While Aes Sedai are in Far Madding, or a steading for that matter, do the Oaths hold? I mean we all know that the Oath are directly linked to the ability to channel, so in theory it's at least possible that they don't hold. It all depends on what makes the Oaths stick I suppose. A women who is burnt out and can't even sense the Source is no longer held by the Oaths. For all intensive purposes while in Far Madding or a steading any channeler is the same as someone who has been burnt out....

The only oath not connected to channeling is the oath to not speak a word that is untrue. All other oaths would be nulled in any case, unless the person had a well of course.

While Aes Sedai are in Far Madding, or a steading for that matter, do the Oaths hold?

 

Yes, they would hold because they are not an active weave but rather something that is physically bound into the person.

 

EDITED FOR WRONG COPY AND PASTE

Son: When I grow up, will I marry a boy or a girl.

 

Yes, they would hold because they are not an active weave but rather something that is physically bound into the person.

 

If that were the case then how do you explain women who have been Stilled? They aren't held by the Oaths anymore...

I know that the Oaths are somewhat physically binding, but then you're pretty much saying that the ability to channel is solely a physical thing...else how would Stilling free you from the Oaths? Unless Stilling is like a physical injury, instead of an injury of the 'soul'.

Although the ability to channel is tied to soul, thus allowing transmigration of souls into new bodies whilst retaining the ability to channel, the actual act of channelling is a physical one, controlled by the brain. When Nyneave heals stilling, she takes the patient's head in her hands as she finds the physical contact with the "injured" area makes it easier to study the problem, and she describes a sensation of something being cut, of a gap or a hole. In the healing process, she bridges this gap, this re-establishing a physical link in the brain.

 

So, when the cut of stilling is made, so is the link to the Oaths cut. The ability to channel still resides in the soul, but the physical capability is damaged, so the person cannot channel. With this loss of practical ability, comes the severing of all ties bound into that ability, i.e. the oaths. In Far Madding, as in a stedding, the ability remains, and thus the binding oaths, but a physical block prevents the person using that ability.

If that were the case then how do you explain women who have been Stilled? They aren't held by the Oaths anymore...

 

Not exactly..I'm saying that the Oaths are much like the Warder bond.  Still effective within Stedding and Far Madding type places but only so long as the person still possesses the ability to channel.  The key is that it is not a weave that requires active channeling.