Winter's Heart Read-through Post #7: About Cadsuane

By Linda

Cadsuane is one Aes Sedai who has been instrumental in getting people to serve Rand and keeping them there. Verin is another. The difference is that Cadsuane has been open about it whereas Verin has been sneaky and somewhat more unscrupulous.

Ever since she gained the shawl more than 265 years ago, all Aes Sedai except the official Aes Sedai leadership and her Ajah Head have had to defer to her and nearly all to obey her. Cadsuane has been the highest ranked Aes Sedai, with no equals. Since she had no equals in strength until very recently, all Aes Sedai are effectively on much the same level from her point of view and she rates them on their merits and treats them all with courtesy unless their stupidity or character flaws warrant discipline. Hence her consideration to very low ranked, but skilled and trustworthy Aes Sedai like Daigian and Kumira who normally have miserable lives around other Aes Sedai.

Why is Cadsuane so different? The answer to that is the same as the answer to why she survived the depredations of the Black Ajah after the Aiel Wear, when a great many sisters were killed, particularly the highest ranking and therefore the strongest. (I wonder whether some Black sisters took advantage of the chaos of those times to ‘thin out the ranks’ of those above them.) The answer is her protective ter’angreal jewellery which she did not appropriate, but had to earn:

But fifty years would have meant that Norla died in her little house in the Black Hills before Cadsuane Melaidhrin ever went to the White Tower…She could not recall the last time she had let shock reach her face. It might have been all those years ago, in the Black Hills, when she began earning the ornaments she now wore.

- Crossroads of Twilight, Ornaments

Along with learning a few harsh lessons:

And she [Nynaeve] had not been put through the lessons that what must be endured, could be endured. In truth, Cadsuane sympathized with her. Somewhat. It as a lesson not everyone could learn in the Tower. She herself, full of pride in her new shawl and her own strength, had been taught by a near toothless wilder at a farm in the heart of the Black Hills.

Winter’s Heart, The Humming Bird’s Secret

Since there are three ter’angreal in her paralis-net that have an unknown function, Norla probably died before Cadsuane finished earning them. An article on the function of Cadsuane's Ornaments I wrote for the Wotmania FAQ way back when is now released on the blog.

The ter’angreal’s protection have allowed Cadsuane to take risks other Aes Sedai dare not and to accomplish tasks unachievable by others. Without them she would not be a legend as she freely admits to herself:

That [Not earning her ter’angreal] would have altered a great deal of history. For one thing, it would have been unlikely that she would be in anything approaching her present circumstances.

- Crossroads of Twilight, Ornaments

She wouldn’t be regarded as a legend, followed by possibly as many as nearly a third of Aes Sedai. She probably wouldn’t even be alive.

Knowledgeable Aes Sedai are only aware of a rumour that she has a weave breaking ter’angreal:

I think that means you possess a ter'angreal that can disrupt flows of the Power. I've heard of such things—Cadsuane Melaidhrin supposedly had one, or so rumor said— but I've never seen the like.

- Knife of Dreams, A Cold Medallion

Due to the custom of not interfering with the activities of another sister and the lack of concrete evidence, she has not been questioned or asked to hand it over. With her paralis-net, as Semirhage called it, Cadsuane has been able to stand up to Rand and treat with him boldly, a tactic Moiraine recommended to Egwene and Aviendha.

Rand will need both of you in the days to come. You handle his temper well – though I may say your methods are unusual. He will need people who cannot be driven away or quelled by his rages, who will tell him what he must hear instead of what they think he wants to.”
“You do that, Moiraine,” Egwene told her.

- The Fires of Heaven, News Comes To Cairhien

This is exactly what Cadsuane is doing.

Cadsuane has not been the only Aes Sedai who has used corporal punishment on Rand: so have Moiraine, Elayne and Aviendha, although only Cadsuane has done so manually; the others used the Power.

After quickly testing him to assess his character, and more importantly his sanity and emotional state at their first meeting (quite reasonable in dealing with a male channeller), she realised she would have to use reverse psychology on him – as the Aiel Wise Ones are doing, though not quite so successfully:

"Most men will take what is offered, if it seems attractive and pleasant," Sorilea said. "Once, we thought of Rand al'Thor so. Unfortunately, it is too late to change the path we walk. Now, he suspects whatever is offered freely. Now, if I wanted him to accept something, I would pretend I did not want him to have it. If I wanted to stay close to him, I would pretend indifference to whether I ever saw him again." Once more, those eyes focused on Cadsuane, green augers. Not trying to see what lay inside her head. The woman knew.

- The Path of Daggers, New Alliances

While toughness, boldness and sternness are not regarded as the feminine ideal, Jordan portrayed these traits in Cadsuane positively. Sanderson is much more partisan.

