The Lost Art of Traveling

[HighWiredSith]

I really don't mean to pick on this series because I really have enjoyed the bulk of it - but one of the things that has annoyed me from the start is this need to move characters and/or groups of characters over long distances very quickly in a preindustrial society. First you had The Ways, which imho were the most original of Jordan's move-em quick ideas. The ways were risky, they were limited, and they weren't just an easy solution. Then you had Rand using the power along with a large Te'angreal to transport himself and his group to the waste. You also have this odd use of TelAranRhiod to ferry people around and now, finally, near the later portion of the series we have the ever convenient rediscovered art of gateway making.

 

So you have Rand hopping easily around the entire world via gateways, a skill he has shared with Egewene and Elaine who both use them to their advantage - and yet they don't. Take Egewene and the seige of Tar Valon - one of her problems lies in the fact that she can't store enough food and supplies for her army while they wait (and wait and wait and wait) to take the White Tower. And yet with a gateway, you have to wonder, why store anything. Why not just pop into some distant market, buy or take what you need, pop back? Why sit and lament of people and places far away and out of reach when, essentially, nothing is out of reach? It's like having transporters off of Star Trek but not truly using them to your advantage. I know there are dangers is creating gateways inside building or cities, but seriously, I'm thinking one small gateway opens in Elaida's quarters at night, a couple of Aes Sedai are there to shield her, a couple of warders to tie her up, and BAM, siege over.

[fikkie77]

A correction: Rand never taught Egwene or Elayne Travelling. He couldn't even do it if he had wanted it, because Saidin and Saidar are so different. Rand learned it by himself (probably from his AoL memories). Egwene taught it herself too. First she found out how to enter TAR in the flesh, after which she figured out the rest. She taught it to everyone in Salidar (including Elayne).

 

And why do you think they haven't Travelled for food? The size of the army combined with the harsh winter were the problem. We know they used Travelling. We know they collected taxes through Travelling, so we can assume that they used it for food as well.

 

And kidnapping Elaida that way is extremely dangerous: she would have her room warded at all times and the chance of cutting through her by accident is too large. Beside that, such an action would tear the Aes Sedai further in pieces... no Aes Sedai (BA excluded) would desire that.

[capuga]

First a quick point - Rand did not share Traveling with Elayne and Egwene. The weaves for men and women are different and they wouldn't be able to see what he was trying to show them anyways. Egwene figures out the female weave for Traveling herself.

 

As to the rest - Traveling is really just a matter of plot necessacity. If you are going to tell a story that occurs across a large continent and involves many different cultures, you are going to have to come up with some kind of way to move around quickly. Otherwise your story will be nothing but people on horseback for months at a time. So Jordan's resolution is Traveling which makes as much sense as possible given the metaphysics of the world as they are described to us. If you accept a world with the One Power and magical abilities, its not much of a leap of faith to believe that Traveling would be possible using this Power.

 

And Egwene does use Traveling to supply her army during the seige. That is why they think they can wait out the Tower Aes Sedai as long as they can find a way to block the Tower's source of food (boats coming down the river). The problem is that it takes an awful lot of supplies to feed an army (especially a stationary one that can't supplement its stores by hunting the surrounding area) and the world is already suffering food shortages and spoilage. So there is only so much they can buy even with Traveling. As to why they don't use Traveling to attack the Tower or capture Elaida? Not really sure. The in-text explanations involve not wanting to mess up and give away their biggest advantage (Traveling) and not wanting any blood shed if possible. Not sure that I agree that a Traveling raid wouldn't have been worth the risks.

 

Edit: Fikkie covers most of this and apparently types faster than me.

[fikkie77]

While suffering the Flu...

[Soraz]

They should just set up permanent tied-off gateways between all major and minor cities. Then commerce would explode, and prices plummet, as there is no need to pay a merchant a fortune to move stuff around. Everyone could just go to tear and pick up silk, and other exotics.

 

 

Gateways were balanced when it was required you spent alot of time getting to know the area you were in before you could open a new one, but Rand haxxored that when he found the loophole about jumping a short distance first, then going for the long haul.

[Sid]

Hm, it just occurred to me that you may not have read TGS yet. So I'll hide my comment in case.

 

 

If memory serves, I think Gawyn is confused about a lack of ample supply lines to support an army that size back in TGS. (because they use traveling to secure supplies)

 

[Agitel]

I'm pretty sure you can't tie of Gateways for whatever reason. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I've ever seen it done, except, perhaps, when Rand forced Aviendha's gateway to stay open, but even that was temporary, and it was really something to hold the weave, not a tied off weave.

[Luckers]

No you can tie off gateways. Sammael does so with all the gateways that took the Shaido to the four ends of the earth (except the one that took the Jumai). Rand also does so with his Deathgates.

[LisaMetzelBonnet]

Yeah - it is a good plot device, but also I think it shows how important this group of "saviors" is. At the beginning and throughout the books the Aes Sedai say that Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne will be the most powerful Aes Sedai in generations. Well, so what? If they can do the same stuff that everyone else can do then who cares? No, they figure out new things - things that have been lost because the ability to channel has slowly been culled out of the human race. So as we're coming to the end of the story they are continually discovering things that will aid them in their bid to take out the Dark One forever.

[Canis Rufus]

No you can tie off gateways. Sammael does so with all the gateways that took the Shaido to the four ends of the earth (except the one that took the Jumai). Rand also does so with his Deathgates.

 

 

 

I agree with the Rand event but I thought Sammael used something (and bear with me as I do not have the book in front of me) Stais box. I thought they took the (and for lack of a better word) object back to the camp and had one of the wise one's that could touch the OP do the weave and the Gate ways opened. But then I am pulling from memory of a book I ahve not read in a long time.

 

[Agitel]

No you can tie off gateways. Sammael does so with all the gateways that took the Shaido to the four ends of the earth (except the one that took the Jumai). Rand also does so with his Deathgates.

 

 

 

I agree with the Rand event but I thought Sammael used something (and bear with me as I do not have the book in front of me) Stais box. I thought they took the (and for lack of a better word) object back to the camp and had one of the wise one's that could touch the OP do the weave and the Gate ways opened. But then I am pulling from memory of a book I ahve not read in a long time.

 

 

Those boxes were fake in order to trick the Shaido. I'll have to reread to see if Sammael tied off those gateways. I'll take Luckers word for it for the moment, though.

[A2597]

Yea, Samumael flat out lied. He claimed they were traveling boxes from the age of legends, but they were pieces of scrap, and he made the gateways himself.

[moratcorlm]

Correct.

Frowning, Graendal watched the gateway close behind the last of the Jumai Shaido. The Jumai and a great many Wise Ones. Unlike with the others, Sammael had not simply knotted this web so it would fall apart eventually. At least, she assumed he held it to the last; the closing, right on the heels of the last brown-and-gray-clad men, was too fortuitous otherwise. Laughing, Sammael tossed away the bag, still holding a few of those useless bits of stone. Her own empty sack was long since discarded. The sun sat low behind the mountains to the west, half of a glowing red ball.

 

“One of these days,” she said dryly, “you will be too smart for your own good. A fool box, Sammael? Suppose one of them had understood?”

“None did,” he said simply

Not only did the boxes do nothing, he openly mocked the Aiel for believing they did.

[Canis Rufus]

I had read/remembered that differently. Completely missing the “knotted this web so it would fall apart eventually,” as a weave but rather as a reference to his plan as Graendal should not be able to see the weave. But I see your point.