as discussed in my previous video The Wheel of Time leaves a great pattern that makes up the entire universe and all of reality something of that cosmic magnitude requires energy to function this energy that turns the Wheel of Time is called the true source from the true source comes the one power which can be used by some people as a type of magic within the world of The Wheel of Time but how does the one power work and what can it do exactly watch and find out [Music] this video is part 3 of a spoiler-free
Wheel of Time video series this video contains very minimal spoilers for the books and TV series which I'm labeling as minor world-building spoilers I will not discuss any storylines or plot details so it's basically spoiler free throughout the video I'll be referring to the third age and the age of Legends so just remember that the third age is when the books take place the Age of Legends have been thousands of years before the story in the books like the creator in the dark one the true source exists outside of the pattern the true source is
the driving force of the universe and turns the Wheel of Time the true source is divided into two halves which work together and against each other side are is the female half and soybean is the male half when a person is able to access the true source they act as a sort of conduit or vessel that holds and uses the sources power called the one power channeling it into magic that can be used to accomplish amazing feats these magic users are called channelers sometimes the terms true source and one power are used interchangeably think of
the true source as a spring or well of infinite power this spring is divided into two halves which flow like two vivir from its source one river side are can only be touched or accessed by female channelers the other river side een can only be used by male channelers even the methods of accessing the true source or tapping into its power vary with women having to surrender to or embrace side are versus men having to seize psybeam the channelers are like a water wheel that pulls water or in this case the one power from the
river of the true source once the channeler has access to the river of the source that can fill themselves with the one power just as a vessel from a waterwheel fills with water and just as a water vessel is limited by how much water it can hold so - is there a limit to how much of the one power a channeler can hold and use unaided when a channeler does hold the power they can then channel it or divide it into flows or threads of power the channeler can then weave the flows together like a
quilt or pattern to create different magical actions think of these flows as streams of power dividing off from the main river of the source there are five different types of power or flows that can be woven they are called the five powers the five powers are earth fire water air sometimes called wind and spirit think of the channeler who taps into the river of the true source as a sort of prism that is filled with light or the one power when they access the one power it's like a single beam of pure light but they
are then able to divide and focus that power into five different individual types of power like separate light frequencies that can be used individually or mixed together for various functions if for example a channel or wanted to create a giant fireball they would only need to channel the power into a weave of fire however some more complex acts of the one power require the channel are to weave the different threads of the five powers together for example healing someone who has been injured requires flows of water air and spirit to be woven together the one
power can be used to do remarkable things like healing injuries and illnesses travelling long distances in the blink of an eye creating illusions changing or affecting the weather on a local or global scale creating objects of great power and much more of course the one power can also be used as a weapon or to create weapons for others with the new Amazon Prime we love time TV show currently in production some fans myself included are concerned that the show will do a poor job with showing the weaves of the one power in a satisfying way
I personally hope that they use films like Marvel's Doctor Strange or Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix as guides for how to show channeling and weaves for those who are concerned like me we have some good news from Rafe Judkins The Wheel of Time TV showrunner he was asked in a recent Q&A how are you planning to handle the visualization of the weaves any little tidbits this was his response we are trying to stay as true to the books as possible I've been giving a bunch of the effects folks long diatribes about channeling
weaves threads earth vs. air etc and the early stuff has started coming in it looks awesome it's great to know that Rafe and his team are huge fans and want to do their best to stay true to the books I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to seeing these amazing things come to life on screen as mentioned in the first video of this deep dive series Robert Jordan had a background in physics and engineering and the complex details of his magic system show that he had a great understanding of scientific principles there is
a scientific law of conservation of mass that states that matter is neither created nor destroyed the total amount of mass and energy in the universe is constant the one power follows a similar law once the one power is used by the channeler it returns to the true source as an infinite reusable source of energy in the fantasy genre we might refer to this magic system as a hard magic system during the age of Legends about 3% of the population could use the one power in the third age only about 1% of people in the world
can use the one power most of those 1% will never know they can access the true source without a teacher to guide them a very small percentage of that 1% are born with the spark meaning they will eventually touch the true source with or without being taught when someone has this inborn spark the ability to touch the true source eventually manifests itself in late adolescence or early adulthood and happens whether the person wants it or not often they do not even realize they are channeling the majority of those with the spark who do not receive
guidance from a teacher will die and those who survive will never learn to properly channel the one power channeling the one power is very addictive and requires great restraint those who are taught to channel are often warned to never draw in too much of the one power for fear of burning out or death someone who has been burned out can no longer sense or access the one power in the Age of Legends when a channel or misused the one power or broke the law their punishment would sometimes require that they be cut off from the
true source when someone was cut off from using the one power they would refer to it as severing or being severed from the true source in the Third Age when a woman is severed is referred to as stilling or being stilled when a man is severed it is called gentling or be gentled unlike burning out people who are severed from the true source can still sense it but can no longer access it it's like sensing the warmth of the Sun just around the corner but never being able to bask in its light again the sense
of loss from being burned out or severed is considered by many to be worse than death women who are stilled often give up and die unless they find something to replace the emptiness left by the one power men who are gentle often fall into a deep depression and often commit suicide soon after if not forcibly prevented those who do not kill themselves usually die within a year or two anyway for without the will to live the body eventually fails there are many benefits for those individuals who do manage to learn how to use the one
