Authors: Robert Jordan
Red Shields:
See
Aiel warrior societies.
Rhuarc
(RHOURK): An Aiel, clan chief of the Taardad Aiel.
Rogosh Eagle-eye:
A legendary hero mentioned in a number of old stories.
sa’angreal
(SAH-ahn-GREE-ahl): Any one of a number of objects that allow an individual to channel much more of the One Power than would otherwise be possible or safe. A
sa’angreal
is like unto, but much more powerful than, an
angreal
. The amount of the Power that can be wielded with a
sa’angreal
compares to the amount of the Power that can be handled with an
angreal
as the power wielded with the aid of an
angreal
does to the amount of the Power that can be handled unaided. Remnants of the Age of Legends, their making is no longer known. Only a handful remain, far fewer even than
angreal
.
saidar
(sah-ih-DAHR);
saidin
(sah-ih-DEEN):
See
True Source.
Sea Folk:
More properly, the Atha’an Miere (ah-thah-AHN mee-AIR), the People of the Sea. Inhabitants of islands in the Aryth (AH-rihth) Ocean and the Sea of Storms, they spend little time on those islands, living most of their lives on their ships. Most seaborne trade is carried by the Sea Folk’s ships.
Seanchan
(SHAWN-CHAN): (1) Descendants of the armies Artur Hawkwing sent across the Aryth Ocean. (2) The land from which the Seanchan come.
Selene
(seh-LEEN): A name used by the Forsaken called Lanfear.
Servants, Hall of the:
In the Age of Legends, the great meeting hall of the Aes Sedai.
Shadar Logoth
(SHAH-dahr LOH-goth): A city abandoned and shunned since the Trolloc Wars. It is tainted ground, and not a pebble of it is safe.
Shai’tan
(SHAY-ih-TAN):
See
Dark One.
Shayol Ghul
(SHAY-ol GHOOL): A mountain in the Blasted Lands, the site of the Dark One’s prison.
Sheriam
(SHEER-ee-ahm): An Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah. The Mistress of Novices in the White Tower.
Siuan Sanche
(SWAHN SAHN-chay): The daughter of a Tairen fisherman, she was, according to Tairen law, put on a ship to Tar Valon before the second sunset after it was discovered that she had the potential to channel. Formerly of the Blue Ajah. Raised to the Amyrlin Seat in 988 NE.
Soulless:
See
Gray Man.
span:
See
length, units of.
Spine of the World, the:
A towering mountain range, with only a few passes, which separates the Aiel Waste from the lands to the west.
stedding
(STEHD-ding): An Ogier (OH-geer) homeland. Many
stedding
have been abandoned since the Breaking of the World. They are shielded in some way, no longer understood, so that within them no Aes Sedai can channel the One Power, nor even sense that the True Source exists. Attempts to wield the One Power from outside a
stedding
have no effect inside a
stedding
boundary. No Trolloc will enter a
stedding
unless driven, and even a Myrddraal will do so only at the greatest need and then with the greatest reluctance and distaste. Even Darkfriends, if truly dedicated, feel uncomfortable within a
stedding
.
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 she cannot 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.
Stone Dogs:
See
Aiel warrior societies.
Stone of Tear:
A great fortress in the city of Tear, said to have been made soon after the Breaking of the World, and to have been made using the One Power. It has been besieged or attacked countless times, but never successfully. The Stone is mentioned twice in the Prophecies of the Dragon. Once they say the Stone will never fall until the People of the Dragon come. In another place, they say the Stone will never fall until the Dragon’s hand wields the Sword That Cannot Be Touched,
Callandor
. Some believe that these Prophecies account for the antipathy of the High Lords to the One Power, and for the Tairen law that forbids channeling. Despite this antipathy, the Stone contains a collection of
an’greal
and
ter’angreal
rivaling that of the White Tower, a collection which was gathered, some say, in an attempt to diminish the glare of possessing
Callandor
.
Sunday:
A feastday and festival in midsummer, widely celebrated in many parts of the world.
sung wood:
See
Treesinger.
Talents:
Abilities in the use of the One Power in specific areas. The best known of these, of course, is Healing. Some, such as Traveling, the ability to shift oneself from one place to another without crossing the intervening space, have been lost. Others such as Foretelling (the ability to foretell future events, but in a general way) are now found only rarely if at all. 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 known Dreamer was Corianin Nedeal, who died in 526 NE.
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
.
Tanreall, Artur Paendrag
(tahn-REE-ahl, AHR-tuhr PAY-ehn-DRAG):
See
Hawkwing, Artur.
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.
