Different ways to use Gateways (full spoilers)

[mike hunt's here]

Yukuri knew the area inside tent. 

 

 

I would think Siuan would have a problem with Yukiri being familiar with the insides of Gareth Byrne's tent...

[Aulduron]

Lol. It was the command tent.

[Suttree]

 

 

 

Tying off gateways happens in KoD and prior, but was called back by RJ(?) and BS. Not sure where wedging them open weaves stand.

Indeed. The tying off thing was seemingly forgotten/stopped well before BS came on board.

As late as KoD, Rand talks of tying off his Deathgates so they would dissipate in a few minutes. Perrin also talks of wishing he could ask Grady to tie off a Gateway, but refraining as he didn't want the Shaido to be able to reach the TR.

Ah thanks. Had spaced on that.

[Aulduron]

I thought gateways generally couldn't be tied, and what Rand did to Aviendas was very out of the ordinary.

[fionwe1987]

I thought gateways generally couldn't be tied, and what Rand did to Aviendas was very out of the ordinary.

He didn't tie her weave. He blocked it from closing.

[Cybertrolloc]

Alright, Traveling/Skimming primer:

 

- You need a decent amount of the power to open a gateway of useful size (say average or slightly stronger AS).

- Traveling: you have to know your starting location and then can go anywhere (at least on the planet probably), and this could be a place described to you but that you've never been (Grady) and probably less (Ny taking Lan to World's End).

- Skimming: you know the place you're skimming to in the same way you need to know your Traveling starting location.

- There's some other mystical junk that may be involved, the power's weird that way :)

 

Gateways were no big thing to tie off in previous books, off the top of my head Rand, Grady and Sammael do it but the authors walked that back. The thing with Avi's Traveling to Seanchan in FoH is covered above.

 

There's also a Question of the Week (see links page or useful info thread) on the subject (i.e. how much power it takes to travel extra-solar distances).

[MountaineerWV]

RJ's use of gateways initially had some unintended consequences (cost free transportation) what would have royally screwed with the economics/logistics of Randland. He tried to correct that by disallowing the 'tying' off of gateways.

 

Personally, I think that BS latched on to interesting ways to use gateways as a gimmick. It's a one trick pony that was over used and went rough trod over the correction RJ tried to make.

 

I don't buy the 'conservatism' line of thought when asking why the AS or Ashamen didn't just make a gateway into Taim's head, or to do what Androl did and dump a billion tons of lava on SG. It's just something that one shouldn't waste much time thinking about because it will lead to unsatisfying thoughts.

[Aulduron]

I wonder how far a person must be standing from the starting gateway. Generally they're opened right in front of the channeler   was standing next to Elayne, presumably well behind the front lines when he lava bathed the trollocs, but he's a special case. This could be why others didn't use them in such ways.

 

Although someone could have stood next to the river and dumped it on top of Demandred or Taim when they were throwing balefire around.

[BFG]

Cybertrolloc – thanks for the info. Thinking about it after I posted, I think I remember Avi tying the gateway she uses when fighting Greffalump (the one she later tries to unweave), but I may be wrong.

 

From Fires of Heaven:

"I must get away!" she wailed, and darted through into the blizzard. Immediately the gateway began to narrow again, turning, but without thought Rand channeled, blocking it at half its former width. He did not know what he had done or how, but he was sure this was a gateway for Traveling, such as Asmodean had told him of and been unable to teach him. There was no time for thinking. Wherever Aviendha had gone, she had gone naked into the heart of a winter storm. Rand tied off the flows he had woven as he ripped all the blankets from the bed and tossed them onto her clothes and pallet. Seizing blankets, clothes and rugs all together, he plunged through only moments behind her.

