age of legends, three oaths, oath rod, agelessness, aes sedai, black ajah, nine rods of dominion,

KOD Signing Report - Robert Mee (Paraphrased)

Someone asked about using the Oath Rod or the Three Arches for Accepted testing in Tel'aran'rhiod, and RJ said that they would not work the same way.

tel'aran'rhiod, oath rod, accepted test,

Robert Jordan's Blog: IT'S BEEN AWHILE (Verbatim)

For Isabel, hi, cutey. Regarding the scene at Dumai's Wells, the places they had Traveled to were not in the safety of the wagon-circle, where they were, but beyond it, among the Shaido. As for Illian, I was too crude in reinforcing something I had established earlier and wanted to reinforce, i.e. that you do not need to know a spot at all to Travel from it if the place you want to travel to is only a short distance away.

Regarding Sharina, and other women who learn to channel at age, she will indeed grow younger in appearance. No, she will not achieve an Aes Sedai face without the Oath Rod, but where she has previously looked, say, sixty, she will look perhaps thirty-five, with accompanying changes in hair color. Think of it as analogous to slowing, which older women also do.

dumai's wells, traveling, gateways, sharina, slowing, oath rod, agelessness,

TGS Signing Report - Tim Kington (Paraphrased)

Is Mesaana still in the Tower?

Question

Brandon Sanderson

mesaana, white tower, oath rod, three oaths, first oath,

TGS Signing Report - Robert Moreau (Verbatim)

Do the Forsaken consider themselves Darkfriends?

Oooh, you are tricky! I know what you're doing. I would say that, in general, yes they do consider themselves Darkfriends, though there are ways somebody would be able to get around that. I would say, yes, that that is not the sort of mental gymnastics that...it is very easy to convince yourself that you are not a Darkfriend.

darkfriends, forsaken, mesaana, oath rod,

Plot Related Q&A With Maria Simons + New MAFO by Luckers (Verbatim)

Was Egwene's one-eighty on the issue of the Oath Rod a natural change of mind, or was she influenced to it by Halima?

That was Egwene, influenced by Siuan, doing her best to be the best Aes Sedai EVAR.

egwene, siuan, oath rod, three oaths, aes sedai, aran'gar,

TOM Signing Report - RDDK (Paraphrased)

I asked Brandon how, now that Mesaana is braindead and all, she got around the Oath Rod.

He told me that one of the three ways the Aes Sedai had surmised was correct. Considering it probably would have been mentioned if they found an Oath Rod among her things, that it probably was the weave the investigators had rediscovered.

mesaana, white tower, oath rod, towers of midnight,

TOM Signing Report - Zaela Sedai (Paraphrased)

Why did Verin trust that Mat would open the letter?

Verin was bound to the Dark Oaths and she could not tell ANY of them to open the letters right away because she was not in her last hour. She had thought that out of anyone Mat would NOT listen to her and would open the letter right away. She was not able to give him any indication of what was in the letter or even tell him to open it open it right away.

verin, mat, black ajah, oath rod,

Driving Mr. Sanderson - Terez (Verbatim)

Will we learn anything else about the Black Ajah oaths?

Um...

Terez

I mean, you can tell us now.

Brandon Sanderson

Well, you’re phrasing these questions in such a way that...

Terez

I know, I know. I was trying to be...

Brandon Sanderson

You’re being nice. No, I appreciate that. I’m not complaining that you’re phrasing these in a way...um, I think that there is a decent chance that those could go in the encyclopedia.

black ajah, oath rod, encyclopedia,

Alloy of Law Signing Report - Lord Juss (Paraphrased)

Does the Oath Rod limit Aes Sedai age by using their life force to power the Oaths?

I’m 85% sure on this and you’ll have to ask Maria for confirmation, but no, the effect is not caused by draining the Aes Sedai’s life force. I’m not going to tell you what is causing the effect.

aes sedai, oath rod, three oaths, mafo,

ACOS Signing Report - Robert Watson (Paraphrased)

Wouldn't say anything about Shara, of course, and Greebs' persistent efforts to get RJ to admit to the Oath Rod==Agelessness were met with a chuckle and a RAFO.

shara, oath rod,

Afternoon Tea with Brandon Sanderson - Luckers (Paraphrased)

Are the negative effects of the Oath Rod cumulative? Like the diminished life...

As far as I know, no.

RJ said it takes three to get the ageless look, so from that and the descriptions of the tightening of the skin, it seems that at least is cumulative.

three oaths, oath rod, aes sedai,

AMOL Book Tour - Skokie Q&A (Verbatim)

With the Oath Rod, the Aes Sedai obviously were not using it for its intended purpose. Let's talk about those two ter'angreal that they had in the White Tower, the one that they raise the Aes Sedai with, and the one that the Accepted use. And I'm curious, what was the intended purpose back in the Age of Legends for those?

Okay, excellent question; I'll repeat it just for those who might not have been able to hear it. We know that the Aes Sedai are using certain ter'angreal for things other than their original intended purpose, such as the Oath Rod and the ones they use in the raising ceremonies. (to Maria) What were their intended purposes? [laughter]

Maria Simons

I don't know. [laughter, applause]

Brandon Sanderson

Sorry. Robert Jordan could answer that. Sometimes we can't.

oath rod, aes sedai, ter'angreal, white tower, age of legends,

Twitter 2013 (WoT) (Verbatim)

Brandon, does the Oath Rod continue to be used in the Fourth Age? If so, for what purpose?

So far as I know, yes. And for the same purpose.

Raj Iyer

Do other groups start using the Rod too?

Brandon Sanderson

Do you think the Aes Sedai are likely to let others manhandle one of their ter'angreal?

Kamarile Sedai

Did men start to use the Oath Rod too, or did it continue to be only women?

Brandon Sanderson

No men. Neither group would like that. The Asha'man are NOT male Aes Sedai. RJ was clear about this in the notes.

Keith Martin

Will the White and Black Towers reunite to form one Aes Sedai again?

Brandon Sanderson

RJ was clear to me that the Asha'man were not Aes Sedai, and were not going to become them.

Brandon Sanderson

That said, a united male/female Aes Sedai will come again someday.

Brandon is probably not referring to the 4th Age in his last tweet; more likely he's talking about the next turning of the Wheel.

oath rod, three oaths, fourth age, aes sedai, asha'man, white tower, black tower,

Waygate Foundation Q&A (Verbatim)

What are the three oaths which bind Darkfriends?

1) I shall obey all commands given by those placed above me in service to the Great Lord. 2) I shall prepare for the day of the Great Lord's return. 3) I swear not to betray the Great Lord, to keep my secrets until the hour of my death. It should be noted that these were taken straight from Robert Jordan's notes, where he had added "May vary the wording a little."

Verin says "You can double-cross other Darkfriends, you can turn against the Chosen if you can justify it." To justify turning against the Chosen, you could argue that a specific Chosen was not placed above you by the Great Lord himself.

oath rod, three oaths, black ajah, darkfriends, forsaken, rj's notes,

Waygate Foundation Q&A (Verbatim)

Was the Oath Rod, one of the Nine Rods of Dominion? What were the Nine Rods of Dominion? Who were the 17 Generals of Dawn's Gate?

The Oath Rod was not one of the Nine Rods of Dominion. The Nine Rods of Dominion that Lews Therin summoned were the regional governors of the earth; a rod—but not an Oath Rod—was the symbol of their office. The Seventeen Generals of Dawn’s Gate were a group of military commanders of high rank who led the fight against the Shadow in the War of Power; their names are unknown.

oath rod, nine rods of dominion, age of legends, a memory of light, war of power,