Great Serpent Ring

[Polegnyn Nemeara]

Greetings, everyone.

I've been a huge fan of WoT for the past ten years but not a TV.net member. However, a question literally just popped into my head, and I can't seem to recall the answer from the books or the encyclopedia. I haven't listened far enough into the audiobooks to hear the answer either.

My question is what is the WoT-storical significance of the serpent to be used as the ring for aes sedai?

I understand why they are worn, who is allowed to wear them, and where they are allowed to be worn. I just don't recall why the serpent was chosen instead of another signet or design.

The Light [illuminate] you.

 

[Miliham Rastoubel]

its a modified Ouroboros, a symbol for eternity.

 

[Polegnyn Nemeara]

Ahh, yes. Thank you for your timely response, Gaidin.

 

[Thoridyss Wyborn]

If I remember correctly, Accepted are given the ring when they are raised and it is worn on the left ring finger. When they are raised to Aes Sedai they can wear the ring on whatever finger they wish.

 

[Ajailyn Morrivinna]

I believe in WoT it represents the turning of the wheel as well, part of the eternity theme. For what has past will come again.

 

[Azi al'Thone]

The Great Serpent is a symbol in WoT history that predates even the Wheel. It symbolizes time, and again the cyclical nature of it (like the wheel).

Minor spoilers for Chapter 25 in EotW:

Spoiler

In EotW, the Tinkers tell a story of an Aiel woman who tells them that the DO intends to "slay the Great Serpent". Elyas says "Slay the Great Serpent? Kill time itself?".

http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Great_serpent
http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/The_Eye_of_the_World/Chapter_25

You might find more interesting discussion on this topic over in our book discussion forums

 

[Jaim al`Bearach]

Good point Azi

 

[Martele d'Acre]

You have to love ring questions. Thanks Polegnyn[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]. The head within the head basically answered. Plus there's the if you slay one head you must slay the other. The Tinker story I believe the most and like best.
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[Catt Heckathorne]

The Great Serpent, also called an ouroboros, is something of a universal symbol in anthropology (I'm an anthropologist. I couldn't resist! ). Cultures the world over, from Scandinavia to the Aztecs, have utilized it as a major symbol in their cultural myths. In One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest, Wade Davis provides one version of this ouroboros, present in the creation myth of the Kogi, a mountain culture of South America:

"In the beginning, they explained, all was darkness and water. There was no land, no sun, or moon, and nothing alive. The water was the Great Mother. She was the mind within nature, the fountain of all possibilities. She was life becoming, emptiness, pure thought. She took many forms. As a maiden she sat on a black stone at the bottom of the sea. As a serpent, she encircled the world ...

"At the first dawning, the Great Mother began to spin her thoughts. In her serpent form, she placed an egg into the void, and the egg became the universe ..." (Davis 1996:43).

This creation myth of the Great Mother also appears to be repeated in the Great Serpent Mound in Moundsville, Ohio, in the United States of America.

In at least three other creation myths from other world cultures, essentially it is a serpent figure that eventually gives humanity civilization. Mostly, it seems to represent female-ness (for example, Eve of the Garden of Eden story, or the Aes Sedai of WoT), divinity, and the concepts of time and eternity (a circle has no end; also, if the serpent in a Great Serpent ring is double-wrapped, it becomes the sign of infinity when it is opened). It also represents evil, death, failure, and temptations; although sometimes it also represents magical abilities (again, the Aes Sedai). It's a hugely ambiguous symbol with many, many meanings in many, many cultures. No wonder Robert Jordan chose it as a representation of the Aes Sedai!

For a fun non-WoT story in which the ouroboros is used, I reference "All You Zombies," by Robert Heinlein, in which the Great Serpent ring represents a time agent.

I could go on and on and on about the mythological properties of the Great Serpent (I wrote a project about this for an English class in undergrad and was even able to use my own Great Serpent ring to illustrate what the ring looked like in that Heinlein story), but I'll leave that to you to research.

:brown

 

[Elatheara Bal A' Vilzaine]

I could go on and on and on about the mythological properties of the Great Serpent (I wrote a project about this for an English class in undergrad and was even able to use my own Great Serpent ring to illustrate what the ring looked like in that Heinlein story), but I'll leave that to you to research.

:brown

Wow! Narysse Sedai you are like an encyclopedia! Hooray for the Brown Ajah!