The Best Move by the Dark

[Nygma7]

I vote for the White Tower split. I hesitated a bit with this just because the White Tower has mostly been incompetent and there is no guarantee that they would have accomplished anything if they had stayed strong. But the Tower certainly has the potentional to do great things if they get their act together and the split basically kept them from aiding the Light's cause for many months.

I don't know. At some point in the books, Rand makes the fair point that the Tower splitting was the best thing that could have happened for him - both sides were too busy eying each other to do anything about him.

 

And if the Tower *were* whole and by some miracle weren't interfering with Rand, would they have done anything constructive against the Shadow? Frankly, I think they would have been much like they are now that they're whole again - wasted potential.

[capuga]

I vote for the White Tower split. I hesitated a bit with this just because the White Tower has mostly been incompetent and there is no guarantee that they would have accomplished anything if they had stayed strong. But the Tower certainly has the potentional to do great things if they get their act together and the split basically kept them from aiding the Light's cause for many months.

I don't know. At some point in the books, Rand makes the fair point that the Tower splitting was the best thing that could have happened for him - both sides were too busy eying each other to do anything about him.

 

And if the Tower *were* whole and by some miracle weren't interfering with Rand, would they have done anything constructive against the Shadow? Frankly, I think they would have been much like they are now that they're whole again - wasted potential.

 

I don't disagree with you - that's why I was so hesitant to give them my vote. I guess I just envisioned how much they could have potentially done. But you're probably right - its unlikely they would have ever reached that potential and done anything useful even without the split.

[Mr Hindley]

Not listed: Getting Rand to take the bait and use the TP.

 

I'd count that under the 'consequences' of Semirhage's attack with the Domination Band. Whether it was intended or not is another question.

 

A bit late maybe but have added an extra option, for Semirhage's slaughter of the Seanchan royal family. Although given that Tarmon Gaidon is mainly happening in Randland, and the Seanchan are doing more harm than good there at the moment, weakening the forces of the Return by removing their backup is something I'm not 100% convinced was a good move?

[Alternate34]

I tentatively voted for Semirhage's domination band hijinks, not knowing what the ultimate end of the Black Tower infiltration will be. Maybe the Black Tower infiltration leads to a more near catastrophe, but it is unknown at this point, while Semirhage's domination band had known serious consequences.

 

He touched the True Power as a result, which may have more consequences down the line, but did cause severe famine and general decay of society. He alienated everyone during this period of time. He ripped apart the Pattern with his scheme at Natrim's Barrow.

 

Additionally, the things that almost happened were exceedingly catastrophic. He almost cracked the world open like an egg. He almost re-enacted his role as the Kinslayer. The aftermath was the closest to victory the Dark ever came.

 

Now one may argue that almost shouldn't be considered. I think that argument is silly. Unless the Dark actually wins, almost is the best you are going to get. There will be no action be the Dark that will satisfy most successful gambit. Just because Rand did not completely turn and destroy everything doesn't mean that the Dark achieved nothing. If it does, then every other action will by definition achieve nothing. The Domination Band brought the Dark closer to victory more than anything else.

 

Another argument, more cogent, is that the Domination Band must share credit with The Box, The False Car'a'Carn, and everything else as they all contributed to Rand's increasing paranoia and emotional seclusion. I would still argue that the Domination Band was a clear tipping point for some events. Rand touched the True Power as an immediate reaction to the Band. Because he touched the True Power, Rand decided to carry the Choden Kal with him rather than keep it hiding in safety. Doing that gave Rand the means to use the giant balefire blast. The True Power would have given Rand the means to destroy his Borderland allies. Touching the True Power caused the spoiling of food and famine (some level of speculation).

 

Lastly, reading the Domination Band chapter and it's immediate consequences felt a more momentous strike by the Dark. Just reading it made me see that Rand was on the precipice because of actions by the Dark One's minions rather than put on edge because of the world around him and his steadily devolving madness.

[RelentlessAttack]

I think the WT kidnapping. BT infiltration will probably have more negative consequences in AMOL but the kidnapping + dumai's wells really plunged Rand into insanity and paranoia, and it also really set Perrin's character back for several books. He really regressed after Dumai's Wells, and who wouldn't after that trauma.

[Xader]

I was originally going to go with the split of the WT. Nearly destroying an institution that has stood as a beacon of the Light for over 2000 years (I think - founded in 98AB, broken in 999 NE; 1 NE is 13XXAB). That's quite the accomplishment.

 

But then I realized that the BT had far more potential as a tool in TG. All the power channelers can bring to bear, without the scruples of the AS, or the conflicting agenda of the Seanchan. So corrupting it, and turning (arguably) the most powerful force in Randland against the forces of Light takes the cake.

[Hopefire]

The split of the White Tower was quite possibly the worst decision that the Shadow made. While the Tower was split, Aes Sedai were preoccupied with resolving the split in the Tower, when they could have been occupied with trying to control the Dragon Reborn. Rand greatly benefited from the split, as it allowed him to to move much more freely than otherwise would have been possible.

 

The best moves of the Shadow were either the capture of Rand or putting the Domination Band on Rand. The first pretty much marked the end of Rand's days of being a likable person for a long time; after that, he went rapidly downhill in terms of his ability to act in a sane, rational and compassionate fashion. The second led to Rand using the True Power, allowing the Dark One to influence him directly, and almost winning the war for the Shadow.

[Elan Tedronai]

In the current age, it's funny that the most damage caused by the dark forces comes from the weakest forsaken like asmo and messana. The likes of belal, aginor, rahvin, sammael, lanfear and even ishamael were simply useless.

 

Even when some of them were reborn they still remained useless and pitiful