The Bleakness
At Alcair Dal, Rand also revealed the secret he learned in the Rhuidean test, the secret that drove two out of three Aiel to insanity: that the Aiel had once been the Da'shain Aiel, and served the Aes Sedai, and followed the Way of the Leaf. To a culture that lives and dies by its oaths and fighting prowess, the news that they were all descendants of pacifist oathbreakers was devastating, and many Aiel have since succumbed to the resulting "bleakness." Some take on permanent gai'shain white, in the hope of paying off a debt that can never be repaid. More forsake spear and cadin'sor and attempt to live the Way of the Leaf in the wetlander cities—or among the Tinkers—as their ancestors would have. Others simply disappear while some of them run to join the Shaido, in denial of the truth, hoping for a return to an earlier, simpler time.
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