The Blight and Aes Sedai

[bigdoug1971]

While I understand Fal Dara isn't the seat of the King of Sheinar, as a Keep large enough to protect an entire town and the surrounding area, why aren't there Aes Sedai in residence? The Blight is a few miles outside their gates! We know for a fact there are none there before the arrival of Moriaine and company. Lord Algemar tells her they are marching to Tarwin's Gap and asked Lan to fly the Golden Crane. When he refused, he told Moiraine she would be worth 1000 lances by herself. She of course had to refuse him because they were headed to find the Eye of the World.

 

I guess I've never understood the workings of the White Tower and the things left out of the books. If the White Tower wants to weild their political influence everywhere and flaunt their power, and Fal Dara is the 1st defense against the Blight, why aren't there a couple of Green sisters living there full time? There are always raids and skirmishes with trollocs and Myrdrall there. They know there is danger year round.

 

Wouldn't it make more sense to establish residency or a small seat of power close to the Blight? The Green Ajah, for all their claims to want to fight the Shadow, don't do a very good job of inserting themselves into a "battle situation" or go where they would be most useful. After what happened with Malkier in LIVING MEMORY one would think the White Tower would want to prevent that from ever happening again. Especially if Moiraine is to believed when she tells Lan why the White Tower never arrived to help when Malkier fell. "Because the White Tower cannot be seen to fail mankind".

[Suttree]

While I understand Fal Dara isn't the seat of the King of Sheinar, as a Keep large enough to protect an entire town and the surrounding area, why aren't there Aes Sedai in residence? The Blight is a few miles outside their gates! We know for a fact there are none there before the arrival of Moriaine and company. Lord Algemar tells her they are marching to Tarwin's Gap and asked Lan to fly the Golden Crane. When he refused, he told Moiraine she would be worth 1000 lances by herself. She of course had to refuse him because they were headed to find the Eye of the World.

 

I guess I've never understood the workings of the White Tower and the things left out of the books. If the White Tower wants to weild their political influence everywhere and flaunt their power, and Fal Dara is the 1st defense against the Blight, why aren't there a couple of Green sisters living there full time? There are always raids and skirmishes with trollocs and Myrdrall there. They know there is danger year round.

 

Wouldn't it make more sense to establish residency or a small seat of power close to the Blight? The Green Ajah, for all their claims to want to fight the Shadow, don't do a very good job of inserting themselves into a "battle situation" or go where they would be most useful. After what happened with Malkier in LIVING MEMORY one would think the White Tower would want to prevent that from ever happening again. Especially if Moiraine is to believed when she tells Lan why the White Tower never arrived to help when Malkier fell. "Because the White Tower cannot be seen to fail mankind".

 

First off the auhtor is quoted saying there are Greens and their warders up guarding the blight. In addition Lord Agelmar makes reference in EoTW to intelligence reports coming from stationed warders about shadowspawn activities.

 

EotW

 

None of their scouts, and none of the Warders, report Trolloc massing above their borders, as we have here, but they believe

 

The problem is pre-travelling there is no way to properly defend against raids. Another statement made by Agelmar is a winter of "heavy raiding" was close to unheard of since th Trolloc Wars.

 

EotW

Kandor, Arafel, Saldaea - the Trollocs raided them all straight through the winter. Nothing like that has happened since the Trolloc Wars."

 

The problem is there is no way with the AS's current numbers to effectively defend the entire borderlands against raiding. That has all changed of course now that travelling is discovered.

 

As for Malkier that is no fault of the AS, there was no time to even get aid from the neigboring countries. It was a DF plot contructed by their own nobles. The borderforts werre purposely stripped and a sneak attack came barelling through. There is no possible way they could have done anything.

[Barid Bel Medar]

Yeah, at the time (Before Travelling) Aes Sedai simply didn't have the ability to protect the Blightborder in any force.

 

The decline of the Tower since Hawkwing's fall left them without the resources to do so, not that they didn't want to.

 

But Trolloc incursions grew smaller and fewer, as Suttree pointed out. The Blight has been comparatively silent in the recent years.

 

So basically, the Aes Sedai did keep an eye on the Blightborder (I say did, because at the moment the Blightborder is overrun pretty much everywhere by now) but lack of personnel, resources and need to defend it meant no concentrated force was needed.

 

The Aes Sedai were not in Fal Dara because they are for the most part roaming the Blightborder, not in cities (IIRC).

