Vandene Namelle was an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah.[1] She was the younger sister of Adeleas Namelle, an Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah.
Appearance and Personality[]
She is described as being slender and graceful with a straight back and almost white hair, with fine bones and a long patrician face.
Though Adeleas was two years older, the two sisters looked so much alike that they seemed like twins. Many people had difficulty telling Adeleas and Vandene apart, even though they were from different Ajahs. They themselves could not understand the confusion.
Strength and Abilities[]
Vandene has a strength in the One Power of 22(10), average for an Aes Sedai. She is not strong enough to open a gateway to Travel unaided.[2]
Her potential, given to be 20(8), is higher than her actual stength. We are told that women like Vandene and Adeleas who are very close can have similar strengths even if their potentials are different. The tendency would be for the stronger woman to not achieve her full potential as it is impossible for the weaker to exceed their potential. Adeleas only has a strength and potential of 23(11), making Vandene still the marginally stronger of the two.[1] Vandene's life span, however, would have been dictated by her potential, not her actual strength.
Vandene demonstrated some Talent in Healing.[3]
History[]
Vandene was the younger sister to Adeleas. Vandene was born in the year 737 NE. Both sisters went to the White Tower in the year 752 NE.
After spending five years as Novice and five as Accepted she was raised to the shawl in the year 762 NE. She progressed in near locksteps with her sister and they were raised within a month of each other in both instances.
In the year 930 NE, around seventy years prior to the split of the White Tower, the sisters had retired to Tifan's Well to write a history of events since the Breaking of the World, but a visit from Moiraine and events surrounding the Dragon Reborn caused them to become active again. Also see Errata below.
She bonded her last Warder, Jaem, in 949 NE when he was 27 years old and she was 222 years old.
Activities[]
A visit from Moiraine[]
After meeting Siuan in Fal Dara, Moiraine Damodred visited Vandene and Adeleas in Tifan's Well because she was looking for information on the Seanchan, Prophecies of the Dragon, and other such things linked to the Dragon Reborn.[3] While there Moiraine was attacked by a Draghkar; fortunately Vandene's Warder, Jaem, helped Lan to save her.
Immediately Vandene Healed Moiraine and they both wondered why they had not detected the evil of the Shadowspawn. Moiraine said it was warded, therefore the Black Ajah was involved and Vandene was stunned by this information. Moiraine wanted to leave immediately and asked the sisters to send letters to the White Tower for her.
Joining the rebels[]
After the Schism Vandene joined the rebel Aes Sedai in Salidar with her sister. She soon left to go to Ebou Dar to search for the Bowl of the Winds with Elayne Trakand, Nynaeve al'Meara, and Matrim Cauthon. While in Ebou Dar she was also looking for runaway girls from the White Tower.
Adeleas's murder[]
She Traveled with the the rest of the group led by Nynaeve and Elayne from Ebou Dar to the Kin's farm with the Bowl of the Winds. She, alongside her sister, took charge of Ispan Shefar and began to question her. Her sister and Ispan were murdered by an unknown assailant and she surveyed the scene dispassionately. After the other women left the scene she howled in pain. She took it upon herself to track down the Darkfriend that killed her sister, being convinced that the murderer was one of the Aes Sedai that had been traveling in her group.
She narrowed down the Darkfriend suspects to one of the three Aes Sedai that accompanied the group back to Caemlyn. She was then the sole teacher of Garenia Rosoinde and Kirstian Chalwin, who were novices again.
She became obsessed with finding her sister's murderer, and no longer ate much. She had also started wearing her sister's dresses. She came to Elayne with the news of Reanne Corly's death.
Samwil Hark led Elayne, Careane Fransi, Sareitha Tomares, and Vandene to the house on Full Moon Street where they went to arrest Mili Skane and the Black Ajah sisters with her: Falion Bhoda and Marillin Gemalphin.
But there they were taken by surprise by other Black sisters. She was killed by Chesmal Emry, but not before she had a chance to avenge her sister: Careane was stabbed and killed by Vandene with a knife as punishment for the murder of Adeleas.
Errata[]
In The Path of Daggers, Adeleas says that Zarya ran away "just before Vandene and I decided to retire and write the history of the world".[4] This is repeated in The Wheel of Time Companion.[5] This happened around seventy years ago, yet it is stated elsewhere in the Companion that they retired in the year 970 NE.[6] Moiraine thinks in The Great Hunt that the two sisters retired "so long ago that few even in the White Tower remembered they still lived".[3] The date of 970 NE was, however, corrected in some later editions of the Companion to 930 NE. Vandene bonded her Warder after retiring to Tifan's Well.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Wheel of Time Companion, Vandene Namelle
- ↑ Lord of Chaos, Chapter
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Great Hunt, Chapter 22
- ↑ The Path of Daggers, Chapter 28
- ↑ The Wheel of Time Companion, Zarya Alkaese.
- ↑ The Wheel of Time Companion, Adeleas Namelle.