Rand should have killed Masema.

[Dagon Thyne]

It makes no sense to me to have Faile kill Masema. It served no purpose. Thousands of people still think that Rand was behind the Dragonsworns' crimes, and Masema's followers still carry out his orders even with him dead.

 

It would have made more sense to have Perrin get him to Rand and Rand publically decry him for killing innocent people in his name and execute him for his crimes.

[Maleshub]

The Wise Ones and Aes Sedai tried to convince Perrin to kill Masema; but he refused to listen to their advice out of stubbornness and because his orders were to bring Masema to Rand. Then Perrin forgot his duties and went on his "Faile Rescue" using Masema, who is now dead and his followers all dead as well.

 

It is noted that the Dragonsworn plague was caused by many factors. The Whitecloaks had a hand, the foresaken had a hand, Logain started it all in that part of the Randland, and Rand had a hand (indirectly) in the fiasco. But the Shaido solved that problem!

[Luckers]

Things don't always work out poetically. Mind you, for a long time I was expecting that Masema was being kept in the story long enough for Moiraine to come back and do away with him, mainly because of this....

 

“You are right, innkeeper,” Lan said. “This fellow isn’t likely to trouble us here. I knew a fellow once who liked to make wild speeches. You remember him, Lady Alys, don’t you? Masema?”

 

Moiraine gave a start. “Masema. Yes. Of course. I had put him out of my mind.” Her voice firmed. “When next I see Masema, he will wish someone had peeled his hide to make boots.” She slammed the door behind her so hard that the crash echoed down the hallway.

 

“Keep a quiet!” came a muffled shout from the far end. “My head is splitting!”

 

“Ah.” Furlan washed his hands in one direction., then rubbed them in the other. “Ah. Forgive me, Master Andra, but Lady Alys is a fierce sounding woman.”

 

“Only with those who displease her,” Lan said blandly. “Her bite is far worse than her bark.”

[bustycops1987]

By the time Perrin was even in a position to deal with Masema properly there were so many other armies in the field even if Perrin or Rand hadn't been busy with other things it wouldn't much have mattered. Even if you ignore Forsaken/Dark One plots and issues dealing with the power, Masemas' ragtag band of 10-20,000 was still less dangerous and influnetial than basically every other army on the field (i.e. Shaido, Seanchan, Tear Rebellion, etc)

 

Now a lot could be said for gateways since Perrin and company could have conceivably solved both the Faile and Masema issues with a few quick gateways, but then you just get stuck up on arguing semantics and how the power could be used more effectively than the characters in the books do it.

[Agitel]

I actually liked Masema's end, if only for how it better characterizes Perrin and Faile. Not everything gets tied up in a nice little bow or ends as it "should". With so many plots that would just seem silly after a while.

[Lisa Campbell]

Faile could have killed him for some kind of Darkfriend failure/punishment reason. She is getting more and more suspicious to me, especially after coming across this last week in WH Ch6, Old Fear and New Fear:

 

Instead of answering immediately, she frowned down at Colavere. "Is she still under? Not that it matters, I suppose. She knows more than I would say here. Everything we worked so hard to keep hidden. She let that slip to Maire, too. She knows too much."

 

What the hell is Faile talking about? If it was some secrets of Rand/Perrin, why would Colavere know them? She wasn't in the "circle of trust"... Perrin makes a mental note to find out later but forgets all about it in the throes of passion, and it is never mentioned again.

[pepe Al'thor]

lol, the way Masema died made me laugh my ass off, it just had the feel of Brandon Sanderson going ..."this stupid side plot needs to end" and just killed him off as quick as possible, i mean he got a quick Prologue death after being this annoyance practically throughout the whole series... hahahaha

[Maleshub]

Faile could have killed him for some kind of Darkfriend failure/punishment reason. She is getting more and more suspicious to me, especially after coming across this last week in WH Ch6, Old Fear and New Fear:

 

Instead of answering immediately, she frowned down at Colavere. "Is she still under? Not that it matters, I suppose. She knows more than I would say here. Everything we worked so hard to keep hidden. She let that slip to Maire, too. She knows too much."

 

What the hell is Faile talking about? If it was some secrets of Rand/Perrin, why would Colavere know them? She wasn't in the "circle of trust"... Perrin makes a mental note to find out later but forgets all about it in the throes of passion, and it is never mentioned again.

 

I think this just shows that Faile's loyalty is to Perrin, not the Dragon or his cause. She was out to secure her husband's standing after learning that Rand is no longer the ruler in Cairhien. Rand's thoughts early on in Book 7 indicate that he has come to understand Faile and her motives in this general direction. And he saw it in Perrin's eyes that Faile was more important to him than Rand. Maybe it was part of why he sent Perrin away on the mission to Ghealdan ...

[Durinax]

It makes no sense to me to have Faile kill Masema. It served no purpose. Thousands of people still think that Rand was behind the Dragonsworns' crimes, and Masema's followers still carry out his orders even with him dead.

 

It would have made more sense to have Perrin get him to Rand and Rand publically decry him for killing innocent people in his name and execute him for his crimes.

I think that was the purpose of the mission to have rand denounce Masema to his face, while at the same time keep the mob so they can be formed into something useful. Masema screwed that up by refusing to Travel, which left Perrin with no choice.