The Fires of Heaven (141 page)

Min
(MIN): A young woman with the ability to read things about people in the auras and images she sometimes sees surrounding them.

Moiraine
(mwah-RAIN): An Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah. Born in Cairhein, of House Damodred, though not in line of succession to the throne, and raised in the Royal Palace. Rarely uses her House name, and keeps her association with it as secret as possible.

Morgase
(moor-GAYZ): By the Grace of the Light, Queen of Andor, Defender of the Realm, Protector of the People, High Seat of House Trakand. Her sign is three golden keys. The sign of House Trakand is a silver keystone.

Myrddraal
(MUHRD-draal): Creatures of the Dark One, commanders of the Trollocs. Twisted offspring of Trollocs in which the human stock used to create the Trollocs has resurfaced, but tainted by the evil that made the Trollocs. They have no eyes, but can see like eagles in light or dark. They have certain powers stemming from the Dark One, including the ability to cause paralyzing fear with a look, and to
vanish wherever there are shadows. Among Myrddraal’s known weaknesses is that they are reluctant to cross running water. Mirrors reflect them only mistily. In different lands they are known by many names, among them Halfman, the Eyeless, Shadowman, Lurk, Fetch, and Fade.

Natael, Jasin
(nah-TAYL, JAY-sihn): Name used by Asmodean, one of the Forsaken.

Niall, Pedron
(NEYE-awl, PAY-drohn): Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light.
See also
Children of the Light.

Nynaeve al’Meara
(NIGH-neev al-MEER-ah): A woman once the Wisdom of Emond’s Field, in the Two Rivers district of Andor. Now one of the Accepted.

Oaths, Three:
The oaths taken by an Accepted on being raised to Aes Sedai. Spoken while holding the Oath Rod, a
ter’angreal
that makes oaths binding. They are: (1) To speak no word that is not true. (2) To make no weapon with which one man may kill another. (3) Never to use the One Power as a weapon except against Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme of defense of her own life, or that of her Warder or another Aes Sedai. The second oath was the first adopted after the War of the Shadow. The first oath, while held to the letter, is often circumvented by careful speaking. It is believed that the last two are inviolable.

Ogier
(OH-gehr): (1) A non-human race, characterized by great height (ten feet is average for adult males), broad, almost snout-like noses, and long, tufted ears. They live in areas called
stedding
, which they rarely leave, and they typically have little contact with humankind. Knowledge of them among humans is sparse, and many believe Ogier to be only legends, though they are wondrous stonemasons and built most of the great cities constructed after the Breaking.

Old Tongue:
The language spoken during the Age of Legends. It is generally expected that nobles and the educated will have learned to speak it, but most know only a few words. Translation is often difficult, as it is a language capable of many subtly different meanings.
See also
Age of Legends.

One Power:
The power drawn from the True Source. The vast majority of people are completely unable to learn to channel the One Power. A very
small number can be taught to channel, and an even tinier number have the ability inborn. These few have no need to be taught; eventually they will channel whether they want to or not, often without even realizing what they are doing. This inborn ability usually manifests itself in late adolescence or early adulthood. If control is not taught, or self-learned (extremely difficult, with a success rate of only one in four), death is certain. Since the Time of Madness, no man has been able to channel the Power without eventually going completely, horribly mad, and then, even if he has learned some control, dying from a wasting sickness that causes the sufferer to rot alive, a sickness caused, as is the madness, by the Dark One’s taint on
saidin. See also
Aes Sedai; channel; Five Powers; Time of Madness; True Source.

Pattern of an Age:
The Wheel of Time weaves the threads of human lives into the Pattern of an Age, often called simply the Pattern, which forms the substance of reality for that Age.
See also ta’veren
.

Rand al’Thor
(RAND al-THOR): A young man from Emond’s Field, in the Two Rivers district of Andor, who is
ta’veren
. Once a shepherd. Now proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn, and also as He Who Comes With the Dawn, prophecied to unite the Aiel and break them. It also seems likely that he is the Coramoor, or Chosen One, sought by the Sea Folk.
See also
Aiel; Dragon Reborn.

