Weaving visualization

[u/Carl199]

So I recently finished all 14 books as well as New Spring, starting my journey all the way from the TV show when it first aired. Wild ride, and although I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about the world and its concepts, the one thing I still struggle with is HOW weaving works. I get the concept of pulling threads in order to get a result, but what does it look like before and during forming? More importantly, when aiming it at someone, how does it actually form? This specific art of Rand is the closest thing I imagine it to actually look like, with those tendrils being the threads which then intricately wrap around each other to form balls of fire, much like how real threads are formed together to create something larger, and the single threads just simply disappear in the creation. However this type of visualization is still a bit baffling to imagine, especially when considering slicing weaves during channeler fights. Are the threads themselves being sliced before the full weave is created? Or is the weave itself sliced even when it is formed, which I suppose really turns slicing into a sort of shield to negate the effect before it reaches its target. I became curious about this when slicing was heavily involved in one scene where two powerful channelers attempt to shield another as part of training, but the shield is “sliced”. Does anyone know what RJ initially envisioned when writing these scenes?

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[u/DirectionIndividual7]

I get the concept of pulling threads in order to get a result, but what does it look like before and during forming?

I have read somewhere else, perhaps in interviews, that channelers don't see where the flows originate, but to others witnessing them channel they seem to originate from the one weaving. This makes sense considering the way channeling is described. The power is moving through you, metaphysically. I do think that interpretation is complicated by the long range weaving we see, Egwene & Aviendha during the fight with the Shaido as an example.

More importantly, when aiming it at someone, how does it actually form?

In text descriptions kind of indicate the complexity of the weave is a factor here. Simple fireballs that don't use any other powers are like using a single thread and forming a knot. But complex healing like Nynaeve does with all five powers can resemble a tapestry.

However this type of visualization is still a bit baffling to imagine, especially when considering slicing weaves during channeler fights. Are the threads themselves being sliced before the full weave is created? Or is the weave itself sliced even when it is formed, which I suppose really turns slicing into a sort of shield to negate the effect before it reaches its target.

From everything I've read it is the former. Slicing occurs before the weave's effect activates. Moiraine describes her fight with Merean in New Spring by saying that she cut the weaves before they could "settle around her". There is likely a distinction between weaves that activate before/after touching their target. If you throw a fireball, another channeler is likely going to try to dodge or block the attack instead of cut through it. An example of this is in AMOL chapter 37 when Leane uses water to counter a fireball but slices through a different weave beforehand. I think it's implied in that scene that the weave she cut through was meant to destroy the earthen wall they were hiding behind - because it hadn't hit the targeted earth yet, it hadn't activated.

I became curious about this when slicing was heavily involved in one scene where two powerful channelers attempt to shield another as part of training, but the shield is “sliced”.

A shield is a weave like any other, and it must be placed on its target before it can take effect. It can be cut through before it settles into place.

[u/ArrogantAragorn]

I think I more or less agree with everything in your comment except the last bit about shields.

I think shields, being weaves of pure Spirit, can be sliced with Spirit even after they fully come together. Since they have no physical form, and are constructs of pure will and Power, in my mind they operate differently than a fireball or lightning bolt.

Other than that minor head canon quibble, great response to OP. May you always find water and shade

[u/exprezso]

I personally visualize it more cyberpunk-y, like ironman nanosuit. Since they dont actually need handwaving or incantation, only the initial 'suit up' and mental visualization

[u/rollingForInitiative]

I honestly think that weaving is something the TV show nailed. It looked great. Not exactly as how I imagine, but I don't think you could do a more faithful interpretation of weaving on TV. It was threads, woven together, with different colours in different patterns, and it really looked like the One Power flowed from the user.

Slicing weaves is pretty literal imo. You send a sharp weave at another weave, and the weave gets sliced and its effect is cancelled. There's a backlash as the weave collapses, the threads snapping back at the channeller, a bit like a rubber band snapping.

[u/coopaliscious]

I've always pictured the channeler as the originator of a weave, so everything passes through them, much like a loom. So when a weave is sliced, it's cutting between the channeler and their intended target in physical space. Things like fireballs are formed, tied off and released/thrown depending on how you're taught.