Bonding
From A Wheel of Time Wiki
Bonding is a weave which creates an enduring psychic link between two individuals; although there are several variants, the most common is the Aes Sedai/Warder bond.
Contents |
[edit] Aes Sedai/Warder bonding
Most Aes Sedai bond one Warder; Red Ajah sisters are forbidden from taking one (although some might entertain the option of a female warder), and Green Ajah sisters frequently have two or more. Some Brown Ajah sisters never bother to select a warder, finding it unnecessary to their studies.
[edit] Benefits and consequences
The bond gives the Warder heightened abilities to go without food, water, and rest, and the ability to withstand wounds that would kill ordinary men. They also appear to gain some semblance of the ability channelers have to detect Shadowspawn. Both individuals are able to detect certain emotional and physical states about the other, and they have an unerring ability to locate the other's relative direction from their current location.
The ability of Warders to protect their sisters through these heightened abilities is paramount for them, for if she dies, he will go insane with a sense of fatalistic vengeance. Most Warders do not survive their Aes Sedai by long if she dies, falling immediately after trying to avenge her, or going bleakly to their death in the Great Blight. Occasionally a sister will attempt to provide some sort of aid to the man's wounded psyche, as Myrelle Berengari attempts with Lan Mandragoran after Moiraine Sedai dies. Generally this only slows and blunts their death wish, not resolving it.
If a Warder dies, his Aes Sedai grieves deeply but does not go insane. Some sisters resist bonding another after their initial choice dies of old age or falls in battle. Green Ajah sisters instead frequently choose to bond another as soon as possible, which led in part to Alanna Mosvani's impetuous decision to bond Rand al'Thor, with disastrous and unforeseen results.
Recently it has been proven that a single Warder can be bonded by more than one Aes Sedai, but not without great consequence; when Elayne Trakand, Min Farshaw, and Aviendha jointly bond Rand al'Thor, Alanna Sedai is rendered unconscious for three days.
[edit] Masking the bond
Both male and female channelers are able to 'mask' a bond they have instigated, cloaking it to avoid the emotional awareness in inopportune circumstances, and even muting the geographic awareness when necessary. The ability is somehow related to the ability to channel, as non-channelers are completely unable to avoid feeling what the other person feels, even when it is not desired.
[edit] Obedience
Even some Warders are unaware that their Aes Sedai can compel them to obey their wishes, by manipulating their bond with Spirit. It is used rarely and only at great need in recent years, but is not forbidden by Tower law.
Strangely, Rand seems to be able to resist this part of the bond, at least with regard to Alanna. The Green sister tried to force him to obey shortly after bonding him in Caemlyn, but was unable to have any effect on him whatsoever, much to her surprise. It has been theorized that Rand's ability to channel, or his holding saidin at the time, allowed him to resist her.
[edit] Releasing the bond
It has recently been confirmed [1] that warders can be released from their bonds, although it is done rarely under normal circumstances. However if an Aes Sedai is able to prepare for an unavoidable death, she may release her Warders to spare them the uncontrollable desire for revenge and death, and in rare instances a Warder may be released voluntarily while both are still hale and hearty.
[edit] Female warders
Elayne's bonding of Birgitte Trahelion contravened Tower law because she was still an Accepted at the time, but it was also unorthodox in that her Warder is female. No previous instances of this are recorded, and the side effects have been interesting. Both women have experienced embarassing moments of emotional 'leakage', where one's strong emotion (embarassment, anger, passion) is fed through the bond to the other, who experiences the emotion themselves, instead of merely being aware of it. Aditionally, thier cycles have synchronized.
[edit] Asha'man/wife bonding
One of the students at the Black Tower discovers a weave much like the Aes Sedai/Warder bond, that the men studying there can use to remain close to their wives. While it provides the same shared information of physical condition and general mental state as the traditional bond, it is unclear if either party receives the Warders' hardiness, or the susceptabilities to death of either person.
Presumably with the harsh training and dangerous conditions that Asha'man go through, it would have been noted if their wives had gone into an insane rage when they died. As the bond is presumed to be independently discovered, it is likely that it does not provide those additional benefits and drawbacks.
[edit] The extra bit
When Toveine Sedai's task to capture and gentle the entire Black Tower is disrupted, she and most of her fellow sisters are bonded by full Asha'man in a manner very similar to the wife bond. Curiously, the reaction to the bond that Toveine experiences appears to be very similar to a female orgasm. This is not the "extra bit" referred to, however; instead, the bond used with the Aes Sedai allows the Asha'man to require obedience from their bonded sisters. It may or may not require active channeling with Spirit, as is required to gain involuntary obedience by an Aes Sedai from her Warder. There is no sign yet that this can be circumvented by channeling, as Rand appears to be able to do with Alanna.
[edit] Third-party bonding
The Aiel have a previously unseen type of bond, which joins two individuals as 'siblings' whatever their age and parentage. It is used to adopt someone as a first-sister or first-brother in their society; and is never done lightly. A wealth of conditions are imposed to ensure that the pair truly wants to become family, and failure or avoidance at any point results in immediate denial. The ceremony is performed by a Wise One who can channel on the pair, which creates a sensation of being physically reborn as if they shared the womb with a twin.
The end result is similar to a weaker form of the Asha'man/wife bond; the pair can sense each other vaguely, and share some level of psychic link, although the close friendship that preceeds this bonding ceremony makes it difficult to tell what portion of this mutual understanding is due to the weave, and what is due to shared affection for each other.
