Theoryland Chronicles

Members :Dai Shan : Lanfear's "Second Most Powerful" (Sa')Angreal

This theory deals with the "other incredibly powerful male (sa')angreal" that Lanfear mentions to Rand (quote is below). I believe this (sa')angreal has been found by Elayne, and that we have a description. The theory below will try to prove this. It's divided into the following sections;

• 1. The Objects - The objects I'm referring to, and why it must be a male (sa')angreal
• 2. Similarities - A discussion of why the (sa')angreal would look this way
• 3. Ebou Dar - The likelyhood of a male angreal in the Ebou Dar stash
• 4. Conclusion

1. The Objects

The infamous quote of Lanfear talking to Rand about this mysterious (sa')angreal;

TITLE: Shadow Rising
CHAPTER: 9 - Decisions
"I cannot trust you fully, Lews Therin. Not yet." She [Lanfear] came closer, and he [Rand] considered simply seizing her. He was bigger and stronger by far - and blocked as he was, she could wrap him up with the Power like a kitten tangled in a ball of string. "Not with that, certainly," she added, grimacing at Callandor. "There are only two more powerful that a man can use. One at least, I know, still exists. No, Lews Therin. I will not trust you yet with that." "Stop calling me that," he growled. "My name is Rand. Rand al'Thor."

Lanfear remarks to Rand about Callandor; "there are only two more powerful a man can use." It is generally agreed that the male Choedan Kal is the one Lanfear mentions that "still exists", but the second (sa')angreal remains a mystery for the most part.

It has been argued that Lanfear simply means the female Choedan Kal, since that was on Tremalking and Lanfear might not have seen it yet. This argument rests heavily on the assumption that with her choice of words "only two more powerful that a man can use", she means a male (sa')angreal.

It also must be noted that some people believe Lanfear means another male key for the Choedan Kal. However, at this point in the stoy, they have not been to Rhuidean, so Lanfear would have no way of knowing that even one of the keys is in existance, and besides, they are ter'angreal, not (sa')angreal.

The quote referring to the object Elayne finds;

TITLE: The Path of Daggers
CHAPTER: 2 - Unweaving
"The figure of a stout, bearded man with a jolly smile, holding a book; two feet tall, it appeared to be agedarkened bronze and took both of her hands to move."

2. Similarities

This part is broken down into three sections;

• 2a. Size - A discussion of why size will matter with regards to strength
• 2b. Sex - This will show it's likely the sa'angreal looks like a man
• 2c. Age darkened(?) - Another similarity I noticed in passing

      2a. Size

While not on a one-to-one scale, size does appear to matter somewhat regarding the strength of angreal/sa'angreal. For instance; Callandor is much bigger than Rand's 'fat little man' (and all the other similar-sized ones of course), and the Choedan Kal are both much much bigger than that. Graendal on the other hand has a finger ring angreal that she describes as "it did not offer much". This man sounds bigger than Callandor. Or perhaps "more cumbersome" is better phrasing. In the same chapter where she finds it Elayne thinks to herself, a little later; "...but most angreal were small enough to carry about your person; not all, but most." The phrasing suggests a typical Jordanesque 'nonquote'; when using "most are/were" or "almost every is/was" Jordan usually means "but you'll be confronted with one that isn't soon". He even puts in the suggestive "not all".

       2b. Sex

There have been numerous examples of angreal being statues of men or women depending on whether it's attuned to that sex.

E.g. Moiraine's is a woman in flowing robes;

TITLE: Eye of the World
CHAPTER: 8 - A Place of Safety
"Unconsciously he [Rand] leaned back, further away from her [Moiraine] and what she held. A few stories mentioned angreal, those relics of the Age of Legends that Aes Sedai used to perform their greatest wonders. He was startled to see her unwrap a smooth ivory figurine, age-darkened to deep brown. No longer than her hand, it was a woman in flowing robes, with long hair falling about her shoulders."

Elayne's is a naked woman covered in hair;

TITLE: Path of Daggers
CHAPTER: 4 - A Quiet Place
"The other [angreal] was a seated woman in age-darkened ivory, her legs folded in front of her, her exposed knees bare, but with hair so long and luxuriant she could not have been more muffled in the heaviest cloak."