Rhuarc
(RHOURK): An Aiel, clan chief of the Taardad Aiel.

Rhuidean
(RHUY-dee-ahn): A great city, the only one in the Aiel Waste and totally unknown to the outside world. Abandoned for nearly three thousand years. Once men among the Aiel were allowed to enter Rhuidean only once, in order to be tested, inside a great
ter’angreal
, for fitness to become clan chief (only one in three survived), and women only twice, for testing in that same
ter’angreal
and again to become Wise Ones, though with a considerably higher survival rate. Now the city is inhabited again, by Aiel, and a great lake occupies one end of the valley of Rhuidean, fed by an underground ocean of fresh water and in turn feeding the only river in the Waste.

sa’angreal
(SAH-ahn-GREE-ahl): Remnants of the Age of Legends that allow channeling much more of the One Power than is otherwise possible or safe. A
sa’angreal
is similar to, but more powerful than, an
angreal
.
The amount of the Power that can be wielded with a
sa’angreal
compares to the amount that can be handled with an
angreal
as the Power wielded with the aid of an
angreal
does to the amount that can be handled unaided. The making of them is no longer known. As with
angreal
, there are male and female
sa’angreal
. Only a handful remain, far fewer even than
angreal
.

saidar
(sah-ih-DAHR);
saidin
(sah-ih-DEEN):
See
True Source.

Seanchan
(SHAWN-CHAN): (1) Descendants of the armies Artur Hawkwing sent across the Aryth Ocean, who conquered the lands there. They believe that any woman who can channel must be controlled for the safety of everyone else, and any man who can channel must be killed for the same reason. (2) The land from which the Seanchan come.

Seekers for Truth:
A police/spy organization of the Seanchan Imperial Throne. Although most Seekers are property of the Imperial family, they have wide powers. Even one of the Blood (a Seanchan noble) can be arrested for failure to answer any question put by a Seeker, or for failure to cooperate fully with a Seeker, this last defined by the Seekers themselves, subject only to review by the Empress.

Shayol Ghul
(SHAY-ol GHOOL): A mountain in the Blasted Lands, beyond the Great Blight. Site of the Dark One’s prison.

Siuan Sanche
(SWAHN SAHN-chay): Daughter of a Tairen fisherman, according to Tairen law she was put on a ship to Tar Valon before the second sunset after discovery that she had the potential to channel. Once Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah and later Amyrlin Seat, she was deposed and stilled. Now seeking to avoid the fate she fears.

Spine of the World:
A towering mountain range, with few passes, which separates the Aiel Waste from the lands to the west. Also called the Dragonwall.

stilling:
The act, performed by Aes Sedai, of shutting off a woman who can channel from the One Power. A woman who has been stilled can sense the True Source, but not touch it. So seldom has it been done that novices are required to learn the names and crimes of all women who have suffered it. Officially, stilling is the result of trial and sentence for a crime. When it happens accidentally, it is called being burned out. In practice, the term “stilling” is often used for both. Women who have been stilled, however it occurred, seldom survive long; they seem to simply give up and die.

Stone of Tear:
A great fortress in the city of Tear, said to have been
made with the One Power soon after the Breaking of the World. Attacked and besieged unsuccessfully countless times, it fell in a single night to the Dragon Reborn and a few hundred Aiel, thus fulfilling two parts of the Prophecies of the Dragon.
See also
Dragon, Prophecies of the.

sul’dam
(SOOL-dam): Literally, “leash holder.” Seanchan term for a woman with the ability to control, by means of an
a’dam
, a woman who can channel. A fairly honored position among the Seanchan. What is known only to a few is that
sul’dam
are in fact those women who could be taught to channel.
See also a’dam
;
damane
; Seanchan.

Talents:
Abilities in the use of the One Power in specific areas. The best known is Healing. Some, such as Traveling, the ability to shift from one place to another without crossing the intervening space, have been lost to the Aes Sedai of today. Others, such as Foretelling (the ability to foretell future events, but in a general way), are now found rarely. Another Talent long thought lost is Dreaming, which involves, among other things, interpreting the Dreamer’s dreams to foretell future events in more specific fashion than Foretelling does. Some Dreamers had the ability to enter
Tel’aran’rhiod
, the World of Dreams, and (it is said) even other people’s dreams. The last acknowledged Dreamer was Corianin Nedeal (coh-ree-AHN-ihn neh-dee-AHL), who died in 526 NE, but there is now another, known to but a few.
See also Tel’aran’rhiod
.

