Weaves of air.

SpoilerA Crown of Swords

All through the books, we have channelers sleeping on narrow beds, sitting on wobbly stools, busted-arse chairs, or beds where there's not so much as a stool to sit on.

!And yet, channelers can weave flows of air to bind people, they can weave flows of air to pour tea, they can even weave air to bridge gaps to walk on (looking at you, Elayne).!<

!So, why under the Light do they not weave furniture from air?!<

Because they're light-blinded children and bloody wool-headed fools, that's why!

Posted Jun 12, 2023, 3:04 AM UTC

2714
BurntoutaspieRandlander•

You do see people use the power for practical tasks sometimes, but I think most of them get it beaten into them as novices and accepted that you dont use the power too much. Saidar being so pleasant its easy to get addicted and burn yourself out.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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thejockaRandlander•

My question is why did they not weave an air shield around them in public to stop attacks

11
SamGroplerOPRandlander•

It would have saved Siuan from that arrow.

7
n_slash_aRandlander•

Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I thought they couldn't weave a moving air shield.

3
DK_AdwarRandlander•

Rbe air shield would also have stopped the sound waves from travelling through it. (Thats my basic science explanation) the shields seem to be very very hard (as in without wiggle room) two way. Nothing in, nothing out, with very few if any exceptions (excluding the times where someone "explicitly" "parted" the weave to allow some one/thing to pass through

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VisibleCoat995Randlander•

As others have said during their tower training it’s beaten into them (sometimes literally) that you don’t frivolously use the power for just anything.

When fully raised do they occasionally break that rule? Of course. But I also find they mostly do it because they want to remind someone how powerful they are.

Add into that the fact that the one power is seen as highly addictive. The more channel it the more you want to channel it, drawing greater and greater amount until you risk burning yourself out. I always saw it as a subtle nod to how drug abuse and over-doses happen. You keep upping the amount you take, chases a bigger high until one day you take too much and kill yourself.

And since there were so few aes sedai it makes sense they would instill a healthy fear of that.

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tylanol7Randlander•

Ive been online to long i read sentence 2 as "when fully aroused"

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Big-Don-RobRandlander•

Now I'm wondering how many Accepted had experiences, good and bad, trying to use the source on lonely nights daydreaming about Galad.

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tylanol7Randlander•

the real question is how many figured out they like a little lightning

2
ntr7ptrRandlander•

Think of the negative impacts on the economy if channelers didn’t buy furniture because they made it from the source. /s

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alpha_dkRandlander•

I'm pretty sure there's a throwaway line somewhere that says if you try to use the power to support yourself the weaves fall apart.

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FlowingThot•

This is not quite right. You can't use the power to lift yourself. But supporting yourself close to the ground is totally okay. We see them make bridges out of air and they work just fine. You can't make them too big before they fall apart, but making a stool to sit on would be fine.

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ascendtheroseRandlander•

The white tower had lost most of the knowledge of channeling by the time the books happen. What you're describing sounds like "standing weaves" which 95% of the channelers in the books don't know about.

-2†
KlainattaRandlander•

Standing flows allowed normal people to use ter'angreals that required channeling.

The Tower does know about tying off weaves to maintain their effects.

The real reason why they don't do this is because they see it as a waste of the Power. They treat the Power with holy reverance in some ways.

Oh they will pull a chair with Air instead of using their hands, heat tea and try to fix a rusted door hinge but making permanent light balls or furniture is a no-no.

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