Dreadlords

[Mordaunt]

So, going through re-read number 8 at the moment, The Fellowship are just about to leave Emond's Field. I spot an innocent little bit of exposition that never sunk in before. The Dreadlords (those wonderful men and women that can channel aka dark non-Forsaken channelers) led the Myrddraal and the Trollocs in the Trolloc Wars. Now, I always assumed they led behind the Forsaken in the War of Power, and were generally killed out after that as part of the Sealing and Breaking. But it appears they somehow reappeared 1000 years later to coordinate the Trolloc Wars. My question is where did they come from? Then it occurred to me.

 

Male Aes Sedai went mad, what about male and female AoL Black Ajah Aes Sedai? Could they be off breeding up in the Blight? Is this the ___ in the Blight? We're naively assuming a crop of Dreadlords is getting re-made for the Last Battle out of 13'd Asha'man and 3rd Age Black Ajah, what if there's a colony in the Blight, descended from male Atha'an Shador where they've spent the last 3000 years perfecting their Dreadlording and genetically engineering fighters (red vieled Aiel)?

 

Your thoughts? I guess what I want to work out is where the Dreadlords appeared from during the Trolloc Wars, and what impact this could cause in the Last Battle.

[Barid Bel Medar]

WEll first of all, as you know, the female dreadlords are the black ajah, most of them are in the tower and doing Aes Sedai stuff behind the scenes.

 

As for the male dreadlords, I have thought somethhing along the same lines.

 

The shadow has a bunch of male-channelers up in the Blight, or hidden away somewhere, is my thought. Or at least, they did in the Trolloc Wars etc...

 

The current male dreadlords, I think, have been sent to the Black Tower to help out Taim and such, where they can act relatively freely in the world ( i use the term loosely) without being hunted for being a Darkfriend.

 

Having said that, I would not be suprised if there was still a large group of Dreadlords hidden in the Blight, that come out to play on the final day.

 

Also, I know many wont agree, and I know all the reasons against it, but I still think that the Red-veiled Aiel fellows are the Male-Aiel-Channelers that are sent to the blight when they learn they can channel. Corrupted by the shadow (not just 13x13) I mean, if the DO can create bubbles of evil, he has the TP, create trollocs, Myrdrraal, Drakghar, steal the souls of people to make grey men, I am pretty damn sure the colour of their eyes isnt a problem he cant overcome. (or, perhaps that is the DO's weakness? He cant change the colour of people's eyes!!!!!)

[Zentari]

Well as far as the male channelers are concerned, if the WoT guide can be trusted on it,Shara can be a good recruiting ground since the men aren't killed.

 

WEll first of all, as you know, the female dreadlords are the black ajah, most of them are in the tower and doing Aes Sedai stuff behind the scenes.

You are assuming that only Aes sedai of the black Ajah are dreadlords something that is incorrect since there are darkfriends in other organizations too.

[Barid Bel Medar]

Well as far as the male channelers are concerned, if the WoT guide can be trusted on it,Shara can be a good recruiting ground since the men aren't killed.

 

WEll first of all, as you know, the female dreadlords are the black ajah, most of them are in the tower and doing Aes Sedai stuff behind the scenes.

You are assuming that only Aes sedai of the black Ajah are dreadlords something that is incorrect since there are darkfriends in other organizations too.

 

Ah, indeed, you are right. I wasnt thinking broadly enough.

 

So yes, there can be dreadlords from Windfinders, Wise Ones, Ayyad, Kin. I hesitate to put Seanchan in there, because of the whole collared bit, but I suppose that the Shadow could recruit and then whisk them off somehow.

 

And, continuing from Zentari again, the males, yes, can be recruited from Shara. They are taught nothing of the world, kept in seclusion all their lives, Id say its perffect chance to get some dreadlords. A chance of "freedom". Also, Dreadlords could be recruited from basically any runaway male. Id say a fair few turned just so they could survive. But I dont think mass numbers could be procured from this. The Seanchan, Aes Sedai and Sea Folk do a good job killing them off, only few would escape.

