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Ta'veren

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"Life is very unsettling with ta'veren for friends."
   —Loial[1]
For the chapter in A Crown of Swords by the same name, see Ta'veren.

Ta'veren (pronounced: tah-VEER-ehn) are people around whom the Wheel of Time specifically weaves the Pattern with all surrounding life-threads.[2] No one is born ta'veren. The Pattern turns them to be one when there is a need and they are only ta'veren until they fulfill their purpose. [3] The plural is also ta'veren.[4]

The concept of ta'veren is reasonably well-known and understood in the Westlands, but obscure if not completely unknown in other lands such as Seanchan, as evidenced by Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag not being familiar with the term and dismissing it as a superstition.[5]

Web of Destiny[]

Ta'veren

The three main ta'veren. (from left Perrin Aybara, Rand al'Thor and Matrim Cauthon

A ta'veren is a central focal point for a Web of Destiny in the Pattern. These people are spun out and used by the Wheel to correct itself when the weave begins to drift from the intended Pattern. Since the purpose of ta'veren is to influence life threads to create change, the destinies of ta'veren themselves are more strictly controlled by the Wheel of Time itself than those of an average person. These Webs of Destiny (or ta'maral'ailen in the Old Tongue) are almost always arduous for those that live through that Age but are an unfortunate necessity for the Wheel. The more change required, the more ta'veren that are born.

"The Wheel of Time weaves the Pattern of the Ages, and the threads it uses are lives. It is not fixed, the Pattern, not always. If a man tries to change the direction of his life and the Pattern has room for it, the Wheel just weaves on and takes it in. There is always room for small changes, but sometimes the Pattern simply won't accept a big change, no matter how hard you try....And sometimes the Wheel bends a life-thread, or several threads, in such a way that all the surrounding threads are forced to swirl around it, and those force other threads, and those still others, and on and on. That first bending to make the Web, that is ta'veren, and there is nothing you can do to change it, not until the Pattern itself changes. The Web - ta'maral'ailen, it's called - can last for weeks, or for years. It can take in a town, or even the whole Pattern."
   —Loial to Rand Al'Thor[6]

Present-day ta'veren[]

Ta'veren

Ta'veren.

There are three confirmed ta'veren in the main timeline of the story: Rand al'Thor, Perrin Aybara, and Matrim Cauthon. They appear to affect the Pattern based on their own personalities and skills. Perrin Aybara's ta'veren nature tends strongly to manifest in influencing people, causing people to do or say things they otherwise would not. By contrast, Mat Cauthon's twisting of the Pattern manifests as a warping of the laws of chance, and tends to be limited to a fairly local area. It most often manifests as extreme good luck for Mat, as well as apparently warning him of important events to come.

Rand al'Thor is by far the most powerful ta'veren in the present-day world. Since he is also more powerful than Artur Hawkwing, he may be the strongest ta'veren ever.[7] His presence in an area causes any number of completely unpredictable and improbable occurrences, from throwing the laws of chance completely askew to two young people who can't stand each other suddenly marrying. This effect is uncontrollable and can extend to cover a wide area, influencing an entire village or a large part of a major city.

"I saw the boy, you know, in the courtyard during the Welcome. It is one of my Talents, seeing ta'veren. [...] he blazed like the sun. I've seldom been afraid of my life, but the sight of him made me afraid right down to my toes. I wanted to cower, to howl."
   —Siuan Sanche to Moiraine about Rand al'Thor [8]


The phenomenon of three contemporaneous ta'veren as strong as Rand, Perrin and Mat seems to be unique in known history. There is a definite link beyond the fact of their Two Rivers origin and closeness in birth date. They have been experiencing momentary disorientation and visions of flashing colors whenever each think of the other ta'veren, even momentary glimpses of each other. Each of the three know that they are being tugged toward one another, and that it will be important to reunite in order to fight in the Last Battle.

Verin Mathwin mentions that were it not for this unusual presence of multiple contemporaneous ta'veren, Mat Cauthon would likely be the most powerfully ta'veren individual in centuries. It is not clearly stated just how powerful Perrin Aybara's ta'veren nature is by comparison, but it is possibly comparable to that of Mat, given how Verin recounts feeling Mat's ta'veren pull. While she felt this pull very strongly, she did not know who the man at the centre of it would end up being. Having only recently left Rand without difficulty, Verin knew she could discount him by process of elimination, and with the two remaining possibilities of Mat and Perrin, she found them equally plausible, possibly indicating she estimated them to have a comparable degree of ta'veren pull.[9]

Although Beslan Mitsobar suggests that Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag may be ta'veren after he unexpectedly swears allegiance to her, there is nothing canon to suggest that she is.[10] Tuon is shown actively resisting Rand's immense ta'veren pull, being nearly compelled to agree to the terms of his truce before finding the willpower to refuse.[11] This may be explained by the fact that the Crystal Throne inspires a sense of awe and Tuon may have built up an immunity to the effect. Brandon Sanderson said her resistance is because of her stong willpower.[12]

Historical Ta'veren[]

It is not known if the Heroes of the Horn are all ta'veren at some point in their lives.

Examples and facts[]

  • Ta'veren change the probability of something happening, e.g. they can cause a person to fall off a house and then get up without a scratch on them, yet someone else can easily trip over a stick and break their neck. This implies that ta'veren do not make the impossible happen, though the improbable may be perceived as "impossible." Several characters have made comments to this effect.
  • Rand al'Thor thinks that for all the "good" ta'veren effects, there are equal amounts of "bad" ta'veren effects. This balance seems upset during the events of The Gathering Storm where the bad effects are reported as outnumbering the good.
  • It is said that ta'veren can be tracked and located by their effect on the Pattern, but only the Forsaken, namely Ishamael and Lanfear, know how to do so.[14]
  • Certain ter'angreal may replicate or influence the probability-changing effects of ta'veren, such as the six spotted dice ter'angreal used by the Black Ajah in Tear.[15]
  • Moiraine speculated that ta'veren attract the "bubble of evil"[16] due to the Dark One's influence on the Pattern. Nearly all bubbles occurred near ta'veren. This is confirmed in the Companion.[17]
  • Ta'veren have a mysterious effect in the world of the Aelfinn. One ta'veren is intriguing to the Aelfinn (they comment on "the savor") but the presence of two put a strain of some kind on their world. Bells tolled and the earth quaked as though the world was trying to crumble.[18]
  • We do not have any named minor ta'veren, although they doubtless exist. Strong circumstantial evidence for this is the fact that Siuan Sanche knows that she can see ta'veren, a Talent we have only seen discovered when people have encountered them. The alternative for having encountered ta'veren in her lifetime is some weave or ter'angreal which tests for this Talent.
  • Moiraine makes a curious remark regarding Nynaeve and Egwene: "You are part of the Pattern, too, both of you, in some fashion. Perhaps not ta'veren – perhaps - but strong even so. I have known it since Baerlon. And no doubt by this time the Fades know it, too. And Ba'alzamon."[19] The exact meaning of this is uncertain, especially considering that Moiraine cannot lie. They are not ta'veren, but the Pattern does seem to weave around them in an unspecified way. This line may have been used as justification for some changes in the Wheel of Time Amazon TV series, in which Egwene and Nynaeve are ta'veren (see External Links).

People with the Talent to see ta'veren[]

Parallels[]

Descriptions of ta'veren and their effects on the Pattern resemble that of Strange Attractors.

External links[]

Notes

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