Traveling

For the Gareth Bryne's horse, see Traveler.

Lews Therin Telamon using Traveling

Traveling is a method that uses the One Power to transport people and things near instantaneously over vast distances through a portal called a Gateway. Traveling is also related to Skimming, a simpler but slower way to travel faster than any previously known method not using the One Power. Travelling is considered one of the most strategically important and useful Weaves rediscovered at the end of the Third Age.

Forgotten Talent

The Weave was considered lost since the Breaking of the World, the name known only via references in ancient texts. How it became lost is uncertain. Moiraine stated that there had "not been an Aes Sedai powerful enough to Travel since the Time of Madness, but this is obviously not true and this may have been one reason why it had never been rediscovered as it was generally thought impossible.

In reality, the loss may have been because of the geographic turmoil caused by the rampant violence of mad male channelers, something so pervasive that no permanent settlements from the Age of Legends survived the cataclysm. It may also have been because any channeler who remembered the wonders of the Age of Legends was dead before the end of the Breaking and were unable to pass on even a once-commonplace Weave such as Travelling. By the time the White Tower was founded, those who called themselves Aes Sedai were likely self-taught wilders and it is almost certain that no woman who remembered the previous Age was part of this new group.

Rediscovery and Spread

The first instance of Travelling in the Third Age occurred when Aviendha unknowingly created a Gateway to Seanchan. She was, however, unable to repeat the Weave and so it was not yet rediscovered in the true sense.

Although Asmodean told Rand al'Thor of Travelling, he claimed that Lanfear's shield on him left him unable to form the weave. Later, Rand realises that, like Aviendha, he had unknowingly Travelled in Tear after he is able to read the residue of Rahvin's Gateway in Caemlyn. After this point, Rand is able to create Gateways at will.

He later taught the Weave to Mazrim Taim. Taim in turn taught it to the Asha'man as a whole. This is part of the general training of anyone at the Black Tower, taught to any man as soon as he is strong enough rather than a secret kept by Taim or one taught only to Dedicated or full Asha'man.

The female version of the Talent was rediscovered by Egwene al'Vere. She may have had some hints from Moghedien, but she largely pieced together the knowledge herself. Some of this intuition came from her experience of using Tel'aran'rhiod to fast travel from Cairhien to Salidar by entering in the flesh. Moghedien did not show her how to weave a Gateway.

Alviarin Freidhen was also taught the weave by Mesaana. For a long while, only the Salidar faction had access to Travelling, giving the rebels a very real strategic advantage. This advantage was negated when Beonin Marinye taught the weave to Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, who passed the knowledge on to selected sisters of her own choosing. This allowed the White Tower to collect taxes and supplies from far afield - a fact first discovered by Ashmanaille when it was discovered that an Aes Sedai from the loyalist faction, Nesita, had already gathered the tribute from the Aesdaishar Palace in Kandor before Ashmainaille herself was due to collect it on behalf of the rebel Aes Sedai.

The third faction of unaligned sisters, or at least those who followed Cadsuane Melaidhrin, obtained the knowledge after Sorilea showed the Weave to Cadsuane.

After the reunification of the White Tower, Travelling was adopted wholeheartedly by the Gray Ajah as something that would be of most use in their domain as their very purpose requires long-distance travel. Although some Gray sisters may feel an ownership of the Talent, it is unlikely they could have a monopoly on Travelling, even if they could manage to take control of the protocols concerning using the weave.

Travelling remained a strategic advantage as something that was in possession of the forces of the Westlands, but remained unknown to the Seanchan. Aviendha uses her Talent of Unweaving to prevent the residues from being read by them. After Elaida was made damane, she is forced to show the Empress Fortuona the secret of Travelling. Mat later has a damane make a Gateway on the floor that opens high in the air in order to observe the battle at the Field of Merrilor.

The Atha'an Miere Windfinders learn to Travel from their Aes Sedai teachers as part of the Bargain, opening up immense commercial possibilities.

It is unknown if Travelling for either male and female channelers is known by the Sharans. They appear on the Field of Merrilor using a massive Gateway, but this may have been performed alone by Demandred using Sakarnen. While Egwene sees "hundreds" of women embracing the source, it is not possible for them all to be creating the Gateway due to the limitations on the size of a circle.

Minimum Strength and Talents

The Wheel of Time Companion states that the "minimum strength required for making a gateway of useful size, that is, large enough to walk through, was 19(7). The minimum strength required to make any gateway at all out of a circle was 21(9)."

This is not the full story, however, as Travelling is a Talent and a fixed level of strength ignores variability in skill. The most striking example of this is Androl Genhald, who is noted to be able to weave large gateways when he should not be able to make one work at all. Similarly, Berisha Terakuni is able to weave a gateway large enough for Faile to pass through riding atop a wagon, whereas Elayne cannot weave one tall enough for Mat to pass through while mounted, despite Elayne being significantly stronger. The Gray sister Ashmanaille, at level 22(10), is the only other channeler we know of that is below the stated minium strength, but appears to be able to Travel without being in a circle. On the other side of the scale, Julanya Fote has strength 16(4), and "could make a gateway, but one only just large enough to walk through". This seems to be a case of ample strength underperforming and may hint at channelers at level 19(7) existing that either can't produce a useful gateway or can't Travel at all.

The second part about the minimum strength required to make a gateway at all out of a circle is less clear. The natural extension of "gateway of useful size" would be gateways that are too small to be useful. This would make sense, with anyone more than two levels weaker not being able to make the Traveling weave work at all. The phrase "out of a circle" is perhaps a typo and should be "out of the weave".

