Of course I can appreciate that it was good for RJ's vision of the plot, it just doesn't fit. It is understandable why much knowledge was lost, but that particular bit of knowledge is incredibly unlikely to have been lost IMO.
It is like the Forsaken being able to speak (and write) so well in the common tongue pretty much the moment they are out of the bore despite it being a different enough language from the old tongue that people in the current age can't understand the old tongue unless specifically educated. The difference seems much larger than just the difference between spanish and portuguese for instance.
But it was necessary for the plot for everybody to speak the same language, including the forsaken, though it doesn't fit or make sense.
Likewise, the loss of traveling doesn't make much sense. But it was necessary for the plot. When making up a very complex fake world, there is no way it will all mesh like reality. So some of these things just don't bother me. (Others do bother me)
It is like the Forsaken being able to speak (and write) so well in the common tongue pretty much the moment they are out of the bore despite it being a different enough language from the old tongue that people in the current age can't understand the old tongue unless specifically educated. The difference seems much larger than just the difference between spanish and portuguese for instance.
But it was necessary for the plot for everybody to speak the same language, including the forsaken, though it doesn't fit or make sense.
Likewise, the loss of traveling doesn't make much sense. But it was necessary for the plot. When making up a very complex fake world, there is no way it will all mesh like reality. So some of these things just don't bother me. (Others do bother me)
According to <a href="http://encyclopaedia-wot.org/geography/tar_valon/white_tower.html">Encyclopaedia WoT</a>, construction of the White Tower started in 98 AB. Furthermore, the breaking itself lasted something like 300 years. Hence, it seems entirely possible that at least a few Aes Sedai who were raised during the Age of Legends were still alive when the White Tower was founded. And if not, it seems unlikely that the group of women who created the tower had grown sufficiently large and powerful if they had to start learning channeling from scratch, so it's a reasonable assumption that there is an unbroken chain of women teaching other women to channel that leads from the Age of Legends to the founding of the White Tower, and from then on there has always been Aes Sedai living in the tower.
So how did Travelling become a lost Talent? It seems to be one of those things you don't have to have a particular skill to do, just the neccessary strength. Even among the regular Aes Sedai of today, quite a few are strong enough to Travel, and strength seems to be at an all time low at the moment, seeing as Cadsuane was hailed as the strongest in centuries when she arrived.
It just seems to me that Travelling is such an insanely useful thing, in particular during the breaking when a quick escape could be handy at any time, so why wasn't it taught to every student as soon as they were strong enough?
So how did Travelling become a lost Talent? It seems to be one of those things you don't have to have a particular skill to do, just the neccessary strength. Even among the regular Aes Sedai of today, quite a few are strong enough to Travel, and strength seems to be at an all time low at the moment, seeing as Cadsuane was hailed as the strongest in centuries when she arrived.
It just seems to me that Travelling is such an insanely useful thing, in particular during the breaking when a quick escape could be handy at any time, so why wasn't it taught to every student as soon as they were strong enough?
A little learning is a dangerous thing.
How did Travelling become a lost Talent?
- 03/02/2012 09:09:39 AM
1977 Views
It is a little odd. Maybe because channelers weren't united for a while?
- 03/02/2012 02:24:17 PM
911 Views
Re: How did Travelling become a lost Talent?
- 03/02/2012 02:49:02 PM
751 Views
Hey, why don't you reference ANY place in the series a character learns ANY weave from a book?
- 04/02/2012 07:42:43 AM
863 Views
It has always seemed unlikely.
- 03/02/2012 04:53:14 PM
811 Views
i think it could be
- 03/02/2012 07:56:18 PM
953 Views
THANK YOU!!! Are we the only ones here who can see the obvious?!
- 04/02/2012 07:40:39 AM
827 Views
Re: THANK YOU!!! Are we the only ones here who can see the obvious?!
- 04/02/2012 09:56:48 AM
949 Views
Re: THANK YOU!!! Are we the only ones here who can see the obvious?!
- 04/02/2012 01:57:10 PM
951 Views
Have you read the Big White Book? It details some of the events that happened during The Breaking
- 08/02/2012 04:27:13 PM
748 Views
It's always struck me as a tool of the Author more than a good hard fact
- 04/02/2012 01:40:06 AM
596 Views
Your theory is based on rather severely flawed assumptions
- 04/02/2012 07:34:45 AM
996 Views
Re: Your theory is based on rather severely flawed assumptions
- 04/02/2012 09:48:52 AM
804 Views
Re: Your theory is based on rather severely flawed assumptions
- 04/02/2012 03:04:48 PM
846 Views
Re: Your theory is based on rather severely flawed assumptions
- 04/02/2012 06:58:41 PM
737 Views
Re: Your theory is based on rather severely flawed assumptions
- 05/02/2012 12:00:05 AM
742 Views
Re: Your theory is based on rather severely flawed assumptions
- 05/02/2012 04:05:57 AM
654 Views
I don't see why people are having trouble believing Traveling was lost in the Breaking
- 05/02/2012 05:53:32 PM
704 Views
Re: I don't see why people are having trouble believing Traveling was lost in the Breaking
- 05/02/2012 07:39:51 PM
879 Views
My point was that it's surprising only ONE Healing weave survived
- 11/02/2012 08:25:02 PM
672 Views
Re: I don't see why people are having trouble believing Traveling was lost in the Breaking
- 05/02/2012 09:11:04 PM
596 Views
I agree. I was going to respond but you covered most of the bases.
- 08/02/2012 04:13:20 PM
580 Views
Re: Your theory is based on rather severely flawed assumptions
- 05/02/2012 09:52:35 PM
762 Views
You really need to read the BWB sections regarding this
- 14/02/2012 01:20:20 AM
590 Views
he needs to read it just to see it for his own eyes
- 14/02/2012 02:46:44 AM
558 Views
Re: he needs to read it just to see it for his own eyes
- 14/02/2012 10:15:46 PM
634 Views
I would agree with you on less structured parts of the series
- 15/02/2012 03:38:37 PM
522 Views
Re: I would agree with you on less structured parts of the series
- 16/02/2012 09:41:29 PM
681 Views
That I can agree with
- 17/02/2012 05:46:49 AM
730 Views
Re: That I can agree with
- 17/02/2012 09:26:50 AM
593 Views
Seriously! The Yellow should be ashamed
- 17/02/2012 01:49:07 PM
719 Views
Well to be fair to the Yellow (which generally annoy me as an Ajah)...
- 17/02/2012 06:20:06 PM
667 Views
Re: Your theory is based on rather severely flawed assumptions
- 05/02/2012 09:02:28 PM
714 Views
Why would the AoL Servants of All build themselves a self-aggrandizing island-city-fort-tower?
- 08/02/2012 03:03:49 PM
658 Views
Re: Why would the AoL Servants of All build themselves a self-aggrandizing island-city-fort-tower?
- 09/02/2012 10:38:23 PM
648 Views
Re: Why would the AoL Servants of All build themselves a self-aggrandizing island-city-fort-tower?
- 11/02/2012 07:58:40 PM
738 Views
The White Tower began construction in 98 AB. Go read the section in the BWB
- 12/02/2012 01:48:58 AM
689 Views
The Wheel Weaves as the Wheel Wills. *NM*
- 06/02/2012 02:38:36 AM
399 Views
I wonder if it'd possible to open gateways based on the memories of a previous incarnation? *NM*
- 07/02/2012 09:56:25 PM
355 Views
except for Rand/LTT and Birgitte, I get the impression that people don't have memories of past lives *NM*
- 08/02/2012 02:38:00 AM
313 Views