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2.3.13: Is Cadsuane's hair thingy a Ter'angreal?

Cadsuane Melaidhrin sports a hair-ornament the likes of which we've not seen anywhere else in Randland:

"An iron-gray bun decorated with small dangling golden fish and birds, stars and moons." [TPOD: 27, The Bargain, 536]

This thing is mentioned in just about every scene in which Cadsuane appears. While it may just be an unusual fashion accessory, it is quite possible that it is a ter'angreal or angreal. What makes us think that?

Throughout TPOD, our attention is drawn to the fact that many OP-related objects are fashioned in the form of jewelry. Of the three angreal Elayne finds in the Ebou Dar stash, one is a pin [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 74] and another is a strange rings-and-bracelet arrangement [TPOD: 4, A Quiet Place, 111]. Among the ter'angreal Elayne identifies, there are: "a necklace and bracelets set with colored stones, a slim gem-studded belt, several finger rings....they all matched, meant to be worn together...", and a variety of "finger rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and buckles " [TPOD: 4, A Quiet Place, 110-111]. Graendal has an angreal in the form of a ring [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 262].

When Cadsuane and Alanna have their little tiff in [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 275], Alanna embraces the True Source. Cadsuane's reaction is: "'If you wish to be truly foolish.' Cadsuane smiled, a cold smile. She made no move to embrace the Source herself. One of her dangling hair ornaments, intertwined golden crescents, was cool on her temple." (emphasis mine) This is an odd time to draw the reader's attention to the temperature of a mere piece of jewelry. Compare the description to how Mat's Power-blocking medallion reacts when somebody channels at Mat (hint: it gets cold).

This all leads us to speculate that the hair thingy is some sort of ter'angreal which activates when channelling is going on nearby. It may be a Power-blocker, like Mat's medallion, but note that in the scene described above, Alanna doesn't actually channel at Cadsuane. Mat's medallion only activates when flows touch him. An alternative is that the hair-thingy is some sort of Power-detector. This would not be very useful in dealing with female channellers, since she can detect them perfectly well by herself. However, it would be very useful in dealing with male channellers, which Cadsuane has done rather a lot, with great success. Here is a scene from [ACOS: 18, As the Plow Breaks the Earth, 330] which possibly provides supporting evidence:

[Cadsuane asked]: "Is that a tea tray? I would like some, if it's fresh, and hot." Channelling, Rand scooped up the tray... and wafted it to the three women. Merana had brought extra cups, and four still stood unused on the tray. He filled three.... Cadsuane... took her cup and sniffed the vapors with a pleased smile. Nothing could tell her which of the three men (Rand, Dashiva, or Narishma) had poured the tea, yet she looked across her cup straight at Rand.... "That's a good boy," she said.

There's at least a hint that Cadsuane could maybe tell which man was doing the channelling.

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