The Prologue (aka Lews Therin)

[Vodan Anuvos]

So I was checking out the prologue of The Eye of the World in the graphic novel form, and I noticed a quote that I had seen before in the actual novels, but never really registered.

Spoiler

Ishamael says to Lews Therin, "Once you stood first among the servants. You wore the ring of Tamyrlin and sat in the High Seat. Once you summoned the nine rods of dominion."

I understand that he is speaking about the Age of Legends, but are we expected to assume that the Amyrlin Seat that we know today is a, incorrect pronunciation of Tamyrlin? Have the Aes Sedai lost so much that they do not even know the correct name of the leader of their order? I don't even want to venture a guess on the nine rods of dominion.

 

[Brandegoris Al'Mor]

I was under the impression that there were TWO leaders? Amyrlin and Tamyrlin? Maybe either together , One for the men and one for the women, or i guess they just got voted in and whoever was in charge used the correct title depending on their gender?

 

[Morrighan Daghdera]

I was under the impression that folks used the correct title for whoever was elected based on gender, too.

Nine rods of dominion info from the Library

 

[Brandegoris Al'Mor]

hmm the nine rods are confusing the way the Library has it written I think....were they Items as with the Oath rod? Or were they people ? Since it mentions the forsaken not being among them??? I IZ lost and confused and starting to feel alone! I thought of course that they were physical items as with the Oath Rods, but the mention of the forsaken has confused me?

 

[Morrighan Daghdera]

I blame the Big White Book. :grumble It intimates that the Oath Rod was a Rod of Dominion, if memory serves. That's why, I think, the Library states the "some historians" believe that the Oath Rod was one of them. The BWB was supposedly written from the POV of an historian. *shrugs*

They were symbols of office for people, according to the blog cited in the Library. The Forsaken were never one of those people.

I'm sure Axis will correct me if I'm wrong. He loves doing that.

 

[Brandegoris Al'Mor]

LOLOLOL
I want a Rod of Dominion!!!!!!! I think it would be fun to start a thread where in we all try and make up what the 9 rods MIGHT have been used for!!!!! :P

 

[Amaryla Leper]

I also always kinda figured that male leader is Tamyrlin and the female one is Amyrlin

Rods are people, rulers of a part of the land, like kings and queens. Rod is just their representation, just like a crown or throne.

 

[Aran Cherubim]

I also always kinda figured that male leader is Tamyrlin and the female one is Amyrlin

Rods are people, rulers of a part of the land, like kings and queens. Rod is just their representation, just like a crown or throne.

Just like a the leader of a group can be called a Chair (or Chairman, Chairperson), these people were known as the Rods, apparently.

This way of referring to something by way of calling it something associated with it, is called a metonym. We also find it such expressions as The Crown (in the UK and the Commonwealth), the Pentagon (when actually referring to the U.S. Department of Defense, not the literal building), the White House (when actually referring to the current Executive administration of the U.S.), the Vatican (when referring to the leadership of the Catholic Church), or Hollywood (when referring collectively to the U.S. film and tv industry.)

/overexplaining

I am, however, not so sure about Tamyrlin and Amyrlin being gendered terms. It's certainly possible - but it might just be down to linguistic changes. The initial 't' may simply have been "whittled" away. It has been over 3000 years after all. Heck, it's not even been 2000 years since the Roman Empire, and the modern version of Latin used in academica doesn't quite match the classical either. The loss of an initial sound is called an "apheresis", and if this is indeed what happened, it would imply that the initial syllable in Amyrlin is unstressed. I'm not sure how Jordan designed stress in the Old Tongue, so I can't comment on how likely that is.

For a similar example of the loss of an initial sound in the real world, there's Greek episkop(os) which became English bishop.

 

[Brandegoris Al'Mor]

Holy S*it dude.......
HHAHAHHHHA U ROCK!!!! SO HARD!!!!!

