The Main characters' forgotten abilities, what will happen to them?

[Ferdawoon]

Ok, something that have been pondering my mind for a while is where all those Talents, strengths, abilities and weaves have gone.

 

When Egwene was captured by the Seanchan, she was found to be able to delve for ore, something I think she have never done since then. Maybe a result of that talent, or just because of her strength in Earth, she can make cuendillar which we did see when she tried to close off the White Tower harbor during the siege.

 

Elayne travelled with the Athan'Miere once and there learned that the Windfinders could channel. She also learned how to manipulate the weather and how to weave the really thick weaves and make them span the sky as long as she could see (she do this once later I think).

She have been making ter'angreals though, so at least she have been busy with one of her Talents..

 

Aviendha with her gift for unravelling weaves and I believe she can also sense residues. She have not been reading any ter'angreals really, except the Rhuidean one and I know there are theories that her reading of it might be part of why it started to show her possible futures (or possible pasts? From when the wheel were at this part many cycles ago..).

 

Rand with the Seeker-style thing he do back in Tear around when he grab Callandor.

 

Nynaeve healing Stilling / Gentling.

 

We see many ter'angreal and relics that seem to hold many possible plot elements, where the little fat man which contain all those AoL books is the most obvious one.

 

... and so on.

 

 

My questions are:

What other special gifts, talents, weaves, etc have we seen that have not or rarely been seen again?

 

Will these abilities, although apparently rare and/or powerful, ever be seen and utilized before the end of the series? What could they be used for?

Egwene delving ore that is later turned into powerwrought weapons? Will she be able to do it as well?

[2RiversFan]

I like this line of thought - it stands to reason that at least some of those Talents will be important during Tarmon Gaidon. Here are a few I thought of on the fly:

 

- It's easy to think that Egwene's ability to make cuendillar would be put to use if Rand decides to seal the DO's prison with it.

- Nyneave's ability to heal madness (one you missed on your list) will be great for the Asha'man that survive the coming battle. Probably no time for it now..

- Elayne's 'Atomic Weave Unraveler' would be excellent for defending an area where there isn't sufficient numbers of soldiers.

- Rand is another one able to see weave residues (fight with Bel'al and later vs. Sammael). Will he be able to do that with TP? In a fight against the D.O. or Moridin? (Will he even be willing to use the TP?).

 

I think I remember from early in the series that one of the other two taver'en had some non-channeling ability of some sort, but can't recall what or why I think that.

[Leyrann]

- Elayne's 'Atomic Weave Unraveler' would be excellent for defending an area where there isn't sufficient numbers of soldiers.

 

But then she must be at a GREAT distance...

 

I think I remember from early in the series that one of the other two taver'en had some non-channeling ability of some sort, but can't recall what or why I think that.

 

Perrin who can speak with wolves?

[LazyMonk]

Aviendha's unraveling is not a talent, it's a skill taught by the Wise Ones (yet another subject that AS believe impossible). She says anyone can learn it and indeed we see Elayne does rather well (under the circumstances) in her first unraveling attempt.

 

The Gateway-nuke thing is ridiculously, dangerously, unpredictable. The unraveling weave snapping into itself can become anything or nothing. You need it be a mile away (or behind some massive cover like a hill) from any friendlies including the weaver. The only sure use for it is suicide-bomber style -- a solitary man deep inside enemy territory.

 

 

I believe you're reading too much into those talents. The multitude of unique talent and skills is not necessarily foreshadowing and future plots.

Too many of these can be abused as a 'Deus ex machina' -- just come up with a new ability/weave/ter'angreal to solve your problems. The books ter'angreal is particularly dangerous (to the plot-line) in that regard, thousands AOL books! who knows what wonders they contain!

 

It is for demonstrating the general feeling of an end of an Age -- ancient abilities appear again, unheard-of talents manifest, new technologies are being developed -- things are changing. And also to aid differentiating between channelers, help to emphasize how each channeler has different weaknesses and strengths.

[Sharaman]

- Elayne's 'Atomic Weave Unraveler' would be excellent for defending an area where there isn't sufficient numbers of soldiers.

 

But then she must be at a GREAT distance...

 

I think I remember from early in the series that one of the other two taver'en had some non-channeling ability of some sort, but can't recall what or why I think that.

 

Perrin who can speak with wolves?

Mat's ability to speak Old Tongue and his luck both predate the Foxes' gift.

