Cadsuane Melaidhrin

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Cadsuane Melaidhrin is a fictional character in The Wheel of Time series.

Cadsuane Melaidhrin is an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah who has approached legendary status among her Aes Sedai sisters while still alive; in fact, most believe her to be dead. Thought to have been born around 705 NE in Far Madding (which would make her the oldest living Aes Sedai) she was also the strongest in the One Power found for 1,000 years before the discovery of Egwene al'Vere, Nynaeve al'Meara, and Elayne Trakand. Although of the Green Ajah, over the years she has confronted and captured more men who could channel than any other living sister, including those of the Red Ajah; a little known oddity is that the men she brought to the White Tower tended to live much longer after being gentled than those brought by other sisters.

Cadsuane Melaidhrin makes her first appearance in A Crown of Swords (not counting the prequel New Spring, in which she made a surreptitious appearance), proving to two other sisters that she is not dead, and shocking them with her arrival. She also attempts to assert herself with Rand al'Thor, but fails to get through to him immediately.

Cadsuane later assists Rand in escaping from a "bubble of evil" outside of Cairhien and helps him get back to Cairhien. As of late, she has taken the place of Moiraine Sedai as one of Rand's primary advisors. Her ultimate motives are unclear, beyond a promise made with Sorilea - the strongest in personality of all the Wise Ones- to make him "remember laughter and tears".

Cadsuane owns a set of hair ornaments consisting of an angreal and various ter'angreal, in the form of decorative stars, moons and birds. The circumstances under which she acquired the set remains somewhat unclear. We know she was given them by a wilder, how this woman came into possession of them and why she passed them on to Cadsuane are unknown.