Ji'e'toh is the system of honor and obligation that the Aiel follow. Ji'e'toh determines all interactions in Aiel life; fighting, housing, even intimate relationships and marriage. The term is from the Old Tongue and means, literally, honor and obligation. The Aiel developed it in response to the harsh conditions of the Threefold Land, needing a strict system of discipline and method to promote personal integrity in order to survive in the inhospitable terrain.
Ji is honor, and toh is obligation, though in practice shame is also an important part of the Ji'e'toh system, as both failing to meet one's toh to others and dishonoring others brings shame.
Toh can be acquired in a variety of ways, but most toh is the result of failing to respect others, bringing shame to others, shirking duties, and neglecting traditional forms of etiquette. When one person has offended another, it is said that the offender "has toh toward" the one offended, and to reduce the dishonor, one must "meet" his or her toh. Although toh is met when the one who requires it says 'this person has no toh to me,' the one who incurs the toh, implicitly sets the amount required. As a matter of maintaining ji, the amount of toh set by the offender must be commensurate to the offense. In some cases the shame extends to an entire group, and the offender has toh to each of the group's members.
Meeting one's toh is possible through a variety of means, including service to the one owed, as well as public display of corporal punishment or hardship. It is not unusual for the person with toh to request that the offended person beat them in public to meet it. It is not the actual punishment itself, but the willingness to bear both it and the shame of its public nature that helps the offender meet his or her toh. It is also permissible to meet toh with money or material goods, but this is method is considered to be the least efficacious at reducing toh and of creating ji.
The greatest ji comes from touching an enemy in battle without killing him. This incurs a great deal of toh, and the person who is touched usually becomes gai'shain, which in the Old Tongue means "pledged to peace in battle." A gai'shain serves his or her captor for a year and a day, touching no weapon, doing no battle, and wearing only white. A Wise One, blacksmith, woman with a child, or a child under the age of ten may not be made gai'shain.
The least amount of ji comes from killing an enemy, as the Aiel believe that killing is easier than leaving an enemy alive.
When the Shaido Aiel invaded the wetlands, they took wetlanders as gai'shain, violating ji'e'toh and adding to their shame. Due to this violation, it may be construed that they are reconstructing their culture according to what works best for them, now that they know the truth of their history.
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