Portal Stone question

Ashlyn Sindal

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I'm re-reading The Great Hunt, and I noticed something odd. When they first encounter a Portal Stone, Rand notices that it has seven bands of color along the bottom, the colors of the seven Ajahs. But then a couple pages later, Loial says that the Portal Stones have been around since before the Age of Legends. If the seven Ajahs are a product of the Third Age, what are their colors doing on a pre-AoL artifact?
 

Ealandrelle Melyma

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I'd never really thought of that. I wonder if, even before the Ajahs became distinct groups, there was a meaning to that grouping of colours which was then adopted when the Ajahs formed later? 7 colours, almost like a rainbow but not quite. And rainbows are made from Light? Maybe it was just some kind of obvious identifying characteristic to indicate that it was something to do with the Power/something for Aes Sedai to use?
 

Aran Cherubim

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Hm... I've never noticed this before.
 

Ashlyn Sindal

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This is the first time I've noticed it, and I've read the first few books many, many times. I'll definitely be keeping my eye out through the rest of the series to see if the seven colors show up in any other pre-Third-Age context.
 

Dnae Ila

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Maybe the colors weren't there at the beginning, and put on later?
That's what I would think. Originally, the stones were just simple, standing on their own. Then later, after the ajahs were formed, they constructed a sort of inverted dais around them.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Were the Portal Stones still in use and known by the time we had the Ajahs though :scratch I thought they were from the Age of Legends...
 

Elania al'Manir

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The library says that the Ajahs were fully formed by about 200 AB, but doesn't mention when Portal Stones fell out of use. It's possible there was some overlap, possibly even until the Trolloc wars in 1000 AB.
 

Aloren Tarabutton

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I am re reading by audio book and came across this same thought just yesterday!

Elania that is as good of an explanation as any so far.
 
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With the Wheel being circular there's a good chance they are from an age that predates the age of legends but is after the third age.

i mean they could be from the fourth age from the previous turning of the wheel. Hell they are so resistant to being moved they could potentially be multiple turnings of the wheel old and be truely ancient.
 
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I actually had a chance to ask Robert Jordan this question at a Q&A event (maybe D*Con?) ages ago. I largely got a non-answer that implied it was somewhat of a mistake. After the Q&A, I followed up asking him, and he gave me more of a non-answer and a RAFO and implied that possibly the Ajahs picked their colors after seeing the portal stones, even though they didn't know what the portal stones were at the time. I would love to know if there was ever any more information given on this - it always bugged me!
 

Eliza Al'Shaw

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I didn't read much of that article but I'd say don't read it if you haven't finished the books. . .
 
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