Question about the White and Brown Ajah's

[Amylia Lerato]

I just finished book three, so I'm not super knowledgable about the Aes Sedai stuff, but I am really curious. What are the main differences between the white and the brown Ajahs? They both seem super interested in knowledge and knowledge seeking, and they also seem to both love research and I'm a little confused as to what makes them different from eachother. Is it just that the white Ajah is less emotional or is there something else to it?

 

[Arella Mathara]

The White Ajah is mainly focused on philosophical and logical questions, they are philosophers and mathematicians.

Members of the Brown Ajah study history, natural sciences, the One Power, etc

 

[Ilverin Matriam]

Arella is correct. In a short time you will meet more White Sisters in the books and the difference between the Ajahs will become very obvious Hope you're enjoying the story so far!

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

As a former site White, and someone who adores the book Whites, my main philosophy (TM) is that Browns are in the business of gathering knowledge, and Whites are in the business of applying it. (for nerdy reasons, rather than battle ones. )

 

[Polegnyn Nemeara]

Paging @Laurien Achaur for her Knowledge (Brown Ajah) vs. Wisdom (White Ajah logic) tomato analogy

And welcome to the community, @Amylia Lerato!

 

[Viktara Fen]

Following along for the tomato analogy, and also here to say hooray and welcome to you again!

Also, so excited for you as you head into Book 4. The Shadow Rising might be my very favorite in the whole series. So much good stuff!

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

Oh, a tomato analogy? This is interesting.

 

[Dilyena Aythaem]

I'm not Laurien, but the saying goes, "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit... but wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad!"

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

I would also say that the Whites are more about logic and abstract things, whilst the Brown is more about history and the past.

I would definitely be a Brown, in the books

 

[Maibella ni Rhoiden t'al'Varrak]

You'll definitely see more differences between the White and Brown Ajahs as the story progresses. Keep reading!

 

[Morrighan Daghdera]

The Shadow Rising might be my very favorite in the whole series. So much good stuff!

The Shadow Rising *is* my favorite book in the whole series.

Welcome & yes, hope you keep reading.

They both seem super interested in knowledge and knowledge seeking, and they also seem to both love research

This is absolutely true. Whites tend to apply logic based on their accumulated knowledge towards problem solving. Browns tend to accumulate knowledge for preservation of the records for posterity and future generations.

 

[Nadezhda al'Lanahrin]

My favorite book was Crossroads of Twilight, but I’m terribly outnumbered on that score lol

I also agree with Viktara. The Browns do a lot of research and gathering, even creating their own knowledge. While the Whites are more about application.

 

[Laurien Achaur]

Paging @Laurien Achaur for her Knowledge (Brown Ajah) vs. Wisdom (White Ajah logic) tomato analogy

And welcome to the community, @Amylia Lerato!

I'm not Laurien, but the saying goes, "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit... but wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad!"

So the tomato analogy actually deals with Intelligence vs. Wisdom, speaking in terms of D&D abilities. But yes, almost as Dilyena says, Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit, while Wisdom is knowing that you don't add tomato to a fruit salad.

So in trying to apply this to Brown vs. White, what does that look like? Both are clearly their own flavors of intelligent. I have seen intelligence defined as the ability to learn and actively and practically apply knowledge and skills, while wisdom involves knowledge gained through experience that becomes reflexive to put into motion; it's more passive. I have also seen it written that wisdom is the ability to tell the right and wrong way to do something, while intelligence is more concerned with how to do it no matter the means. And yet another way to look at it would be Intelligence = book smarts, wisdom = street smarts.

With these things in mind, which Ajah has more of one or the other? By any of the above definitions, it would seem White, with their more practical and methodical bent, relies more on the Intelligence stat, while Brown relies on Wisdom in pursuit of more than a specific set of knowledge. Yet that isn't quite right, is it? Change Intelligence to Knowledge, and both Ajahs rely on different varieties of the same thing.

Perhaps it might be more useful to look at the differences between the two this way, if my impressions of these awesome Aes Sedai are somewhat on the mark: Browns love all knowledge. It's fun to learn things, and who cares if they get to practically apply all they learn? It's there in their heads, and that's what matters! They have very little Wisdom, however, since they tend to hermit themselves away in libraries, away from the outside world. Verin is practically an anomaly.


Whites, on the other hand, might be more in love with knowledge that they intend to put to immediate use. It's also fun, but it has a more practical bent for them; something needs doing, so the logical thing to do is learn and get the thing done. There's an example I want to give, but I think it'll be a spoiler, so I'll refrain for the moment.

Can any Browns and Whites confirm or deny my little theory? 😁 It is just that - a theory, but it's influenced by the fact that I guested with y'all recently. And I am totally applying this to both book and site Ajahs.

 

[Amylia Lerato]

I love the tomato analogy! Thanks so much for everyone's input.

 

[Viktara Fen]

Do you have any favorite Brown Ajah or White Ajah characters so far? If so, and if you'd like to share, what do you like best about them?

 

[Toral Delvar]

Despite there having been White Amyrlins in the past (though why is a other question), Whites tend not to want to have anything to do with the world.
If we imagine after the breaking, she Aes Sedai were organizing again, there were probably many ideas of what they should focus on - some might have said preventing another breaking, some might have said being ready for the Last Battle, some just rediscovering lost knowledge and some might have said that interfering in the world just causes to many problems and they should devote themselves to logic and philosophy.
There might even have been groups who did t make it - maybe some thought they should seek out Darkfriends, or impose the peace.

 

[Satara al'Caelahn]

Not speaking as a site White, but just as someone who's read the books and has some insight, Toral's right in saying that the Whites were a bit more removed from the world at large. Browns keep knowledge of the world, but for Whites, it was more about making the absolute most logical choices possible. And most of them seemed completely emotionless because of it because emotions are far from logical or reasonable.

To use the train track theory: there's one person on a train track, and on an adjacent track, there's a whole group of people. If the train is allowed to follow it's natural progression, it will hit the group of people on the track. If you switch the tracks, it will avoid the group of people and hit the single person. A White wouldn't hesitate to take out the single person to preserve the group because that's what's logical, even if the morality of interfering means that you deliberately sent a train to kill a person.

I think a Brown would just stand aside and write down what happened. (I love Browns, I swear)

Now as a site White, I can say that a common theme for us is to use logic in order to rationalize our emotions, or sometimes beat them into submission. We're actually very emotional people which is why we had to learn how to use logic to keep ourselves in check and behave.

 

[Catt Heckathorne]

Sooo...I happen to have been both a Brown and a White.

Site wise they're really similar and I would argue that in the books they're also really similar. The main difference is that Brown is knowledge for the sake of knowledge and White is about knowledge for the sake of truth. At their very core, they're similar, but Browns view themselves as being stewards of all knowledge, whilst Whites tend to go for using that knowledge logically. I'd actually argue that Whites are more aligned with Blues, Grays, and Reds than the Browns in how they use the knowledge.

 

[Amylia Lerato]

Sooo...I happen to have been both a Brown and a White.

Site wise they're really similar and I would argue that in the books they're also really similar. The main difference is that Brown is knowledge for the sake of knowledge and White is about knowledge for the sake of truth. At their very core, they're similar, but Browns view themselves as being stewards of all knowledge, whilst Whites tend to go for using that knowledge logically. I'd actually argue that Whites are more aligned with Blues, Grays, and Reds than the Browns in how they use the knowledge.

That's super interesting, I hadn't actually thought much about other comparisons for Ajahs, but that actually makes a heap of sense