An odd thing about the Aes Sedai and the White Tower.

[Loose Theremin]

Was the centralisation of it. I know that Aes Sedai travelled out from the White Tower into the world. Most notably the Red Ajah I suppose when they went a-huntin'. And individual Aes Sedai could go wherever they wanted more or less, like Moiraine and Verin. But for an example of what I mean wouldn't you think that the Green Ajah ( the Battle Ajah ) would have had a garrison at Fal Dara on the Borderlands to help fight against the periodic Trolloc incursions. Not only would they be useful and appreciated but it would be good training for them. And they could rotate sisters in and out of the place.

 

And another thing is the Yellow Ajah Aes Sedai. Never mind having an Aes Sedai advisor, I bet what most monarchs and rulers would have wanted first and foremost is an Aes Sedai healer ! And then for the general population you would think that the Yellow Ajah would have a permanent presence in the main cities of Randland. And maybe even roving healers going from village to village to heal any of the small folk who might need it. Otherwise if you needed Aes Sedai healing and you weren't in Tar Valon then no soup for you !

 

This is another example of me wishing that Robert Jordan had expanded the story of the White Tower and the Aes Sedai.

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

I'd imagine it was just for simplicity's sake. Having Ajah guild houses in every country let alone every population centre would split up the story line something awful. And you would have the possibility of the Black taking them over, and the Tower would have a huge presence in every corner of the land which would really affect story lines involving the Forsaken and the main characters. Think of all the extra characters and political manouverings. 

 

In world the reason would be that the rulers and populaces did not trust the witches and Artur Hawkwing penned them all in on their island that his successors found appropriate. Remember most rulers who had an advisor kept it secret and those who didn't suffered political resistance because of it. 

 

The Tower is more a concept, in my opinion. The Ajahs don't make any sense if you examine them too closely. A lot of the political infighting doesn't either, why would the heads of the Ajahs risk the fall of the Tower just to pull a it more power away from the elected Amyrlin? That seems odd as they are not rivals or enemies. The world of WoT is just too large to fully flesh out everything, IMHO. 

[chiamac]

fwiw my quick take. 

 

Up until the later books they lost the ability to make circles. They also seemed to lose or not train with some powerful weapon weaves that we see later. So sure, it'd make sense they would be around being healers, but it doesn't seem like later where a small circled group of them could fend off a lot. 

 

There also were comments that they didn't have the numbers... 

 

Also a quick morning take. Aes Sedai evloved in the stories from this female Gandlaf figure into an inverse to the Seanchan. Not inverse being one is good or bad morally, they both are pretty grey or equally bad. But, reading the tower chapters, Aes Sedai are pretty much every bit as restricting and "bad" as the Seanchan. I think as the story goes on this is built up (either on purpose or by accident) so when we get to Tuon (I think it was her) explaining the damane and how they were looked after more like fond pets than what we saw from the other perspective of those who were collared. So looking back I don't think that "The Tower" must mean "good", they are as bad as everyone else. 

 

Anyway to me the whole point of these books, again be it happenstance or on purpose, is what happens when people stop working together. The Aes Sedai focused on internal bickering and power moves, and it almost cost them the tower. They come together later, and they (in my current book position) are stronger than ever and in a good spot.