The Choedan Kal female key is a woman while the male key is a man (both are 'replicas' of the actual huge statues of course), everybody knows how they look so I'll consider that an "established fact" (by the way they're of course ter'angreal, but the big statues count). Rand's "fat little man" rather speaks for itself too. Interesting other is Bayle Domon; Bayle Domon is (was?) also in possession of a male angreal looking like a man holding a sword;

TITLE: Great Hunt
CHAPTER: 9 - Leavetakings
"Digging into his chest, he [Bayle Domon] set out on the desk what he had bought in Maradon. A lightstick, left from the Age of Legends, or so it was said. Certainly no one knew the making of them any longer. Expensive, that, and rarer than an honest magistrate. It looked like a plain glass rod, thicker than his thumb and not quite as long as his forearm, but when held in the hand it glowed as brightly as a lantern. Lightsticks shattered like glass, too; he had nearly lost Spray in the fire caused by the first he had owned. A small, age-dark ivory carving of a man holding a sword. The fellow who sold it claimed if you held it long enough you started to feel warm. Domon never had, and neither had any of the crew he let hold it, but it was old, and that was enough for Domon."

"The fellow who sold it" was obviously a man who could be taught to channel or who had the spark, though most likely he did not know that himself. During Elayne's search through the Ebou Dar stash, she notes how some objects seemed to glow, the same way Domon's statue did to the man who sold it ot him. Those objects we later learn are angreal, therefore we can reasonably assume that Domon's statue is an angreal as well.

In defense of the non-believers it has to be said that there are also angreal that give no impression of sex-attenuation at all. Without looking anything up, I can think of quite a few. Verin's flower-brooch, Elayne's turtle-brooch, Nynaeve's bracelet-and-rings, Callandor, the "rod"-sa'angreal in the Tower, Graendal's ring, Lanfear's bracelet-of-contorted-acrobats. That's even more right there than all the men/women-angreal I mentioned. However, all these others can't be placed in a single category. They're way too different. So we have seen one or two of each of those types (ring, bracelet, rod, sword), while we have seen at least 6 of the man/woman-type. That does suggest that the man/woman-design was at least frequently used, and had a rather large "market-share" if you will.

       2c. Age-darkened(?)

Coincidentally all the 'ivory' angreal are also 'age-darkened' like Elayne's bronze statue, though that probably is too weak a similarity to be of importance. It does however give an indication that the statue is very old, and a male angreal has to be over 3000 years old.

3. Ebou Dar

Some more quotes to make it likely there's an angreal in the Ebou Dar stash.

Sammael apparently was searching for a cache of angreal in Ebou Dar;

TITLE: Lord of Chaos
CHAPTER: 23 - To Understand a Message
"I [Sammael] all but have my hands on a cache of angreal and who can say what else." (This in conversation with Graendal)

TITLE: Crown of Swords
CHAPTER: 15 - Insects
""No," Sammael said finally. "Your search is the most important thing, the only thing, so far as you are concerned." " (To Jaichim Carridin (Bors) in Ebou Dar)

Moridin remarks;

TITLE: Path of Daggers
CHAPTER: 2 - Unweaving
"From behind a screen of white wrought iron, Moridin watched the last of the horses vanish through the gateway, and then the tall young woman and the four Warders. It was possible they were carrying away some item he could use-an angreal attuned to men, perhaps-but the chances were small."... "Sammael was a fool to have risked so much to seize a collection of no one knew what, then, Sammael had never been half as clever as he thought.

So apart from Sammael, even Moridin thought there might be male angreal in the Ebou Dar stash. So did Moghedien;

TITLE: Lord of Chaos
CHAPTER: EPILOGUE
"Months of futile search had convinced her [Falion Bhoda] there was no cache of angreal, whatever Moghedien believed. She had even considered putting a Wise Woman or two to the question; one of them might know its whereabouts, if it existed." (Moghedien did not work for Moridin yet at this point)

Falion Bhoda believes there is no cache of angreal, but it has been established that the cache exists, and that it has been found by Elayne, so Falion's opinion here can be disregarded, since she obviously didn't even come close to the stash and therefore had no idea whatsoever whether it contains angreal or not.

So that's three Forsaken (that we know of) looking for angreal in Ebou Dar, two of them male. Quite apart from that it has been established that there are in fact angreal in the stash...

Conclusion

So that's basically it;

• Lanfear remarks that two angreal are stronger than Callandor that a man can use,
• The strongest is accounted for (Choedan Kal),
• Elayne finds a rather large age-darkened bronze statuette of a man,
• Size matters in regard to the strength of an angreal,
• Angreal often look like the sex they're attuned to,
• The statue is "age-darkened" and thus very old, which a male angreal must be,
• Sammael and Moghedien were looking for angreal in Ebou Dar,
• Moridin agrees that there might be some.

That's all.