The reason they are both exempt, is because they are both consistently spun out into the world. In fact, Birgitte states that this was the longest she and Gaidal had spent in The World Of Dreams between lives together. As for all the other Heroes? Mat remembers dying with Artur Hawkwing looking down on him, from the memories the Finns gave him. Mat knew it was Artur, because he saw him in Falme after he blew the Horn. In the exact same body form each time.

Anaiya was not killed by Halima for no reason. She was killed, because she figured out from the other crimes, that Halima could channel saidin. The other two were killed for the same and another reason that was not realised.... Anaiya and the other two Aes Sedai Halima killed witnessed her attempt to kill Mat when he first arrived at Salidar, but Anaiya only realised what she saw when Egwene told her of the saidin killings. She realised Halima was Forsaken.

The Forsaken by default are leaders of the Shadow. Moiraine and the Aes Sedai are well aware of that fact. Whether they are back or not is the major thrust of Aes Sedai politics, which Elaida will show, since she represents the majority view of the Aes Sedai that the Forsaken will never get out again. Because the key to that denial, is that they do not have the strength and knowledge to fight them. To show the counterpoint to that, is that of the Aes Sedai on the side of the Light, only Moiraine, Siuan and Alanna know that one Forsaken for sure is out, and only Moiraine is aware two of them are. The bigger issue, is that no Aes Sedai except the Black Ajah know that ALL OF THEM are now free.

Far Madding is a display of a corrupted version of modern feminism because of the history of that city's people going back to the Age Of Legends, where they mistrusted the One Power and men's use of it even then to almost Whitecloak levels. As for Samoan and Tongan culture, it is an example of ancient feminism going back thousands of years. The only culture that has anywhere near the same in the Northern hemisphere is the Minoans.

Going by what we have seen, the show has the same Oaths as the books. Moiraine acting in sinking the ship is doable, because she knows she is fighting the Shadow. She knows both Ishamael and Lanfear are in Falme, so she can go all out to do whatever she needs to do, because their presence negates the sense of danger needed at other times. Since the Oath against force states the exceptions very clearly, then the show has it as well. We just have not seen it yet. We know that show Moiraine knows far more about the Forsaken than book Moiraine did at this point. Book Moiraine would have done the same as in the show.

They were not affected by the Longing at all because they did not need the stedding. RJ was very clear that the Breaking meant all stedding worldwide are in Randland, and no other part of the world. The panic a stedding caused the damane is proof of that comment. He stated it, because the books would not be going into that.

There are some cultures that allow that. Samoan culture and Tongan culture are two of them. Both are reflected in Far Madding and the Wise Ones in their personalities and how they react to each other.

It is a total block on Saidin as the books present it. Far Madding is the one place where modern feminism as we know it is a thing. Which is a justified stance considering saidin for most of the city's existence is a source of madness whenever it is accessed. It is not an anti One Power city. That would be Amador in Amadicia. It is an anti Saidin city, that also just so happens to mistrust Saidar as well. Which is why women can move around the city with monitoring, but men are totally restricted. If it was that way, Nyneave would not be able to tap her well to fool the Council into thinking it was Damer doing the channeling. It might fail with a Saidin well, we just do not have any indication on that, because no male channeler survived the Age Of Legends to pass on their knowledge, until Asmodean did with Rand, 3000 years later. All we know, is that Cadsuaine knew of the flaw in the Guardians, and exploited it to save the Dragon Reborn from captivity under Elaida.

The loophole applies to saidar, remember? Far Madding's Guardian completely blocked saidin in any fashion. Wells of saidin would not work like the saidar ones did. The True Power, however was unrestricted, because only a few people knew of it, and all of them were either using it, or had access to it in the Age Of Legends, and they all served the Dark One. Callandor is the exception to that, but only because it was unexplained how it could interact with the True Power that way, or how anyone could make it to do what it did without the Pattern. The only things a stedding could not block was anything done that the weaves started, like a storm, or an earthquake.

That is correct about Callandor. I just remember the access key glowing, and his comment on the Guardian only blocking the One Power.

When Rand threatened to call lightning down on Far Madding, he stated the Guardians blocked the One Power only. That comment means, he was about to draw on the True Power to do that attack, and use the Choedan Kal with it. The Guardians would not detect its use, or stop it. A stedding by comparison, would stop that True Power attack as well, since they affect Shadowspawn, and they were made by both the One Power and True Power. I also think that a stedding would neutralise a tied off weave, and as a result, I disagree with Brandon when he said a well would work in a stedding. I suspect any weaves used inside by tapping a well would not work, it would just either drain the well on the spot, or not work at all.

Well, RJ did say that Seanchan had no Stedding. They were unique to Randland.

Only a woman can start a circle. A man cannot. The only other difference regarding circles that was not mentioned, was that a woman can be pulled into a large circle against her will, while a man cannot, even by a circle of 72 attempting it. This, like all the other nuances, is entirely to do with the nature of saidar and saidin.

Yes. The stedding are unique to Randland, because there is no hint of how damane are affected, until they got to the mainland. When a damane entered a stedding, which was abandoned, both the suldam and damane freaked out. I also think the Book Of Translation is unique to Randland as well. Which explains when we hear from Loial's mother when she speaks to Loial that there are Ogier from Seanchan negotiating with The Great Stump, and she is very clear about how all the Stedding leaders present are basically outraged with the Seanchan Ogier and their interactions with humans.

Nah. The woman playing Sheriam IS a red head, whose hair turned grey!!! Hehehe!!!