Questions on Caemlyn, The Black Tower

[Saguin Venart]

How many thousands of mercenaries are there?

Is the entire Band of the Red Hand there or only half?

How many dragons have been made?

 

 

Is there any way to know these things? If the answer to all three things swing in Andor's favor, Caemlyn may not be as screwed as we think.

 

 

Also I don't think Taim is actually Taim, I think the real Taim was kidnapped and Demandred replaced him, I think Davram Bashere himself didn't recognize him when he saw him.

[David Selig]

Half of the Band went to Cairhien and then to Merrilor.

 

I am not sure about the exact number of mercenaries, but when Mat was passing some of their camps outside of Caemlyn, he noted "There were at least ten thousand mercenaries in the area".

 

I don't know about the numbers of dragons though, I don't think it's mentioned anywhere.

 

Oh, and Taim is not Demandred, Jordan denied this theory numerous times.

[Mashiara Sedai]

I think the thing about Taim is that he has been changed with a 13x13 combination. That's the reason Bashere didn't recognize him, the same way Androl said there was something off about one of the other Asha'man, the one that used to be loyal to Logain, but now is loyal to Taim. I think it's part of sensing the Dark One's touch. Rand, with his new insight, is able to tell from someones eyes if they are a darkfriend. With the 13x13 it seems that the DO's touch is a bit more obvious and others can tell.

 

~Mashiara

[Grandis]

I think the thing about Taim is that he has been changed with a 13x13 combination. That's the reason Bashere didn't recognize him, the same way Androl said there was something off about one of the other Asha'man, the one that used to be loyal to Logain, but now is loyal to Taim. I think it's part of sensing the Dark One's touch. Rand, with his new insight, is able to tell from someones eyes if they are a darkfriend. With the 13x13 it seems that the DO's touch is a bit more obvious and others can tell.

 

~Mashiara

 

I agree with you about Bashere(and the rest). Probably the reason why he shaved his beard; to give people who noticed something off about him a plausible explanation.

[moratcorlm]

Demandred's alter ego has not been seen 'on-screen' through KOD, per Jordan and Sanderson. That includes the period where he was obviously a Darkfriend, as well as the period where he was just obviously a bad guy.

 

There are probably several tens of thousands of soldiers around Caemlyn, if Mat saw ten thousand just on his walk back to camp. Certainly the ~15,000 remaining members of the Band are the largest of the (sigh) forces in the area, though.

[Muad Cheade]

Is the entire Band of the Red Hand there or only half?

Elayne took the regiments made of Cairhien soldiers. We don't know how many in total that is.

 

Also I don't think Taim is actually Taim, I think the real Taim was kidnapped and Demandred replaced him, I think Davram Bashere himself didn't recognize him when he saw him.

The reason Bashere didn't recognize Taim was because he had shaved and his face seemed older due to his wearisome journey. The fact that he taunted Bashere about Compelling one of his liegeman and liegewoman implies he is the same.

 

Also and most importantly, RJ said Demandred is not Taim.