If we take the "out of a circle" part to be correct, this would imply one of two possibilities. The first is that a leader of a circle with strength less than this cannot make a gateway of any size work, regardless of the total amount of the One Power available to them via the circle. This seems counterintuitive and goes against evidence from the books. Jesamyn is only strong enough to weave a Gateway as one of four linked Kinswomen. After two are killed by Darkfriends, she cannot make a circle strong enough to Travel. The second interpretation is that a channeler at level 21(9) can make a gateway by linking with any channeler i.e. as weak as 72(60), but here "any size at all" seems redundant. An increased amount of strength does allow someone to create a gateway where they would otherwise not be able to. Siuan Sanche's new strength is 35(23), far below the minimum strength, yet she is able to create a gateway large enough to crawl through with the aid of an Angreal. Similarly Annoura Larisen, at 33(21), managed to create a gateway large enough to pass through by pushing herself to draw more of the One Power than she could handly safely. Since circles allow an increased amount of strength to be safely drawn upon, it would be logical to assume they would also allow a woman to Travel in a circle where she was too weak before.

It may also be worth noting that all these named examples are from Brandon Sanderson's books. This is possibly part of an expanded, but not contradictory, channeling mechanic invented by him in the last few books to give precedence to Androl's unique abilities.

Gateways and their Behaviour

For chapters of a similar name, see Gateways.

Traveling is done through the use of Gateways. They initially appear as a thin vertical light line in the air, which then expands into a rectangular portal. One cannot create a gateway within a gateway. If two gateways are created to the same location, the second gateway will open beside the first, with a small gap between the two.

The edges of a Gateway are razor-sharp and can cut through anything except Cuendillar. While it is generally impossible to open a Gateway inside a solid object, it is possible for it to open in a position where the edges cut into an adjacent object or person. For this reason, the Rebel Aes Sedai and later the White Tower, have designated Traveling grounds to prevent accidents. If opened into Cuendillar, the gateway is pushed aside. A gateway can be blocked by placing a piece of Cuendillar into it to prevent it from closing.

In the Age of Legends, it was etiquette to make a chiming sound with the Power to announce your arrival by Gateway, much as we ring a doorbell to announce we have arrived at somebody's house.

Gateways can be opened horizontally, an innovation developed and used notably by Yukiri Haruna and the Gray Ajah for spying or gaining a bird's eye view of the battlefield. This allowed Gareth Bryne and others to have a real-time and comprehensive overview of both their troops and those of the enemy, thereby being of immense strategic value. Mat also uses this when he commands the overall forces of the Light.

Gateways can be tied off, but there are unspecified problems with doing this. Jur Grady and Fager Neald started doing this but stopped. According to Sanderson: "They found that it didn’t work as well as they originally thought. Tied-off gateways behaved in strange ways; they were inefficient, ineffective, and unpredictable. There was also a considerable continuing cost to maintaining even a tied-off gateway."

The weave holding the gateway open can be tied off temporarily. While maintained, it can be used until it naturally dissipates. If the weaves are left to dissipate, the gateway will shrink back to a single vertical light line and eventually disappear. It is possible to stop a closing gateway made by another channeler. Asmodean claims that, of the ancient Aes Sedai, only Demandred, Semirhage, and Lews Therin Telamon could prevent a gateway from closing, making it an extremely rare Talent.

Male channelers describe the forming of a gateway with saidin as "boring a hole in the Pattern" to the channeler's destination. Forming a gateway with saidar is done by creating a similarity in the Pattern, then stepping through the gateway to the channeler's destination.

Gateways can be used as weapons either by deliberately creating the gateway to slice into the victim (as Sammael does to one of Graendal's servants), or in the form of Deathgates - rapidly opening and closing horizontal Gateways which spin and move over an area. All Shadowspawn except Gholam die when they pass through a Gateway. The Gholam is immune to weaves of the One Power aimed towards it, giving it protection.

It is necessary to learn the location in order to Travel from a location. Holding the True Source will speed up this process. It is later revealed there is a trick to avoid this restriction. It is possible to open a gateway within line of sight of your location without this limitation, after which the current location becomes sufficiently well-known to the channeler to open a different gateway to any other location. If someone does not know an area well enough, they will either not be able to create a gateway at all, or it will be smaller than their normal ability with gateways. Robert Jordan also said that if you Travel to a location, you automatically learn it well enough to be able to travel from there.

Limitations, Variations and Exceptions

The chief limitation other than strength is that a channeler needs to know their starting location well to be able to open a Gateway from that location (this is the reverse of Skimming). It is for this reason that Verin Mathwin is stranded for a few days in Trustair until she could learn the location well enough to Travel.

It is also possible to disable the ability for anyone to open a Gateway to or from a defined area. There may be more than one way to do so, but one we see in the books is through the use of a Dreamspike.

True Power Traveling

Traveling with the True Power is described as ripping a hole in the Pattern and stepping outside it entirely, and seems to be inherently destructive, possibly damaging the Pattern permanently. To Moridin's ears, 'the world screamed' as he did it. It does not use gateways; the air seems to warp and distort around users and then they simply vanish. Users of this technique can take others with them by touching them, as Hessalam did with her "pets" at Thakan'dar.

Errata

In Lord of Chaos, Egwene recalls: "only a handful were strong enough to make a gateway larger than they could put an arm through and most not even that." This contradicts the information elsewhere in the books, the One Power rankings in the Companion and the Companion's own entry on "gateway" (quoted above). Anyone slightly above average strength for an Aes Sedai should be able to Travel.