In Crossroads of Twilight, while musing on her protective ter’angreal, Cadsuane wonders about the male Aes Sedai back in the Age of Legends:

The others [Nynaeve’s ter’angreal] were much like her own decorations, too, ter’angreal and plainly made at the same time, during the Breaking of the World, when an Aes Sedai might find many hands turned against her, most especially those of men who could channel. Strange to think that they had been called Aes Sedai, too. It would be like meeting a man called Cadsuane.

- Crossroads of Twilight, Ornaments

She, or Jordan, makes a good point. If Cadsuane were male, would ‘he’ have anything like her unpopularity with readers?

I looked around to see if any male channeller on the side of the Light behaved like Cadsuane. Logain comes closest. He’s faced down Rand, disbelieved Rand’s accomplishments, told him off for hoarding knowledge, has set up his own faction, has been bold in his bonding of Aes Sedai, was somewhat boorish with the Sea Folk in the midst of their grief for the Amayar… and nobody worries about it. Including me. But then, I don’t worry about Cadsuane either.

Cadsuane is honest about her strengths and weaknesses. She is uninterested in legalities and mundane matters, impatient with politicking and human weakness:

Cadsuane preferred to be direct, when possible. She had tripped up any number of clever people who had not believed she meant exactly what she said.

- The Path of Daggers, New Alliances

A refusal to accept selection as a Sitter was unheard of, yet it was said she had refused, and at least twice. It was said she had spurned being raised head of the Green Ajah, too. It was said she once vanished from the Tower for ten years because the Hall intended to raise her Amyrlin. Not that she had ever spent a day more in Tar Valon than absolutely necessary.

- A Crown of Swords, Diamonds and Stars

Unlike other Aes Sedai, she believes the spirit of the law is more important than the letter (Winter’s Heart, Wonderful News). This has not gone unnoticed by the Wise Ones who respect that she keeps her word and works for Rand’s benefit. She is good at assessing people and bringing out the best in them as her treatment of many Aes Sedai including Samitsu, and her handling of male channellers shows. Her skills in research have made her knowledgeable and led her to develop new weaves.

Cadsuane is very competent:

But then, over two hundred and seventy years had passed since she last encountered a task she could not perform

- A Crown of Swords, Diamonds and Stars

The unconventional doesn’t put her off at all:

While Merise had become somewhat accustomed to doing the unthinkable—most sisters would faint at the very idea of bonding a man who could channel—she was never comfortable giving them voice. Cadsuane was, yet she kept her voice neutral.

- Crossroads of Twilight, Ornaments

which is ideal in dealing with a dangerous and unique situation.

Cadsuane’s initial assessment of Rand and how to proceed was:

"If you want to see what a man is made of, push him from a direction he doesn't expect. There's good metal in that boy, I think, but he's going to be difficult." Steepling her fingers, she peered across them at the wall, musing to herself. "He has a rage in him fit to burn the world, and he holds it by a hair. Push him too far off balance .... Phaw! Al'Thor's not so hard yet as Logain Ablar or Mazrim
Taim, but a hundred times as difficult, I fear."

- A Crown of Swords, Diamonds and Stars

And as explained above, once she realised the extreme distrust other Aes Sedai had sewn in Rand, reverse psychology was the only option left to her.

The al'Thor boy needed to be kept intrigued enough that he allowed her near him, and off-balance enough that she could nudge him where she wanted without him realizing. One way or another, anything that might interfere with that must be controlled or suppressed. Nothing could be allowed to influence him, or upset him, in the wrong way. Nothing.

- A Crown of Swords, Diamonds and Stars

Interesting that she regarded Logain as well as Taim as hard.

According to Rand Cadsuane’s tactics of discipline alternating with disinterest were working:

The woman made him unsure of himself, uneasy in a way he had not felt since before the Stone of Tear fell.

- A Crown of Swords, A Crown of Swords

which is the effect she planned from the first.

Cadsuane was aware that free advice is rarely valued and so she made Rand work for it and grant concessions:

But I must wait for him to come to me. You see the way he runs roughshod over Alanna and the others. It will be hard enough teaching him, if he does ask. He fights guidance, he thinks he must do everything, learn everything, on his own, and if I do not make him work for it, he won't learn at all."

