True Power / One Power

[Justy Hakubi]

What is the difference between the two, if there is a difference?

[the_hangedman]

I've only read the books once through, very little is said about the true power except its much more addictive and powerful.

I think the true power was divided during the creation, so saidar/saidin ect are all divisions of the true power.

The true power has only been tapped by agents of the dark lord thus far - but I don't think it is exclusively his to control.

[The Occultist]

You absolutely need the DO's permission to use the TP. If you don't have it, it's impossible for you to wield it. Using the TP, nobody can sense you channeling, or the weaves that you use, not even somebody else using the TP. It is highly addictive, and use of it causes the saa in the eyes shown with Ishamael/Moridin.

The TP and the OP are different, and it was the OP that is divided, not the TP.

[Asha'man Meyers]

The Dark One is such a *******, requiring people to have his consent to use Toilet Paper...

seriously though, in addition to what The Occultist said, the True Power is the Dark One's own energy, it's what Lanfear and co drilled into to create the bore, because they though they had found a source of power that both men and women could use together. Another big big advantage of the TP is that you can't be shielded from using it, except by the Dark One, or Shadar Haran. It's entirely different from the One Power (Saidin / Saidar) in use, the weaves arent the least bit similar.

And actually, everything the_hangedman said was false, except that only the DO's agents can use it.

[Nae'Blis Sedai]

Or... as far as we know you can't be shielded from it. The Forsaken have the 'privelege' of using it, but only Moridin/Ishamael does. The others are afraid of the addictiveness of it, and almost never use it. IIRC, it was Graendal, who, upon viewing the amount of saa in Moridin's eyes expressed amazement at the amount of TP that meant he was using. There is some suspicion that Ishamael's fiery countenance in Books 1-3, is an advanced form of the saa.

The TP also cannot be detected by others; Moridin burns a rat with it in CoS, I believe, and I think it's Sammael who, since he can't feel the Power being used, makes the connection that Moridin is drawing on TP.

The 'weaves' (if you can call them that... maybe a lack of weaves or incisions would be a better term...) that can be done with TP are much similar to those with the OP. That said, they have totally different methodologies, not in the way that saidin and saidar differ, since they're actually method is the same, just the approach to it differing. For example saidar channeling involves making 2 places exactly the same. The corresponding male analogy is boring a hole in the Pattern between the two places. Both Male and Female have the exact same effect in the en: two places become one. The TP version involves ripping the Pattern open, stepping outside it, and ripping another hole to reenter.

Ok. A question now. Can the TP be shielded or controlled in some way? When Moggy was in T'A'R with Nynaeve, presumably, she could've escaped using the TP. One would think using a small amount of TP would be preferable to becoming a captive of the Aes Sedai for months and months. Or even once she was in the camp... she still would presumably have contact with TP. Moridin hadn't arrived yet, so his monopoly on it was not in effect. Why didn't she use it? Why didn't she think of using it? Perhaps the a'dam stops it...

[Asha'man Meyers]

the a'dam stops her from hurting Nyn at all, ever, regardless of how. That, and if she used the TP, the DO would find out. She wouldn't really want him to know a little girl captured her because she got sloppy...

[Shadar the Mad]

Originally posted by Nae'Blis Sedai
One would think using a small amount of TP would be preferable to becoming a captive of the Aes Sedai for months and months.

You'd think so, but on the other hand, we've not seen anyone but Moridin even *think* of using the True Power - Moghedien didn't use it the first time she fought Nynaeve either, nor Demandred or Cyndane at the battle at Shadar Logoth (though it may have been revoked at that point).

I think the reason is that they really do fear the side effects more than is apparent, to the extent that they'd only risk it in utter desparation. They know the True Power is addictive, and they only need to look at Ishamael to know how terrible it's effects are. And Moghedien, at least, would rather risk death than risk becoming what Ishamael had become.

[Faile]

Perhaps the fact that they don't use and practise the TP in everyday use means when a situation arises where it would be useful they don't have the skills to do so effectively.

I mean this in a similar way to how the OP works. Just because someone has the ability to use the OP (or in the case of the TP, the DO's permission) doesn't mean they can do anything useful with it until they've learnt how and practised it.

[Asha'man Meyers]

another reason could be that you can't do both at the same time, channel TP and OP.

also, it would rather unbalance the books. oooo, a big fight with a forsaken. *channel TP* oops, killed one of the main characters...

[Lobomoon]

Sorry to hijack the topic but maybe that can once and for all solve the mystery of who killed Asmo (assuming he was killed with TP).

[Nevman]

Ishamael/Moridin, the only Forsaken known to use the TP, was dead as of TDR, and with the combination of no precendence for rebirth of dead characters and Jordan's claims that we should know who killed Asmodean when he died . . . Moridin is discounted by many.

While TP is certainly an option, it's generally considered quite an unlikely one.

[Nae'Blis Sedai]

Moreover, there's a (in)famous quote that we'd be able to figure out the killer using only books 1 through 5. Did we even know about the TP until Book 6/7? I don't think so...

[Nevman]

Ahh, if only we could get him to tell us whether we could work it out from only book 5. It would almost solve the mystery!

As for the TP, we've seen it's use in tEotW prologue by Ishamael, and you could say it was eluded to by the flames in his eyes. But unless it was mentioned in Rhuidean or by Asmodean (and I don't think either did in so many words), I don't think we were actually told about it until we saw Moridin in LoC / aCoS.

[The Adversary]

Graendal killed Asmodean.
We know this from Demandred's POV.
When he goes to Shayol Ghul and lists all the Forsaken that had gone missing to the Dark One...we find out that Lanfear was supposed to meet Graendal (in Caemlyn) and never showed up. Which we already knew....since it was Lanfear, Rhavin, Sammael and Graendal who agreed to all be present when Rand either came for Sammael in Illian, or Rhavin in Caemlyn.
The point is not that Lanfear did not show up, but the clear implication that Graendal DID.
You will remember that the four of them were going to link in a Circle and take Rand prisoner. Lanfear's plan, as you recall. But by the time they knew where Rand was truly headed....Caemlyn, and not Illian as they had hoped (and which was the reason for the attempt on Mat's life, to make Rand come for Sammael in Illian), by that time Lanfear had been stranded on the other side of the redstone doorway with Moiraine, Rhavin was dead, and Sammael was holed up in Illian with no intention of helping Rhavin or any of the others.
But Graendal....Graendal showed up as she agreed.
She arrived too late, as it happened (and without Lanfear and Sammael there she probably decided to stay the hell out of it, seeing as Rand had an angreal), but she stayed around to watch the aftermath of tthe battle and to find out what she could. And incidentally to kill Asmodean when she had the chance.

Graendal had motive, means and opportunity. She was there in Caemlyn. She was there because she was supposed to be there. It was everyone else from their little group who failed to show. And we saw this conspiracy form, fret, and fail; all in book five. So yeah...the details are all there for the observant. I do not know how people can still be guessing about this.

[Lobomoon]

Originally posted by Nae'Blis Sedai
Moreover, there's a (in)famous quote that we'd be able to figure out the killer using only books 1 through 5. Did we even know about the TP until Book 6/7? I don't think so...

Well, we knew how DO was released from Rand's vision so one can aggue we knew about TP.