1
Tamyrlin: 2002-12-21
I haven't really studied Tuon, nor the aspects of her potential ability to channel. From some studying we have done, we have come to the conclusion that the collar works on those who have touched the one power. In other words, it wouldn't work on a five year old with the spark. That person must going through a maturation process, and will begin to channel with or without training. The yearly tests will catch all those with the spark, because once they have touched the OP, the next test catches them. The question is, was Tuon tested year after year, or was she only tested once, and has been shielded from testing in public by her mother? I think it is a good assumption to suggest that the Empress knows about sul'dam and their ability to channel. The better option is that Tuon can learn to channel. I am not sure how old she is which would help us make this determination. It looks like I will have to find some quotes to make a definitive answer. :) Unless someone else wants to find those quotes? :)
2
Fel: 2002-12-21
On Tuon's sixteenth naming day, when her head was first shaved, she had made the traditional gifts of her House to Selucia, a small estate for the care she had shown, a pardon for the chastisements she had given, a sack of one hundred golden thrones for each time she had needed to punish her charge.
this is the only reference to her age I found in the search engine. I could have sworn I saw something that indicated she was about 18 or 19 though, about the same age as Elayne...(and RJ's target audience by marketing thought)
3
Pi: 2003-01-10
according to CoT she's 22.
4
Daishan: 2003-01-11
I would think it highly unlikely Tuon has the spark, as opposed to someone who can learn. We know that she can at least learn, since she can train damane. (quotes somewhere in book 9 I think, possibly 8)
If she is, as stated, 22 years old, then she would truly be a wilder and like notsoevil1 stated, there would be some "miraculous thing happening".
5
Callandor: 2003-01-11
Tuon can channel but no spark. Shes a sul'dum since she can train, and enjoys training, damane. So she can learn to channel. Quote is in WH when we first meet Tuon on her ship, although I dont have page numbers.
6
Elder Haman: 2003-01-20
Toun is 22, but looks alot younger, (sound like Nynaeve?). Also, we know that sul'dam eventually begin to channel. Otherwise the a'dam wouldn't work on them.
7
Tamyrlin: 2003-01-20
Actually, I haven't created a study on sul'dam but I have studied the issue at length. Sul'dam are obviously those who can be taught to channel but who are not born with a link (or the inborn ability) to channel. The sul'dam have to be taught to touch the One Power. The a'dam, over time, is a silent trainer for the sul'dam. At first, the a'dam doesn't work on them because they haven't created a connection, but over time, through their work with the a'dam and the one power vicariously through their damane, they create a connection of their own...which is why the a'dam eventually works on them. But, no, naturally someone who must learn will not spontaneously touch the OP.
8
Mairan Sedai: 2003-03-14
Maybe Tuon is twenty-two, but I could have sworn that when we first met her in WH, Selucia had been shaving her head for three years, ever since she turned sixteen. Where does it say twenty-two?
9
TheNetweaver: 2003-03-14
I don't think your first naming day is necessarily your first year alive. There's a couple different quotes about her age, like the naming day one, so I think if anyone found them all it would only take a little logical thought to figure it out from there.
10
Great Lord of the Dark: 2003-03-14
I don't know the quotes about Tuon very well, but I remember that she had a hand in training damane. I don't remember that it specifically says she ever wore an a'dam bracelet. Isn't it possible that she does her training verbally and with actions, like a horse trainer, or Raken trainer, instead of with an a'dam? I'd like someone to show an a'dam quote if one exists, otherwise I must deny that Tuon can even be taught to channel.
11
Weird Harold: 2003-03-16
TheNetweaver Said:
"I don't think your first naming day is necessarily your first year alive. There's a couple different quotes about her age, ..."
Unfortunately for me, the definitive quote on Tuon's age is in CoT and I don't have access tot he search engine or a copy of CoT to state it precisely.
However, when Mat bluntly asks her age, she gives it in the Seanchan manner, then corrects herself -- "No, your people count age from your first naming day, by that measure I will be 20 on my next naming day, in four months."
That quote adjusts any questions about her age to the standards by which everyone else's age is given -- i.e. it establishes her as being 1 to 2 years younger than Mat. (Mat gives a closer approximate age difference in his thoughts in reponse to her answer, but I don't remember it exactly -- "a year and a half," I think, but I'm not sure enough to state it positively.
