General Galgan is Demandred

[jdbond]

I'm into my reread of TGS. I'm sure this has been discussed, but I believe General Galgan is Demandred. It seems that he was closely allied with Semirhage. He controls a massive army. And the Seanchan is causing all kinds of chaos. He doesn't need to murder Fortuona because she is doing what he wants. Just a hunch.

According to Brandon, Demandred's alter ego hasn't been seen onscreen in the series as of KoD. (He refused to confirm if Demandred had been seen onscreen in TGS.) If so, Galgan isn't Demandred.

If this is the case... We haven't seen King Roedran "on screen", have we? I just listened to TPoD: Chapter 18. It seems Roedran has become very clever all of a sudden. He was supposed to be a guy who likes to party hard, now he's uniting a kingdom. Fah!!!

 

 

I am sure King Roedran's 30000 soldiers will change the face of war...Nice way to make Demandred sound uber lame.

[cap10kirk]

I am sure King Roedran's 30000 soldiers will change the face of war...Nice way to make Demandred sound uber lame.

It's not that. My great theory is a load of muck. Ah well...

[rambling]

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Genaral Galgan was under Demandred's control, but I doubt he is Demandred himself. Demandred is too ambitious, he would want to be in a position to see an overall picture of the coming Last Battle and not be limited to looking at it from just one side. Being Genaral Galgan would take up too much of his time.

And he is supposedly famous for using proxies (I keep reading this but can't find an actual reference, any pointers would be much appreciated).

 

TGS Prologue - " "And You?" Moridin asked Demandred. "My rule is secure", Demandred said simply. "I gather for war. We will be ready."

Graendal itched for him to say more than that, but Moridin did not push. Still, it was much more than she'd been able to glean on her own. Demandred apparently held a throne and had armies. Which were gathered. The Borderlanders marching through the east seemed more and more likely." “

 

So, we are supposed to think of King Paitar of Arafel and King Easar of Shienar, unless of course Demandred has a fondness for cross-dressing, which might be funny, but I don't think it's that sort of a book. However, as has been said before, these guys know each other fairly well (their families are intermarried) and it would be troublesome to impersonate one.

The quote itself bothers me too. If Demandred doesn't want to let on to Graendal where he's hiding why say "my rule is scure", why not "my position is secure"?

I think he's deliberately sowing confusion here, but he's talking to Moridin, so he's unlikely to be lying.

I think he does hold a throne, just not the one she thinks, and what's more it's not his main power base.

 

What other throne could he hold (at the time of the quote above)?

Altara - Officially ruled by KIng Beslan, under Empress Fortuona (Semirhage had been in control)

Amadicia - officially ruled by King Ailron (now dead) defeated by the Seanchan at Jeramel (Semirhage had been in control)

Andor - Elayne

Arad Doman - King Alsalam is missing (Graendal in control)

Ghealdan - Officialy ruled by Queen Alliandre

Illian - Rand

Tarabon - We know nothing of the new rulers at Tanchico, but the Seanchan (Semirhage) are in control

 

That leaves :

Tear - King Darlin Sisnera, I'm not at all convinced by him but his history is too long and complete for him to be Demandred in disguise.

and

Murandy - King Roedran Almaric do Arreloa a'Naloy

 

Murandy, small, conveniently placed, not very stable (TFOH ch11-"...the throne changed hands at sometimes short intervals,,,") and it keeps popping up in the story, as if to remind us of it's existence.

A nice base of operations, not the main force mind, just a convenient hq to spy on Mat and the Band from? (TGS ch 20- Talmanes reveals a fancy pipe given to him by King Roedran, some sort of a 'finder' perhaps?

It may be small, but it enables him to say "My rule is secure", and it wouldn't take up too much of his time.

So where is the main power base?

My guess is that he is indeed controlling the Borderland armies, but via proxies (can you imagine a Forsaken happy about camping in Far Madding?).

I think he has plenty of spies/proxies with the Ever Victorious army and I reckon he was responsible for Masema and Asunawa, ensuring an easy passage for Semi in Amadicia Ghealdan and Altara, but right now he's scrambling to take control of the Seanchan.

 

And, of course, he could also be Moridin's personal general, gathering assorted nasties and beasties in the Blight.

 

As for Bashere, his appearance was very suspicious and I await the scene where he meets Faile or Tenobia...

[jdbond]

Bashere meets Faile in book 6, LoC.

[rambling]

Bashere meets Faile in book 6, LoC.

 

Thanks, completely forgot that

[Gor]

Demandred probably has his hands on the Black Tower as well. Murandy is his seat of power though.

[cap10kirk]

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Genaral Galgan was under Demandred's control, but I doubt he is Demandred himself. Demandred is too ambitious, he would want to be in a position to see an overall picture of the coming Last Battle and not be limited to looking at it from just one side. Being Genaral Galgan would take up too much of his time.

