Bonding and the merits of Compulstion

[David Selig]

After the Dragon was Reborn and the Horn of Valere was found, any right to gentle men ceased. Faced with imminent Last Battle, Aes Sedai should try to ally with the Asha'man who - even discounting the cleansing - wouldn't have time to go mad before the Last Battle in significant numbers.

Why? It's not like there was a timetable for the LB at this point. It could happen next week, it could also happen after 20 years. And who could expect the Asha'man to become such a force and learn to channel so quickly as they did? In the view of the Aes Sedai, it takes years for anyone to learn to channel to a level to be of much use, and at this point a male channeller would probably be insane (pre-Cleansing).

 

Besides, one of the horrible things about the taint insanity is that it appears at random - some men get insane after only few days of channelling, others go for years and are fine. The Asha'man could've easily gone insane in numbers two months after the formation of the Black Tower.

 

And let's not forget that before the Cleansing the male channellers were naturally by far the easiest people to recruit for the Shadow. The Dark One could offer taint immunity. The Asha'man experiment could've gone horribly wrong even without mass madness simply by most of them becoming DF. Which is not that far by what actually happened, anyway - look how quickly Taim was able to recruit so many of the Asha'man for his private army of DF.

[USURP888]

After the Dragon was Reborn and the Horn of Valere was found, any right to gentle men ceased. Faced with imminent Last Battle, Aes Sedai should try to ally with the Asha'man who - even discounting the cleansing - wouldn't have time to go mad before the Last Battle in significant numbers.

Why? It's not like there was a timetable for the LB at this point. It could happen next week, it could also happen after 20 years. And who could expect the Asha'man to become such a force and learn to channel so quickly as they did? In the view of the Aes Sedai, it takes years for anyone to learn to channel to a level to be of much use, and at this point a male channeller would probably be insane (pre-Cleansing).

 

Besides, one of the horrible things about the taint insanity is that it appears at random - some men get insane after only few days of channelling, others go for years and are fine. The Asha'man could've easily gone insane in numbers two months after the formation of the Black Tower.

 

And let's not forget that before the Cleansing the male channellers were naturally by far the easiest people to recruit for the Shadow. The Dark One could offer taint immunity. The Asha'man experiment could've gone horribly wrong even without mass madness simply by most of them becoming DF. Which is not that far by what actually happened, anyway - look how quickly Taim was able to recruit so many of the Asha'man for his private army of DF.

 

 

I agree with this, the danger of Ashaman going insane is very real, in the Chapter A cup of sleep, one of the men was already insane that's why he was put down. It is certainly a valid concern but balance it with the fact that the Dragon Reborn has already arrived and the AS acknowledge this, during a meeting of the Salidar AS they were discussing if gentling men would push Rand away from them. Apparently that kind of discussion never entered the minds of the tower AS at the time so they sent out the sisters to the black tower.

 

Now that Saidin has been cleansed, the thought of gentling has ceased hence Egwene telling Silviana that the Red Ajah should have a new purpose.

[MasterAblar]

After the Dragon was Reborn and the Horn of Valere was found, any right to gentle men ceased. Faced with imminent Last Battle, Aes Sedai should try to ally with the Asha'man who - even discounting the cleansing - wouldn't have time to go mad before the Last Battle in significant numbers.

Why? It's not like there was a timetable for the LB at this point. It could happen next week, it could also happen after 20 years. And who could expect the Asha'man to become such a force and learn to channel so quickly as they did? In the view of the Aes Sedai, it takes years for anyone to learn to channel to a level to be of much use, and at this point a male channeller would probably be insane (pre-Cleansing).

 

Besides, one of the horrible things about the taint insanity is that it appears at random - some men get insane after only few days of channelling, others go for years and are fine. The Asha'man could've easily gone insane in numbers two months after the formation of the Black Tower.

 

And let's not forget that before the Cleansing the male channellers were naturally by far the easiest people to recruit for the Shadow. The Dark One could offer taint immunity. The Asha'man experiment could've gone horribly wrong even without mass madness simply by most of them becoming DF. Which is not that far by what actually happened, anyway - look how quickly Taim was able to recruit so many of the Asha'man for his private army of DF.

 

 

I agree with this, the danger of Ashaman going insane is very real, in the Chapter A cup of sleep, one of the men was already insane that's why he was put down. It is certainly a valid concern but balance it with the fact that the Dragon Reborn has already arrived and the AS acknowledge this, during a meeting of the Salidar AS they were discussing if gentling men would push Rand away from them. Apparently that kind of discussion never entered the minds of the tower AS at the time so they sent out the sisters to the black tower.

 

Now that Saidin has been cleansed, the thought of gentling has ceased hence Egwene telling Silviana that the Red Ajah should have a new purpose.

 

The sisters werer not sent by the Tower, they were sent by Elaida.

[USURP888]

ah you're right, Elaida never informed the Hall and the debacle is one of the reasons Alviarin was able to blackmail Elaida.