As far as the "naming day" offset, it's probbly one, three, six, or twelve months -- tose being the common delays before being sure a child would survive and needed a name in RL cultures that use(d) "Naming Days." It doesn't really matter what the offset is, as long as it's the same for everyone -- which Tuon's answer in CoT resolves.
Great Lord of the Dark Said:
"I don't remember that it specifically says she ever wore an a'dam bracelet. ... I'd like someone to show an a'dam quote if one exists, ...."
No, it does NOT specifically say Tuon has worn an A'dam. What it says, in WH CH 14, is that:
"...Tuon tested for Sul'dam when she reached adulthood."
In several other places, it's revealed that "testing for Sul'dam" means donning the bracelet and seeing if you can feel the damane on the other end. I think one of the first of those explanations is Renna explaining damane, Sul'dam and marath'damane to Egwene at Falme, but there is at least one from Bethamin's POV.
Sul'dam testing should be easy to find, because it seems to get re-explained with the first appearance of a Sul'dam in each book.
12
Janstince: 2003-03-16
" 'My fourteenth true-name day will come in five months,' she said in a voice that was far from cold...'No; you keep your birth names here, don't you. That will be my twentieth naming day.'" (CoT:A Fan of Colors:p 140 hardback). So she got her real name at 6, reached adulthood at 16, and around then she started channeling. She looked about 16 at best. It would also explain how good she is with damane even while not wearing the bracelet, using that kinship that women who can channel feel.
13
Callandor: 2003-03-18
Interesting point is, do sul'dam slow in aging even though they dont channel saidar? Most likely not to me.
And Tuon doesnt channel, she can be taught to channel, this I stand behind totally, but she hasnt channeled YET. Sul'dam don't channel they control the damane through the ter'angreal adam.
14
Weird Harold: 2003-03-19
Callandor:
"Interesting point is, do sul'dam slow in aging even though they dont channel saidar? Most likely not to me."
Every mention of slowing implies it is actually channeling and not the potential that causes it. I think it's the only conclusion that can fairly be reached from the available evidence.
I haven't seen any indications or mention of slowing in sul'dam, but there are very few mentions of sul'dam ages either, even in the descriptions of individuals.
Callandor:
"Sul'dam don't channel they control the damane through the ter'angreal adam."
The fact that apparently some can see the weaves and some can't, suggests that those who spend a lot time "complete" eventually slip over the line and actually join the link instead of just controlling it. Nothing conclusive, just a hint.
Callandor:
And Tuon doesnt channel, she can be taught to channel, this I stand behind totally, but she hasn't channeled YET.
She would only have to slip over the line ONCE to start the slowing, and may -- even probably -- not KNOW she has ever channeled.
Other than slowing what explanation for the difference between Tuon's apparent age and actual age is there.
Whatever the opposites of "Precoscious Puberty" or "progeria" are could be the cuse, but that would make Tuon one in *the entire population* and I can't see any reason to make her quite that emphtically unique; she has quite enough distinctions to make her special as it is.
15
araqyl: 2003-04-24
Tuon's appearance of youth is most likely a combination of her size (tiny) and just looking young (which I have personally noticed in a lot of my friends who have dark skin - as Tuon has).
16
Dorindha: 2003-04-28
Sul'dam can channel, it's just that they don't control the flows, and they don't admit to themselves that they can see the weaves. This is why Reanne etc had such problems with "rehabilitating" the sul'dam in Caemlyn, they wouldn't admit it to themselves. However, they do have a lot of the op going through them (maybe like a human angreal for the damane)
That said, I don't think Tuon is old enough, or has had enough contact with the power, and it is just a case of her looking young for her age
17
perlchild: 2003-05-29
Didn't the mentions of the Knitting Circle and the Kin in (WH?) imply that using the power(and the three Oaths) give you "slowed aging", while NOT using the power keeps you young... i.e. wouldn't the power and/or the oaths mean you still age, while the potential to channel be like an elixir of youth?
18
Korell: 2003-05-29
The agelessness is cause from the binding of the oath rod and the slowing does not cause the ageless look it mearly slows the aging process all togeather meaning at like 50 you might still look 25 not sure how that really works out like as what age somone would really be if they looked 25
19
Callandor: 2003-05-29
I personally think a person is about 120 and looks about 30 years old. But the Oath Rod is the only thing that makes the Aes Sedai agelessness. The Kin dont swear on it.
20
Dorindha: 2003-05-29
Korell is right, but additionally I believe that the sheer volume of power an individual channels is directly related to how much they slow. This means that stronger channellers, and those that channel more often, will slow more than those who are weaker or channel less.
