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he Gholam requires the One Power to stay alive
by Schmoo: 2004-03-03 | Not yet rated
Previous Categories: Miscellaneous
According to this legend, the gholam requires the One Power to maintain its existence. This legend provides a very simple explanation for the effect that Mat's medallion has on the gholam. Simply put, Mat's medallion inhibits the One Power that maintains the gholam's life. Without the One Power, the gholam would revert to a pile of clay (or whatever starting material that Aginor used).
I think this theory is much easier to comprehend than the gholam and medallion being ter-angreal and cancelling each other out.
This also may lead to a way to kill the gholam. Instead of trying to harm it with the One Power, one could instead shield it from the One Power. But why would an Aes Sedai ever think of doing that?
TITLE: Crown of Swords, CHAPTER: 39 - Promises to Keep
"Mat gathered patience; he hoped he could find enough. Maybe if he used both hands and both feet. "Gholam were created in the middle of the War of the Power, during the Age of Legends," he began from the beginning. Almost from the beginning of what Birgitte had told him. He turned, facing each group of women as he spoke. Burn him if he was going to let one bunch think they were more important. Or that he was bloody pleading with them. Especially since he was. "They were made to assassinate Aes Sedai. No other reason. To kill people who could channel. The One Power won't help you; the Power won't touch a Gholam. In fact, they can sense the ability to channel, if they're within, say, fifty paces of you. They can feel the power in you, too. You won't know the Gholam until it's too late. They look just like anybody else. On the outside. Inside.... Gholam have no bones; they can squeeze themselves under a door. And they're strong enough to rip a door off steel hinges with one hand." Or rip out a throat. Light, he should have let Nalesean stay in bed."
I am not suggesting that the Gholam uses the One Power like an Aes Sedai; instead it requires the One Power to maintain its existence.
Comments
Tamyrlin: 2004-03-20
So, you think, in a manner of speaking, being devoid of the one power for prolonged periods of time would weaken the gholem? Or, are you suggesting the gholem is "connected" the one power by virtue of its creation, so the OP, when directly used against it, doesn't necessarily strengthen it, but doesn't affect it? In your theory, was a gholam built to absorb the OP and the medallion was built to "destroy" or cancel out the OP?
Darren: 2004-03-20
I don't buy it....
I mean, why do the books go out of their way to point out that Gholam feed on blood (FOR SUSTENANCE)... I mean the section you quoted is related to that information, and you seem to be deliberately avoiding the evidence.
charliec: 2004-03-20
Great idea, I like it!
Yes, the Gholam needs blood for sustenance, but it can also sense channeling and the ability to channel... do they perhaps need to kill channelers occasionally as well?
Callandor: 2004-03-20
I like the explanation of why Mat's medallion harms the Gholam, but I don't think they need the OP to survive. The blood they do need (for whatever reason). When weaves are tied off, the survive for as long as the channeler wants (RJ interview); with Gholams I don't think the process would be that much different. They were created with the OP, not tied off weaves, but I don't think they need a constant supply of the OP. Otherwise, they would die off much quicker then the roughly 600 year long natural life they have (another RJ interview).
WinespringBrother: 2004-03-20
By this theory, would a one power shield hurt the Gholam? After all, if it were that simple to stop a Gholam, would they be so dangerous to channelers? Take for example, Graendal, who almost got killed by one, but is someone who may actually have that information, having been a contemporary of Aginor's, and an ally as well?
And channelers can still sense the one power through a shield, even though they can't access it. But maybe a more extreme location, such as a stedding or Far Madding, could do damage, perhaps even fatal, to the Gholam, since the one power is totally cut off in those locations.
Very interesting theory though.
snakes-n-foxes: 2004-03-21
Nice theory - and there is no reason that a Gholam cannot require both the one power and blood to survive, after all, we require Air, Food and Water to survive, and (generally) plants require the Sun, Air, Water, and nutrients from soil to survive.
