The Great Hunt (84 page)

Merrilin, Thom
(MER-rih-lihn, TOM): A gleeman.

mile:
See
Length, units of
.

Min
(MIN): A young woman with the ability to read the auras she sometimes sees surrounding people.

Moiraine
(mwah-RAIN): An Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah.

Mondwin, Luthair Paendrag
(LEW-thair PAY-ehn-DRAG MON-dwihn): Son of Artur Hawkwing, he commanded the armies Hawkwing sent across the Aryth Ocean. His banner was a golden, spread-winged hawk clutching lightning bolts.
See also
Hawkwing, Artur
.

Mordeth
(MOOR-death): Councilor who turned the city of Aridhol to use Darkfriends’ ways against the Darkfriends, thus bringing its destruction and earning it a new name, Shadar Logoth (“Where the Shadow Waits”). Only one thing survives in Shadar Logoth beside the hate that killed it, and that is Mordeth himself, bound in the ruins for two thousand years, waiting for someone to come whose soul he can consume and so take on new flesh.

Morgase
(moor-GAYZ): Queen of Andor, High Seat of House Trakand (TRAHK-ahnd).

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. Physically they are like men except 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 the ability to vanish wherever there are shadows. One of their few known weaknesses is that they are reluctant to cross running water. In different lands they are known by many names, among them Halfmen, the Eyeless, Shadowmen, Lurks, and Fades.

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

Nisura, Lady
(nih-SOO-rah): A Shienaran noblewoman, and one of the Lady Amalisa’s attendants.

One Power, the:
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. For these few there is no need to be taught; they will touch the True Source and channel the Power whether they want to or not, perhaps 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.
For a woman the death that comes without control of the Power is less horrible, but it is death just the same. Aes Sedai search for girls with the inborn ability as much to save their lives as to increase Aes Sedai numbers, and for men with it in order to stop the terrible things they inevitably do with the Power in their madness.
See also
channel;
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
.

Powers, the Five:
See
Five Powers
.

Questioners, the:
An order within the Children of the Light. Their avowed purposes are to discover the truth in disputations and to uncover Darkfriends. In the search for truth and the Light, their normal method of inquiry is by torture; their normal attitude that they know the truth already and must only make their victim confess to it. The Questioners refer to themselves as the Hand of the Light, the Hand that digs out truth, and at times act as if they were entirely separate from the Children and the Council of the Anointed, which commands the Children. The head of the Questioners is the High Inquisitor, who sits on the Council of the Anointed. Their sign is a blood-red shepherd’s crook.

Ragan
(rah-GAHN): A Shienaran warrior.

Red Shields:
See
Aiel warrior societies
.

Renna
(REEN-nah): A Seanchan woman;
a sul’dam. See also
Seanchan
;
sul’dam
.

Rhyagelle
(rheye-ah-GEHL): In the Old Tongue, “Those Who Come Home,” or “Homecomers.”

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, the means of making
sa’angreal
is no longer known. Only a handful remain, far fewer even than
angreal.

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

Saldaea
(sahl-DAY-ee-ah): One of the Borderlands.

Sanche, Siuan
(SAHN-chay, swahn): An Aes Sedai formerly of the Blue Ajah. Raised to the Amyrlin Seat 988 NE. The Amyrlin Seat is of all Ajahs, and of none.

Sea Folk:
More properly, the Atha’an Miere (a-tha-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, who have returned to reclaim the lands of their forefathers. (2) The land from which the Seanchan come.
See also
Hailene
;
Corenne
;
Rhyagelle
.

Seandar
(shawn-DAHR): Capital city of Seanchan, where the Empress sits on the Crystal Throne in the Court of the Nine Moons.

Selene
(seh-LEEN): A woman met on the journey to Cairhien.

Seta
(SEE-tah): A Seanchan woman; a
sul’dam. See also
Seanchan
;
sul’dam
.

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.
See also
Mordeth
.

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.

Shienar
(shy-NAHR): One of the Borderlands. The sign of Shienar is a stooping black hawk.

shoufa
(SHOO-fah): A garment of the Aiel, a cloth, usually the color of sand or rock, that wraps around the head and neck, leaving only the face bare.

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.
See also
One Power, the
;
gentling
.

Stone Dogs:
See
Aiel warrior societies
.

sul’dam
(SUHL-DAHM): A woman who has passed the tests to show that she can wear the bracelet of an
a’dam
and thus control a
damane. See also
a’dam
;
damane
.

Sunday:
A feastday and festival in midsummer, celebrated in many parts of the world.

sung wood:
See
Treesinger
.

Suroth, High Lady
(SUE-roth): A Seanchan noblewoman of high degree.

Tai’shar
(TIE-SHAHR): In the Old Tongue, “True blood of.”

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
.

Tar Valon
(TAHR VAH-lon): A city on an island in the River Erinin. The center of Aes Sedai power, and location of the White Tower.

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 great seaport on the Sea of Storms.

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

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 within it binding. Some are used by Aes Sedai, but their original purposes are largely unknown. Some will kill or destroy the ability to channel of any woman who uses them.
See also angreal;
sa’angreal
.

tia avende alantin
(TEE-ah ah-VEN-day ah-LANH-tin): “Brother to the Trees.”

Tia mi aven Moridin isainde vadin:
In the Old Tongue, “The grave is no bar to my call.” Inscription on the Horn of Valere.
See also
Horn of Valere
.

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
;
Breaking of the World
.

Tinkers:
See
Tuatha’an
.

Traveling People:
See
Tuatha’an
.

Tree, the:
See Avendesora.

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 Talent seems to be dying out.

treesong:
See
Treesinger
.

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

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 slain or driven back into the Great Blight, but some nations ceased to exist, while others were almost depopulated. All records of the time are fragmentary.
See also
Covenant of the Ten Nations
.

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
.