The male half of the One Power, drawn from the True Source. Channelling saidin is described as a struggle against a raging torrent that must be seized and controlled by force. After the Dark One's counterstrike at the end of the Age of Legends, saidin was tainted, causing inevitable madness and a wasting death in any man who channelled it. This taint persisted for over three thousand years until Rand al'Thor cleansed it using the Choedan Kal.