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The Original Twisted Ring


a5m

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Nynaeve and Elayne took the original twisted ring to Ebou Dar and clearly use it LoC and WH. In CoT, Aviendha uses it to meet with Egwene when Elayne can't get the ring to work due to her pregnancy. By KoD, Elayne ends up giving the twisted ring and the amber turtle brooch to Aviendha to take with her when she leaves.

 

In GS, Siuan thinks the hall has control of the original twisted ring because she is having to make due with the copy that Leane got from the hall before she was captured. In ToM, Egwene and Siuan think that Mesaana got the original twisted ring when Sheriam stole all the dream weavers for Mesaana and that Elayne would be mad not to have the original to work with anymore.

 

Based on what RJ has written, Aviendha currently holds the original twisted ring. Based on what BS has written, Mesaana was the last known person with the original twisted ring.

 

Where is the original? How can two people have the same ring?

 

As a bonus, can someone explain to me why Elayne couldn't get the twisted ring to work in ToM? (Especially since it can work on a person that can't channel!)

 

I'm hoping in aMoL that Brandon will realize that Aviendha has the original twisted ring and work that into the remaining story. In the mean time, I'm hoping others might tell him to check this and maybe explain where the ring really is.

 

Thanks.

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i've always wondered what this ring is supposed to look like. isn't described kind of like it only has one side or one edge, or you can't follow it because it's so twisted? i could never really picture this thing right

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The original twisted ring is definitely in Aviendha's possession now.

 

In ToM, Egwene and Siuan think that Mesaana got the original twisted ring when Sheriam stole all the dream weavers for Mesaana and that Elayne would be mad not to have the original to work with anymore.

 

That was in TGS, I think, and is a mistake, it's corrected in the e-book edition, and probably in the paperback too (not sure about that).

 

The original quote was:

 

TGS, Ch. 45

 

The theft of the ter'angreal had been far from the most shocking tidbit she'd mentioned. Elayne would be livid; the original ring had been among those stolen, and Egwene doubted that Siuan's hidden copy would be useful as a template. It was already flawed; copies of it would likely be more imperfect.

 

The corrected version only mentions that copies were stolen:

The theft of the ter’angreal had been far from the most shocking tidbit she’d mentioned. Elayne would be livid; she had made all of the copies that were stolen. While none of her copies worked as well as the original, they worked well enough. She would not be happy that they were in the hands of a Forsaken.

 

As a bonus, can someone explain to me why Elayne couldn't get the twisted ring to work in ToM? (Especially since it can work on a person that can't channel!)

It doesn't work on a pregnant woman for some reason. This was established earlier - in KoD. And IIRC during ToM she didn't have any copies of the twisted ring in her possession anyway, so it didn't matter anyway.

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LoC Ch7 Elayne makes copies of the twisted ring - I'd imagine a copy went to Aviendha. The copies required channeling, so that might be why Elayne can't get it to work during her pregnancy.

This was also corrected in a later edition. The original reads thus:

 

“She could not make this work,” Aviendha said, the ivory bracelet sliding on her wrist as she touched the twisted ring that still hung from its strip of leather, above the necklace now. “The flows kept slipping away from her. It is the babes.” Suddenly, she grinned. Her emerald eyes seemed almost to shine. “She has a wonderful temper, sometimes. She threw the ring down and jumped up and down on it.”

I'm not sure what the new version says but I do remember someone saying it was corrected to imply that the pregnancy simply interfered with the ter'angreal (with no mention of flows).

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i've always wondered what this ring is supposed to look like. isn't described kind of like it only has one side or one edge, or you can't follow it because it's so twisted? i could never really picture this thing right

it's in the shape of Möbius band which has only one edge and only one side. One of the few places in the books where RJ's background in exact sciences peeks through.

 

 

As a bonus, can someone explain to me why Elayne couldn't get the twisted ring to work in ToM? (Especially since it can work on a person that can't channel!)

It doesn't work on a pregnant woman for some reason. This was established earlier - in KoD. And IIRC during ToM she didn't have any copies of the twisted ring in her possession anyway, so it didn't matter anyway.

