#aiel

[pien-art]

I read @eve-is-obsessed ‘s fic “mysteriously missing moiraine” and my eyes have been opened to Moiraine / Melaine 👁️👁️ Everyone go read this fic (and every other amazing fic by eve bc hghn,, they’re really good)

I can’t wait to see Moiraine in the Aiel Waste with the Wise Ones in s3

(click image for optimal quality)

[necarion]

For whatever reason, Jordan didn't have the Aiel with polyandrous relationships, a thing I suspect he would have had he been writing 20 (or even 10) years later.

In part because sprawling Aiel polycules would be hilarious, with insane complicated rules that confuse the hell out of the wetlanders. The relationship between Rhuarc and his wives, for all that it baffles Rand, really isn't that complicated. What happens if it crosses clan or society boundaries? What happens if two women who dislike each other find themselves sister-wives because their husbands' wives are married to a common husband? What if one of a pair of first sisters isn't interested in the husband (for aro/ace reasons) but the husband is in her for platonic reasons?

Jordan wouldn't have to hold back, and could have had a ton of fun just making up random rules.

Aviendha would constantly insist this makes total sense, and is superior to whatever polycules the wetlands have.

[bel-by-the-sea]

[oc]

[oliveoomph]

Far Dareis Mai - The Wheel of Time - s02e08 - What Was Meant to Be

[amyrlinegwene]

I really love the narrative choice to have Egwene dive deep into Aiel culture to the point that the Wise Ones say she’s ‘Aiel at heart’ and offer for her to become a wise one and marry a future chief. And all the while, Rand, who is Aiel by blood and arguably has greater reason as the car’a’carn to learn about their culture, often refuses to examine their culture on deeper levels and still fundamentally misunderstands key aspects of their tradition and culture months and year(s?) into knowing them.

It was somewhat infuriating yes when he didn’t bother to try to understand them, but a good choice narratively. Rand’s Aiel blood and the connection to their prophecy through his Aiel blood is the key reason why early series Rand is able to wage war and conquer nations, but it’s just blood, a tenuous connection. It doesn’t make Rand anymore able to understand the Aiel and their culture. Fantasy books are full of the trope where a ‘lost child’ returns to their culture and is able to integrate seamlessly, it feels natural to them, like their culture or way of life was innate. I like that RJ turns this on it’s head and says what we know from real life, that culture comes from socialization and there is nothing innate about it.

It also shows an important distinction between Rand and Egwene and their journeys. In many political situations, we see Rand try to use his power (political, prophetic, saidin, and Ta’veren) to get his way, his status as a legandary figure automatically awards him fear/respect. Whereas Egwene is constantly put into positions of inferiority (Wise One’s apprentice, and puppet Amyrlin) where she has to work for respect and influence. Therefore, (in addition to difference in natural curiosity) you see Egwene being much more interested in learning about Aiel culture because she needs to know these things to gain the respect of the Aiel Wise Ones, in a similar sense she dives into the intricacies of Aes Sedai politics in order to get the better of the sisters who are trying to control her. We do see Rand make political moves but most are based in his existing power and status as the Dragon Reborn.

[voidishwings]

Going a LITTLE insane about Arafellin hair bells right now, because outside of a Southlander context in combat, they’re Borderlanders, they fight the Dark One, the bells are SUPPOSED to make a sound while they’re fighting, and would effectively scare off the ravens and rats that act as the Dark One’s eyes and his spies. Wearing something in combat, against the Shadow and otherwise, that would ‘scare off the eyes of the Lord of the Grave’ when they bring death to another, acting like a protective “ward” in a sense in battle. Is any of this explicitly said in the books? Not really, but it’s my interpretation.

[asha-mage]

One world WoT building detail I like: the Aiel don't place a high value on silk in part because their proximity to Shara means it's not a luxury to acquire but also, since it's pretty warm for it's weight, it's not particularly practical for most clothing in the Waste. Aviendha at one point remarks that a 'dress made out silk' seems like a insane idea to her, and in the Waste you might have a silk scarf or headband out of silk, but never a full dress, and though she doesn't specify why, it's probably because algobe is cooler for weight and so much more practical for most Aiel.

