Aviendha's Talent of interpretting Ter'angreal

[lummy]

Just doing a re-read and re-listen in time for AMol and came across an interesting ter'angreal that I hadn't noticed before.

 

It's from KPoD Chapter 15 where Aviendha is going through the ter'angreal and comes across : A root-like carving is for growing something like holes. It is activated by singing.

 

I haven't seen anything mentioned about this before and the above isn't a great description of what she discovers. But I remember thinking oh I wonder if they use this at the last battle and since it is activated by singing it can only be "The song" that the Tinkers are trying to find and maybe the Ogier too.

 

Any more speculation as to what this could be?

[Barid Bel Medar]

IF I recall correctly, I think the one that made the most sense was that it was a Talisman of Growing. To grow Waygates.

[lummy]

God yeah, that would make perfect sense.

 

Here's me thinking it was someway to make a hole in the bore ready for it to be resealed by the 2 halves of the power!

[Suttree]

But I remember thinking oh I wonder if they use this at the last battle and since it is activated by singing it can only be "The song" that the Tinkers are trying to find and maybe the Ogier too.

 

Just to point out here there is no single "mystical song". The memory of the songs sung during seeding and the like in ancient times have merged over time.

 

Interview: Aug 27th, 1999

Melbourne Film Festival - Steven Cooper (Paraphrased)

Troy Terry

 

 

Seriously, though, any bets on whether the Tinkers will ever find the Song? I bet it's the harvest song from Rand's Aiel memories.

STEVEN COOPER

 

I asked RJ about this when he was in Melbourne last week, and (amazingly) got a straight answer.

Robert Jordan

 

 

The Song the Tinkers are seeking is the song Rand heard in Rhuidean—or, to be exact, the memories of that song and others like it have become merged, over the years, into the concept of one mystical Song.

[herid]

I agree that that particular ter'angreal is most likely for growing ways. But I also want to mention an interesting dream the Wise ones had about the stash of items Elayne and co brought from Ebu Dar.

 

 

“All three had this dream, which makes it especially significant. Rain,” that word still came clumsily too, “coming from a bowl. There are snares and pitfalls around the bowl. If the right hands pick it up, they will find a treasure perhaps as great as the bowl. If the wrong hands, the world is doomed. The key to finding the bowl is to find the one who is no longer.”

--LoC, ch 19

 

After Avi ids most of the items, the only ones that can possibly qualify as the treasure from that dream are the root-like carving that lummy mentioned, the dull dagger that hides one from the forces of the Shadow and the statue of a bearded man which holds a library of books from the AoL. It most likely means the book collection ter'angreal but it might be worth considering other possibilities. They do seem unlikely though. Avi gave Elayne the dull dagger in KoD, ch 15 but that's the last we see of it. IIRC, Terez had some theory about that dull dagger but I don't remember what it was.

[Rubberninja]

The Dagger of Dulness ties in well with Egwenes test for Accepted, where Rand, trapped in Caemlyn asks for a dagger he can't reach. I'm prepared to ignore the fact that he asks Egwene to plunge it into his heart in the testing as creative imagination on Egwenes part. So far, a lot of what happened in eggy's testing has come true.

Also, was the bearded man not used in one of the released chapters?

[lummy]

To expand on what Herid has said there is speculation that the dagger at Rand's waist in the front cover to AMoL could well be the Dull dagger we have mentioned.

 

But you know it's funny, I knew there was something significant about the stash of ter'angreal that Avi hunts through. I always thought it an odd chapter in comparision to what leads up to it, out of nothing Avi finds a new talent and we have a stash of ter'angreal that can be used for the forces of light, just never knew what was really significant about it.

 

I do agree now though that the Book ter'angreal is probably the most important piece in the stash, on the way to work in the car was just listening to one of the early chapters of The Gathering Storm (think it might be Chapter 3 or 4) and a POV from Avi where (this isn't an exact quote) she muses on knowledge being more powerful than strength of arms (or something like that). Who's to say what the ter'angreal holds...... could be the orignal plan LTT had or the plan the women Aes Sedai had or god knows what else.

