One Power

In The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan, the One Power is the force that maintains the continuous motion of the Wheel of Time. It comes from the True Source, and it is separated into two halves: saidin, the male half, and saidar, the female half. It is used in the series like magic by channelers.

It can be seen as a source of magical power, and prolongs the lives of its users many times. It is also called the True Source, among other things. Each half of the One Power can be used only by people of the associated sex. Not everyone has the ability to "channel", or access, the Power. Most have only the talent, but a few channelers are also born with 'the spark'--an innate inclination that will lead them, eventually and inevitably, to touch the Source. (Those who do not have the spark can go their entire lives without touching the Power or even realizing they can.) Channelers are also not born equal--some are stronger in the Power, can handle more of it, than others.

When using the One Power one weaves flows of different elements. The five known elements are Earth, Spirit, Water, Air, and Fire. Men are generally stronger with Fire and Earth, while women are generally stronger with Air and Water; strength in Spirit is distributed equally. Male channelers as a whole are stronger than female ones, but they cannot "link" to form a "Circle" of multiple channelers working together; only woman can initiate a Circle. Women can tell when another woman is holding the Source, as a white glow springs up around her, but they cannot tell when a man is channeling. Men feel women holding the Source as a tingling on their skin; they can also sense when another man is holding the Power (though they cannot see it). Finally, male and female channelers experience the Power differently: a woman would describe it as a gentle force requiring patience, guidance, and relaxation, while a man would call it a rough torrent requiring strict control. This essential difference in the "feeling" of the Power means that a woman cannot teach a man to channel, and vice-versa (and it has been tried).

The current Aes Sedai are the largest organized group of women who wield the One Power. Their headquarters, the White Tower, is on the island city of Tar Valon. Other groups of organized channelers have sprung up, but they have either kept themselves totally secret or been neutralized by the Tower. Aes Sedai refer to any female channeler who is not affiliated with the Tower as a "wilder."

Channelers must always be careful. The One Power is dangerous. Besides providing an addictive stimulating quality, channelers who draw too much of the Power into themselves can kill themselves or render themselves brain-dead. If they are lucky--relatively lucky--they will only burn the ability out of themselves, leaving themselves unable to channel ever again. Channelers can also be permanently denied the Source by another party; this is called "stilling" when done to women, "gentling" when done to men, and "severing" by the Forsaken (and presumably their counterparts in the Age of Legends). Regardless of the circumstances, those who lose the ability permanently also tend to lose the will to live. Very recently, an Aes Sedai named Nynaeve al'Meara, and some Asha'man have discovered how to heal severing, but the process is flawed and still in development.

All men and women with the spark come to a point of crisis in which they are in severe danger of dying without training, as the One Power is dangerous. Many women who die of mysterious circumstances in their late teenaged years are actually wilders who have failed to cope with their abilities. The women who survive invariably develop mental 'blocks' that forbid channeling in the absence of certain conditions; two known blocks required severe anger or thoughts about men before their sufferers could allow themselves to channel. Serious and sometimes drastic counseling is often required to overcome blocking.

In the current age, the Dark One's taint on saidin causes male channelers to inevitably go mad and succumb to a wasting sickness which causes the surfferer to rot alive. The taint came into being at the end of the Age of Legends, when Lews Therin Telamon (the Dragon) re-sealed the Dark One into his prison. The ensuing chaos and destruction caused by the affected men was called The Breaking of the World or the Time of Madness. Some Aes Sedai, the Red Ajah, dedicate their lives to hunting down and gentling male channelers before they can cause trouble. Possibly as a result of this, fewer and fewer people of either gender are born with the talent.

Saidin has been cleansed through the use of the two ter'angreal keys that are links to the most powerful sa'angreal ever made. The keys are called the Cheoden Kal. They were used by Nynaeve al'Meara and Rand al'Thor in the cleansing of saidin.