Ways
From A Wheel of Time Wiki
The Ways are an area outside of reality grown by male Aes Sedai during the Breaking of the World to allow Ogier to travel safely between their stedding.
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[edit] Origins
Ogier stedding block access to the True Source, and during the breaking of the world, male Aes Sedai took shelter in them, thus slowing their descent into the madness caused by the taint on saidin. However, most channelers could not long stand being unable to touch the True Source, so they eventually left to see if the taint was gone; unfortunately, it never was.
One group of Aes Sedai studied Portal Stone worlds and created the Ways as a thank you gift for the Ogier. Grown from the One Power in a world outside of reality, it connected all the Ogier stedding and was always safe to travel, unaffected by the destruction of the land. Once the last of the Aes Sedai left the stedding they gave the Ogier the Talisman of Growing, which allows the Ogier to create new Waygates and thus expand the Ways. As new stedding were rediscovered after the Breaking of the World, new Waygates were created outside these stedding and connected to the existing network.
[edit] Waygates
A Waygate is always located outside of an Ogier stedding due to the fact that the True Source is not accessible inside. Each Waygate has two Avendesora leaves on it, one on the outside and one on the inside. This makes it possible to lock Waygates by putting both leaves on one side. When one moves the Avendesora leaf, the Waygate turns to living plants and two doors swing open to reveal a smoky, mirror-like barrier. The Ogier planted many of the Great Trees in groves across the world to comfort the Ogier stonemasons. Most of these groves have since disappeared, but almost nothing can destroy a Waygate.
[edit] The Talisman of Growing
This is a ter'angreal that responds to Ogier treesinging. They sing the "flower" of the Waygate, the only part that exists in this world. They can only branch off from an existing pathway and cannot create Ways or Waygates from two separate points.
[edit] Inside the Ways
The Ways are actually alive, although no one understands or remembers how this was originally achieved. They are grown of the One Power and do not share rules of space and time with the world outside. The pathways of the Ways are suspended platforms, bridges and islands, some go right over others with no visible support. Travellers may walk for a day and emerge from a Waygate that is 400 miles from the Waygate from which they started, all depending on the paths they take. Paths link areas known as Islands, and these are marked with large slabs of stone, labelled with Ogier Script, called Guidings. The Ways used to be well lit by a 'sun' set in cloudless skies, with trees on the islands bearing food. There was grass on every pathway and all the paths were beautiful in the manner that Ogier loved. No evidence of these comforts now remain. The Ways also has had traps laid in it for Shadowspawn, although their effectiveness is questionable.
[edit] The Corruption of the Ways
Almost 2000 years had passed with the Ways being an excellent means of transportation for the Ogier. But during the War of the Hundred Years the Ways began to grow dim. Once the bridges began to grow dark, people began to avoid travelling the Ways, and some that did return came back mad, raving and screaming about Machin Shin, the Black Wind. The stone of the pathways is now pitted and rotting, and some of the Ways have collapsed completely. It is theorised that because the Ways were made with tainted saidin that the Ways were corrupted by it; some think it may be natural to the Ways although still evil. After all, no one knows how deep and long they run (except presumably the Aes Sedai who made them).
[edit] Machin Shin
Machin Shin -- literally black wind in the Old Tongue -- is a force that hunts the Ways for anything that is alive. Many travellers feel a breeze on them, but there is no wind in the Ways. Such people almost always die, and those that don't, go mad. Machin Shin sounds like millions of voices screaming things at you about killing and torturing and the like. It doesn't seem to think or be sentient in any way. Machin Shin absorbs souls, and even Aes Sedai who use Delving are unable to feel anything inside a person taken by it.
It appears that Machin Shin was corrupted when it encountered Padan Fain. Instead of absorbing the twisted soul of Fain, it appears that the combination of power from the Shadow, Shadar Logoth, and Fain himself has imprinted part of itself on the Black Wind.
[edit] Use of the Ways Now
Rand al'Thor cannot use a Waygate due to Fain's hatred for him imprinting on the Black Wind: every time he attempts to even open a Waygate, Machin Shin waits for him. It even once tried to force itself out of the Ways to absorb Rand in Cairhien.
No human or Ogier is allowed to use the Ways anymore as it is believed to be far too dangerous. It seems that some Waygates have been absorbed by the Great Blight and that they are used to move massive amounts of troops very quickly around the world.
Categories: Places | One Power | Ogier
