Cadsuane, Sorilea, and traveling

[Biagio]

Hello all,

 

I've never really paid too much attention to some of the hidden information in the books but I've been reading through here a bit as I'm going through the books again and something kind of caught my attention. I tried searching to see if it was mentioned anywhere else, but I didn't notice it.

 

In Path of Daggers, New Alliances, how did Sorilea figure out traveling to pass on to Cadsuane? The sisters sent to meet Rand from the rebel camp had left before Egwene figured it out and the only other non Forsaken/male that I can remember that knew it was Alvarian. I don't recall it being mentioned in a dreamwalker meeting, though I guess it is possible and one of those things that is just taken for granted. It just seems like if the Wise Ones and the Aes Sedai that swore oath knew about traveling already, they would have kept a better eye on Rand using Alanna's bond.

 

I'm just curious as to how she found this out as there wasn't any mention of it being passed along that I saw. My first guess was maybe a black ajah in the captured group, but there's always the sucker punch dark friend for an out of the blue twist. Feel free to dissect my limited knowledge if I missed something from earlier books  ;D

[Guest dragonsworn1991]

Egwene taught it to them in TR. She says but I am not for certain that that she felt she needed to tell them the secret to meet her toh.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Yes, its referred to in the prologue of Winter's Heart.  Amys tells Elayne that Egwene taught the Wise Ones Traveling to repay them for their lessons about Tel'aran'rhiod.

[Biagio]

ah, well there goes that bit of thought. Should have waited a few days and I would have found it out once I started WH again.

[Caedn of the Taardad]

Don't worry, I had the exact same thought back at, oh, my third read through or so...

[Gentled Ben]

To wander off on a tangent...

 

Does anyone know why  Sorilea can show Cadsuane the weave for traveling even though she is to weak to make it work, yet Asmodean could not do the same with Rand? What differences between the male and female halves of the power might account for that? I can't imagine that Asmodean actually withheld cool weaves like that. I believe he was evil to the end, but I also believe he was fully in Rand's corner and would have shown him how to do things that he no longer had the strength for, had that been an option.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Asmodean could not do the same with Rand?

 

Asmodean was a bad teacher.  He probably could have done what Sorilea did, but showing Rand a miniature version just to demonstrate the weaves never occurred to him.  He probably never thought of a gateway as something that you could make a quarter of an inch long, because he never used it that way.

 

I know that a lot of people think that just because you know something, you can teach it, but that is far, far from the truth.  Asmodean was a really bad teacher.  Rand just didn't have any other options.

[Durinax]

asmodean might not have been able to hold enough power for that. When Lanfear put a block on him, it must have been stong enough that he could not use the power to run away. So it is possible that there was no way for asmodean to show rand quite a few weaves

[Luckers]

The issue, Durinax, is that Asmoedean even bound was stronger that Sorilea.

 

An alternative explanation to Robert's is that this is one of those differences between men and women. Women may be able to form the weave for Travelling even without the strength to make it work, whilst men may not.

 

And a third, Asmodean may have been intentionally holding things back to ensure Rand continued to think him useful. Travelling would be the perfect one--something Rand knows and desires, which takes strength to achieve.

[Eleint]

I think it likely a combination of differences and him holding back.

 

A woman makes her location similar to another.  That's something you can do partially I think.  A man bores a hole through the pattern.  I bet boring even a small hole takes a lot of power.

 

I bet Asmo was also holding back things, though.

[Kaznen]

Asmodean could not do the same with Rand?

 

Asmodean was a bad teacher.  He probably could have done what Sorilea did, but showing Rand a miniature version just to demonstrate the weaves never occurred to him.  He probably never thought of a gateway as something that you could make a quarter of an inch long, because he never used it that way.

 

I know that a lot of people think that just because you know something, you can teach it, but that is far, far from the truth.  Asmodean was a really bad teacher.  Rand just didn't have any other options.

Adding to that is how the Forsaken view the OP vs. how the modern channlers do.

 

The AoL channlers viewed the OP as a science, once you understood the principles of what you were trying to achieve figuring out the weave would be simple, like how Egwene rediscovered traveling.

 

But the modern channlers are just concerned with results, "Add fire, air, water like so...Lighting Bolt."  They don't care why they get the bolt, just that they do.

 

The forsaken and LTT think that is a stupid way to learn how to channel.  As Rahvin said, "Half of what they do is self-taught tricks and the other half barely scratches the surface."