In the 4th book of the Wheel of Time, The Shadow Rising, Chapter 10 (The Stone Stands) Rand uses a powerful weave with the help of Callandor to purge the Shadowspawn from the Stone of Tear. I always had a slight feeling that the magic system was a bit underdeveloped at this point, and that is why it is only a one-time stunt. Do we have any in-world explanation about the weave and why it was only used this one time?
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It's a weapon of mass destruction. Rand wasn't crazy enough to use it again.– MithoronCommented Jul 2, 2020 at 16:18
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@Mithoron Well, it's mass desctruction of Shadowspawn so I don't see the logic in that.– fbenceCommented Jul 2, 2020 at 21:05
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Like the whole point of the book series is that too much power is dangerous on itself. This weave was killing independently of the channeler, what if another subverted it? It was also a temptation to use so much power that it would kill Rand, even if it perhaps managed to kill all Shadowspawn in the world.– MithoronCommented Jul 2, 2020 at 21:21
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2 Answers
Rand doesn't know:
Rand was not even aware he had channeled until it was done; he could not have said what he had done if his life had depended upon it. But nothing could threaten his life while he held Callandor. The Power throbbed in him like the heartbeat of the world. With Callandor in his hands, he could do anything.
At this point, Rand hasn't really learned much at all about how to use the One Power. He's going mostly on pure instinct, channelling without knowing what he's doing, and relying on his great strength in the Power along with the occasional angreal or sa'angreal. Even later, after taking lessons from Asmodean (and Lews Therin in his head) and learning more about how to use the Power, he still doesn't know everything and sometimes relies on instinct. It might be that this is a weave he never formally learned about and thus wasn't able to use again.
Also, here he's using Callandor, one of the most powerful sa'angreals ever made, which may enable him to do things that he wouldn't normally be capable of even after more training in the Power. We learn later that Callandor is flawed - something we see evidence of even here, as he thinks he can do anything up to and including reversing death - and maybe its special properties include enabling him to access different weaves, maybe ones that need more power than he can handle without such a sa'angreal.
In any case, this particular weave doesn't seem to be explained or returned to later in the books. Out of universe, this might be Jordan forgetting it or considering it too much deus-ex-machina to be used in other battles to win so easily. In universe, either Rand never learning it in his more formal training, or it not being usable without a sa'angreal as powerful as Callandor, seem like reasonable assumptions.
Apparently it uses Air, Fire, and Spirit.
The only other nugget of information I was able to find about this comes from Encyclopedia WoT:
In TWoTRPG, this weave is described as using Air, Fire and Spirit.
answered Jul 2, 2020 at 12:18
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Thanks, so it is a bit random as I remembered. For in-world handwaving explanations you could also throw in Callandor's TP/taint thing, maybe the weave is even impossible without Callandor, even if you had a same strength sangreal :)– fbenceCommented Jul 2, 2020 at 12:24
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8I've written this answer in third person to avoid confusion :-)– Rand al'Thor ♦Commented Jul 2, 2020 at 12:24
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A great answer, I will also add that later in the books he uses a different weave to attack an army of Trollocs and destroys his own forces as well. Those lessons teach him how dangerous his power can be. He also learns later on that his role is not as a weapon of mass destruction but equally as a builder and healer, healing the taint and rebuilding the prison. These lead him away from simply researching weapons. Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 8:33
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@RichardC Where/which book? I don't recall that, unless you mean the horrendous Asha'man vs Seanchan battle somewhere in book 8(?) but no Trollocs there.– Rand al'Thor ♦Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 12:05
Callandor doesn't have a protection against channelling too much power, like a normal angreal or sa'angreal. You could take in vast amounts of Saidin and risk killing yourself in the process.
Rand being the most powerful channeller alive on top of that - it is quite possible that he pulled off something that nobody including himself should be able to do, possibly straining himself beyond what's safe.
But at several other times in the books, he does use completely new weaves that nobody, including the Forsaken, has ever use before, including for example (spoiler):
Severing Asmodean's link to the Dark One
Which also seems like a quite handy trick, but it is only used once in the story as well.