power properly they're more resistant to disease their bodies age more slowly giving them longer lifespans and as they age they feel fewer aches and pains than average people remember how I mentioned that there is a limit to how much of the one power a channeler can hold well Robert Jordan devised a very complex system for assigning strength values to characters in the series who can channel for a very in-depth breakdown of specific characters and their relative strengths check out the amazing video by nablus about this very subject I'll include a link in the description but
be warned his video does contain spoilers for the entire book series the size or sex of the channeler does not determine their strength level or how much of the power they can hold however generally men are stronger than women when it comes to using the one power but just as men also are generally physically stronger than women this does not mean that all men are stronger than all women some of the strongest Chandler's in the books are female and some of the weakest are male do you think anybody thinks I'm a failure because I go
home at night forget about typically a single channeler is only strong with one or two of the five powers someone with strength in three of the five powers is rare and strength in four out of five is nearly unheard of there have not been people strong in all five of the powers since the age of Legends and even then it was very rare women tend to be stronger with air and water while men tend to be stronger with fire and earth males and females are equally strong in spirit in the Third Age there is a
saying among female channelers there is no rock so strong that water and wind cannot wear it away no fire so fierce that water cannot quench it or wind snuff it out while men can typically channel larger flows than women they aren't as skilled at the finer details of weaving and so often women are more dexterous and can outperform men with more adept weaves of the one power like all things in the series the themes of duality and balance are the key to the best outcome in the age of Legends the most incredible feats were performed
when men and women worked together with sadar and sighting complimenting each other these male and female channelers were called eyes siddhaye which is translated to mean servants of all the ancients symbol of the ice ax die a circle half black and half white with a sinuous line down the middle represents the equal and opposing balance of sighting and side are that made up the halves of the true source John from the awesome wat up YouTube channel did a really great spoiler-free video about I said I check out the link in the description to learn more
about I said I and how they're organized I said I in the Age of Legends could heal most injuries and illnesses and eliminated all disease and most suffering the life expectancy for regular people was 150 to 200 years the use of the one power also slows aging so Chandler's could sometimes live up to 700 years or older the stronger a channeler is the longer they can live I said I also devised multiple ways to increase the amount of the one power that they could channel safely they created special objects that magnified or use the one
power in different ways angry all were used to increase a channelers capacity to hold and channel more of the one saw angry all also increase a channel Earth's capacity but to a much greater extent than on grill tear angry all our special objects or tools that have many uses some of which were lost since the age of Legends some Terran we all have to be activated by the one power to function while others can be used by anybody whether or not they can channel these objects of power appear many times throughout the books and have
various uses I said I in the age of legends also figured out how to increase their abilities by creating links or circles with other channelers the greatest feats of the age of Legends were accomplished by men and women who were linked together in a circle the largest and strongest possible circle requires 35 men and 37 women for a total of 72 linked Chandler's Robert Jordan devised a complex system for how Chandler's can link and how the one power is increased based on the number of Chandler's in a circle I'll include some links in the description
if you'd like to learn more one of the biggest themes in The Wheel of Time series is that the world is a better place when men and women work together equally for the best outcomes and where neither sex is placed above the other as mentioned in the previous video near the end of the age of Legends a new source of power was sensed by some researching I said I they bored a hole into the prison of the dark one who was supposed to be sealed away from touching the pattern the Dark One's influence changed the
world and led to extreme evil wars death and madness we'll talk specifically about the history and timeline of the Age of Legends in a future video but for now you should know that through a series of very unfortunate events the dark one tainted or poisoned the male half of the true source causing all male channelers to go mad and to nearly destroy the world in the process this time of madness and the resulting destruction became known as the breaking of the world from that time until the beginning of The Wheel of Time books in the
Third Age the male half of the true source has been so tainted that no man can use the one power for long without either going mad and causing terrible destruction or dying of a flesh rotting disease or both think of the tank tonsai beam as a dirty oily substance that is layered on top of the pure river of the male half of the true source in order to tap into the river of soybean a male channeler must first touch the oily surface on top this is what causes the madness and eventual rotting in male channelers
only female channelers in the Third Age are called I said I as the female half of the true source was not tainted by the dark one men who can channel are hunted and cut off from the true source or gentled out of fear of them going mad and causing more harm in the books many people do not trust female I said I but they trust male channelers even less for the most part if a man is discovered to channel his own family would gladly give him up to the female I said I to be gentled
or to be put to death since the age of Legends and the breaking of the world much has changed most of the incredible feats that were done by the I said I had been lost or forgotten even the geography of the world has changed because of the destruction caused by the insane male channelers during the breaking due to the efforts of the female I said I there are fewer male channelers and women have become the dominant political force in the Third Age the dark one is regaining strength and there is little hope that men and
women will ever work together again to bring back what was lost however in The Wheel of Time universe everything happens for a reason will the great pattern correct the wrongs of the previous age and bring back balance as the ice that I of the current age often say the wheel weaves as the wheel wills thanks so much for watching please support my channel by liking subscribing commenting following and becoming a patron special thanks to my patrons and to those who helped me research this video also special thanks to the artists the gave me permission to
use their artwork check out links in the description for their patreon zazz well look out for my shorter spoiler follow-up videos about the one power and other topics coming soon see you next time [Music] you you
