Well this isn't really much of a theory, just a kind of add-on thought to one of the newer theories that was posted on this topic. Um... From memory the guy said something about one of the Aiel referring to Verin as a Wise One and when she asked him why him saying she has the look of one who has come from Rhuidean. Now if Wise Ones have a form of the ageless look as Aes Sedai do, it may have something (I'm probably way off here) to do with the Rings they pass through in Rhuidean, that the Aes Sedai also pass through in their test for Accepted. This would explain (as far as I've thought out) why the other channeling groups (Kin, Windfinders, Forsaken etc...) don't have the ageless look. Anyway that’s it, as I said, not much of a theory but here it is anyway.
wotmania says: Hmmmmm... I was just wondering on the theory below what would explain the fact of only the Aes Sedai and the Wise Ones having the ageless look. This would seem to do that pretty well... Now here is another question - what about the Kin who have gone through one or two of the rings, but could not bring themselves to finish? Would they get the look? In any event, good theory!
Comments
I have read and re-read (and on) all the books and not one time I have I actually read where someone said that the wise ones had an ageless face.... they all looked younger than they were, but not ageless... I believe that slowing accounts for ALL channellers looking younger, but the ageless face comes from the binding of the oath rod (it tightens the skin onto the body, ie. galina in tpod)
Only Aes Sedai are referred to as ageless (ie, can't put any age to them) they are not considered young looking, just ageless and it only happens after they have worn the shawl for a period of time (ie, after the oaths).. that would explain why leane and siuan NO LONGER have the ageless faces (they were unbound)
I agree with the thinking on the rings adn the agelessness the wise ones have as well as the aes sedai. Now as far as the comment about the kin that may have gone through the rings, in all likelyhood they never completed the ritual wit the rings so therefore didn't achieve the agelessness. Just my thoughts.
~~Nikikins~~
"It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got." Sheryl Crow
Nynaeve's face started "slowing" before she went into the rings (the reason why she is always considered young) and one of the Forsaken refers to it at one point as "the slowing" (I think). It is probably more likely that since the One Power is outside the Age Lace, and therefore time, contact with it takes you out of reality for a moment, slowing the effects of the wheel itself on you. Since the Kin don't channel very often or in any great amounts this suggests why they are less affected by it (it could also be mistaken as the grandmotherly look some of them have) and well, the sea folk are anyone's guess.
This theory doesnt work because even some of the Kin have been through the ter'angreal and then didn't make the test for the shawl. They still do not have the ageless look. I don't think I have ever seen in any of the books where it refers to the Wise Ones as having the look either. It is just said that they have a commanding look or something along those lines..It just doesnt seem to fit together.
The Aiel speaking to Verin, who has gray hair, but a face of indeterminate age, just means that she hasn't aged normally, like the Wise Ones. The Wise Ones don't have the ageless look.
As far as the rings theory, no.
First, when you take the Oaths, you feel your skin tighten! That should be your first clue. Second, the 80 year old Accepted, who has been through the rings, just looks young, not ageless. And some of the Kin have been through the rings, but aren't ageless, either.
And lets not forget Semirhage, who straight out tells us that the Oath Rod, or binder, both shortens your life and changes your appearance.
This is all straight from the books. No theory involved.
"You seem a decent fellow... I'd hate to kill you."
IF it is the rings though, Why don't accepted also have the ageless look? Although, if what i just sais is true, I wonder why the Kin, Windfinders, and forsaken don't have the ageless look. Maybe the forsaken do, and maybe they don't. I don't recall any descriptions on how old the forsaken look.
Semirhage91
I beleive that Sumeko of the kkin broke down during her test for the shawl and she does not have the ageless look.. THEREFORE it can't be the rings that cause agelessness....
just a thought
Thanks given to Burr, the ever-helpful theory critic
And to Light in the Night, fellow theorist extraordinaire
Disagree