Perhaps the one power could be to the Gholam like air is to us, whilst blood is it's food. Another possibility is that the gholams 'intelligence' or 'sentience' is sustained by blood, whilst its actual existance is dependant on the one power...a lot of possibilities really - but an interesting theory
charliec: 2004-03-21
On second thoughts, if they needed the OP to stay alive, and had some kind of constant connection to it, then surely channelers would be able to sense it?
ike44: 2004-03-22
I think that it makes sense that the gholam is connected to the one power. Just as an Aes Sedai's life is extended with use of the true power a gholams life could be extended by its connection to the one power. And just as Aes Sedai need to eat food, so does a gholam need to drink fresh blood.
One other thought however is that the gholam is not connected to only the one power but also the true power, so that it is able to sense the ability in people, such as an Aes Sedai and Asha'man sense it in their respective cases.
solomonrex: 2004-03-22
If the gholam are 'drawing' on the OP actively to live, then other channelers would certainly sense it- but I maintain we don't have conclusive evidence, because there are both male and female gholams and channelers and we haven't seen both around both- in other words, Mat's gholam was male and was attacking AS and it's possible (however unlikely) that it was drawing saidin, and that's why they didn't think to shield it.
I like your explanation of why the medallion works. But has Mat tried the medallion against any other shadowspawn? Perhaps they all burn from it- for a reason similar to your reasoning- they were all built with weaves, so perhaps they all would melt from having the weaves sucked up by the medallion. No, wait- only the gholam were custom made (only 6 of them) perhaps they are susceptible because they are based on TIED OFF WEAVES!!! Or something.
I want to like this theory- it just needs more.
HawkeWolfe: 2004-03-22
WineSpringBrother
When did Graendal almost get killed by a Gholam??
I do like the theory about why Matt's Ter'angreal affects the Gholam, but I do not think that it "needs" the OP at all times to exist. Maybe it only needs the OP when it is "feeding" on blood. For example, it uses the OP after it has killed and is sucking up the blood, and for just that short amount of time uses both blood and OP to "recharge" it's batteries so to speak. This could account for Aes Sedai not sensing any OP usage by the Gholam during it's attacks.
Just another crazy opinion...
Darren: 2004-03-22
"Nice theory - and there is no reason that a Gholam cannot require both the one power and blood to survive"
you're really reaching.... Gholam are IMMUNE to the OP... FLOWS DISAPPEAR when they come into contact with it. If oxygen disappeared when it passed my lips, I'd asphyxiate pretty fast. This is one of the least thought out theories I have seen on this site, and I am surprised at the number of people who defend it.
Arbryan: 2004-03-22
No reason why they couldn't have been made with a need for blood as a method to ensure they would always kill.
***In addition, the Golem was destroyed by removing these elements.***
Why then does it not grow more powerful when those elements are directed at it?
snakes-n-foxes: 2004-03-22
I think the point of the theory is something like this - Gholam are immune to the one power (and probably true power?) because, unlike Aes Sedai and other Channellers, they do NOT channell the one power - the True Source
'If' this were the case, there would be no 'reaching' for the source.
As for why a gholam can't minpulate the power - a possible answer for this is, just because we require something to live, doesn't mean we can manipulate it. (I after all, can't command air to do my will by mere thought)
WinespringBrother: 2004-03-22
Hawkewolfe:
Lord of Chaos CH: 23 - To Understand a Message
"Graendal smiled a good deal more warmly than she felt inside, though if her gown changed color, it was by a hair. She had had an unpleasant, in fact almost fatal, experience with one of Aginor's creations. The man had been brilliant in his way, but mad. None but a madman would have made the gholam. "You seem in very good mood."
Darren:
It is true that the one power flows melt away when they touch the Gholam, and it could be due to them being absorbed by the Gholam.
Darren: 2004-03-23
Well, maybe you all have a point. After all, allegedly the words of the books are passing your eyes and being absorbed by what passes for brains, but I still think they're melting away at contact.
