Tower of Ghenjei
Author: Kyria d'Oreyn
General
The Tower of Ghenjei is an entrance to the realms of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, like the doorway ter'angreal in Tear and Rhuidean. It looks like a tower of burnished steel, two hundred feet high and forty thick, and is located on the eastward shore of the Arinelle about ten days north of Whitebridge. No opening, not even a ridge or a hint of rust can be found on the smooth, sheer surface (TEotW, Ch. 24; TSR, Ch. 28).
Birgitte knows some things about the Tower of Ghenjei. She tells Perrin that it is a dangerous and "bad place for humankind." It can be entered, although it is very hard to leave again (TSR, Ch. 28). You draw a triangle and then a wavy line through it - the sign that opens a game of Snakes and Foxes - on the side of it anywhere with a bronze knife and a door will open a few seconds later, a line of light which the triangle, before the steel in the center vanishes. The external opening will re-seal itself, but the opening on the inside, a doorway, remains (ToM, Ch. 53)
When entered, the first room has white rippling steam pouring up from holes in the floor which avoids fire. The walls are covered with a reflective material like onyx fish scales and each side of the room has a hallway extending off (ToM, Ch. 53). Another room has a white floor with thick black columns to a very high ceiling. Lit by glowing yellow strips running up each column . Inside it is something of a maze and it is possible to retrace your steps and come to a totally different place. One of the hallways leading from the entrance room looks out from a spire' In the central room, the Chamber of Bonds, the Finn are forced to deal (ToM, Ch. 53).
Miscellaneous
- Jain Farstrider suspected it was somewhere along the Shadow Coast and wanted to go look for it some day (KoD, Ch. 10).
- Captain Bayle Domon has seen it close up (TEotW, Ch. 24).
- Perrin followed Slayer to the Tower of Ghenjei in the wolf dream (TSR, Ch. 28).
- Mat tells Thom they cannot rescue Moiraine, because the only way (as he thinks) to get to the realm of the Eelfinn - the redstone ter'angreal – has melted. Olver brings up the Tower of Ghenjei and says it is another doorway to the lands of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn (KoD, Ch. 10).
- It is used as a marker for river traders (TEotW, Ch. 24).
- When entered in Tel'aran'rhiod, the Tower of Ghenjei is all but impossible to leave (TSR, Ch. 28).
- Birgitte died there in a previous life as Jethari Moondancer (ToM, Ch. 22)
Quotes
"(...)the sun glinted off something in the distance. 'What can that be?' Rand wondered aloud. 'It looks like metal.'
Captain Domon was walking by, and he paused, squinting toward the glint. 'It do be metal,' he said. His words still ran together, but Rand had come to understand without having to puzzle it out. 'A tower of metal. I have seen it close up, and I know. River traders use it as a marker. We be ten days from Whitebridge at the rate we go.'" (Rand and Domon about the Tower of Ghenjei; The Eye of the World, Chapter 28)
"He (Farstrider) wouldn't forget seeing it, and even if he never heard the name, he'd have to think of it when he heard of a strange tower that lets people into other lands. The thing gleams like burnished steel. I'm told, two hundred feet high and forty thick, and there's not an opening to be found in it. Who could forget seeing that?" (Noal on Jain and the Tower of Ghenjei; Knife of Dreams, Chapter 10)
