True Power
From A Wheel of Time Wiki
The True Power is a source of energy similar to the One Power, however, it is different in multiple ways. It is not differentiated into male and female halves, which work constantly with and against each other, but rather as one resevoir of power that is available to members of either sex. It is also only available to Darkfriends who can channel. It may not even be differentiated into the Five Powers, but might exist only as a font of dark energy instead of being able to be divided into various elements.
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[edit] History
Evidence suggests that the True Power was the "unified power source" that Mierin and Beidomon were trying to tap into for when the Sharom was destroyed and the Bore into the Dark One's prison was created. Perhaps this suggests that the One Power's energy, which was used to drill the Bore into the Dark One's realm, cannot mingle with that of the True Power; perhaps the resulting explosion that destroyed the research center of Sharom was because both Powers, One and True, could not stand being joined together, and, like magnetic forces, repulsed each other in such a magnitude that it caused the destruction. This may be cause for speculation that the True Power and the One Power cannot mix in any way without terrible consequences: indeed, the raw amount of power that was needed to be drawn from the True Source to drill the Bore could not safely be intertwined with any other form of energy, even the black forces of the Dark One, with out some kind of consequence.
[edit] Characteristics
Since only the Forsaken and possible channelers sworn to the Shadow can tap into the True Power, very little is known about its attributes. It can be used much like the powers of saidar and saidin, although both genders can access it equally well. The True Power can perform any feat that the One Power can, although it does them in such a different way that it may betray the wielder's evil origins: a gateway created with the True Power causes a subsonic "scream" as the Pattern is ripped to shreds, in a bastardization of the taint on saidin, wherein the Pattern is indeed "bent" and "ripped" to Travel, but is to a far greater degree; The Healing performed on Lews Therin Telamon just before he died was much more painful than ordinary Healing, and was said to "darken the sun" and to "sear his body" when it was forced on him by Ishamael, wherein the Healing is agonizingly painful instead of resulting in a cool and gentle sensation; and any offensive use of the True Power is of a greater magnitude than that of the True Source, such as when Moridin, Ishamael's new identity, used it to telekinetically crush a piece used in a chess-like game - subconsciously, Moridin obliterated the body of his servant as well as the sheer power of it leaped out in all directions; and while the True Power and the One Power interact in a rather violent and destructive manner, it can intertwine with the powers of the True Source to unravel to weaves that were cast - this is noted when Moridin stares in awe at Aviendha's ability to disrupt the workings of One Power without being able to tap into the black energy that is the True Power. The True Power is also undetectable to those who can utilize the One Power, unlike saidar and saidin, which can be sensed by other channelers, by either sex, regardless of their strength with the One Power, which is often a factor in determining the might and location of a weave cast, and by whom. Only the Gholam in Ebou Dar could feel it, but forgot the meaning of that feeling.
[edit] Dangers
Use of the True Power has a greater cost than that of the One Power; unlike the urge to channel saidar or saidin, which can be controlled safely with willpower, those who channel the True Power find themselves irresistibly drawn to consume more and more of it as time goes on (or as long as they are allowed to by the Dark One). Eventually flecks and strands of blackness, called saa, would appear in the eyes of a habitual user in a greater degree as they channeled more and more of the True Power, until the saa spread across one's entire eyes to color them completely black, at which point the channeler had become totally and irreversibly insane. When severe amounts of the True Power is used, in later stages, even greater deformities may occur, such as in the case of Ishamael before he became Moridin. It has also been speculated that the appearances of Ishamael's mouth and eyes, which were replaced by yellow-green flame, may have been by result of overuse of the True Power. Perhaps the metaphor of an obsession so great that it burns and gnaws at someone may have been taken literal here: maybe the overuse of the True Power was so self-destructive that it had actually began to burn away at Ishamael, although the only reason that would explain the color of the fire (instead of being red, orange, and yellow) would be that is was of such an intense temperature that it surpassed red (as fire moves along the spectrum as it gains heat), or that the True Power's magical energy was enough to distort not only Ishamael's body, but also the fire that consumed him. When Ishamael was awakened from death and given the name Moridin, he did not stop using the True Power; however, he has entered only the beginning stages of degeneration, with only saa appearing, although what the future will bring and how it will harm his new body is unknown.
[edit] Angreal and Sa'angreal
Because the dark energy of the True Power does not act in a same manner as the One Power does, it is not known whether the use of either angreal, or the more powerful sa'angreal, would have any effect. However, since the True Power does have some similarities, such as the ability to cast the same powers abet in a different fashion, it may be probable for an angreal to have some sort of effect, although there is not evidence of any user of the True Power coveting or using such devices in an attempt to amplify their own powers. Sammael, being one of the Forsaken, had the ability to utilize the True Power but did not; he chose to pursue angreal in hopes of finding one to enhance his already formidable abilities; Be'lal, another Forsaken, tried to goad Rand al'Thor to take Callandor, a mighty sa'angreal, and use it to improve his use of the One Power. None of the Forsaken, except the Ishamael/Moridin/Nae'blis being had much use of the True Power, and even then he did not follow any quests to gain an angreal or sa'angreal