[moghedien]

You ever think about how the Age of Legends Aes Sedai had an entire race of people that seemingly lived only to serve the Aes Sedai and their lives were seemingly centered around which Aes Sedai they served to the point where they had to get permission to marry someone who served another Aes Sedai and this race of servants could be identified on site and were all for some reason sworn to extreme nonviolence in a way no one else in the world was despite it being a time of absolute peace and they referred to other people who weren’t themselves or Aes Sedai as “citizens” which implies that they were something other than citizens

Because I think about that a lot actually

[quietcontradictions]

Aiel posting be like:

[tan colored moodboard with pictures of spear, desert landscape, and a pair of calloused woman's hands] #just girly things

This is Blorbo from My Gleeman Tales. He has much Ji.

[picture of a ordinary cow in a green field] captioned Wet Beast Wednesday

[salazar-bollinger]

Poor old Rand and the fantasy racism

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

She found water and shade.

[wot-tidbits]

[necarion]

One "future of Wheel of Time" fan theory I have is that within a century or two, all prospective Amyrlins will have gone through the complete training to become full Aes Sedai, Aiel Wise One, and Seafolk Windfinder.

And I wonder if there's a "hard mode" and an "easy mode" for this. All three of the groups teach a certain amount of excessive pride, but also teach a sense of self-understanding and self-control. On the negative side:

The Aes Sedai have a great (and, turns out, somewhat misplaced) sense of superiority and aloofness. The prohibition on lying is both a source of practice, but also profound limitation. While the other two organizations punish caught deceit in apprentices, they are not above flat-out lying to get their way. Their book-learning makes them believe they are of-the-world, and their sense of tradition leads to them faceplanting again and again.

The Windfinders have an arrogance and pride that may actually exceed that of the Aes Sedai. While not as manipulative (and cruel) as their ship-mistresses, they can be quite brutal, enough so that multiple apprentices tried to escape them. They were entirely willing to cast out their own in order to hide their own channeling.

The Aiel are judgmental beyond both other groups. Less than almost anyone else did the Aiel adapt to accepting other ways of doing things. Jie'e'toh is the only way, and while it has benefits, it is profoundly inflexible and limiting.

On the positives:

The Aes Sedai education is second-to-none in the world, and queens send their children to learn at the White Tower. They hoard knowledge, yes, but they also greatly prize it. They train their students as diplomats and scholars, and truly value international relations and diplomacy. They formed under a mission of keeping the world safe from the male channelers, and they have largely succeeded. The sisters took a long time to adapt to change on the scale of the series. But it should be remembered that the entire series takes place in under three years, and in that time, we have seen them completely alter their relationship to men who can channel, bonding some as warders and becoming warders to some. Their members have apprenticed to the Wise Ones and earned their approval. They have been servile to the Seafolk and to the Dragon Reborn, forsaking their pledges to the Tower in favor of truly serving the world. When no longer hampered by the Black Ajah, they will rise to be a profound force for growth and change in the world.

The Aiel have an iron-hard conviction in themselves and in the world. They have taken on apprentices from the White Tower and turned foolish Sisters into Aes Sedai who will make the world tremble. But they added to this teaching. While isolated they developed channeling techniques thought impossible before the breaking, and they have learned with astounding alacrity. In under three years, they have grown from an isolated, feuding culture into a united, international organization that is equal to the White Tower. Their skills with dreaming rivaled even the Forsaken and their thousand-year tradition and study. They have further to go to learn flexibility and humility (their key test is to see apprentices abandon prideful humility, after all), but they have already come out of a near-complete shattering of their civilization greater and wiser than before. I have no doubt that they'll achieve far greater things.

The Seafolk Windfinders have had less chance to show their adaptability to the changed world. But their entire social system is built around rising and falling and rising again. Before the series began, few Aes Sedai had ever fallen to the bottom and risen again, but that is something nearly no Windfinder will have avoided. We saw that the Windfinder culture is itself far more flexible when separated from the Mistresses of the Ships. They have an ability to negotiate second-to-none, and yet they've also shown, on multiple occasions, the flexibility to do what is necessary without payment. It is unknown what they'll do when the Age of Sail ends within two centuries, but they will certainly find it, and will be among those who lead in the world outside the structures of their own ruling class.

So with all of that, which way would be the hardest to work through?

[bel-by-the-sea]

[oc] march birds

[jostew]

Low key obsessed with the idea of Aiel sweat tents instead of bathing. I feel like it would really work with my skin? Idk I just wanna try it and also look at men's butts