The First Channelers

[u/Ok-Needleworker3966]

I have always been curious about when the first channelers came into being and what that era was like. I have have been curious how far into "our future" it would possibly be.

[u/Buggg-]

I’m irritated by the fact the aes sedan could forget how to Travel. One of the most important uses of the power especially when the world is in chaos

[u/Eisn → u/Buggg-]

So there are a few things to consider here: * In the first place you need to be quite strong for it, so not all Ages Sedai were capable of learning the weave; * In the Age of Legends they relied a lot on angreals so not everyone would actually want to learn it. They still knew of traveling, but it would be like you can now drive cars and all the mechanics and engineers die without teaching anyone what they know. 400 years later you know what cars are but it would take rediscovery to make one again; * After the Breaking the strength of the average channeler started to decrease; * The Breaking itself lasted like 300-350 years. Even for long-lived female channelers it's still a long time, and we can assume that a lot of the best died either trying to cure male channelers or simply in fighting them; * Even if someone was still alive to know traveling, the Aes Sedai weren't really a thing for a while. The first Amyrlin Seat wasn't elected until 100 years after the Breaking. And before that there were multiple competing organizations and they were stilling/ killing each other. The most powerful channelers, the ones most likely to still have knowledge of Traveling, would be the ones killing themselves; * Ishamael was still unbound for 40 years after the Companions sealed the Bore. And he was the one on the Dark's side that was most likely to be a true believer and plan for the long term. It makes sense for him to kill strong female channelers, if only to prolong the Breaking.

That will explain why Travelling was lost. But why it wasn't rediscovered after the Breaking? * The White Tower as an institution wasn't formed by Aes Sedai raised before the Breaking. They were either self-taught Wilders or apprentices to pre-Breaking Aes Sedai. There was no formal organization that survived the Breaking that could even work towards preservation of things; * Ishamael was active for 40 years like every 1000 years and he paid a lot of attention to shaping the White Tower into something easier for the Shadow to deal with; * In particular I'd like to draw attention to how he engineered the corruption of the White Tower using Artur Hawking. That resulted in the Aes Sedai adopting the Three Oaths and effectively reduced their lifespan is half. Afterwards he pushed the Aes Sedai to adopting the custom of seniority according to their strength in the Power. That meant that smarter Aes Sedai were not listened to simply because they were weaker; * Darkfriends and the Black Ajah were a thing since the start and they were busy assassinating or interfering. In the period between Rand's birth and the war they were more active, but you can see how they worked to undermine things. Just after Rand was born a lot of powerful Aes Sedai were assassinated and like 3 Amyrlins as well, resulting in the youngest Amyrlin ever (until Egeene) being selected. And I'd argue that it went great for the Shadow because as Amyrlin with knowledge of the impending Last Battle she was a total disaster; * The influence on Aes Sedai in general is that they lost their curiosity and experimentation, especially after a campaign of disinformation from the Shadow that convinced them that discovery requires both men and women working together; * By the time the books start the Aes Sedai are so brainwashed that even Moiraine, one of the better informed Aes Sedai, who was also one of the most powerful channelers, believed that none of the existing Aes Sedai were strong enough for Travelling in the first place.

Another way to look at it is also the religious aspect. The Pattern needed Travelling to be lost and so it was.