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 Confusion about the Weave
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Vaughn Javreau
Acolyte

USA
18 Posts

Posted - 13 Jul 2021 :  18:08:00  Show Profile Send Vaughn Javreau a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Greetings Sages,

I came to wonder the other day what the essence of the Weave is, and what messing around with it "looks like". Having reread The Herald more than the others in the Sundering series, I still can't quite wrap my head around what exactly Elminster's goal or directive was in repairing the Weave. Don't get me wrong, I love Ed's writing, but it can seem more abstract than magical at times. Truthfully I still don't know what exactly these "Weave-Wards" were meant to accomplish, or how (even in a general sense) they work. Perhaps there are some Metaphysical experts that can point me in the direction of some useful sources/information?

Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.

Edited by - Vaughn Javreau on 14 Jul 2021 04:19:51

Eldacar
Senior Scribe

438 Posts

Posted - 14 Jul 2021 :  14:29:39  Show Profile Send Eldacar a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Vaughn Javreau

I came to wonder the other day what the essence of the Weave is, and what messing around with it "looks like".


The Weave is a "web" that suffuses Toril, and provides an interface between mortals and "raw magic" (which you could think of as potential, locked inside everything, with the Weave as an easy, simple means of accessing it; there are other methods, but the Weave is the most widespread). It is also other things, like being Mystra (Mystra = the Weave, so if you want to say what the essence of the Weave is, you're also correct to say Mystra is the essence of the Weave, or the Weave is the essence of Mystra). I think one easy way to visualise it would be to take Weave as literal, so it is a type of fabric or cloth (or "weave") on which you draw/pull threads of/manipulate/whatever to create an effect, which is a spell.

Catti-Brie witnesses the restoration of the Weave in the Companions novel of the Drizzt books, which might help as well:

"With that slight movement of her head, Catti-brie noticed a strange twinge, a pressure in her limbs akin to what she felt when executing the shapeshifting. Her vision shifted suddenly, too, as if from eagle eyes to human, or something strange in between, and for just a fleeting heartbeat, the sky around her darkened, then seemed backlit, and in the moment between blue daylight and nighttime stars, she saw or imagined a great web of giant strands enwrapping the whole world."

quote:
I still can't quite wrap my head around what exactly Elminster's goal or directive was in repairing the Weave.

Restoring the Weave means restoring Mystra. Repairing it is because if the Weave is damaged, areas of dead magic or wild magic proliferate, threatening the stability of it more generally.

But as the Weave is a, well, weave, it would seem logical that it needs to be anchored, otherwise like any bit of fabric it could slip free.

"The Wild Mages I have met exhibit a startling disregard for common sense, and are often meddling with powers far beyond their own control." ~Volo
"Not unlike a certain travelogue author with whom I am unfortunately acquainted." ~Elminster
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Vaughn Javreau
Acolyte

USA
18 Posts

Posted - 14 Jul 2021 :  16:42:21  Show Profile Send Vaughn Javreau a Private Message  Reply with Quote
So Weave wards are a bit like buttons or structural stitching then?

Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.
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