The Ties That Bind

Author: Jahily al'Karee
Published: June 10 2021 Tar Valon Times Blog Link

The ties that bind us are sometimes impossible to explain.
Some bonds defy distance and time and logic.
Because some ties are simply…meant to be.
~ Grey’s Anatomy

This article contains minor spoilers.

As part of our Social Media Team’s focus on bonding this week, we take a look at some of the different types of relationships and bonds which join together members of our community.

Arguably one of the most appealing benefits of our TarValon.Net community is the relationships we form with one another. It’s woven in our site’s DNA — we are encouraged to get to know each other by participating in activities and getting to know each other in a variety of ways to find common ground. We become Resident Citizens or join the Tower to connect with a Senior Membership group. We host official in-person gatherings, and celebrate unofficial ones. We connect with each other on our forums, in Discord, over video chats, and (when possible) in person. Many of us make friends who become family, members from around the world who we share our journeys with. And in some cases, we acknowledge these relationships through official ceremonies.

These ceremonies are based on events we read about in the Wheel of Time series. We read about the first-sister ceremony between Elayne and Aviendha while among the Aiel. Our members can celebrate relationships akin to this as part of our community. Here at TarValon.Net we recognize this bond between members with the First-Sibling ceremony. Some members also recognize Near-Siblings as a version of this bond.

Then we have The Bond. We see the bond in The Wheel of Time between Aes Sedai and their Warders. Many of our members have entered Aes Sedai/Warder bonds on our site, the oldest current bond according to our Library dating back to July 2001. TarValon.Net currently has around 140 bonded pairs. Originally, The Bond could only be held between an Aes Sedai (female members of Ajahs) and Gaidin (male members of Companies). The process of Integration in 2014 opened this up significantly — this allowed site members to choose any of our 11 Senior Membership groups as their home. At the time of Integration the Bond was still only formalized between an Ajah member and a Company member.

This year saw an important change for TarValon.Net by officially recognizing Same Path Bonds. This means that Senior Members (regardless of path) may now choose to bond another Senior Member. On June 1st, our first four same path pairs were Bonded in the Light. We wish these new bond mates all the best!

Thank you to Ne’Mireth and Tree for sharing this beautiful moment from their Bonding Ceremony.

By the Light and my hope of salvation and rebirth.

Please note that our Library is being updated and does not yet reflect the inclusive language TarValon.Net now utilizes.