NEED....

[bjclinton]

One thing that Egwene quickly learns as a dreamwalker is that if she focuses on what she thinks that she "Needs," she will be brought to that object in TAR. We see enough of this throughout the series to know how well this works.

 

We also know that as strong of a dreamwalker as she has become, the Wise Ones know a lot more than she does. Additionally, we know that Forsaken such as Ishy, Lanfear and Moghedian know a TON more than anyone alive right now. Even the weakest of the Forsaken seem to know their way enough around TAR to know what they're doing.

 

All of that being said, here is my question that i'd like to pose for discussion:

 

With all of the power-hungry forsaken walking the world again, looking to get their filthy hands on any weapon of the OP (Terangreal, Angreal, and Sa'Angreal), why are they not able to locate some of the most valuable items in TAR, they wake, and go get it? (via traveling, skimming, etc).

 

Discuss!!

[RobertAlexWillis]

Additionally, we know that Forsaken such as Ishy, Lanfear and Moghedian know a TON more than anyone alive right now.

 

Actually, what has been shown a number of times is that modern people have discovered a number of things that the Forsaken did not know.  The Wise One Dreamwalkers have shown themselves to be very, very adept at what they do ... and they said that they discovered the "searching with need" method in part because Wise Ones had to locate water in the Waste.  The Forsaken never had that problem.

 

Second, using the *-angreal stash in Ebou Dar as an example, even after locating something in Tel'aran'rhiod, and getting close to the place where you found it, its not always easy to put your hands on it.  Nynaeve and Elayne were able to Travel close to Ebou Dar ... but they still needed time and help to actually get the stash.  Perhaps Sammael did locate that stash with "need", or some other T'A'R search method, but had the same type of problems.

 

So, to summarize ...

 

The Forsaken may not know about searching with "need" ... and even if they do, actually getting what they've found can still present difficulties.

[Papermache]

To add to what Robert said.

 

You may remember that some of the forsaken, or atleast Lanfear, knew what the Choedan Kal looked like. Even if they were aware of this 'need' ability, Rhuidean (as far as I remember) is unable to be seen in Tel'aran'rhiod (I think it looks like fog). Therefore, making the most powerful Sa'angreal in the world invisible.

 

That solves the problems of the Choedan Kal remaining hidden till Rand got them. Now that he has wards, and invisibility weaves on them, I believe they would also be invisible in Tel'aran'rhiod.