The Borderlanders

[Viperswhip]

I am pretty sure Jordan said that the only way for Shaitan to really win is for the Dragon to side with the Shadow, otherwise it's a stalemate or something. I can't remember but I am sure someone can did it up.

 

So, the Borderlanders were there to test if the Dragon was in danger of falling to the Shadow. They didn't state that outright but we know how hard the Shadow was trying to turn Rand, there is no reason to do so other than a true necessity; likely, so they can actually all out win. Maybe it's some deal with the Creator that Shaitan has, along the lines where Shaitan only gets what he wants (destruction of the Pattern and the Wheel) if the Creator's champion falls to darkness. Maybe it's along the lines of the biblical flood or Sodom and Gomorrah where if Rand, the Creator's chosen one turns the Creator gets all pissy and just destroys everything so he can try again some place else.

 

I waffled hard on if the whole Borderlander storyline was a failure or not and I think not. They don't actually take up that many pages and they have been used by both Elayne and Egwene to advance their storylines, so they helped along the way.

 

They obviously brought this many men and 13 Aes Sedai in case the Lew Therin they met with was a bad guy, even if not officially signed up. Obviously the Aes Sedai that made the prophecy was aware of how bad that would be.

 

Well, if I was one of the soldiers from Kandor or Arafel I would want to kill my ruler once I got wind of the news that my nations had basically fallen to Trollocs while a huge part of the army and the leaders of the country went on vacation. I doubt the rulers were telling their men what was so bloody important that they had to march thousands of miles just to slap the Dragon Reborn a few times.