[Ferdawoon]

Sorta agree, that a few of these gifts, abilities, skills, weaves and talents have been used kinda recently. We have seen Aviendha reading the Rhuidean ter'angreal. We have seen Egwene making cuendillar at the White Tower just before she got caught (which is not that long ago after all). We have seen Elayne trying to recreate Mat's Foxhead medallion. We have seen Rand go nuts over at Maradon to show his skills as a channeler who have access to weaves from AoL and we have seen Nynaeve heal Compulsion and Madness and a lot of other things. Mat still have his luck (and I expect that we will see his memories as a military commander get some time in the the spotlight in the last book) and Perrin have spent half the last book on the Wolfdream.

 

It is obvious that they have their "main" talents that appear from time to time and that they are building on, but there are also a lot of things that have kinda been forgotten. The two that first came to mind was Egwene delving ore and Elayne's thick weaves that span the sky to manipulate weather.

 

We have seen some really nifty ter'angreals as well. I mean, sure the Bowl of Winds had a major plotline back in the days, but will we see it again?

[FarShainMael]

There's Mah'alleinir, but I somehow get the impression that was a one-off and not just (!!) a Power-wrought weapon. Perrin seemed to pour a lot of himself into it, perhaps literally.

 

I wonder if we'll see others with Min's ability to View the Pattern. Or someone with the Voice (EotW Prologue).

[Leyrann]

The Gateway-nuke thing is ridiculously, dangerously, unpredictable. The unraveling weave snapping into itself can become anything or nothing. You need it be a mile away (or behind some massive cover like a hill) from any friendlies including the weaver. The only sure use for it is suicide-bomber style -- a solitary man deep inside enemy territory.

 

I have wondered about that. What if the DF asha'man spread, and then all do something like this? They could easily destroy all armies on FoM this way...

[Hyronimus]

Interesting post, i've wondered much the same thing over the years over some more than others.

Tallents as they are fall into three(with an outside fourth)types.

 

First for the channelers there are people for whom the talent is like a well exercised muscle. Take Nyneave for example, as generally strong as she is it is the need to heal and protect that has driven her learning the power. Even Elayne's talent came like an extension of her interest in power objects and her education. With a weaker character the talent works like compensation, Androl is also apparently quite the traveler.

 

Second there are characters whose talent follows their own strengths in the power, Egwene (as had been mentioned) is strong in earth so the ore thing and making of ceundillar, and in spirit so the talent for TAR and dreaming. She has lot in common with Rand, also stong in earth and spirit I believe, in being more instinctive/intuative in her use of the power. both learned and used the power on the fly, and are largely self taught and inventive.

 

thirdly there are the true odd balls, Min, Matt and Hurin for example, whose talent seems to come from a closeness to the pattern, children of the pattern as it were. There talents seem to flow from being that much closer to existance even fortelling seems more part of channellers being a little closer to the threads of the pattern. Matt seems to be the most purely Tav'eran of the three boys. And it is these talents that seem to reflect greater promise in terms of wanting to know what the will of the pattern will be.

 

Fouth is Pirrin who I put in the time before channelling catagory(with dreaming too I guess)as in abilities that come to people who access the power that turns the wheel(its many manefestations I mean)

 

There are other examples that fit I'm sure, sorry if this is a bit vague (and badly spelt, i've been studying all day and just can't care anymore!).

 

however for me it is the third catagory (could we put Fain here?)that remains truely a mystery. Please, please please let them be explained/expanded on!

[Leyrann]

I think that 3rd category is just "others". Just all tens of small (very small, for those you mentioned) categories of talents.

[MasterAblar]

The Gateway-nuke thing is ridiculously, dangerously, unpredictable. The unraveling weave snapping into itself can become anything or nothing. You need it be a mile away (or behind some massive cover like a hill) from any friendlies including the weaver. The only sure use for it is suicide-bomber style -- a solitary man deep inside enemy territory.

 

I have wondered about that. What if the DF asha'man spread, and then all do something like this? They could easily destroy all armies on FoM this way...

 

Yeah, I don't think they signed up for that.

[Kaznen]

The Gateway-nuke thing is ridiculously, dangerously, unpredictable. The unraveling weave snapping into itself can become anything or nothing. You need it be a mile away (or behind some massive cover like a hill) from any friendlies including the weaver. The only sure use for it is suicide-bomber style -- a solitary man deep inside enemy territory.

 

I have wondered about that. What if the DF asha'man spread, and then all do something like this? They could easily destroy all armies on FoM this way...

 

Yeah, I don't think they signed up for that.

Two things:

 

When Elyane commented on the "new weapon" Avi said it could have collapsed in a soft pop or burned her ability our of her.

 

And an AM could do ten times more damage with his bread and butter weaves then an exploding gateway/suicide weave. and he would still have the strength to travel/skim away from the battle field. And this is before the Blossoms of Fire weave hit the scene.

 

 

Oh, and as for the Egwene and delving talent, you don't see to many modern AS prospecting in the hills. The AoL AS truly were the Servants for All.

