Unusual abilities (Wheel of Time)

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In the world of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, most people who have a link to supernatural forces are connected to the One Power and are channelers. Over the course of the series, other individuals appear that have abilities that are seemingly unconnected to the One Power. The people with unusual abilities include Wolfbrothers, Dreamers, Sniffers, and those with the ability to see auras.

[edit] Wolfbrothers

With the nearing of Tarmon Gai'don, old talents are said to be returning to mankind. One of the cases of these is the Wolfbrothers, men who can communicate with wolves. Two examples of this are Perrin Aybara and Elyas Machera, both of whom have retained their senses of humanity. Other such individuals, however, are known to have become wolf in mentality. One known person to have become a wolf in his state of mind is a man named Noam. Perrin met him in the village of Jarra and let him out of the cage he was kept in. Wolfbrothers are signified by wolf-like golden eyes, in addition to wolf-like behavior when overcome by battlelust.

[edit] Dreamers

Separate from the ability to channel the One Power, the ability to visit Tel'aran'rhiod is the ability to travel to the world of dreams. This can be accomplished naturally, as Egwene al'Vere does, or with the use of ter'angreal.

[edit] Sniffers

In the Borderlands, a seemingly new ability has surfaced: people with the ability to "smell" past violent events in a location, the "scent" of which fades with time. The Sniffer Hurin, in the employment of Lord Agelmar, accompanies Rand, Mat, and Perrin from their departure from Fal Dara until the conclusion of events in Falme.

[edit] Seeing auras

Elmindreda Farshaw, better known as Min, has the unusual ability to see "auras" about a person that reflect future events. She has had this ability since birth and does not understand how it works, only that whatever she sees will come to pass one way or another. She does, however, reflect that the images she saw about Moiraine Damodred never came to pass before Moiraine's death. The images are not always around a person, and some people never have the images surrounding them. Min may very well be the only person who has ever been able to see them - there are no recorded examples of anyone else with her ability, though some Aes Sedai have the abilities of a Dreamer of the Foretelling, both of which are similar in that they take the form of prophecy. However, the few Aes Sedai who know of Min's abilitiy assert that it is not related to the One Power, and Min has never been known to channel.

The images Min sees are often vary and are open to interpretation; her visions of Siuan Sanche and Gareth Bryne are simple and warn that the two must always stay close together or else both will die (this eventually comes to pass during the Seanchan raid on the White Tower; Bryne kills an assassin hidden in the shadows before Siuan realises he has been poisoned without he knowledge). On the other hand, Min cryptically sees a falcon and a hawk around Perrin Aybara, which foreshadows the rivaly between Faile and Berelain for his affections, though Min cannot make sense of it. The cryptic nature of her viewings means Min has become unusually good at deciphering prophecies such as The Kareathon Cycle to the point where she can correctly interpret passages that have been ambiguous for centuries. However, she considers her ability to see auras to be more of a curse than a blessing.