Who is the most overrated character in the wheel of time?

[1Brotherbill]

 

We know it does...

 

 

Then why don't the books match this? The Black Ajah don't have the three oaths. They have been in the tower for thousands of years. It would be a red flag that they seem to live for hundreds of years longer than the rest of the sisters who walk in the light. I guess the third black sister oath is to die like the rest of the sisters?

 

And a binding rod used for criminals is one of the sacred artifacts form the age of legends that the white tower holds dear to there hearts. You would think that something made for that purpose would be something undesirable to have around.

[Suttree]

Then why don't the books match this? The Black Ajah don't have the three oaths. They have been in the tower for thousands of years. It would be a red flag that they seem to live for hundreds of years longer than the rest of the sisters who walk in the light. I guess the third black sister oath is to die like the rest of the sisters?

 

The BA have their own set of oaths. We don't know how they work however but RJ said it involves more than just swearing new oaths on the rod. In addition no one knows for certain if unswearing the oaths gives you those years back.

 

And a binding rod used for criminals is one of the sacred artifacts form the age of legends that the white tower holds dear to there hearts. You would think that something made for that purpose would be something undesirable to have around.

 

Like many things from the AoL its true use was lost over time.

[Thrasymachus]

Man, a lot of people are throwing around the suggestion of abusing the Oath Rod to cure all the Aes Sedai woes. Just re-swear, or add a new oath? Seriously? The Three Oaths have already halved the working age of Aes Sedai.

 

Another flaw with the books. The Black don't have the same oaths from the Oath Rod on them. So do they live longer then normal Aes Sedai? If they do then that would point to them as being Black. I don't think that the Oath Rod is what makes them die younger than the Kin. I think it might be the Accepted test that makes them die younger. As I recall passing the Accepted test forces you to be an Aes Sedai no matter how long it takes. The Kin was made up of a bunch of people that either failed the Accepted test or didn't make it that far as I recall.

 

Wow, it's hard to be this wrong. Blacks take the same oaths on the Oath Rod all the other Aes Sedai do, then have them removed and swear a new one to serve Him. We don't know whether removing Oaths sworn on a binder does anything at all to restore the life the first swearing took. For all we know, being released from an Oath counts the same as taking a new Oath. Egwene's cute trick with re-swearing the Oaths to catch the Black Ajah may well have ensured that no Aes Sedai of the Third Age except her, Nynaeve and Elayne survive much more than a couple of decades into the Fourth. Moreover, swearing any Oaths shortens one's life, and a person only under the influence of one Oath may not live much longer than the longest lived Aes Sedai under three. Finally, Aes Sedai don't talk about their ages. It's rude, and as far as their social hierarchy goes, it's largely irrelevant.

 

Suttree showed you that the binder really does take away some of the life of the channeler who swears on it, so that's 0 for 2 so far.

 

Finally, Accepted are not committed to becoming Aes Sedai no matter how long it takes because of the Three Rings test. If an Accepted fails her test for the shawl, or otherwise elects not to test, she is put out of the Tower with the things she brought in. Further, Sumeko is a former Accepted who failed her test for the shawl and joined the Kin. That's 0 for 3.

[Sheepherder]

Garath Bryne or any one of the "Great Generals" or "Captains" or what ever else the call them. Really the only thing I see is that they are put in charge of armies. Which makes them great I guess. Makes you kind of wonder what kind of leaders outside of the main characters of the books are made of. Lets see.... Pretty much a bunch of idiots.

 

Lan proved that he was just as good as Mat at planning strategy in Cairhein. And Mat is just as good as Bryne and the others.

 

So Great Generals and Captains over rated.

 

IIRC, they are known as the "great captains" based on their records from the Aiel wars. We haven't really gotten a chance to see most of them in action. Ituralde is the only one to orchestrate a large campaign and, if his performance against the Seanchan and his defense of Maradon is indicative the lot, then yes I would consider them exceptional military strategists.

 

I think it's pretty highly implied from that scene in FoH that Mat's military expertise is well above Lan and the Aiel Cheifs'

 

“With only a few minutes to study the maps, he laid out close to the battle plan that Rhuarc and the others made. He saw the difficulties and the dangers, and how to meet them.

