he Circle of Thirteen - the Forsaken and the Dark One
by Caraiaan: 2001-02-25 | Not yet rated
The success of the Last Battle is entirely dependent upon the alliance between the Black and White Towers.
When Lews Therin Telamon was attempting to seal the Dark One and Forsaken away, his original play was to use six male channellers and seven female channellers. A total of thirteen. The rival play was to use a male and a female sa'angreal, the most powerful ever made (the Choedan Kal?). When Lews Therin's plan was deemed to dangerous and nullified by the White Tower, and the second plan failed, Lews Therin was forced to travel to Shayol Ghul with the Hundred Companions (all male), and seal the Bore. However, the actions of these one hundred and thirteen men also tainted saidin. This implies that it took a hundred extra men to do what a combination of men and women could have done with only the thirteen.
Again, the number thirteen is significant. Thirteen Forsaken. One hundred and thirteen companions. Thirteen women to still or gentle.
Rand will reseal the Dark One by gentling him -- cutting him off from the True Power. The full circle of thirteen will be needed, and it must have men as well as women. Rand becomes the most important when he wields control of the circle. This twining of saidar and saidin is necessary because they are the two halves of the Creator's Power. One without the other is incomplete. The One Power and the True Power are also two halves of the same whole. The Creator and the Dark One, like men and women, are polar opposites. Thus, each has its own half of the Complete Power.
The taint on saidin can be in a way related to the obvious tainted nature of the True Power however, the struggle between good and evil is much more universal than the struggle between men and women. Thus, the taint can be explained as the Dark One's attempt to touch the Creator's power. This is, of course, removed at the end of Winter's Heart when Rand succeeds in cleansing saidin.
If Rand and his companions can still the Dark One, it lends itself to the question of the Dark One's return to strength. The nature of the Wheel means that the Age of Legends lies in the future and, in the Age of Legends, the Dark One must again be resealed. This implies that he has returned to full strength. In Winter's Heart we learned that someone can only be Healed from stilling/gentling by someone wielding the opposite Power. That means a combination of saidin and saidar, the whole of the Creator's One Power, must be used to restore the Dark One's connection to the True Power.
There are a total of thirteen (magic number) Forsaken: eight men (Ishmael, Aginor, Be'lal, Balthamel, Sammael, Demandred, Rahvin, Asmodean), and five women (Moghedien, Lanfear, Mesaana, Semirhage, Graendal). Aginor, however, is killed and reincarnated as Aran'gar, a female. Now the Dark One has created a more balanced circle. Using these thirteen, the Dark One's connection to the True Power could be fully restored. However. Though Aginor is female, now, he still wields saidin. This could be the reason for the Dark One's relative weakness and inability to tear apart the Pattern.
This depends on two assumptions.
First, that the Forsaken are truly immortal, no matter what happens to the Dark One. Second, that the Dark One can always reincarnate them, no matter how they are killed.
If Rand succeeds in resealing the Dark One and the Forsaken, it is said that he will bring about a new Age. The Forsaken will reconnect the Dark One to the True Power, and the Karaethon Cycle would begin again.
You cannot rate theories without first logging in. Please
log in.
1
Tamyrlin: 2001-02-25
I don't think that Rand can cut the DO off from the TP. I have mentioned this before, only Lanfear knows how to fix the bore since she made the hole in the first place. Rand must find Lanfear, Lanfear is the key.
2
Therilon: 2002-11-06
I have some problems with your theory. First, the cirle of 13 is only the limit if there are only female channelers. I recall something to the effect of this being said somewhere in the books, and in the WoT roleplaying game it provides rules for circles over 13. The circles can provide more pover, but at the same time the circle must have over one man.
Another problem I have with your theory is that of the very first paragraph. I recall that somewhere ( I don't know the exact spot) that Therin's plan was to enlist both female and male channellers. The plan did not specify the exact number. The idea of gentling the dark one is interesting, and I think that it could come true. I read another theory in the Misc. section that would compliment the above theory.
Rand will face the DO again in the future with the wheel.
3
Bela the horsie: 2002-11-08
If it is possible to still and heal the DO, they'd have to find some other male channelers, b/c, may I remind you, Rahvin and Be'lal is muy dead by balefire. DO can't mess with that. Additionally, I believe Asmodean is not in the DO's best graces and I don't even know if he can be resurrected.
4
Phlaneri: 2002-11-23
I must say that while I do not necessarily agree with the theory...I love it. Allow me to take it another step further.
The Drilling of the Bore is what heals him! We know that the bore was drilled by a team of Aes Sedai led by Lanfear and a man who's name escapes me. But what did they did was heal the Dark One. That is in effect all the bore is. It is the conection of the Dark One to the "True Power".