Note from Tamyrlin: Every six months I have to make this clear - please do not insult the poster, insult the theory. But I found this to be extremely funny, so I had to let it through...If you (as in any one) have ever noticed a reply that is not posted it has to do with two things - no value added, or personally offensive. Just some thoughts for your occassionally amused host.
mako0424: 2004-03-23
Darren, this theory is one of the better well-posted theories actually. I would have to say it makes totally logical sense.
The gholams are obviously custom made using the one power/true power by aginor.
Next, yes it needs blood to live but either as incentive to kill or maybe like a food or sustenance.
But to put it more simply lets think of the one power as a weave "a rug" if you will.
ok, aginor uses the five elements and power to create a super-rug that can sense others who know how to weave and can also repel weaves from others, not absorb it, simply repel it as if it was water-proof lets say. the weaves thrown at it don't make it stronger but like mat's medalion weaves used on other things, such as picking up a rock and throwing it at the gholam would work. and lets say blood is simply the fuel to repelnish the water-proof qualities of the rug, and to keep it fresh and new, thuis not requiring new weaves from aginor.
ok, and mat's medalion, lets say it is contained fire, any weave directed at him is destroyed. Now put contained fire on the pre-woven rug, and it toally singes the rug. Thats why the gholam is so powerful, aginor put alot of time and energy in, but i hope this analogy helped others understand what this theory was trying to say. Now, is there any other way to kill gholam without medalion, i dont think a shield would work, but possibly something like a stedding would unravel it.
just a thought
Orko: 2004-03-23
darren
ok? theres like 10 different ways that could possibly be explained as to how the gholams are connected or have something to do with the OP. when you closemindedly insist that it isn't possible over and over, maybe you should be the one to read others posts and maybe reread your last one and apply it to yourself.
TheNetweaver: 2004-03-23
It would be very interesting to see what would happen to a gholam in a stedding; perhaps it would die. Obviously, it possesses some property that makes it immune to the one power. Unfortunately, we don't know the nature of this trait--can a gholam go through a gateway, for instance? Also, is the gholam's property the same as that in Mat's medallion, or are they merely similar? It could be that they have the same affect as a magnet: the ends that are charged the same repel each other. We really know very little about the nature of a gholam though, except that it has no bones and can't be touched by flows.
charliec: 2004-03-24
This really is an interesting one...
I'm personally more and more convinced that the Gholam is NOT linked to the power in this way, but that's more on hunch, and my general idea of RJ's style than evidence...
A few points:
When flows touch the Gholam they melt away in exactly the same way that they do when they touch Mat. So a useful question to fathom out is what happens with the medallion? It DOESN'T cut the flows, as Aes Sedai have noticed, but either makes them dissipate, or absorbs them. When it does this it gets colder, enabling Mat to sense if someone has channeled at him.
3 possibilities then-
*the coldness is just a mechanism to show the wearer that he is being channeled at.
*the coldness arises as a side effect of the medallion's work in destroying the weaves.
*the coldness is a side effect of the medallion absorbing the weaves.
I personally don't think the medallion is absorbing the power, it doesn't mesh with the way the flows disappear (not into Mat, but just melting away), but others may have useful feedback.
Point of interest- the quote says Graendal was nearly killed by one of Aginor's creations... admittedly it was probably a Gholam, but not necessarily, and her shiver could have been for ALL of the crazy creatures.
Final sidetrack... the Gholam doesn't seem so Taint perverted and twisted as other shadowspawn, or so loyal to the DO, I wonder if it would feel the same aversion to a stedding?
heronblade: 2004-03-24
so what would happen in this case in a stedding? the gholam cannot touch the op but could still, theoreticaly, feed off the blood of its victims if it felt so inclined.
nick: 2004-03-25
I like this theory quite a lot.I dont think anyone being attacked by the gholam would think to try and shield it although I dont really think it would work anyway.I also like the idea that the gholam and Mats medallion are polar opposites as opposed to being the same.This makes a lot of sense because if they were the same then two gholams touching would have the same effect as the medallion and the gholam touching.
