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| THE
ETHICS OF THE WARDER
BOND One of the first things an Aes Sedai does upon rising to that level in the Tower is to seek a warder, unless of course she is a Red or has no desire for one. She tours the 'stables' and selects the stallion which she think will win the race for her, then she bridles him with the power and the ride out into the world to run that race. However this is the swirling eddies of ethics and meaning from a surface glance at the issue, and the currents that lie beneath desire consideration. A man will come to the Tower with perhaps some inkling of what it is to be a Warder. He may have read about one in a book, or seen one from afar, watching from his mother's kitchen window as an Aes Sedai and her warder trotted by. This image is a heroic one; a utopia compared to what the life of a warder really involves. The key word is sacrifice, and I often wander if that sacrifice is one made with a full knowledge and understanding, or is it one born of honour and responsibility. When an 'ordinary' person, one not educated in the ways of the Tower, asks what is the exchange between a warder and his Aes Sedai the typical response circles around that he protects her like a bodyguard, while gaining superior strength and skill, and general all round super survival capability. This is seen as a gift in exchange for the protection of the sister. But on careful thought it is not really a gift. Look at a metaphor. At Christmas a boy buys his brother a book. The book is seen as a gift, but all along the boy's thought process was focused on the fact that he also wanted to read the book, and would be able to do so when the brother has finished with it. The Aes Sedai may give her warder ability, but that ability is fed right back into the Aes Sedai's zone of comfort. She will benefit from her protector's gifts in that they will better protect her. Thus it is something very selfish in my opinion. Look at other aspects of this union. When a warder bonds to his sister, unless she is green he will very likely become celibate, and there will never be any other woman in his life, therefore he will never experience the joys of marriage. He will grow old, and as if to mock his stiff bones and wrinkled skin, he will have someone beside him who has looked like a woman in her prime, all the time he had known her. He will die, after first becoming effectively redundant, as someone that old is no good as a bodyguard! This death will cause much pain for the sister, and she will mourn the loss for many a year, but like a master losing his dog she can go at any time to find a new warder to fill the empty sadness left by the last one. She will still be young and vibrant, and yet again a man will have to suffer the embarrassment of age settling in. The Warder, however, if he loses his Aes Sedai, will soon die from the grief, consumed by it. This perfectly represents how the bond is complete from the warder's prospective, whereas the Aes Sedai only gives a part of herself. These are aspects which contribute to a bad relationship, a marriage (and the warder bond is akin to marriage) would certainly fail if only one partner had in it their heart and soul. Some warders I am sure would not complain, and those bonded to a green sister are indeed at the opposite end of the spectrum of suffering which I have presented in my essay. Their sister treats them like the precious human beings they are, and will suffer most on loosing one. What about other sisters? Does the involvement of the bond need to be re-evaluated? Do the warders need to think more about their options? Perhaps, but I certainly do not plan to bond for these very reasons, for guilt would rack my soul. I could never give to a man what he would give to me in the bond - for the priority when I am honest, in my life, is the Power. Vivaine |