What LTT was attempting to do in the Age of Legends was to sever him and was denied the female half of the power needed to do so. So he merely Shielded him. The need for the Cuendillar Seals was bound up in the forsaken as well. I think he must have tied their lives into the seals. After all we know that a "tied off" Shield can be broken if the channler has the time to do so. So the Shield must be maintained. How do you maintain it?
Use the lives of the forsaken trapped there as well. It would be a brilliant stroke if LTT was able to tie up the Dark one using the very lives of thoes who serve him. The fact that the Dark One made them imortal makes it even better. I am going off memory, but it seems to me that the number of broken seals matches the number of Forsaken who have died. The dying of the Forsaken in effect ties off the shield and then the Dark One Can Unravel the not. This would be why the Dark One Cares not at all if his little Chosen die. After their death and he has unravled that part of the shield he can bring them back unattached as it were.
This would also explain why Rand needs to break the seals. As Fel says back in book...umm...6...I think..."you have to clear the rubble before you can build.". Rand cannot sever the Dark One until he is fully freed. Possibly a little long for a response but I loved the idea.
5
Callandor: 2002-12-27
Whoa Whoa Whoa! Your going a little far off course here. The Dark One CANT be stilled or severed at all because he exists outside the wheel. And the drilling of the Bore didnt heal him it just allowed him to touch the world a little bit. Think of it as a hole in the wall and you can only put your pinky finger through it. You have broken through but you dont have that much effect. The discs covered the Bore not shielding the DO. The attack on the Bore was to correctly and accuratly place the seals in order to stop the DO from breaking loose again. The female Aes Sedai didnt like this idea and LTT went ahead with the Hundred Companions and placed the seals not as accuratly but still got the job done.
As for the seals being broken with the killed Forsaken, remember in TDR when Rand kills Ishamael the first FULL seal is found.
Lanfear and Beidomin (sp) didnt mean to open the DO **cage** they were trying to find the TP , even though they really didnt know what it was just that both men and women could draw it. After the bore is when Lanfear went over to the Dark Side.
The World of Robert Jordans The Wheel of Time (or the Guide as many call it) really clears up a lot of the facts about the AoL and the strike at the bore and everything.
Sorry for ranting.
6
Elder Haman: 2003-01-14
Whoa, The Dark One is NOT outside the Wheel of Time. The Creator is outside the Wheel of Time. The Dark One is imprisioned WITHIN the Wheel of Time. Just draw a thick circle, the wheel, and write Dark One in the center, and the Creater outside, and label the circle Time. Note that neither the Dark One, nor the Creator is "within time." Nor can either touch the pattern without breaking the Wheel. However, the Creator is free, while the Dark One is imprisioned. He has to escape the Wheel of Time, thus all the talk about killing time. How? First he must break into the Wheel, ie the bore, but he's still not free. He can now enter and effect Time, but still can't escape until the Wheel is entirely broken, (the outside wall of the wheel). Note that this is why the Creator is acting through agents (Rand, Mat, Perrin) and not directly. To directly affect Time, the Creator would have break the outer wall of the wheel, which would free the Dark One. There is only one instance when we have heard what the Creator is thinking. At the end of Eye of the World, the Creator speaks to Rand. I'm trying to figure out how he did it. Perhaps it's similar to when Egwene speaks to Nynaeve in her dream without entering the dream. (Like the Aiel say, life is a dream). Of course, this occasionaly results the the dream ending... so maybe the Creator spoke to Rand only because Ishmael would have won otherwise, (ie it was a necessary risk).
7
WinespringBrother: 2003-01-15
Quote from the Big White Book:
"The only known forces outside the Wheel and the Pattern are the Creator, who shaped the Wheel, the One Power that drives it – as well as the plan for the Great Pattern – and the Dark One, who was imprisoned outside the pattern by the Creator at the moment of creation. No one inside and of the pattern can destroy the Wheel or change the destiny of the Great Pattern."
So the Dark One is indeed outside the pattern, not imprisoned within it.
As for defeating the Dark One? The only weakness found so far in the True Power is that balefire interacts with it badly, from the Watcher in Shadar Logoth (COS). And perhaps Callandor can stop or deflect it, judging by the balefire that Ishamael channeled at Rand in TDR.
8
sarutobi: 2005-06-04
Ok multiple points here. First the bad reaction wasnt the mix of the powers. It has always been stated that it is very bad to mix streams of balefire. Second, the balefire wasnt split by callandor it was split by a weave.
9
sarutobi: 2005-06-04
Third and most important the dark one cannot be shielded or severed from the true power. The true power is derived directly from the dark one. The true power is the power of the daqrk one. It is immposible to sever the darkone from himself.