Darren: 2004-03-25
I have to let this one go... If you all consider it logical, then go right ahead thinking so... personally I find the whole thing ridiculous... If Gholam needed the OP to "breathe" they must only breathe once a year or something, for all that the one in Ebou Dar was stalking can't channel nobodies rather than Kinswomen, Damane, or Aes Sedai... but whatever. I'll just leave you with Schmoo's quote from the text "the one power WON'T TOUCH a gholam..." (Capitals my own.)
snakes-n-foxes: 2004-03-25
Darren
Don't take this as a flame, as it isn't intended as one, but your arguments havent consisted of any logic (and your last post was grammatically non-intelligable "they must only breathe once a year or something, for all that the one in Ebou Dar was stalking can't channel nobodies rather than Kinswomen")
Perhaps if you offered a valid reason why this particular theory is so wrong in your view, then we could have a debate.
Now with this theory, it recognises the fact that there are two possible reasons for the one power to be unable to touch gholam (thereby making gholam immune to the one power).
These two possibilities are 1: the one power is absorbed & 2: the one power is dissipated.
The third possibility - that the one power was resisted, can't be so, as being resisted implies that the flows don't change, they strike and have no effect. As the flows dissapear, this means it does so by either method 1 or 2.
The space between where the flows disappear and the gholam can be explained in two ways 1: that is the space where the woven flows are changing form - due to a substance that polarises the woven flows back into their true form 2: the flows dissipate as they draw near to a substance that has a dispersal effect on them.
The these two possibilities then become two questions 1: what would cause woven flows to change back into their pure form 2 : what would cause woven flows to dissipate
If you can answer either of those two questions, then we have a debate.
However the posted theory, while not complete in detail, is certainly a viable posibility in answer to at least question 1, and possible question 2 (though 2 is less likely in my mind - in relation to this theory only)
Darren: 2004-03-26
Wow...
1) IF the Gholam need the OP to "breathe" (as has been stated) then the Gholam in Ebou Dar must not have needed to breathe often. After attacking Elayne and Mat and the bunch, it spent its time attacking "can't-channel nobodies" (ie: anonymous individuals who are unable to channel) and Mat himself (also unable to channel.) Said Gholam never once attacked any of the numerous individuals able to tap the True Source in Ebou Dar at that time.
Logically, SNF, this goes against it needing the OP....
2) As to the end quote (go up to the top of the thread, and work your tired eyes down to the part where it says "the Power won't touch a Gholam.") I think that it sort of logically speaks for itself. Since Jordan wrote it and not you, I'm kind of accepting it for what it is: a flat out denial of this whole idea before it ever started.
Is that enough logic for you?
(I suspect not.)
charliec: 2004-03-26
Assuming that the Gholam acts in a similar way to Mat's medallion... does it get cold when channelled at? If so could you freeze it by channelling a whopping great flow at it? Hee hee, iced gholam anyone?
charliec: 2004-03-27
easy chaps...
Jordan was writing in POV though, it represents one character's belief not absolute truth.
snakes-n-foxes: 2004-03-27
Darren
I think perhaps you are misreading/misunderstanding what most people are thinking with this theory.
1. Not saying that the Gholams needs the one power 'channelled' at it to 'breathe' - please read again (key word here being channelled - it doesn't require the one power to be channelled at it)
2. Yes RJ said it the OP doesn't touch gholams, no one here has denied that - an explanation for 'why' it doesn't touch the gholam is offered - please read again. The key to this theory is 'why' doesn't the one power touch the gholam. The theory offers an explanation for this.
PS Stating that something is 'said' (ie by RJ) is not logic, it is simply a stating of what was said.
Darren: 2004-03-28
you really have some nerve....
let me restate what it says in "your" theory....
"the gholam requires the One Power to maintain its existence"
now... think very hard about the quote... "the Power won't touch a Gholam"
The two are mutually exclusive. They negate each other. The Power won't touch a Gholam. That means several things:
1) Flows channeled at a Gholam won't touch it
2) Gholam cannot channel in any way (once again... won't touch... now I know the theory says "I am not suggesting that the Gholam uses the One Power like an Aes Sedai" but won't touch is won't touch)
3) You know nothing about "logic."