Tallanvor, Martyn
(TAL-lahn-vohr, mahr-TEEN): Guardsman-Lieutenant of the Queen’s Guards who loves his queen more than life or honor.

ta’maral’ailen
(tah-MAHR-ahl-EYE-lehn): In the Old Tongue, “Web of Destiny.” A great change in the Pattern of an Age, centered around one or more people who are
ta’veren. See also
Pattern of an Age;
ta’veren
.

Tanchico
(tan-CHEE-coh): Capital city of Tarabon.
See
Tarabon.

Tarabon
(TAH-rah-BON): Nation on the Aryth Ocean. Once a great trading nation, a source of rugs, dyes and fireworks produced by the Guild of Illuminators, among other things. Little news has come out of Tarabon since the land became racked by anarchy and civil war compounded by simultaneous wars against Arad Doman and the Dragonsworn, people who have sworn to follow the Dragon Reborn.

Tarmon Gai’don
(TAHR-mohn GAY-dohn): The Last Battle.
See also
Dragon, Prophecies of the; Horn of Valere.

ta’veren
(tah-VEER-ehn): A person around whom the Wheel of Time weaves all surrounding life-threads, perhaps ALL life-threads, to form a Web of Destiny.
See also
Pattern of an Age;
ta’maral’ailen
.

Tear
(TEER): A nation on the Sea of Storms. Also the capital city of that nation, a great seaport. The banner of Tear is three white crescent moons slanting across a field half red, half gold.
See also
Stone of Tear.

Telamon, Lews Therin
(TEHL-ah-mon, LOOZ THEH-rihn):
See
Dragon, the.

Tel’aran’rhiod
(tel-AYE-rahn-rhee-ODD): In the Old Tongue, “the Unseen World,” or “the World of Dreams.” A world glimpsed in dreams which was believed by the ancients to permeate and surround all other possible worlds. Many can touch
Tel’aran’rhiod
for a few moments in their dreams, but few have ever had the ability to enter it at will, though some
ter’angreal
have recently been discovered to confer that ability. Unlike other dreams, what happens to living things in the World of Dreams is real; a wound taken there will still exist on awakening, and one who dies there does not wake at all.
See also ter’angreal
.

ter’angreal
(TEER-ahn-GREE-ahl): Remnants of the Age of Legends that use the One Power. Unlike
angreal
and
sa’angreal
, each
ter’angreal
was made to do a particular thing. Some
ter’angreal
are used by Aes Sedai, but the original purposes of many are unknown. Some require channeling, while others may be used by anyone. Some will kill or destroy the ability to channel of any woman who uses them. Like
angreal
and
sa’angreal
, the making of them has been lost since the Breaking of the World.
See also angreal
;
sa’angreal
.

Thom Merrilin
(TOM MER-rih-lihn): A not-so-simple gleeman and traveler.
See also
gleeman.

Time of Madness:
The years after the Dark One’s counterstroke tainted the male half of the True Source, when male Aes Sedai went mad and Broke the World. The exact duration of this period is unknown, but it is believed to have lasted nearly one hundred years. It ended completely only with the death of the last male Aes Sedai.
See also
One Power; True Source.

Trollocs
(TRAHL-lohks): Creatures of the Dark One, created during the War of the Shadow. Huge of stature, they are a twisted blend of animal and human stock. Divided into tribe-like bands, among them the Dha’vol, the Ko’bal, and the Dhai’mon. Vicious by nature, they kill for
the pure pleasure of killing. Deceitful in the extreme, they cannot be trusted unless coerced by fear.

Trolloc Wars:
A series of wars, beginning about 1000 AB and lasting more than three hundred years, during which Trolloc armies ravaged the World. Eventually the Trollocs were driven back into the Great Blight, but some nations ceased to exist, and others that survived were almost depopulated. All records of the time are fragmentary.