Book Glossary O
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
The oaths taken by an Accepted upon passing her test and being raised to Aes Sedai. Spoken while holding the Oath Rod, a ter'angreal that makes oaths binding. They are:
(1) To speak no word that is not true.
(2) To make no weapon with which one man may kill another.
(3) Never to use the One Power as a weapon except against Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme of defense of her own life, or that of her Warder or another Aes Sedai.
The second oath was the first adopted after the War of the Shadow. The first oath, while held to the letter, is often circumvented by careful speaking. It is believed that the last two are inviolable. See Oath Rod.
- Ogier (OH-gehr)
(1) A non-human race, characterized by great height (ten feet is average for adult males), broad, almost snout-like noses, and long tufted ears. They live in areas called stedding. Their separation from these stedding after the Breaking of the World (a time called the Exile by Ogier) resulted in what is called the Longing; an Ogier who is too long out of the stedding sickens and dies. They rarely leave their stedding and typically have little contact with humankind. Knowledge of them among humans is sparse and many believe Ogier to be only legends. Although they are thought to be a pacific people and extremely slow to anger, some old stories say they fought alongside humans in the Trolloc Wars and call them implacable enemies. By and large, they are extremely fond of knowledge and their books and stories often contain information lost to humans. A typical Ogier life span is at least three to four times that of a human.
(2) Any individual of that nonhuman race. See also Breaking of the World, stedding, Treesinger.
The language spoken during the Age of Legends. It is generally expected that nobles and the educated will have learned to speak it, but most know only a few words. Translation is often difficult, as it is a language capable of many subtly different meanings. See also Age of Legends.
- 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 are born with the ability. For those 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. If he is then not able to learn some control, he will die from a wasting sickness which 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, Breaking of the World, stedding.
- Ordeith (OHR-deeth)
In the Old Tongue, "Wormwood." Name taken by a man who advises the Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light.
