The Taint on Saidin
The Dark One's corruption of the male half of the One Power.
When Lews Therin Telamon and his companions imprisoned the Forsaken with their master at the end of the Age of Legends, the Dark One tainted saidin, the male half of the One Power, at the moment of victory. Men who channel go mad from it; the madness of Lews Therin and the other male Aes Sedai caused the Breaking of the World, and ever since the Red Ajah have hunted male channelers and gentled them.
Lore & Background
The taint drives Rand al'Thor's struggle with his sanity in The Gathering Storm. At the Eye of the World Rand touches a well of pure, untainted saidin, and in Winter's Heart he and Nynaeve al'Meara cleanse saidin with the Choedan Kal at Shadar Logoth.
More in History & Mythos
Elsewhere in The Wheel of Time
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