On a side point, I wonder how much someone like Nynaeve (before she left Edmond's field) slows, if they don't even know they are channelling. Nynaeve was the strongest channeller since the AoL (before ALivia etc), and she has already started slowing.
21
rubbernilly: 2003-05-30
But isn't Nynaeve also 10 years older than Egwene?
22
Callandor: 2003-05-30
I believe Nynaeve is around 26 years old... maybe 27 now. And Egwene is about 19 or 20 I think.
23
Shadow Bane: 2003-06-09
To Fel: Mat asks her her age and she replies CoT p139
"My fourteenth true-name day will come in five months. No;you keep your birth names here, don't you. That will be my twentieth naming day. Are you satisfied, Toy?"
There you go she is twenty or fourteen on her "true naming day"
Hope that helps
24
Callandor: 2003-06-11
This is from the WOT FAQ on how old everyone is:
**Aram: "about" same age as Perrin [TEOTW: 25, The Traveling People, 311].
Aviendha: almost twenty in [TPOD: 1, To Keep the Bargain, 50], which occurs early in 1000 NE, so she was born in 979-980 NE.
Berelain: at most a year older than Rand [TSR: 2, Whirlpools in the Pattern, 57]
Cadsuane: "Thought to have been born around 705 NE." [ACOS: Glossary, 671]
Elayne is eighteen in [LOC: 48, Leaning on the Knife, 602]. This is at the turning of the century, placing her date of birth close to Egwene's in mid to late 981.
Egwene is two years younger than Rand [TEOTW: 3, The Peddler, 35], so she was born mid-981. She's also listed as eighteen in [ACOS: 8, The Figurehead, 157].
Ewin Finngar: born 984 NE [TEOTW: 2, Strangers, 19]
Faile: Of an age with Ewin Finngar [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 35]
Galad was born prior to 972 NE [TEOTW: Glossary, 668] (probably a year at most since he is described as an infant when Tigraine left).
Gawyn: 22 or 23 in 999 NE [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 40], he is listed as being a few years past twenty. The earliest he could have been born is 975 NE which would make him 25--a little older than a 'few years.'
Isam: was a child when Malkier fell, so he is a few years older than Lan, say b. 945-950 NE.
Lan: b. 953 NE [LOC: Glossary, 709]
Logain: born 972 NE [ACOS: Glossary, 676]
Loial: born 908 NE [TEOTW: 36, Web of the Pattern, 461]
Mat is the same age as Rand, b.978 NE [TEOTW: 8, A Place of Safety, 94].
Min: 'almost' Nynaeve's age [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 28]
Moiraine: b. 956 NE [LOC: Glossary, 710]
Nynaeve is twenty-six at the end of 999 NE, so she was born 973 NE [LOC: 48, Leaning on the Knife, 602]. She looks to be a few years younger, due to slowing.
Perrin is the same age as Rand, b.978 NE [TEOTW: 8, A Place of Safety, 94].
Rand was born in 978 NE [TGH: 8, The Dragon Reborn, 109].
Siuan Sanche: She was raised Amyrlin at age 30 [LOC: 35, In the Hall of the Sitters, 471], in 988 NE [Guide: 24, The White Tower, 216]. Thus she was born in 958 NE.
Taim: looks at least 15 years older than Rand, so thus looks about 35 [LOC: 2, A New Arrival, 76]. Note that, due to slowing, he is probably older than that. (At a post-TPOD signing in New York [20 October, 1998, report by Ryan R.], RJ said that a man with the spark wouldn't slow until 25, usually closer to thirty. Thus, if Rand's assessment of Taim's apparent age is accurate, the only way Taim could be the age he looks is if he started channelling at an unusually late age.)**
Its the year 1000 now. Hope that helps some what. :-)
25
damane: 2005-01-05
I don't think she can channel... But that's just personal preference, and more of a wish than anything else. Anyway.
I think that she's going to establish something similar to the Aes Sedai/Windfinders/Kin/Wise Ones, only they're going to train channelers for battle (similar to what they do now, only they won't be leashed anymore...) Like every other race has their own type of channelers, the Seanchan are going to create their own status position.
Oh, and by the way, Tuon going to the White Tower to train is the craziest idea I've ever heard. She's an Empress, with an Empire who's soon to be in turmoil - why would she spend her time scrubbing floors as a novice for twenty years?