 

It is something that has bothered me a bit. The Greens have a been poorly represented "on-screen" for the most part. The Greens that we see the most are those who are in the Tower, or among the Rebels, which do not really do much defending against anything, they are just involved in the politicking, not to mention the sorry performance the Greens showed in the Tower Raid. (Although they couldn't be expected to do that well, they still didn't perform amazingly) I am looking forward to seeing the "real" Greens, more like Cadsuane. The ones who defended the Blightborder for years.They should show what being Green really means.

[bcspeer]

really the only Ajahs that do what they are said to do are the Browns, Greys, Blues, and I guess the Black. Yellows aren't healing much if they stay in the Tower and I can't believe it took like 3000 years and a newly-raised Green (Elayne) to think of a hospital, I think there are too many Reds for the lack of male channelers in the years leading up to the Black Tower (isn't the number in the 20s) and I'm sure most of them have never even encountered a man who could channel until Rand but I guess they couldn't do anything about that, the problem with the Greens is mentioned above. In my opinion, Whites don't have much of a purpose anyways. Practically every Brown we have met is obsessed with knowledge. Greys have done their job. Blues do what Aes Sedai do best and scheme. Blacks had been somewhat successful until Egwene practically destroyed them.

[Barid Bel Medar]

Blacks had been somewhat successful until Egwene practically destroyed them.

 

The Black Ajah is totally destroyed. No woman in the Tower that has been raised to the Shawl is a Darkfriend (barring those who are in hiding or away, in which case they don't count anyway).

 

However, she didn't kill that many. A large portion of the former Black Ajah are Dreadlords ready to fight the Last Battle. So in that sense, they are not nearly destroyed, although they have been dealt a substantial blow.

[Suttree]

really the only Ajahs that do what they are said to do are the Browns, Greys, Blues, and I guess the Black. Yellows aren't healing much if they stay in the Tower and I can't believe it took like 3000 years and a newly-raised Green (Elayne) to think of a hospital, I think there are too many Reds for the lack of male channelers in the years leading up to the Black Tower (isn't the number in the 20s) and I'm sure most of them have never even encountered a man who could channel until Rand but I guess they couldn't do anything about that, the problem with the Greens is mentioned above.

 

It is a complete myth that some readers have come to in thinking most AS don't leave the WT. In point of fact every sisters rooms we see have mementos from a long life lived working around the world. At any given time at least 1/3 of the WT is out adventuring.

 

TGS

Maps hung within delicate frames, centered on the walls like prized pieces of art. A pair of Aiel spears hung on either side of one map; another was a map of the Sea Folk islands. While many might have opted for the porcelain keepsakes that were so commonly associated with the Sea Folk, Meidani had a small collection of earrings and painted shells, carefully framed and displayed, along with a small plaque beneath listing dates of collection.

 

The sitting room was like a museum dedicated to one person's journeys. An Altaran marriage knife, set with four twinkling rubies, hung beside a small Cairhienin banner and a Shienar sword. Each had a small plaque explaining its significance. The marriage knife, for instance, had been presented to Meidani for her help in settling a dispute between two houses over the death of a particularly important landowner. His wife had given her the knife as a token of thanks.

 

Who would have thought that the cowering woman of the dinner a few weeks back would have such a proud collection? The rug itself was labeled, the gift of a trader who had purchased it on the closed docks of Shara, then bestowed it on Meidani in thanks for Healing his daughter. It was of strange design, woven from what seemed to be tiny, dyed reeds, with tufts of an exotic gray fur trimming the edges. The pattern depicted exotic creatures with long necks.

 

Meidani herself sat on a curious chair made from woven wicker boughs, crafted to look like a growing thicket of branches that just happened to take the shape of a chair. It would have been horribly out of place in any other room in the Tower, but it fit within these quarters, where each item was different, none of them related yet somehow all connected with the common theme of gifts received during travels.

 

As for the Yellows they uses their eyes and ears network to hear about and then travel to outbreaks of disease and the like. A hospital would obvs be better but they are hardly staying in the WT. Reds have taken down far more than 20 male channelers, hell Cadsuane herself has taken down 20+ which was said to be "more than any two reds" so you can break down the numbers from that. Per BS Greens are up guarding the blight. Blues have their causes, Greys have been shown to have averted numerous wars and forged treaties etc.

 

Don't get me wrong the WT as an overall institution has failed, but some in the fandom makes it out to be far worse than the reality of the situation.

