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What is the difference between skimming and traveling?

Contributed by: P. Korda, John Novak

Skimming requires knowledge of destination and Traveling requires origin (TFoH: 6, 169, Gateways, 121). For example, Aviendha Travels to Seanchan which she obviously doesn't know a thing about, but she knew the bathroom real well.

Skimming is what Rand does in TSR, 58, The Traps of Rhuidean, pp670-671 to chase Asmodean to Rhuidean, and in TFoH, 54, To Caemlyn, pp645-646 to bring the Aiel strike force to Caemlyn. It apparently works by creating a tunnel through some other space from the point you are at to the point where you want to go. Going through this tunnel takes a finite amount of time, and one person can chase another through it, as Rand chased Asmodean. Asmodean later tells Rand that Skimming requires a good knowledge of the destination point (ACoS,9, A Pair of Silverpike, p175).

The above "chasing" thing contradicts something Egwene says about it in ACOS: 12, A Morning of Victory, 241: "If two sisters wove gateways on the same spot only moments apart, aiming to Skim to the same place, they would not see one another, not unless it was _exactly_ the same spot, with the weaves _exactly_ identical." So, either this is a difference between men's skimming and women's, or RJ messed up. The Skimming place has some similarity to TAR, and may be a part of TAR. (ACOS: 12, A Morning of Victory, 240).

Travelling is a far simpler, far more direct, far quicker means of transport. Travelling opens a "gate" from one physical point to another. Men do this by boring a hole in the Pattern, so to speak, while women do this by making the Pattern in both locations identical (LoC, 37, When Battle Begins, p491). Moghedien and Rand are of the opinion that using the wrong method would be catastrophically bad. Stepping through the gate, one instantly changes location. Asmodean tells Rand that, unlike Skimming, Gating requires only a knowledge of the starting point (TFoH, 6, Gateways, p121).

Now, it's been suggested that what the 3rd Age Randlanders call "Travelling" is not the same thing as the old-time, AOL Travelling. The only evidence to support this theory is the manner in which Ish manifests himself in the TEOTW prologue. He kind of shimmerred and appeared -- no mention of a "gate" or a doorway. We've not seen anybody else do this, though; all of the other Forsaken use the standard Gate method. This "other" way of Travelling may involve the TP; we know that Ishy used it extensively. It is possible to do a Travelling-like thing with the TP, by "stepping outside the Pattern," as the Watcher does (ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 358).