"It will do for one." To remind him that the Seanchan were still out there. For once he wished his voice was even colder than the Void and saidin made it. He had to be hard. "Before I decide whether to skewer you with it like a lamb, why did you never mention this trick of making something invisible? If I hadn't been able to see the flows, I'd never have known the gateway was still there." Asmodean swallowed, shifting as though he did not know whether Rand meant his threat. Rand was not sure himself. "My Lord Dragon, you never asked. A matter of bending light. You always have so many questions, it is hard to find a moment to speak of anything else. You must realize by now that I've thrown my lot in with yours completely." Licking his lips, he got up. As far as his knees. And began to babble. "I felt your weave – anybody within a mile could have felt it – I never saw anything like it – I didn't know that anyone but Demandred could block a gateway that was closing, and maybe Semirhage – and Lews Therin – I felt it, and came, and a hard time I had getting past those Maidens – I used the same trick – you must know I am your man now. My Lord Dragon, I am your man."

@mikehuntshere – in the Damona Campaign it was determined that you could learn a place by making a gateway ‘close by’ – I think they created a small gateway to a nearby hilltop and then made the gateway to where they wanted to go, this negated the time needed to learn an area.

[Simplman28]

 

 

 

 

Tying off gateways happens in KoD and prior, but was called back by RJ(?) and BS. Not sure where wedging them open weaves stand.

Indeed. The tying off thing was seemingly forgotten/stopped well before BS came on board.

As late as KoD, Rand talks of tying off his Deathgates so they would dissipate in a few minutes. Perrin also talks of wishing he could ask Grady to tie off a Gateway, but refraining as he didn't want the Shaido to be able to reach the TR.

Ah thanks. Had spaced on that.

Didn't Aviendha tie off her gateway in AMoL when she was fighting Hessalam? I thought it was when she began to untie it that it unraveled and caused the explosion.

[Simplman28]

Also, are gateways one-way? what happens if you go through a gateway the wrong way?

[Aulduron]

Gateways are not one way. Matt slipped through one opened to Camelyn to see Perrin.

 

I don't think she tied that gateway off. I think she held it open, then decided to unravel it instead of letting it go, in order to kill Graendal.

[MountaineerWV]

Gateways are not one way. Matt slipped through one opened to Camelyn to see Perrin.

 

I don't think she tied that gateway off. I think she held it open, then decided to unravel it instead of letting it go, in order to kill Graendal.

I think he meant walking through one through the 'back'.

 

If I remember correctly, walking through one through the back had no effect. One did not travel to the opened location, and one did not get messed up in any fashion.

 

I think you may be mistaking Gateways for Waygates, in which Loial said that if one walked behind the entrance to a Waygate - one would be lost forever.

[mbuehner]

Now what if Androl had opened the other side of that gateway he directed the Balefire into right behind Taim so that his own BF hit him?

[Cybertrolloc]

Reality ends because of divide by zero error :) At a guess, Taim burned out of pattern, reality adjusted to account for it.

 

Simplman28, the back of a gateway is described in a few places as WoT equivalent of looking through sunglasses. There's some throwaway of what happens if you walk into it, but forget the specifics or where that is.

[sVieira151]

Now what if Androl had opened the other side of that gateway he directed the Balefire into right behind Taim so that his own BF hit him?

 

Already asked that (twice!  )

 

People tend to agree that he will just be killed, since balefire is not affected by it's own effects (supposedly). I would obviously be interested in a TJ reply, but that seems like a reasonable answer either way (what Cyber said). 

[BFG]

Interview: Nov 17th, 2009TGS Signing Report - Robert Moreau (Verbatim) Question If someone were to use balefire as a weapon, could they redirect it through a gateway, or would it destroy the weave and keep going?Brandon Sanderson Well, I happen to know that someone asked Robert Jordan this at a signing, and he gave a kind of glib answer that didn't answer anything. So, I'm going to RAFO that, and we'll see. There will be a lot of balefire in the future of these books. *much laughter*

Question If I were to open a gateway in front of me that opened behind me, and I balefired myself, what would happen? Robert Jordan Young lady, you are entirely too obsessed and have far too much time. You need to get some sort of life. I suggest you go have an intense love affair. Doesn't matter with who, be it man, woman, or German Shepherd.

If it helps :) Both pulled from Terez's interview database

[sVieira151]

Ah. Well, maybe he left something in the notes somewhere.