 

In only a few minutes he devised the same plan that the group of them came up with in likely many hours of planning.

 

So, Mat is "greater" then the rest, but if Ituralde is an indication of all the "Great Captains'" talents then I don't think they are overrated.

[Thrasymachus]

IIRC, they are known as the "great captains" based on their records from the Aiel wars.

 

Don't forget about the Whitecloak War that preceded the Aiel War by only a few years. Pedron Nial was a Great Captain before the Aiel War because of his prosecution of that previous war, even though he ultimately lost. Not to mention the numerous skirmishes between nations that occurred between now and then. That's likely where Ituralde cemented his reputation as a Great Captain, in the ongoing war between Arad Doman and Tarabon over control of the Almoth Plain. Not that either nation had the power to really control it. I don't know if they count as characters, but the nations of Randland in general seem pretty overrated, what with the constant in-fighting, even Borderland nations weren't exempt, and they had a common enemy.

[Vardar]

I don't think that the Oath Rod is what makes them die younger than the Kin.

 

We know it does...

 

Interview: Apr, 2003

Budapest Q&A (Verbatim)

Question

Is it true that the Three Oaths is why Aes Sedai [mumble mumble] I thought it might be because, when you try to avoid the Three Oaths, you get a lot of dangerous situation [mumble mumble]...

 

Robert Jordan

No...now you have to be careful with this, because this is a kind of spoiler for people that haven’t read far enough, but the Oath Rod is what was in the Age of Legends called a binder. It was used on criminals. If you committed a violent act, or some sort of criminal act, with a binder, someone who could channel could be constrained from ever doing that again, and the result of having three of the Oaths, is the ageless appearance. One would not produce agelessness, but even one would shorten life, and three of them put a cap on Aes Sedai’s lives, on how long they could live.

 

Yea but it doesn't say if removing the oaths or swearing the same oaths affects it differently.

 

We'll never know this, However reswearing the will not lie oath still makes the most sense to me. Yes I agree that the oaths were dumb and probably need to go, I wouldn't swear them knowing they would kill my lifespan, however I was merely offering suggestions about getting rid of the BA. That being said, Mat is awesome. I love him.

[FanoLan]

Man, a lot of people are throwing around the suggestion of abusing the Oath Rod to cure all the Aes Sedai woes. Just re-swear, or add a new oath? Seriously? The Three Oaths have already halved the working age of Aes Sedai. Do we know whether being released from an Oath will restore the life the binding takes? I don't believe that's ever mentioned onscreen. What about re-swearing the same oath? We know the channelers feel them, after being released and re-swearing. For all we know, Egwene having all the Aes Sedai re-swear the Oaths may very well have taken 50 years off everyone's lives. That may have been worth it once, for the Great Purge, but too much is unknown about how the binder works to make regular swearing on it any kind of security measure. It's kinda funny that not screwing around with an ancient and poorly understood ter'angreal of obviously invasive and damaging power is somehow evidence of their stupidity and ignorance and that they act like middle school girls. Obviously, such powerful women of an ancient tradition need to be on the business end of a smooth, white rod that makes them feel funny inside much more often.

 

Just wanted to post my general agreement with the post and a thank you for the ungraceful guffaw that erupted upon reading the bolded. Grateful to have not been consuming anything at that moment. Incisive too.

[muddasssir]

Suttree and I agree on most things if we put eggy aside but I have coupl of qustions that I want to ask some of the posters. You do not like Rand or Mat or Perrin or Forsaken . Plase do not take m wrong but what are you doing here?

[RandA lThor]

Well, I personally like all of them, but those people could like everyone but them.

[muddasssir]

what else is there to like? if you take all of them out it takes away most of the plot development and main storyline. what is left?

[RandA lThor]

all the women (I am sorry, but that is hard to believe), other male characters such as Logain, Ituralde, and other darkfriends and SH, Padan Fain, Slayer. It is possible for you to not like the main characters just because they are the main characters and you like the side characters more who have a less significant role that is still important but diminished