[herid]

@lummy That's a very nice idea about the dagger in the AMOL cover! Makes a lot of sense to me. It would also explain why the DO doesn't block the passage to the Pit of Doom when Rand, Nyn and Moiranine show up. We know he can do it - he did it during Moggy's visit there in aCoS,ch 25.

 

As for the book collection ter'angreal being the treasure from the dream it doesn't have to be related to the LB. It's mentioned in AMOL, ch 1 that it was made before the bore was drilled. It would still be extremely valuable as a compendium of knowledge from the AoL.

 

@Rubberninja The dagger is completely dull and can not be used as a weapon.

 

The iron blade-it looked like iron, at least, and felt almost like iron-had never been sharpened so far as Elayne could tell and was little longer than her palm, though wide in proportion. Even the point was too blunt for stabbing.

--KoD, ch 15

If it's going to be used for something it will be because of its special properties, not as a regular dagger.

[Rubberninja]

@Herid: I'm assuming as much aswell. My money has been on it hiding Rand from the shadow after he pulls off a fake death (with the help of Alivia) since the dagger was identified by Aviendha.. Helped by the dream about Logain stepping over Rands body on the ground onto the black speaking stone at the BT, but when Egwene touched Rands face it crumbled to dust (or some such).

[Kestrel]

It's from KPoD Chapter 15 where Aviendha is going through the ter'angreal and comes across : A root-like carving is for growing something like holes. It is activated by singing.

 

Any more speculation as to what this could be?

Sounds like an ocarina to me. Those little flute-things... well, they're not really flutes... come in a lot of different shapes.

[water_seeker]

I'm NOT a fan of this talent. It just doesn't make sense to me...

[SylvanFox]

It makes a little bit of sense to me. It's like if someone with the right kind of mind sat down and looked at a machine or tool, they might be able to figure out what it is for. I would guess that Avi sees or senses faint traces of the weave or whatever that makes the ter'angreal work (or, perhaps, traces of the weaves that made it). Then she kind of takes a guess as to what it is for. That wouldn't explain the scary items, though.

[Sharaman]

She's gifted in this way like a good mechanic is gifted when it comes to figuring out what machinery does,

It's not clear how much complexity of ter'angreal she can handle though and she doesn't seem to be able to go beyond very basic ("this is what it does") to principles ("this is how it works"). Elayne seems to be able to do the latter but not the former. So the two make a good team. Pity Min can't read inanimate objects - that would be perfect.

[OsaroLJ]

We need to get Avi around Calandor. I am almost certain that it also functions as a ter'angreal. Maybe she will get a chance to after she meets with the Dragon.

[Barid Bel Medar]

We need to get Avi around Calandor. I am almost certain that it also functions as a ter'angreal. Maybe she will get a chance to after she meets with the Dragon.

 

That is an excellent suggestion. I don't believe I have seen it mentioned, and yet it is so obvious. I suggest creating a thread about this.

[FarShainMael]

We need to get Avi around Calandor. I am almost certain that it also functions as a ter'angreal. Maybe she will get a chance to after she meets with the Dragon.

 

That is an excellent suggestion. I don't believe I have seen it mentioned, and yet it is so obvious. I suggest creating a thread about this.

 

There's this thread about Callandor, where it could be discussed:

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/76221-callandor-question/

[b3arz3rg3r]

I'm NOT a fan of this talent. It just doesn't make sense to me...

 

Probably because it's just a filler talent because RJ had to come up with something to make Avi as special as the other girls.

Afterall we have Amyrlin super dreamer, Travelling rediscoverer, Cuendillar maker and I can do everything other than healing Egwene, Miss pardon Mrs I can heal everything Nynaeve, Miss I can see the Pattern Min and Queen ter'angreal maker slash circus artist Elayne. They are called the Wondergirls for a reason. Compared to them plain old channelling Wise one and former Maiden of the Spear Aviendha didn't measure up so he gave her Unravelling and ter'angreal reading.

[pamela]

We need to get Avi around Calandor. I am almost certain that it also functions as a ter'angreal. Maybe she will get a chance to after she meets with the Dragon.

It's so frustrating - if only there was some communication between the characters...