Skimming

[elmis]

In aCoS (A morning of victory)Egwene is Skimming Lan to Ebou Dar and we get some information about Skimming from her thoughts. She says that there is almost no way to "bump" into someone else that would be Skimming to the same location - the only exception would be if they used the exact same weave, in the exact same place only moments apart.

 

That got me thinking on how Rand found Asmodean when he Skimmed from Alcair Dal to Rhuidean in TSR? They most certainly didn't weave their gateways at the same spot, probably not at the "same" time either.

 

A slip up from Jordan, or does Skimming work differently for women and men? 

 

 

[Jenkins]

It possibly could be a slip. Though it sounds like Egwene is saying it's near impossible to accidentally run into someone. Rand was actively seeking out Asmodean. Perhaps that is the difference?

[Tyrell]

Perhaps some T'averen twisting of chance?

[dmanmiller34]

Well based on the facts that we have it would appear that Egwene is wrong about skimming. I mean She barely knows how to travel. Just beacuse they can do something doesn't mean that they understand all of the rules that go along with it. These weaves have only been recently rediscovered (1 year maybe)and no one knows any OF the basic pricipals of it except possibly the forsaken. And when rand start chasing Aso they started on stairs and it gradually turned into skimming on a single moving board.

[Bettwo]

If I remember correctly - didn't Rand weave something to keep the gateway open and jump in?

[Guest silver89]

If I remember correctly - didn't Rand weave something to keep the gateway open and jump in?

 

No, Rand only did that at the "exit" gateway. Its also when he realised how dangereous a closing gateway can be, the heel of his boot is sheared away and he knows he is lucky it wasn't his leg.

[Luckers]

There is something strange in the way Rand opens the skimming gateway. It's almost a reaction to Ishamael (from the incident in tDR) rather than a knowledge of the place he wanted to skim to. He was weaving a gateway to find an individual, not to find a place. I would suggest therefore that perhaps his gateway was not the same weave as normal skimming.

[Trib4l]

I disagree. He's headed to Rhuidean, not for Asmodean. He happens to find Asmodean on the way as a ta'veren twist of luck. Lanfear asks as he opens the gateway, "What is in Rhuidean", to which he grimly replies "Asmodean." From tSR, right at the end of Chapter 57.

[Luckers]

I disagree with your disagreement. He specifically states the rememberence of his following of Ishamael in Tear with his weaving of that specific gateway. For all his knowledge of the endpoint, there is a different influence to the methodology of the weave.

[cloglord]

Luckers,  I disagree with your disagreement of Trib4l's disagreememnt.  I see your point, but the fact of the matter is that we don't really have a clear indication that a person can be the focus point for any form of traveling, in we have quite a bit of negative evidence that is contrary.

 

Unless Rand has discovered some heretofor undiscovered method of traveling to a person, it doesn't make sense.  There have been numerous points throughout the series that the forsaken were looking for the Taveren, the wondergirls, etc, that should such a method of skimming have been known, they would have been found very easiliy simply by skimming to them.

 

Personally, I think that RJ amde up the rules to skimming and traveling as he went along, and has been continuously tweaking them to fit what he needed to happen.  So the answer, IMO, to the orginal question is that Rand could follow Asmodean because it made for better storytelling, but that in the chapter cited when Egwene takes Lan to Ebou Dar, RJ was signalling us that it wasn't the normal way things worked.

[Trib4l]

Luckers,

 

Can you quote that for me? I just reread that whole section and do not recall seeing Ishamael or the Stone mentioned at all. He mentions seeing the black wires before, and recalls creating the skimming weave once, but as I said, there's no mention that I've found of either the Stone or Ishamael.

 

Again, he's thinking about Rhuidean and how far away it is, and then BAM remembers the weave to skim. He's going to Rhuidean because he thinks that's where Asmodean is headed - he's clearly not thinking about Asmodean again until he's running on the gray steps. Perhaps that thought is what leads him to Asmo while he's running, but I think it more likely because they're both heading for the outskirts of the city at roughly the same location.

[Davian93]

Egwene also got all of her information on Skimming from Moghedien, hardly a reliable source.  I think we can use Rand's actual experience over Egwene's meandering thoughts.  Egwene often thinks she knows far more than she actually does.  This when combined with Moggy as a source of her knowledge more than discredits her thoughts on the matter.

[Kura]

Well Luckers, not sure if this helps our denies your theory, but both times he skimmed/gated to Ishy he was going to T'A'R, at least I'm pretty sure. (I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm wrong.) Once in T'A'R, he could use need to find Ishy, and sorta, for lack of a better word 'poof' there.

 

As for the chasing Asmo thing, Trib4l, you brought up that Rand was searching for Asmo when he started to skim, and he knew where he was going. I think the combination of the two, plus the fact that Asmo was still in transit, led to the two meeting.

 

Also, dmanmiller34, I believe they started as stairs, because Rand didn't know better. As Egwene thought, and demonstrated, the skimming platform can be just about anything you want, and Rand, being ignorant, thought he had to run through the place. If I remember right, it changed to a platform when he saw Asmo using a platform that moved by itself.

[Lemagrag]

Something to consider:

 

Is it possible that because of the different ways that men and women weave gateways that it may be more likely for a male to run into another male skimming due to the rules of the in-between space?