How to Search the Library

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TarValon.Net's wiki (called the Library below) contains extensive information about the Wheel of Time books and television series, but it also includes information about, and the history of, the community of TarValon.Net.

There is a page on How to Navigate the Library where the layout of the Library is described.

Search with the Search Function

Library Search results after searching for "Min"

On the left side of any page is located a search bar. The search bar gives results only for pages in the wiki, and does not give results for categories. When in need to search for categories, a special page is used (described below).

To search for a page with the search bar, the title of the page should be input in the field. After pressing Enter/Return, the wiki should redirect to the page if the title input in the search bar matches exactly the title of a page that exists in the wiki.

This search function goes through ALL the pages in the wiki, but it does not categorize based on the local categories that the Library has - Wheel of Time Book or TV series, or TarValon.Net pages. The results that come up after a search show the matching titles first and then the results where the query word is found inside the text of an article.

Some useful tips when using the search function
  • "The article content is searched in its raw (wikitext) form - i.e., it searches the text that appears in the edit box when you click "Edit", not the rendered page." (information taken from the MediaWiki official website)
  • The search function bases its results only on the exact word put in the field. This means that if the word "born" is put in, it will give the results where only "born" is used, and wherever "reborn" is written, that will not be included in the search results. (example "Dragon Reborn")
  • If the Search button is pressed without anything written in the search field, the wiki will redirect to a special page, where more search options will be available.
  • When in search for a whole phrase or two words that go together, double quotes should be added around the phrase to find matches for it.

Example: If the search query is The True Power, in the search bar it is needed to type "The True Power”.

Search for Category

When in need to find a certain category, for example "Chapter Summaries", or when itis TarValon.Net related – for example "Gray Ajah Aes Sedai", the Search function will not help, since it searches only through page titles and not category titles.

To search for a category, navigate to "Special pages", located in the sidebar, and then to "Categories" to land on a page with a search functionality for all available categories. Special:Categories

Different Names for Pages or Categories

Sometimes a page might not be titled in way that is commonly expected. In such cases, it is advised to search for different keywords that might have to do with the topic at hand.

For example – if the search query "Constellations" does not give any desired results, a search query for a particular named constellation is advised - "The Five Sisters" for example.


For questions or when in need of more information, contact the Director of Research and Records at library@tarvalon.net.