- Winter’s Heart, Bonds

and made a bargain with him:

"You sound . . . uneasy. I don't like to tell a man he's afraid even when he has reason to be. Uneasy over a sister you haven't turned into a tame lapdog snaring you in some fashion? Let me see. I can make you a few promises; perhaps they will set your mind at rest. I expect you to listen, of course - make me waste my breath, and you'll yelp for it - but I won't make you do what I want. I won't tolerate anyone lying to me, certainly - that's another thing you'll find decidedly uncomfortable - but I don't expect you to tell me the deepest yearnings of your heart, either. Oh, yes. Whatever I do, it will be for your own good; not mine, not the good of the White Tower, yours. Now, does that ease your fears? Pardon me. Your unease."
Wondering whether he was supposed to laugh, Rand stared at her. "Do they teach you how to do that?" he demanded. "Make a promise sound a threat, I mean."
"Oh, I see. You want rules. Most boys do, whatever they say. Very well. Let me see. I cannot abide incivility. So you will be properly civil to me, to my friends, and my guests. That includes not channeling at them, in case you haven't guessed, and holding your temper, which I understand is memorable. It also takes in your . . . companions in those black coats. A pity if I had to spank you for something one of them did. Does that suffice? I can make more, if you need them."

- The Path of Daggers, The Bargain

Rand was going to refuse, but then Cadsuane proved her worth and knowledge to him by warning him about Callandor. Min’s foresight alarmed him as well as convinced him:

Min said he needed the woman, that she would teach him something he needed to learn, but if anything, that only made him more uneasy about her.

- Winter’s Heart, Bonds

Actually Min saw that Cadsuane is going to teach all the Asha’man something that they have to learn but none of them will like learning at all (A Crown Of Swords, A Crown Of Swords).

Since not all Asha’man are emotional cripples, or are arrogant or destructive (Damer Flinn for instance) her lesson may not be of laughter and tears, or humanity, or that they are not only weapons.

It is to be noted that Cadsuane is the only Aes Sedai we know of who was involved in the capture of Taim and Logain. She knows a lot about Logain and is comfortable around him. What she teaches may have something to do with Taim - that he is not who the Asha'man, good or bad, think he is, for instance - and breaks his disguise with her ter'angreal. Cadsuane's role in revealing that Taim is not what people think may alarm the dark Asha'man as well as the good.

What has Cadsuane achieved for Rand’s good and not her own or the White Tower’s?

• In Winter’s Heart she did get Rand to keep his bargain with Harine after some pressure. He backslid on this in The Gathering Storm making the value of his word questionable to his supporters or would-be allies.


• When she learned that three of Rand’s Asha’man rightly feared being sentenced as deserters by Taim she suggested to her trusted Aes Sedai that they ask them to be their Warders. This is contributing to the paradigm shift regarding male channellers.


• She got Rand released in Far Madding when the Counsels had imprisoned him and were going to sell him to the Tower.


• She organised the defence of Rand and Nynaeve so that Rand could cleanse saidin. He otherwise would have failed.


• She also effectively discouraged Rand, with drastic measures that showed she is not afraid of him, from using balefire at least gratuitously for quite a while. The Gathering Storm, showed the terrible price paid to use balefire.


• She also managed to get him to treat people with consideration so he doesn’t drive them away. Since Rand’s task is to unite the world against the Shadow he needs to work cooperatively with them and get them to do the same with each other. By the Wise Ones’ accounts, they are doing this for him among the Aiel. Cadsuane was doing the same among the Aes Sedai and by force of example the nobles who were supporting Rand.

Her diagnosis of where Rand was going wrong and what she intended to do about it was:

"The boy confuses them," she said. "He needs to be strong, and makes himself harder. Too hard, already, and he will not stop until he is stopped. He has forgotten how to laugh except in bitterness; there are no tears left in him. Unless he finds laughter and tears again, the world faces disaster. He must learn that even the Dragon Reborn is flesh. If he goes to Tarmon Gai'don as he is, even his victory may be as dark as his defeat."

- The Path of Daggers, New Alliances

"He is turning into a stone, Verin, and if he doesn't relearn that he's human, winning the Last Battle may not be much better than losing.

- Winter’s Heart, Bonds

The Shadar Logoth effect. All her efforts along these lines came to nothing when Rand became very dark and saw not only Cadsuane, but everyone, in the worst possible light.

Cadsuane’s failures in The Gathering Storm are directly due to Rand’s psychological and moral disintegration from the corruption leaking through his bond to Moridin and from his evil acts in using balefire and the True Power. Lews Therin acted like touching the True Power was a mortal sin:

Oh, Light, Lews Therin suddenly screamed. That's impossible! We can't use it! Cast it away! That is death we hold, death and betrayal.

- The Gathering Storm The Last That Could be Done

There no way Cadsuane could have countered this.

Finally, her embroidery described in The Path of Daggers, New Alliances is of a Seal being held in a man's hand. It is framed by bands of flowers (roses, starblaze, and sunburst alternating with daisies, heartsblush and snowcap) separated by bands of nettles and long-thorned briars. Presumably the flowers are the good guys and the nasty thorny plants the Shadow.

The big deal is the cracks in the Seal and whether the man is holding it together or breaking it. Cadsuane has her own idea on that which she does not share with us, and is waiting on events to indicate whether she is right.