Who are the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn?

Contributed by: Erica Sadun, Sean Hillyard

Strange tricksy critters who live in other dimensions. They are also known as the Snakes and Foxes for their appearances and have long-standing tricksy relationships with humans: giving gifts and answers... at a price.

TSR: 28, 462, To the Tower of Ghenjei, 323:
Birgitte arrives to chat up Perrin and talks about the Tower of Ghenjei and the game of Snakes and Foxes. "...there's no way to win." "Except to break the rules," she said. "'Courage to strengthen, fire to blind, music to daze, iron to bind.'" Poor Mat should have known about these rules, but he's tricky and he cheats. Notice that every time Mat is using his "luck", he seems to be humming. This may be related.

We know that The tower of Ghenjei is a route to the realms of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn. We also know that the Seanchan, the offspring of the "hammer" (Paendrag) hold their symbols to be the tower and the raven. And WOULDN'T YOU JUST KNOW, Mat who is due to marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons, the heir to the court of Seanchan and who is already mixed up with the snakes and foxes just happens to have a magic spear with ravens on it. In fact, if you re-regard the inscription on the spear, it just may have to do with the Seanchan's bargain and not that of Mat.

"Thus is our treaty written; thus is agreement made. Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades. What was asked is given. The price is paid." -- TSR: 26, 439, The Dedicated, 307

Remember also, that those marked with the raven are property of the court of the Seanchan empress. The other object given to Mat was the foxhead. And ITS eye is the symbol of the Aes Sedai. TSR: 37, 606, Imre Stand, 426 Boy, this gets complicated, doesn't it? When Mat arrives in the Rhuidean door (foxes), he is greeted and asked about the "old treaty". The snake people back at Tear were very insistent that he show up at Rhuidean -- insistent enough to answer a whole lot of extra questions. Once he gets there, he's given an object which directly mentions something about the treaty.

What we know from the Tear doorway.

There seems to be some kind of agreement concerning the use of the door. Anyone may enter who does not bring a way to make light, iron or instruments of music. The snakes will then answer three questions. What do they get out of it?

According to Moiraine:
"Sensations, emotions, experiences. They rummage through them; you can feel them doing it, making your skin crawl. Perhaps they feed on them in some manner. The Aes Sedai who studied this ter'angreal ... spoke of a strong desire to bathe afterward." -- TSR: 15, 257, Into the Doorway, 179. In addition, the presence of two ta'veren seemed about to shake down the whole place.

What we know from the Rhuidean doorway.

The foxes also speak of a treaty in using the doorway. Again, no iron or musical instruments, or ways to make light. Again, there is the prickling of the skin as memories are rummaged through. However, for the foxes this does not seem to be payment enough for their services. Apparently a 'price' has to be negotiated before 'agreements' are made. Mat lucks out (of course) and asks for a way out as one of his agreements (It seems extremely likely that he would still be there without that), but they still exact a price out of him, and from what we can infer of it, it was not pleasant.

Aludra: I have finally figured out Aludra's entire raison d'etre: the matches. Now how can Mat/Thom get over to Nynaeve to get some matches before he heads off to A/Eelfland?

Survey Says:

Who will go to A/Eelfland? (more than one choice)

Thom:   62% (138)     Nynaeve:  9% (21)     Nobody: 5% (12)
Mat:    52% (116      Birgitte: 8% (17)     Aludra: 4%  (9)
Perrin: 34% (77)      Elayne:   8% (17)     Lan:    4%  (9)
Olver:  12% (26)      Egwene:   7% (16)     Avi:    4%  (8)
Rand:   10% (22)      Faile:    6% (14)     Juilin: 3%  (6)

This FAQ compiled by Pam Korda (kor2@midway.uchicago.edu) and converted to HTML by Matthew Hunter (mhunter+@andrew.cmu.edu).