This never made sense to me (why would pregnancy matter in this?) but it does seem to be the reason.

 

BTW, I think Nakomi-Avi encounter takes place in TAR and Avi got there because she dozed off with the ring on her.

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I'm not sure what the new version says but I do remember someone saying it was corrected to imply that the pregnancy simply interfered with the ter'angreal (with no mention of flows).

 

The corrected version of the CoT quote is the same, only "The flows kept slipping away from her" sentence is removed. I think that was to cover up the mistake in the first edition, Jordan came up with the pretty illogical idea that the twisted ring doesn't work on a pregnant woman, yet the ter'angreal which require channelling do, and Melaine's Dreamwalking Talent also works while she is pregnant.

 

The copies of the twisted ring don't require channelling to work, BTW.

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It could simply be a safety feature of the ring, a way to prevent someone who is pregnant from going somewhere as dangerous and unpredictable as TAR. It was made as a teaching device of some sort in the AoL if we can trust a Forsaken's POV, so it would make sense it would have certain safety features built in, esp if it is older than the War of Power. (The mention of her channeling with the ring at all was a mistake, none of them require it).

 

The continuality errors happen, sadly.

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It could simply be a safety feature of the ring, a way to prevent someone who is pregnant from going somewhere as dangerous and unpredictable as TAR. It was made as a teaching device of some sort in the AoL if we can trust a Forsaken's POV, so it would make sense it would have certain safety features built in, esp if it is older than the War of Power. (The mention of her channeling with the ring at all was a mistake, none of them require it).

 

The continuality errors happen, sadly.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the teaching device comment was about the ter'angreal that caused the insubstantial appearance. Using the original twisted ring doesn't seem to be noticeably distinguishable from people that are there naturally.

 

As far as I remember, anyway.

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It could simply be a safety feature of the ring, a way to prevent someone who is pregnant from going somewhere as dangerous and unpredictable as TAR. It was made as a teaching device of some sort in the AoL if we can trust a Forsaken's POV, so it would make sense it would have certain safety features built in, esp if it is older than the War of Power. (The mention of her channeling with the ring at all was a mistake, none of them require it).

 

The continuality errors happen, sadly.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the teaching device comment was about the ter'angreal that caused the insubstantial appearance. Using the original twisted ring doesn't seem to be noticeably distinguishable from people that are there naturally.

 

As far as I remember, anyway.

 

Perhaps, it wasn't clear which she was referring to. Still it make sense that other ter'angreal that do roughly the same thing would serve the same purpose. Perhaps the rings would be for instructors that could not enter TAR on their own without a gatewate.

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It could simply be a safety feature of the ring, a way to prevent someone who is pregnant from going somewhere as dangerous and unpredictable as TAR. It was made as a teaching device of some sort in the AoL if we can trust a Forsaken's POV, so it would make sense it would have certain safety features built in, esp if it is older than the War of Power. (The mention of her channeling with the ring at all was a mistake, none of them require it).

 

The continuality errors happen, sadly.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the teaching device comment was about the ter'angreal that caused the insubstantial appearance. Using the original twisted ring doesn't seem to be noticeably distinguishable from people that are there naturally.

 

As far as I remember, anyway.

 

Perhaps, it wasn't clear which she was referring to. Still it make sense that other ter'angreal that do roughly the same thing would serve the same purpose. Perhaps the rings would be for instructors that could not enter TAR on their own without a gatewate.

Demandred called it a 'minor ter'angreal' which suggests that he knows the difference between that kind and the kind that doesn't require channeling. That being said, I don't see why the ring couldn't also be used for that purpose. Elayne makes it clear enough that copying the minor ter'angreal was a piece of cake, but obviously the stone ring was not so easy. Some have theorized that it would require a circle with a man. This seems to be supported by such things as the theory that black cuendillar is made by men (which would make sense not only because of the symbol of the seal itself but because all of the cuendillar made by Egwene and the rebels was white), but that's obviously a theory based on a theory. Perhaps since the stone ring type ter'angreal were more difficult to make and rarer, they were used by high-ranking types only (those who did not have enough Talent to be trained). Or something like that.

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