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. Unlike other dreams, what happens to living things in the World of Dreams is real; a wound taken there will still be there on awakening, and one who dies there does not wake at all.
ter’angreal
(TEER-ahn-GREE-ahl): Any one of a number of 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. For example, one makes oaths taken with it binding. Some
ter’angreal
are used by Aes Sedai, but the original purposes of many others are largely unknown. Some will kill or destroy the ability to channel of any woman who uses them.
See also
angreal; sa’angreal
.
Tigraine
(tee-GRAIN): As Daughter-Heir of Andor, she married Taringail Damodred and bore his son Galadedrid. Her disappearance in 972 NE, shortly after her brother Luc vanished in the Blight, led to the struggle in Andor called the Succession, and caused the events in Cairhien that eventually brought on the Aiel War. Her sign was a woman’s hand gripping a thorny rose stem with a white blossom.
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
Hundred Companions; True Source; One Power.
Traveling People:
See
Tuatha’an.
Travels of Jain Farstrider, The:
A very well-known book of travel stories and observations by a noted Malkieri writer and traveler. The book was first printed in 968 NE and has been reprinted continuously ever since. Jain Farstrider disappeared shortly after the Aiel War and is generally believed to be dead.
Treekillers:
An Aiel name for the Cairhienin, always said in tones of horror and disgust.
Treesinger:
An Ogier who has the ability to sing to trees (called “treesong”), either healing them, or helping them to grow and flower, or making things from the wood without damaging the tree. Objects made in this manner are called “sung wood” and are highly prized. Few Ogier remain who are Treesingers; the ability seems to be dying out.
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. They are divided into tribelike 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.
True Source:
The driving force of the universe, which turns the Wheel of Time. It is divided into a male half (
saidin
) and a female half (
saidar
), which work at the same time with and against each other. Only a man
can draw on
saidin
, only a woman on
saidar
. Since the beginning of the Time of Madness,
saidin
has been tainted by the Dark One’s touch.
See also
One Power.
Tuatha’an
(too-AH-thah-AHN): A wandering folk, also known as the Tinkers and as the Traveling People, who live in brightly painted wagons and follow a totally pacifist philosophy called the Way of the Leaf. Things mended by Tinkers are often better than new. They are among the few who can cross the Aiel Waste unmolested, for the Aiel strictly avoid all contact with them.
Verin Mathwin
(VEHR-ihn MAH-thwihn): An Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah.
Warder:
A warrior bonded to an Aes Sedai. The bonding is a thing of the One Power, and by it he gains such gifts as quick healing, the ability to go long periods without food, water, or rest, and the ability to sense the taint of the Dark One at a distance. So long as a Warder lives, the Aes Sedai to whom he is bonded knows he is alive however far away he is, and when he dies she will know the moment and manner of his death. While most Ajahs believe an Aes Sedai may have one Warder bonded to her at a time, the Red Ajah refuse to bond any Warders at all, while the Green Ajah believe an Aes Sedai may bond as many Warders as she wishes. Ethically the Warder must accede to the bonding voluntarily, but it has been known to be done against the Warder’s will. What the Aes Sedai gain from the bonding is a closely held secret.
See also
Aes Sedai.
War of Power:
See
War of the Shadow.
War of the Hundred Years:
A series of overlapping wars among constantly shifting alliances, precipitated by the death of Artur Hawkwing and the resulting struggle for his empire. It lasted from FY 994 to FY 1117. The War of the Hundred Years depopulated large parts of the lands between the Aryth Ocean and the Aiel Waste, from the Sea of Storms to the Great Blight. So great was the destruction that only fragmentary records of the time remain. The empire of Artur Hawkwing was pulled apart in the wars, and the nations of the present day were formed.
See also
Hawkwing, Artur.
War of the Second Dragon:
The war fought (FY 939–43) against the false Dragon Guaire Amalasan. During this war a young king named Artur Tanreall Paendrag, later known as Artur Hawkwing, rose to overwhelming prominence.
War of the Shadow:
Also known as the War of Power, this war ended the Age of Legends. It began shortly after the attempt to free the Dark One, and soon involved the whole world. In a world where war had been forgotten, even the memory of it, every facet of war was rediscovered, often twisted by the Dark One’s touch on the world, and the One Power was used as a weapon. The war was ended by the resealing of the Dark One into his prison.
See also
Hundred Companions, the; Dragon, the.
weight, units of:
10 ounces = 41 pound; 10 pounds = 1 stone; 10 stone = 1 hundredweight; 10 hundredweight = 1 ton.
Wheel of Time, the:
Time is a wheel with seven spokes, each spoke an Age. As the Wheel turns, the Ages come and go, each leaving memories that fade to legend, then to myth, and are forgotten by the time that Age comes again. The Pattern of an Age is slightly different each time an Age comes, and each time it is subject to greater change.