The One Power

     The True Source is made up of two halves, saidar and saidin.  Saidar is the female half of the One Power, saidin the male half.  Only two to three percent of people have the ability to touch the One Power.  When a person draws from the One Power and controlling its flow from the True Source it is called channeling.

     Channeling takes threads of the One Power and weaves them to perform various tasks.  The five threads of the One Power are Earth, Fire, Air, Water, and Spirit.  People who have the ability to channel typically have a greater natural ability to deal with one or two of the different threads.  Some rare individuals exhibit a great ability with three of the threads.  Even during the Age of Legends it was extremely rare to find someone who

Artwork by Ron Walotsky

could handle four of the threads very strongly.

     In general, men are stronger than women with the One Power.  To balance this perhaps, women tended to have more dexterity in weaving the threads of the One Power.  Typically, men were more adept with Fire and Earth, while women were more talented with Air and Water.

     Use of the One Power is addictive.  The act of channeling makes the person feel more alive, such that life without touching either saidin or saidar seems only a pale shade of what life should be.  It is this reason that channeling is dangerous - drawing too much of the One Power can at the least sear the ability to channel out of a person, at the worst it can kill. 

     One way to prevent the accidental burning out which can result from drawing too much of the One Power is the use of angreal or sa’angreal.  While angreal and sa’angreal increase the amount of the Power one can channel, the artifacts known as ter’angreal are created to use the Power in a specific manner.  The uses of ter’angreal range from extremely important to somewhat frivolous.

     Sometimes, Aes Sedai or others have been cut off from the One Power as a punishment.  This process, known as “severing,” is akin to a death sentence.  Men and women who have been severed eventually lose the will to live. 

     It is also possible for men and women who can channel to link together.  While the power of this circle formed by linking is less than the cumulative strength of all the individual members, it allows for a greater amount of the Power to be utilized with the same precision as if the leader of the circle was channeling alone.

     There are a number of restrictions placed upon linked circles.  Most deal with the numbers of men and women who are involved in the circle, and what gender the leader must be depending on the composition of the circle.  For example, a circle of women can only expand to thirteen without the addition of a man.

     While the One Power is not a living thing, it has in general greatly improved the quality of life for the people of the world.  People who can channel are highly regarded in just about every nation in the world.  Without the One Power, the land would be a very different place.

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