The power won't touch several things in the series. The Stedding, and Mat's medallion (which may or may not be a ter'angreal... I think it was made by the Finns, not AS, and we really know almost nothing about them) are the most obvious examples, but there are others.
Anyhow, considering this, the intelligent observer might consider the possibility that the Gholam is tied into one or another of these things, rather than simplistically focusing on the One Power.
Is the Gholam somehow an animate equivalent of a Stedding, in one aspect, at least? And if so, what methods did Aginor use to create them?
Were the Gholam made from Finn stock, or through some twisted compact with them?
Am I the only person who thinks that we got the short end of the stick with Aginor? There's nothing I like better than Weird Science. I wanted to see more of him. What DO the "worms" mature into?
Am I the only person wondering if he designed something new, during his period as Osan'gar?
snakes-n-foxes: 2004-03-29
Ahh, now we are getting somewhere.
you are saying that because 'the one power won't touch gholams' that this means that they act like a stedding, or mats Ter'angreal, and not as the theory says.
Now that is always a possibility.
The reason this particular theory is valid though, is because saying 'the one power won't touch a gholam' could mean either of the following things :
1. channelled one power has no effect on the gholam
2. The channelled one power can't come into contact with a gholam
Now...if it was the 2nd one, which you are suppositioning, then how, if the one power cannot come into contact with this thing, is the gholam created with the one power ?
If 'the one power cannot touch a gholam' means the the first meaning, then the above theory is valid, and also allows for the gholam to be created.
(admittedly sometimes the making of a thing transmutes an object into something with completely different properties to the original)
So, yes, there are holes in this particular theory...but then, it's still the best one I've seen. It give's a believable reason for why the one power won't touch a gholam.
As for Aginor, yep it would have been cool if he'd made some more creations up, or we'd head a bit more about them. Maybe when we get to the Last Battle, we'll see some more of them.
Btw...with the wording to a gholam cannot be touched with the one power it is similar to 'he is so well defended I couldn't even touch him /// he is so fast I just couldn't touch him /// His body armour is so strong my bullets (one-power) couldn't touch him ....it does have more than one meaning (the last example is probably closest to 'the onepower wont touch a gholam')
HawkeWolfe: 2004-03-29
To be honest there are things that use the One Power to negate or block said One Power. For example:
TITLE: Winter's Heart, CHAPTER: 23 - To Lose the Sun
"It is not exactly a secret," Sarene said at last, and not very willingly for something that was not a secret, "but neither is it well known. We do not speak of Far Madding often, except for sisters born there, and even they seldom visit. Still, you should know before you enter. The city possesses a ter'angreal. Or perhaps it is three ter'angreal. No one knows. They-or it-cannot be studied any more than they can be removed. They must have been made during the Breaking, when fear of madmen channeling the Power was the matter of every day. But to pay such a price for the safety." The beaded braids dangling onto her chest rattled together as she shook her head in disbelief. "These ter'angreal, they duplicate a stedding. In the important ways at least, I fear, though I suppose an Ogier would not think so." She gave a doleful sigh.
These Ter'Angreal have to be using the One Power; even while they are blocking the use of it. Now we also know that trying to use the OP outside of the area of effect on something inside that area of effect does not work either...to a degree. You cannot channel fire and burn something that is inside the area of effect, but you can channel a boulder and start it moving, and once it has inertia it will continue to move only as far as that inertia will take it.
Matt's medallion was the same way. No flow would touch him directly, but a stone flung with the OP did hit him.
Now given the fact that Far madding's Ter'Angreal does use the OP in this manner, could not a Gholam as well.
Logic says it is possible. Gholams may be a walking Ter'Angreal.
Notice I said MAYBE. I am still undecided, and given the Far Madding Ter'Angreal, the possibility does exist.
charliec: 2004-03-29
I'm not sure Aginor so much designed as bred and saw what came out...