 

THe best (and only) places for mass male Dreadlords would be Shara and the Aiel. Also, to throw it out there, the Land of Madmen. (you could also say the same for women channelers).

[Sharaman]

Ishamel was free for one of his periods and planned the Trolloc wars.

He would certainly know how to test for male channeler potential using the resonance method that Taim demonstrates in LoC. So he would be able to recruit male channelers and train them, etc. We don;t know from where but it could be by winnowing through the ranks of Darkfriends everywhere, in Shara, etc.

[mb]

I recall somewhere telling that Ishamael created the Black Ajah during Trolloc Wars.

He and/or they could have recruited the other dreadlords.

 

I take the dreadlords came from the "main" area (east of world spine, south of the blight).

[Mongoose]

Ishamael's returns happened during the major periods of upheaval (Trolloc Wars, War of the Hundred Years, now) so I figure he used those opportunities to scout for sympathetic channellers.

 

Also since Taim is a Darkfriend, I figure most of the male Dreadlords will be/are coming from his faction in the BT.

As for those weird Aiel, I was wondering what the deuce was up with them..

[mb]

Taim's alliance seems uncertain to me right now. Though it seems certain that he is non-Light (which is not necessarily the same as Dark side).

[MierinWru]

Hundreds (possibly thousands) of Dreadlords coming out of the Blight in the LAST book of the series sounds like an awful plot device to be honest. But yeah, the Shadow is seriously lacking dangerous elements. The good guys just keep winning again and again. Even the Forsaken proved to be useless for the most part.

But still I think it's far more likely that the only channelers fighting for DO will be Black Ajah and Taim's guys from the Black Tower.

[Kidicaris]

I remember reading in the white guide book that the male channelers of Shara are only kept alive for 21(?) years and then are executed. I'm guessing that age is also around the age men usually begin to channel if they have the spark. If my memory is good then I'd put forth that there would not be a huge pool of male channelers in Shara, since anyone of them over 21 are dead.

 

Luckily for the Shadow Taim seems to have been doing a good job of finding both darkfriends and channelers who can be promoted to dreadlords, and then there are the many Black Ajah who already exist. Whether or not these men and woman will make great leaders and generals enough to deserve the title Dreadlord is another question. So far all we've seen is cannon fodder channelers and--frankly, idiot men and women who would serve the Shadow better... in a cook pot. Just because you can make a fireball and some lightning to intimidate a trollock doesn't mean you can effectively place and maneuver armies of them against the Light.

[Zentari]

I remember reading in the white guide book that the male channelers of Shara are only kept alive for 21(?) years and then are executed. I'm guessing that age is also around the age men usually begin to channel if they have the spark. If my memory is good then I'd put forth that there would not be a huge pool of male channelers in Shara, since anyone of them over 21 are dead.

You are assuming that Shara is free of darkfriend infiltration.If that isn't the case, then the Shadow has the perfect front for recruiting said channelers: they were executed as far as the governing bodies are concerned.

 

It's not a hindrance, it's an advantage.

[Kidicaris]

I remember reading in the white guide book that the male channelers of Shara are only kept alive for 21(?) years and then are executed. I'm guessing that age is also around the age men usually begin to channel if they have the spark. If my memory is good then I'd put forth that there would not be a huge pool of male channelers in Shara, since anyone of them over 21 are dead.

You are assuming that Shara is free of darkfriend infiltration.If that isn't the case, then the Shadow has the perfect front for recruiting said channelers: they were executed as far as the governing bodies are concerned.

 

It's not a hindrance, it's an advantage.

 

THAT, is a very very interesting idea. I have always been curious about Shara, but your line of reasoning reminds me of how Ishamael manipulated Hawking and ultimately the children. We've seen Seanchan, it's makes sense that Shara (if that other child of Hawking made it there and founded it) could be equally twisted. It would be shear brilliance if Ishamael set up Shara as a breeding ground for future channelers he intended to use in the last battle, the society would not even have to be of the Shadow, just manipulated enough that they thought they were doing the right thing--like Seanchan and their damane.

[yoniy0]

Never mind that every time Ishamael gets freed he can assemble channelers, train the men, and then set them loose on the world. That alone may explain where they come from.