 

[Ephrem Elpidius]

I would pay to have Aran Cherubim be my mentor. xD

 

[Tobias Carawin]

Here is some information from the Big White Book and a theory of mine.

Spoiler

From "The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel Of Time (Big White Book - or BWB). Pg. 31-32:

"There are records that, toward the end of the Age, Lews Therin Telamon, Who was then First Among Servants, wore the ring of the Tamyrlin and summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion.

In TEOTW: Prologue, Dragonmount, xi:

Elan Morin grimaced. "Look at you," he said scornfully. "Once you stood first among the Servants. Once you wore the Ring of Tamyrlin, and sat in the High Seat. Once you summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion. Now look at you!"

The BWB says that the Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends were a very loose organization. The term First Among Servants is said to be what the elected leader of the Aes Sedai was called. At this time I do not believe they had any other title for the "Leader of the White Tower". The ring Lews Therin wore is believed to be named after the first person to tap into the True Source, and worn by all the "First Among Servants".

So here is my take on all of this... In the Age of Legends, Lews Therin was the Elected Leader of the Aes Sedai (Not yet known as the White Tower). After the breaking, the women found that they needed to be more organized and formed what is now called the White Tower. The ring of the Tamyrlin most likely was destroyed when Lews Therin Killed himself or is now lost at this point. As the ring of the Tamyrlin was a symbol of power, authority, and leadership to the Aes Sedai, they now needed a way to symbolize who their leader was and continue the tradition of giving their leader the ring. So they created the title of Tamyrlin. "Amyrlin" is presumably a corruption of the Old Tongue word "Tamyrlin"

This is just my theory. Feel free to support or tear it apart.

I will add more on the Rods of Dominion later.

 

[Tobias Carawin]

The Nine Rods of Dominion

Spoiler

From "The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel Of Time (Big White Book - or BWB) Pg. 34

"Some historians, although not all, believe that the Oath Rod of the Aes Sedai may in fact be one of the original Nine Rods of Dominion mentioned in the ancient texts."

Unfortunately the BWB can be misleading at times. Let's revisit one of the previous quotes from my last post.

In TEOTW: Prologue, Dragonmount, xi:

Elan Morin grimaced. "Look at you," he said scornfully. "Once you stood first among the Servants. Once you wore the Ring of Tamyrlin, and sat in the High Seat. Once you summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion. Now look at you!"

When Lews Therin Telamon was First Among Servants, he summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion. The Rods are people. This is another example of Robert Jordan taking something from real life history and incorporating it into the WoT. In the Bible the Hebrews were made up of Tribes. Each Tribe had a High Priest, and each High Priest had a Rod as a symbol of his authority. Many cultures throughout history used Rods (not crowns) as symbols of authority. So what Elan Morin is saying in TEOTW is this:

Elan Morin grimaced. "Look at you," he said scornfully. "Once you stood first among the Servants. Once you wore the ring of the first person to touch the True Source, and sat in the High Seat. Once you summoned the leaders of the world. Now look at you!"

 

[Aran Cherubim]

That sounds about right, Tobias.

 

[Toral Delvar]

hmm the nine rods are confusing the way the Library has it written I think....were they Items as with the Oath rod?

That was a direct Robert Jordan quote. If any more was ever revealed I don't know it

 

[Axis m'Troutilas]

The question was put to RJ directly at Dragoncon in 2005.

Question
I have a question about the Nine Rods of Dominion. We have a couple of references to this, and Ishamael says that Lews Therin summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion. And theories have been floating around, are the Oath Rods not the Nine Rods of Dominion?

Robert Jordan
They were not the Oath Rods.

Question
Well are they positions of power, were they people, or were they actual rods?

Robert Jordan
They were actual people, and they were, but you might call them regional governors of the earth, regional governors of the planet. So if I say, summon them, then we've got a guy who has been given in effect ultimate power.

 

[Falone Charpontier]

Yes, nice theory!