Is there perhaps some Fade in the Gholam's ancestry? Both are unusually fast, and agile, and both can sense channeling...
minalth: 2004-03-30
osan'gar making something new would be v. cool.
If RJ was writing in a character's POV, it does not mean anything. characters are fooled the whole time.
It could be that the gholam turns the power that had been converted into threads to weave with back into 'raw' power, which would allow it to 'breathe' the power from the source when it could not feel any channelers near to it. This would mean that no channelers would feel it 'breathing' and the 'raw' power that it would have to 'breathe' would not be dissapated or absorbed or whatever.
also if weaves of power ARE absorbed, then there is no reason why the gholam cannot 'breathe' the power, it will absorb the power, but that is what it would do anyway if it draw some 'raw' power from the source.
Darren: 2004-03-30
HawkeWolfe, the ter'A in Far Madding was made with the one power, but it doesn't use it. Read over that section again, and notice that there is NO mention of anyone channeling there.
Yet, even if it did, it would remain irrelevant to the point. The books say that the one power won't touch a gholam, so to continue arguing that they use the power is ridiculous.
SNF... it does not say "the CHANNELED Power won't touch a gholam" it says the Power... Channeled, unchanneled, whatever. Hurl water baloons filled from the Eye of the World at one if you want, once they break, they'll dissipate.... that's just how it goes.
As to the "theories" I tacked on to the end of my last reply... those are just things I thought of off the top of my head; I'm not championing them as truth or anything. I only meant to show that there are other avenues of conjecture.
Anubis: 2004-03-30
darren, requiring the one power to live and negating channeling are not mutually exclusive. the one power is everywhere, its like the force (insert yoda speach) channeling is specific use of the one power for a purpose. it could be that the flows melt because the gholam naturally converts them back into pure one power and absorbs them. that would cause the flows to "melt". but then again, its just a theory.
snakes-n-foxes: 2004-03-30
Hawkwolfe - thanks for the reminder on the Far Madding ter'angreal.
That ter'angreal seems to cut off a channellers inborn conduit to the true source.
It doesn't however, stop them accessing a man made pool of the one power (eg Nynaeve and Cadsuane's ter'angreals). So I suppose they are a little different from Gholam in that channelled one power doesn't actually disappear inside it's influence, you just can't access your natural link to the true source inside it's influence (not sure if chanelling from outside the influence to inside would work, but would assume so, given Nynave and Cadsuanes channelling inside).
Hmmm...then again, this just gave me an idea...perhaps the way a gholam works is to 'complete the loop'...ie "True Source ---conduit---Aes Sedai--weave one power---gholam---conduit---true source".
Now, by using the word 'conduit' in there, I'm not suggesting the gholam channels the onepower, but rather that whenever the one power is weaved and aimed at it, the gholam acts as a 'negative channell' for the one power, back to the true source.
Ie Aes Seday have an inborn 'positive conduit' allowing them to access the true source....the weaving of the one power is a separate ability
But my thought on this....what if the when an Aes Sedai channells at it, the channelling initiates a 'link' between the Aes Sedai and the Gholam, allowing the Gholam to act as a negative conduit for the one power back to the true source. (admittedly there is nothing to say that this is the way a gholams negative conduit works, just a possibility). 'If' this were so, then perhaps using a one power 'well' ter'angreal
Hope that was understandable - was just an idea that popped into my head.
PS my use of the word 'Aes Sedai' here, refered to all OP channellers - was just easier to write.
Unicorn: 2004-03-30
I do not know if this will prove or disprove the theory for anybody, I THINK it proves it true for me, in a round about way.
Let's look at what I belive to be true about the Gholam.
The Gholam is a construct made with the aid of the One Power. The building blocks is noting out of the ordinary, but weaves of the One Power was used to bind the blocks together. In addition some weave(s) are at least similar to the ones used in creating Mat's medalliom*.
