Let us turn our attention to the "Greens"

[Caelan Arendor]

We now turn our attention to the Green Ajahs of the White Tower. They are often referred to as the Battle Ajah, for they have dedicated themselves to the active struggle against evil, the Dark One, and his followers and minions. Taken as a whole, their character is not without appeal, though the Greens are at times prone to arrogance and overconfidence. Internal quarrels among them are by no means uncommon.

 

I seem to recall that at the fall of the kingdom of Malkier the Greens distinguished themselves chiefly by their absence, just as the Green Ajah played no part—or at best a very minor one—at the Battle of Tarwin’s Gap. The Greens must also endure the reproach of tolerating quarrels and rivalries among themselves, which considerably undermines their efficiency.

 

Who among you now rises in defense of the Greens—are there any voices to be heard on their behalf?

[Sabio]

Greens ready themselves for the last battle, not every battle. There aren't that many, so chances are there are few in a pot when an attack happens.  Without traveling abaility they aren't going to get anywhere very fast.  Not to mention Malkier fell because of betrayal.  They don't go seeking fights but hold themselves ready for the Last Battle.  Every ajah readies themselves to fight evil.

[Elgee]

You'll do a dang poor job of "readying" yourself for battle if you never practice and participate. Which clearly showed when the White Tower was attacked by the Seanchan.

I would dearly love to take over as Amyrlin there and get those women into shape! All of the Ajahs.  *growls*

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

While you could argue that the sisters are too worried about leaving the Tower as that might affect their Ajah's influence, we never really see it that bad. There are no democratic votes or force of arms needed in general. 

 

In the early books we hear about "the Warders" scouting and keeping an eye on the Blight. But that doesn't really seem to be carried forward in any meaningful way. It seems strange that the Aes Sedai would not be more involved in the Blight border. Agelmar even says one Aes Sedai is worth a thousand troops. Indeed it is kind of weird that no one helps the Borderlanders at all to the extent that most of the people they are protecting don't even believe in the Blight or Shadowspawn. 

[JyP]

On 12/6/2025 at 5:25 PM, Caelan Arendor said:

Who among you now rises in defense of the Greens—are there any voices to be heard on their behalf?

I think it is very telling that : 

- the novelty about combining an Asha'man and an Aes Sedai powers by having a Bond with eachother was done by the Red Ajah - and not the Green Ajah, which is supposed to get along best with men.
- no Green Ajah among the Great Generals - in fact we have Mat using portals as innovations during the Last Battle

- I don't remember any example of an Aes Sedai and her Warders acting as a shock troop against Darkfriends / Dark One troops (Moiraine and Lan take the spot for this)

- even the Forsaken are surprised by the bond, but the Black Ajah already infiltrated even Aes Sedai with Warders.

 

The Green Ajah has no purpose anymore after the Last Battle - unlike the Aiel, which will act as a foil against the Seanchan.

 

 

[Sabio]

At the time of the dragons birth the Green had roughly 190 members.  The biggest issue is there simply aren't enough of them to go patrolling the blight border etc.  Plus if a bunch of them die stopping trolloc raids then how many will be left for the Last Battle?

[Caelan Arendor]

13 minutes ago, Sabio said:

At the time of the dragons birth the Green had roughly 190 members.  The biggest issue is there simply aren't enough of them to go patrolling the blight border etc.  Plus if a bunch of them die stopping trolloc raids then how many will be left for the Last Battle?

Even a small number of Aes Sedai—so few as to scarcely affect their overall ranks—would already represent a considerable aid to the Borderlands. One need only reflect on the immense difference that the use of saidar would make compared to spear and sword!

[Sabio]

If you know where they will attack and have time to get there.  Without traveling it's all on horseback.  Moiraine even commented how long it would take Aes Sedai to arrive in the Two Rivers had she known she would find Trollocs there.  The border is too large and too few Greens to worry about every Trolloc raid.  I'm sure if a nation said a large group is forming the Greens would be coming to help.  A few Aes Sedai would've made little difference in Book 1, sure it would've been a morale boost, but how many Aes Sedai are truly that powerful?  Rand blasted so many due to the amount of power he was able to draw. There is sure to be some Aes Sedai in the borderlands but Kiruna (??) was related to a king in one of the nations and even she didn't stay put up there.  I think its more of a let the armies handle the raids and Aes Sedai will try to help if it looks like something major, assuming they have time to arrive in numbers.