[mb]

This page lists Talents; I think all that this series revealed.

http://encyclopaedia-wot.org/main/true_source/weaves.html

[a5m]

I think they need to add Perin to Dream Walking. Also possibly Dreaming too.

[LazyMonk]

an AM could do ten times more damage with his bread and butter weaves then an exploding gateway/suicide weave. and he would still have the strength to travel/skim away from the battle field. And this is before the Blossoms of Fire weave hit the scene.

Hardly. the unraveling Gateway razed the Kin farm to the ground and leveled trees hundreds of meters aways, it was no two-shack hovel either. It housed 200+ women and some of the buildings were stone.

That's equivalent to a modern Thermobaric weapon (a fuel-air bomb)... One you can detonate instantly from the OTHER SIDE of the world!

[Ferdawoon]

an AM could do ten times more damage with his bread and butter weaves then an exploding gateway/suicide weave. and he would still have the strength to travel/skim away from the battle field. And this is before the Blossoms of Fire weave hit the scene.

Hardly. the unraveling Gateway razed the Kin farm to the ground and leveled trees hundreds of meters aways, it was no two-shack hovel either. It housed 200+ women and some of the buildings were stone.

That's equivalent to a modern Thermobaric weapon (a fuel-air bomb)... One you can detonate instantly from the OTHER SIDE of the world!

 

It is very dangerous to unweave anything because if done incorrectly anything from a small flash of light, to a large explosion, to burning out everybody within a certain distance can happen. The effect and degree of a failed unweaving is completely random (although a very small weave is generally safe) which is why it cannot be relied upon as a weapon. This is also why whenever an Aes Sedai even hears the mentioning of unweaving they usually react with abrupt horror.

http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Weave#Unweaving

[Kaznen]

an AM could do ten times more damage with his bread and butter weaves then an exploding gateway/suicide weave. and he would still have the strength to travel/skim away from the battle field. And this is before the Blossoms of Fire weave hit the scene.

Hardly. the unraveling Gateway razed the Kin farm to the ground and leveled trees hundreds of meters aways, it was no two-shack hovel either. It housed 200+ women and some of the buildings were stone.

That's equivalent to a modern Thermobaric weapon (a fuel-air bomb)... One you can detonate instantly from the OTHER SIDE of the world!

 

It is very dangerous to unweave anything because if done incorrectly anything from a small flash of light, to a large explosion, to burning out everybody within a certain distance can happen. The effect and degree of a failed unweaving is completely random (although a very small weave is generally safe) which is why it cannot be relied upon as a weapon. This is also why whenever an Aes Sedai even hears the mentioning of unweaving they usually react with abrupt horror.

http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Weave#Unweaving

^^

What he said.

 

The the AM doing more damage, I'm not talking about with one weave. I'm saying if an AM were to enter the scene and start laying the smack down with his "bread and butter" weaves (weaves plural) he would be able to do more damage. And he wouldn't be nearly as exhausted. AM have focused on doing massive amounts of damage.

[rageofwar1978]

What I would love to see is this. Since iron is already used as a basis for cuendillar why not take existing pieces of armor and transform it. It would be indestructible and someone with a talent for it like egwene could transform large amounts of it rather quickly. Honestly im flabbergasted that it has not been done before.

[damandred]

What I would love to see is this. Since iron is already used as a basis for cuendillar why not take existing pieces of armor and transform it. It would be indestructible and someone with a talent for it like egwene could transform large amounts of it rather quickly. Honestly im flabbergasted that it has not been done before.

 

 

The only problem I'd have with that is the weight, I can't remember any reference to how heavy cuendillar is. But if weight is not a problem then your spot on. Imagin it armour that could stop balefire!

[FarShainMael]

I wouldn't expect cuendillar to be any heavier than iron. That would involve creating matter, not just changing it.

[damandred]

I wouldn't expect cuendillar to be any heavier than iron. That would involve creating matter, not just changing it.

 

 

Then we should exspect to see cuendillar armour at TG?

[FarShainMael]

If Egwene can be persuaded to make it.. how were the other trainee cuendillar-makers doing?

[damandred]

Not to bad I think Leanes weave is said to be like "black sinking quicklu into milk" while Bode Cauthon is not far behind. Would it constitute though making a weapon with the power?

[FarShainMael]

Hmm. Tricky. Strictly speaking, of course, armour isn't a weapon as such. The Oath is

 

'To make no weapon for one man to kill another.'

 

Unless you take your helmet off and use it to beat the other man to death, I don't see a problem

[Lisa Campbell]

About the weight issue, you could hammer the iron to be as thin as alfoil because if it's converted to Cuendillar, you don't need the thickness of traditional iron plating for protection.