[Ferdawoon]

Wouldn't it make more sense to establish residency or a small seat of power close to the Blight? The Green Ajah, for all their claims to want to fight the Shadow, don't do a very good job of inserting themselves into a "battle situation" or go where they would be most useful. After what happened with Malkier in LIVING MEMORY one would think the White Tower would want to prevent that from ever happening again. Especially if Moiraine is to believed when she tells Lan why the White Tower never arrived to help when Malkier fell. "Because the White Tower cannot be seen to fail mankind".

I think you should read that part again, in New Spring.

Moiraine say in confidence to Lan that the tower did send troops. I think she say 300 Aes Sedai. The problem was that they were too late and when they got there, the battle was over and Malkier lost.

That is when the tower decided that being seen as having failed to in time reach such a call for help from someone so important, it was better to seem as if they had not even tried.

[Vardar]

As for the Yellows they uses their eyes and ears network to hear about and then travel to outbreaks of disease and the like. A hospital would obvs be better but they are hardly staying in the WT. Reds have taken down far more than 20 male channelers, hell Cadsuane herself has taken down 20+ which was said to be "more than any two reds" so you can break down the numbers from that. Per BS Greens are up guarding the blight. Blues have their causes, Greys have been shown to have averted numerous wars and forged treaties etc.

 

Don't get me wrong the WT as an overall institution has failed, but some in the fandom makes it out to be far worse than the reality of the situation

 

Where did you get that 20+ number?

 

Also in the first books, it appeared there were far more "Warders" than there were AS. it was never explained, just dropped.

Easy example, when Logain was brought into Calmayne, he had a large guard of warders, yet they were all Red Ajah.

When the AS came to Fal Dara, weren't there 20 Warders with them? How many AS again? The greens had 2 each, with 2 reds, there's still some numbers off.

[bigdoug1971]

Wouldn't it make more sense to establish residency or a small seat of power close to the Blight? The Green Ajah, for all their claims to want to fight the Shadow, don't do a very good job of inserting themselves into a "battle situation" or go where they would be most useful. After what happened with Malkier in LIVING MEMORY one would think the White Tower would want to prevent that from ever happening again. Especially if Moiraine is to believed when she tells Lan why the White Tower never arrived to help when Malkier fell. "Because the White Tower cannot be seen to fail mankind".

I think you should read that part again, in New Spring.

Moiraine say in confidence to Lan that the tower did send troops. I think she say 300 Aes Sedai. The problem was that they were too late and when they got there, the battle was over and Malkier lost.

That is when the tower decided that being seen as having failed to in time reach such a call for help from someone so important, it was better to seem as if they had not even tried.

 

 

 

Maybe you should read my post again. I think it's exactly what I said to begin with.

[Suttree]

As for the Yellows they uses their eyes and ears network to hear about and then travel to outbreaks of disease and the like. A hospital would obvs be better but they are hardly staying in the WT. Reds have taken down far more than 20 male channelers, hell Cadsuane herself has taken down 20+ which was said to be "more than any two reds" so you can break down the numbers from that. Per BS Greens are up guarding the blight. Blues have their causes, Greys have been shown to have averted numerous wars and forged treaties etc.

 

Don't get me wrong the WT as an overall institution has failed, but some in the fandom makes it out to be far worse than the reality of the situation

 

Where did you get that 20+ number?

 

Also in the first books, it appeared there were far more "Warders" than there were AS. it was never explained, just dropped.

Easy example, when Logain was brought into Calmayne, he had a large guard of warders, yet they were all Red Ajah.

When the AS came to Fal Dara, weren't there 20 Warders with them? How many AS again? The greens had 2 each, with 2 reds, there's still some numbers off.

 

RJ

In truth, Cadsuane had "a nose" for men who can channel. She faced more of them than any other sister living; she herself said more than any two Reds, maybe more than any ten. That seems to indicate at least twenty of them by that time, maybe more. She brought more of them to Tar Valon than any other sister. Of these, she never had to kill one, either because she could not capture him or because he was trying to escape. These men have ranged over the years from farmboys to nobles to the king of Tarabon, but one and all, they made much better adjustments to their fate than is considered normal.

 

I never really saw an issue with the warder numbers. There were more than just reds in the party that brought Logain in to Caemlyn and their were only a dozen warders. Either way Brandon said AS are up guarding the blight, in addition to noting the greater numbers of AS attached to borderland rulers.

 

TeoT

and to either side, rode a dozen Warders, their cloaks swirling and tangling the eye.