And he is supposedly famous for using proxies (I keep reading this but can't find an actual reference, any pointers would be much appreciated).

 

 

Murandy - King Roedran Almaric do Arreloa a'Naloy

 

 

As for Bashere, his appearance was very suspicious and I await the scene where he meets Faile or Tenobia...

I'm inclined to agree with your points. However, Bashere did meet with Faile already. I am looking forward to his meeting with Tenobia.

[bysomy]

Demandred=King of Murandy=Recruiting soldiers= using DF Ashaman to scan force for channelers=training both discovered channelers and reg soldiers= when Rand attacks SG Demandred attacks from back with transported Shadowspawn new Dreadlords and Murandian soldiers while Moridan attacks from front= Rand defeated

[Keiling]

Ohhh Demandred is everywhere... muahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaah

[Tom Sawyer]

My personal theory is that Rand is Demandred in disguise and is waiting his chance to kill Moridin at the Last Battle and become Naeblis.

[Durinax]

Plus the army being built in Lugard by Demandred. I mean Roedran.

Oh, yeah. I forgot about that one. Hmmmmm...

I thought about it. Roedran was trying to bring his nobles to heel. He accomplished his goal, in large part, because of Mat's Band. He managed to raise an army, but that army is probably no larger than the Band was at that point. And what kind of troops would he have? Certainly not the veteran warriors of the Seanchan, Aiel, or Borderlanders. They would be little better than Massema's army. Well... not that bad, but you get the point.

 

Maybe I'm making something out of nothing, but why was General Galgan so surprised to see General Tylee? This was in TGS: Chapter 19. I found that odd. He was really surprised. Sure, Tylee was early, but Galgan was surprised. Because he sent the trollocs after her? Maybe she's becoming a little too good of a General?

or he was surprised because as I recall tylee was moving away from ebou dar with her army, with the trolloc attack being made to spread fear and put emphasis upon the fact that they where in a secure zone but where struck by quite a force.

 

as for Roedran we have no clue how large of an army he has consolidated. Just that he has. Personally I like to think that he would have a rather large army now with quite a few veteren troops (due to raiding into andor, fighting bandits that likely would target a disunified area, and each other) plus we do know that murandians can fight well as a cohesive unit if they have the will too (the false dragon they got faster than anywhere else)

[Sharaman]

I'm into my reread of TGS. I'm sure this has been discussed, but I believe General Galgan is Demandred. It seems that he was closely allied with Semirhage. He controls a massive army. And the Seanchan is causing all kinds of chaos. He doesn't need to murder Fortuona because she is doing what he wants. Just a hunch.

According to Brandon, Demandred's alter ego hasn't been seen onscreen in the series as of KoD. (He refused to confirm if Demandred had been seen onscreen in TGS.) If so, Galgan isn't Demandred.

If this is the case... We haven't seen King Roedran "on screen", have we? I just listened to TPoD: Chapter 18. It seems Roedran has become very clever all of a sudden. He was supposed to be a guy who likes to party hard, now he's uniting a kingdom. Fah!!!

Yes Roedran passes the "not onscreen" test. On that criteria he isn't ruled out from being Demandred

[didymos]

plus we do know that murandians can fight well as a cohesive unit if they have the will too (the false dragon they got faster than anywhere else)

 

Yeah, dude didn't channel, and he'd just declared, so it was more like he got jumped before he had a chance to do much of anything. It was also directly attributed to them panicking over the idea of some country with an actual military using it as a pretext for invasion. So little is said about it, there's no basis for concluding they either fought well or cohesively. For all we know, it was basically a lynch mob.

[sdboka]

What if Demandred isnt really "ruling" the army but has this army at his disposal? Just a thought. Because him being a king or a general just isn't that believable as Demandred's "proxy". You use a proxy because you DONT WANT anyone to recognize you. Otherwise he'll just show himself in his true form since of all the people in Randland only Rand/LTT will recognize him. So why making a proxy with the Demandred-like features. If I were Demandred I'd pose as someone who doesn't look a bit like me, in which I can be in a position where I can watch Rand or at least have a first-hand information on Rand's whereabout and whatabouts and have an army at my disposal.

 

Just my two cents

[Durinax]

plus we do know that murandians can fight well as a cohesive unit if they have the will too (the false dragon they got faster than anywhere else)

 

Yeah, dude didn't channel, and he'd just declared, so it was more like he got jumped before he had a chance to do much of anything. It was also directly attributed to them panicking over the idea of some country with an actual military using it as a pretext for invasion. So little is said about it, there's no basis for concluding they either fought well or cohesively. For all we know, it was basically a lynch mob.

it still stands that they worked together, with such a divided country that should have been next to impossible. I would think that they would have ended up in a bloody brawl slaughtering each other based on how divided their lords and thus armsmen are. So they do have a lot of potential to become a cohesive unit and if Roedran gives them a national image then they could be quite powerufl