Wot comic

[Kaitlin 22]

I pictured Rand as a dork, so the pic did not disappoint. Whenever I think of young him I think of the way he fell all over Egwene, Nyn, and Moiraine when he tried to dance with them... and the look of pity from Mo. Oh, and having tantrums in the mountains.

[Tosh 8]

But they'd need new DNA to get different looks, Tosh Where from? They hate wetlanders, they only tolerate tinkers and sharans don't seem to like intermixing with others. They're bound to be extremely inbred, which, when I think about it, suddenly explains Rand's looks.

Yes, because changes in pigmentation can only be brought into a genepool by breeding with an outside source. In fact thats why we have predominantly light skin the north, our many times removed great grandmothers were really into polarbears.

 

The inbreeding part does make sense though. Maybe thats how they keep their fair skin, they're all mutated straight to hell.

[Brynefan 2]

Thousands of years is still not enough time to trigger evolution in case SOME are actually born with more pigmentation. I think society has put an end to survival of the fittest in terms of survival in nature. They have clothes and they probably have their ozone layer back by now

[Tosh 8]

Maybe, but isn't pigmentation pretty much the thing that changes quickest? There might not be a huge change but such a drastic change in climate for such a long time must have some effect right? It might not have time to go as far as to change nose shape etc. But some visible changes must be inevitable.

 

Then again I'm no expert.

They have clothes and they probably have their ozone layer back by now

I wonder what would happen if someone hit the ozone layer with balefire.

[Kaitlin 22]

As far as I remember the Aiel do not seem to have traditionally Irish skin, which is pale and remains pale even after the effects of severe sunburning wear/peel away. Aren't their faces and hands somewhat darker than the rest of them? I haven't gotten to those parts in 4 yet.

 

Cairhienin seem to have that kind of pale skin, actually. Moiraine seems most affected by the heat/sun and also is not described as tan the way that Egwene is later on.

 

Sometimes I catch myself thinking of the different groups of Randland as being primarily the same as different groups would be here, but who's to say that's true? There was a wider genetic pool before the Aiel ended up in the Waste. Maybe the current Aiel are all that's left of a group of reddish haired people that also had the genes to tan. The ones that didn't have those genes sort of dwindled away and died from sun poisoning/skin cancer thousands of years before. They sort of remind you of the irish/english/northern european in some ways, but that doesn't mean they have the same genetic mutations.

 

Yes, long winded rambling above^

[Marie 73]

It takes 20k years to turn a population of white people black (and vice versa) so it is possible that after X amount of years they just learned to tan. Although what I consider "tan" and what pale folks consider tan aren't the same thing, because in my mind, the Aiel are still pretty damn pale.

[Brynefan 2]

There are blonde Aiel too and some blondes tan a lot.

[Marie 73]

Let me rephrase:

 

If you cannot pass for Negro, you are not that tan in my eyes. And by Negro I mean Rihanna coloring, not so black they're blue, coloring.

[Kaitlin 22]

*nods* That's true... it doesn't make sense to call people who aren't naturally tan that when there are lots who are. Some pale skin doesn't get as damaged as other pale when the sun burns it, and that's what I was meaning, but it sounds weird. I don't know if RJ meant for the Aiel to mostly have that kind of pale skin or if they have had long enough for their genes to change. I guess if they haven't had long enough their genes have already been in the process of it. So, at the end I have no idea. But I think that RJ did mean for things to be diverse in the AoL, and then when they couldn't travel as much people (Andor!) became more inbred again. More inbred because actually... humanity as a whole is not diverse compared to a lot of other animals. Which makes Elayne more icky.

[Marie 73]

There is less genetic diversity in humanity than in a clan (I don't know the actually word, sue me) of chimps. Just saying.

[Brynefan 2]

Ah. I thought of tan as a verb rather than a constant adjective Because it's quite clear the Aiel are pale beneath their clothes. There have been many scenes mentioning it.

 

I was rather thinking the blondes have mixed with the red to a point where everyone can tan. But they havent become tan.

[Marie 73]

I think this might be a culture thing, actually, in the way I talk about tan(ing). That, and I actually didn't read the whole conversation before jumping in...I just think people underestimate how adaptable humans are (and how quickly) and make people with moontans a lot more "unique" and special than they are.

 

And red hair doesn't mean anything to me: Malcolm X had red hair and he was, you know, colored.

 

I guess my point is even if the Aiel were all as Irish as Katie, they could, and obviously did, evolve to their environment. Because that's what animals do.

[Tosh 8]

I just think people underestimate how adaptable humans are

I guess my point is even if the Aiel were all as Irish as Katie, they could, and obviously did, evolve to their environment. Because that's what animals do.

My point exactly... Somewhat. Change in musculature as well as the shape and size of the nostrils(though I suppose that should take quite a while) among other things should be evident, yet I can't remember if it is in the descriptions of the Aiel, and it certainly isn't in comic!Rand, though some of that can be overlooked seeing as he was raised in a different climate.

 

People don't just stay the same in the face of such radical changes, and its wholly a case of rather unlikeable fantasy fluff if the Aiel are. But as I said, I can't really recall how the Aiel are described in the books.

 

In fact, I've always seen them as looking like stereotypical desert-dwellers and it wasn't until somebody pointed it out here on the forum that it registered how they're actually supposed to look.

 

I really don't know how that happened.

 

EDIT:

moontans

Heh.. Moontan.

[Brynefan 2]

I think it's the way Swedish schoolbooks translate tan to sunburn that haunts me still

 

Some new thoughts from my side.

 

I'm very pale (paler than my friend's vitiligo spots). The body parts that were exposed to the sun when I was a child tan easily and without problems. The rest of my body just goes red and never gets any pigmentation. Is this common? In that case even the second generation of Aiel would do better in the new climate than their parents.

 

Aiel run a lot, so I suppose long legs and wide nostrils are favoured. If actual breeding for a cause (ultimate warrior?) is taking place the change could happen quickly.

[Vertex 23]

If we consider the Aiel people wild, then there are great similarities to feral pigs. Some feral pigs, like the Aiel, keep being a bit pinkish too. And they also cause millions of USD in property damage each year. Some of it is bound to be tree related. Most is probably about shrubberies and crops in general though. But in fantasy, people think big and trees are awfully popular.

 

*pets Brynefan* I think it is probably unwise to expose more skin than you did when little. Actually, just exposing the same amount could get you fined. *nods* Or photoed and posted all over the net. That would be kinda fancy though.

 

Also, I do imagine the body is clever. If you got loads of D vitamin, maybe your skin will go darker. In a desert you would get all you need of it easily from the moment you are born, so your skin probably wouldn't bother be very pale. They had a huge article about it in DN, a while back, about D vitamin. They said we lack loads of it by the end of the winter, and our skin probably gets lots pale just because of that.