#definitely a shield

[dorrinverrakai1]

All gifs made by the lovely @mulderitsme​

I think most of us have come to the conclusion that Moiraine has been shielded and not stilled but I haven’t seen any posts directly comparing these shots. Here we have Logain being shielded by the Aes Sedai.

Here we have what the Dark One does to Moiraine. As you can see the same shield that is placed over Logain is also placed over Moiraine. This is not stilling this is shielding.

We also see a weave push INTO Moiraine but nothing actually comes OUT OF Moiraine. The weaves for severing are the same for men and women so since we see nothing ripped from Moiraine then she is not stilled. She is shielded.

Moiraine seems to possibly be in pain but considering the Dark One is the one shielding her I imagine it’s not out of the realm of possibility he also made the experience as unpleasant as possible.

Here we see additional evidence that the weave placed over Moiraine and pushed into her is a Shield.  The Dark One ties a knot and by doing so “ties off” the weave that was just placed on Moiraine so that he does not have have to actively maintain it. There would be no reason to tie off a weave if Moiraine was stilled since once she’s severed there’s no need to maintain the weave to block her from the source. Just like there was no reason to maintain a weave on Logain once he was gentled.

Additionally when Lan finds Moiraine and asks her to let him back in this is evidence that Lan has not felt the bond between then snap.  Moiraine doesn’t tell him she can’t because she’s stilled she just says that she can’t because she can’t touch the source. If you’re shielded then you can’t touch the source but regardless of whether the bond is masked or not they would both feel it snap and suffer the same effects that Stepin did in episode 4 after Kerene’s death.

Part of Moiraine’s journey in season 2 will definitely focus on Lan and Moiraine still being bonded yet still being masked as well as Moiraine’s journey to figure out how to get out of a shield that she knows is there but that she can’t see since men and women are unable to see each others weaves. Her loss of the One Power is not permanent unless she can’t figure out how to get free or get the help of another channeler who can unravel it from the outside or find the buttplug of the shield as my sulpadnen sisters so eloquently put it and... break through at the weak point.

Book Reader Section

Book Readers will know that there is another way to shield a channeler that the “Dark One” would be able to do that is much more complex than the shield the Aes Sedai used on Logain that they had to actively maintain.

This is most likely the same as the shield used in two instances by the Forsaken to punish disobedient darkfriend channelers. It takes the “Dark One” a bit longer than his other channeling to accomplish this convoluted weave which he places over Moiraine and then pushes into her and then ties it off.