True Power
From A Wheel of Time Wiki
The True Power is a source of energy similar to the One Power, however, it is different in multiple ways. It is not differentiated into male and female halves, which work constantly with and against each other, but rather as one resevoir of power that is available to members of either sex. It is also only available to Darkfriends who can channel.
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[edit] History
Evidence suggests that the True Power was the "unified power source" that Mierin and Beidomon were trying to tap into when the Sharom was destroyed and the Bore into the Dark One's prison was created. Perhaps this suggests that the One Power's energy, which was used to drill the Bore into the Dark One's realm, cannot mingle with that of the True Power; perhaps the resulting explosion that destroyed the research center of Sharom was because both Powers, One and True, could not stand being joined together, and, like magnetic forces, repulsed each other in such a magnitude that it caused the destruction. This may be cause for speculation that the True Power and the One Power cannot mix in any way without terrible consequences: indeed, the raw amount of power that was needed to be drawn from the True Source to drill the Bore could not safely be intertwined with any other form of energy, even the black forces of the Dark One, with out some kind of consequence.
[edit] Characteristics
Since only the Chosen and possibly channelers sworn to the Shadow have been shown tapping into the True Power, very little is known about its attributes. It can be used much like the powers of saidar and saidin, although both genders can access it equally well. The True Power can perform many feats that the One Power can, although it does them in such a different way that it may betray the wielder's evil origins: a gateway created with the True Power causes a subsonic "scream" as the Pattern is ripped to shreds; the Healing performed on Lews Therin Telamon just before he died was much more painful than ordinary Healing, and was said to "darken the sun" and to "sear his body" when it was forced on him by Ishamael. It may be that the True Power 'likes' being used for offensive/destructive purposes, such as when Moridin used it to telekinetically crumple a part of window screen - unknowingly, Moridin obliterated the body of his servant as well. The True Power is also undetectable to any channelers other than the wielder, unlike saidar and saidin. The gholam in Ebou Dar could feel it, but didn't recall the meaning of that feeling.
It is very likely that the True Power is the only force able to destroy heartstone. This is evidenced by Rand's sword melting during his fight with Ishamael in the skies above Falme (since Ishamael is known to use the True Power almost exclusively; as well as the weakening of the Dark One's seals.
| Spoilers: Information ahead comes from The Gathering Storm; please be careful if you have not read that book yet! |
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| Rand al'Thor channeled the True Power in his desperation to save Min from Semirhage. Since only those with permission from the Dark One are given access to the True Power, either the Dark One gave access to Rand for some unknown reason, or Rand's mysterious link with Moridin allowed him to draw on the True Power. |
[edit] Dangers
Use of the True Power has a greater cost than that of the One Power; unlike the urge to channel saidar or saidin, which can be controlled safely with willpower, those who channel the True Power find themselves irresistibly drawn to consume more and more of it as time goes on (or as long as they are allowed to by the Dark One). Eventually flecks and strands of blackness, called saa, would appear in the eyes of a habitual user in a greater degree as they channeled more and more of the True Power, until the saa spread across one's entire eyes to color them completely black, at which point the channeler had become totally and irreversibly insane. When severe amounts of the True Power is used, in later stages, even greater deformities may occur, such as in the case of Ishamael before he became Moridin. It has also been speculated that the appearances of Ishamael's mouth and eyes, which were replaced by yellow-green flame, may have been by result of overuse of the True Power. Perhaps the metaphor of an obsession so great that it burns and gnaws at someone may have been taken literal here: maybe the overuse of the True Power was so self-destructive that it had actually began to burn away at Ishamael, although the only reason that would explain the color of the fire (instead of being red, orange, and yellow) would be that is was of such an intense temperature that it surpassed red (as fire moves along the spectrum as it gains heat), or that the True Power's magical energy was enough to distort not only Ishamael's body, but also the fire that consumed him. When Ishamael was awakened from death and given the name Moridin, he did not stop using the True Power; however, he has entered only the beginning stages of degeneration, with only saa appearing, although what the future will bring and how it will harm his new body is unknown.
[edit] Angreal and Sa'angreal
Because the dark energy of the True Power does not act in a same manner as the One Power does, it is not known whether the use of either angreal, or the more powerful sa'angreal, would have any effect. However, since the True Power does have some similarities, such as the ability to cast the same powers albeit in a different fashion, it may be probable for an angreal to have some sort of effect, although there is not evidence of any user of the True Power coveting or using such devices in an attempt to amplify their own powers. Sammael, being one of the Forsaken, had the ability to utilize the True Power but did not; he chose to pursue angreal in hopes of finding one to enhance his already formidable abilities; Be'lal, another Forsaken, tried to goad Rand al'Thor to take Callandor, a mighty sa'angreal, and use it to improve his use of the One Power. None of the Forsaken, except the Ishamael/Moridin/Nae'blis being had much use of the True Power, and even then he did not follow any quests to gain an angreal or sa'angreal.