This leads me to the conclusion that it is the WEAVES(made with the One Power) that holds the Gholam together. And Mat's medallion DISOLVES weaves, what it does with the "released" Power I have no Idea.
This lead me to the conclusion that the medallion is like acid(really bad acid) to the Gholam.
I am in a bit of a catch then as to this answering the theory. But somehow the weaves that hold the Gholam together could be called the One Power and in that sense Yes it needs the One Power to survive. But i do not think it needs to feed on it, or breathe it, but I am smart enough not to try some analogy ;o)
*I have read in a post a while back under a different theory, that Mats medallion is an artifact of the Age of Legends, sorry do not remember which theory, but I belive it was a quote from an interview, Callandor or another Quotemaster please disabuse or confirm me in this :o)
HawkeWolfe: 2004-03-31
Darren
**the ter'A in Far Madding was made with the one power, but it doesn't use it.**
??? So please tell me just HOW does the Far Madding Ter'Angreal gets its power if it does not use the OP??
All Ter'Amgreal use the OP. There is even mention in the books somewhere (cannot remember wher, but believe it was one of the flashback scenes) about devices that use the OP, that even non-channelers can use. Something about "standing flows", but anyway I am just curious as to how the Far Madding Ter'Angreal blocks the source if it does not use the OP.
charliec: 2004-04-01
**(not sure if chanelling from outside the influence to inside would work, but would assume so, given Nynave and Cadsuanes channelling inside). **
I'm not certain but I think there's a quote to be had somewhere about what it's like trying to channel into a steading... it doesn't work. As Far Madding is a kind of artificial stedding I'd assume the same applies.
**??? So please tell me just HOW does the Far Madding Ter'Angreal gets its power if it does not use the OP??
All Ter'Amgreal use the OP. There is even mention in the books somewhere (cannot remember wher, but believe it was one of the flashback scenes) about devices that use the OP, that even non-channelers can use. Something about "standing flows", but anyway I am just curious as to how the Far Madding Ter'Angreal blocks the source if it does not use the OP.**
We probably don't know enough to say how the ter'angreal works, but it doesn't necessarily use the OP... it could be that during it's creation teh power was used to create the conditions for a stedding, and since then it has been self perpetuating.
How do normal steddings work? we've no indication that they need the power to persist...
The same could happily apply to the Gholam and the medallion.
Darren: 2004-04-20
The "standing flows" mentioned from the age of legends were comparable to electrical outlets... you could just "plug in" a ter'a to one to get the flow you need. Everyone could use the power then, whether or not they could channel; it's one of the reasons the AS were so named "servants of all."
And no, not all ter'a use the power. Prove it. The one in Far Madding most certainly does not.
dragonsceptor: 2004-04-21
**And no, not all ter'a use the power. Prove it. The one in Far Madding most certainly does not.**
And how do you know the one in Far Madding does not use the OP? It seems to me that in order to block someone's access to the source (what the Ter
angreal does in a nutshell) the OP must be used. This is similiar to the concept of shielding. I don't think we have seen anything to prove that Ter'Angreal do not use the OP, just that the user of a Ter'angreal does not always have to use the OP.
Heron: 2005-06-16
Darren, ter'angreal use the one power by definition. TDR Glossary (696) "ter'angreal (TEER-ahn-GREE-ahl): any one of a number of remnants of the Age of Legends that use the One Power." There's more, but that's what's essential. Also, to manipulate flows, a channeler must be drawing from the True Source (or a Well). It stands to reason that a Gholam must have some connection to the One Power to have any effect on it.
The One Power will not touch a Gholam, but it will be affected by one's presence. This indicates that the flows (or whatever, eye of the world type source, whatever) that is directed at, or for some other reason approaches a Gholam is being manipulated somehow. Since Mat's ter'angreal, being ter'angreal, uses the One Power to block the One Power, or whatever it does, therefor, unless RJ is very inconsistant, the Gholam must use (not necessarily by drawing on, but use nonetheless) the One Power in it's process of negation.