The Kin
Encyclopedia
The Kin is an organization
in the world of Robert Jordan
's Wheel of Time
fantasy series.
The Kin are a secret group of female channelers hiding from the White Tower. They offered a safe haven for others who had been put out of the Tower due to their failure to measure up to the Tower's standards. Their history dates back to the Trolloc Wars, more than two thousand years ago (circa 1000-1350 AB) when the first group of women upon fearing to return home in the midst of the wars, fled to Barashta (near present-day site of Ebou Dar), as far from the fighting as was possible to go at that time.
The members of the Kin, calling themselves Kinswomen, accept runaways, as well. They made great efforts to keep these girls from learning anything about the Kin until they were sure that Aes Sedai would not swoop down and retake them. After all, everyone knew that runaways were always caught sooner or later, and the Kin knew that unless they held themselves secret, they themselves would be punished severely. Unknown to the Kin, Aes Sedai in the Towers were aware of their existence almost from the very first, but prosecution of the wars left no time for dealing with them. By the end of the wars, the Tower realised that it might not be in their best interests to snuff out the Kin. Prior to that time, a majority of runaways actually had managed to escape, whatever the Tower's propaganda, but once the Kin began helping them, the Tower knew exactly where any runaway was heading, and they began retaking nine out of ten. Thus, the Kin became the Tower's unconventional trap for runaways, and the Tower decided to leave them alone and to keep the Kin's very existence a secret known only to full Aes Sedai.
The Kin do not have laws, but rather rules based in part on the rules of novices and Accepted in the White Tower, and in part on the necessity of maintaining secrecy. As might be expected given the origins of the Kin, they maintain their rules very firmly on all their members. Recent open contacts between Aes Sedai and Kinswomen, while known only to a handful of sisters, have produced a number of shocks, including the facts that there are twice as many Kinswomen as Aes Sedai and that some are more than a hundred years older than any Aes Sedai has lived since before the Trolloc Wars. In Crossroads of Twilight, it is suggested that the reason that the Kin are in some cases much older than any Aes Sedai is because they have not sworn on the Oath Rod which may cut an Aes Sedai life in half. The effect of these revelations, both on Aes Sedai and on Kinswomen, is currently in progress, with much controversy and argument caused in the Salidar Aes Sedai camp.
would envy.
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
in the world of Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. , under which he was best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Reagan O'Neal and Jackson O'Reilly.-Biography:Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina...
's Wheel of Time
Wheel of time
The Wheel of time or wheel of history is a concept found in several religious traditions and philosophies, notably religions of Indian origin such as Hinduism and Buddhism, which regard time as cyclical and consisting of repeating ages...
fantasy series.
The Kin are a secret group of female channelers hiding from the White Tower. They offered a safe haven for others who had been put out of the Tower due to their failure to measure up to the Tower's standards. Their history dates back to the Trolloc Wars, more than two thousand years ago (circa 1000-1350 AB) when the first group of women upon fearing to return home in the midst of the wars, fled to Barashta (near present-day site of Ebou Dar), as far from the fighting as was possible to go at that time.
The members of the Kin, calling themselves Kinswomen, accept runaways, as well. They made great efforts to keep these girls from learning anything about the Kin until they were sure that Aes Sedai would not swoop down and retake them. After all, everyone knew that runaways were always caught sooner or later, and the Kin knew that unless they held themselves secret, they themselves would be punished severely. Unknown to the Kin, Aes Sedai in the Towers were aware of their existence almost from the very first, but prosecution of the wars left no time for dealing with them. By the end of the wars, the Tower realised that it might not be in their best interests to snuff out the Kin. Prior to that time, a majority of runaways actually had managed to escape, whatever the Tower's propaganda, but once the Kin began helping them, the Tower knew exactly where any runaway was heading, and they began retaking nine out of ten. Thus, the Kin became the Tower's unconventional trap for runaways, and the Tower decided to leave them alone and to keep the Kin's very existence a secret known only to full Aes Sedai.
The Kin do not have laws, but rather rules based in part on the rules of novices and Accepted in the White Tower, and in part on the necessity of maintaining secrecy. As might be expected given the origins of the Kin, they maintain their rules very firmly on all their members. Recent open contacts between Aes Sedai and Kinswomen, while known only to a handful of sisters, have produced a number of shocks, including the facts that there are twice as many Kinswomen as Aes Sedai and that some are more than a hundred years older than any Aes Sedai has lived since before the Trolloc Wars. In Crossroads of Twilight, it is suggested that the reason that the Kin are in some cases much older than any Aes Sedai is because they have not sworn on the Oath Rod which may cut an Aes Sedai life in half. The effect of these revelations, both on Aes Sedai and on Kinswomen, is currently in progress, with much controversy and argument caused in the Salidar Aes Sedai camp.
The Knitting Circle
The Knitting Circle is the group which leads the Kin. Since no member of the Kin has ever known how Aes Sedai arrange their own hierarchy—knowledge passed on only when an Accepted has passed her test for the shawl—they put no store in strength in Power but give great weight to age, with the older woman always standing above the younger. The Knitting Circle (a title chosen, like the Kin, for its innocuity) thus consists of the thirteen oldest Kinswomen resident in Ebou Dar, with the oldest given the title of the Eldest. By the rules, all will have to step down when it is time for them to move on, but so long as they are resident in Ebou Dar, they have supreme authority over the Kin, to a degree that any AmyrlinAmyrlin Seat
The Amyrlin Seat is a fictional title from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.The Amyrlin Seat, or Amyrlin as it is often shortened to, is the leader of the Aes Sedai in Tar Valon. The term can also refer to the actual seat upon which the Amyrlin sits...
would envy.