Children of the Light vs. Aridhol

[mègon]

So I'm re-reading the series and I noticed something interesting as I was going through and I wanted to throw it out.

 

I quote here from tEotW, Shadow Waiting, pg 289 in the paperback

 

Before Mordeth had been long in the city he had Balwen's ear, and soon he was second only to the King. Mordeth whispered poison into Balwen's ear, and ARidhol began to change. Aridhol drew in on itself, hardened. It was said that some would rather see Trollocs come than the men of Aridhol. The victory of the Light is all. That was the battle cry Mordeth gave them, and the men of Aridhol shouted it while their deeds abandoned the Light.

 

It mainly the last two sentences of that paragraph that triggered it. I found a strange similarity between how the men or Aridhol act and how a lot of the White cloaks act.

 

I'm not going to post any spoilers, but I've seen some pretty terrible things done by the Children of the Light, in the name of the Light, that completely abandoned the Light.

 

The party has a small run in with White cloaks in Baerlon a few chapters before reaching Aridhol, and Perrin and Egwene have an encouter with the a few chapters after leaving.

 

Do you guys think it was an intentional link, as the Children show up just before and just after, or just something that I happened to stumble upon and say "Hey, those kinda match"?

[Gentled Ben]

Hey, those kinda match.

[mikey sedai]

Not necessarily a coincidence, but a good example of how men can abandon 'the light' and embrace evil thinking he's doing good. it sets up the CoL story arc, you're automatically suspicious of any Whitecloak after this piont, and leads them to the prologue of Kod really.

[kobra_khan69]

Its a way to show that someone can become so fixated on their goal that they lose sight of their morals and values in order to gain that goal. I personally think that the ends justifies the means just as Mordeth did and advised the people of Aridhol to do.

 

If killing Hitler's mother would have stopped the rise of the Nazi's would you have murdered an innocent woman? Most people would be torn between the answer to this question but I wouldn't hesitate in ripping that womans throat out.

 

Thats an example of having to do the unthinkable, such as murdering a woman, to save the lives of countless others.

 

 

I went kinda off topic in this but yeah there is a similarity between the two but the White Cloaks haven't ventured as far down the road as Aridhol has YET.

[mègon]

What means was Aridhol going after? The victory of the light? And the ends: The entire city of people wiped out and the city forever cursed.

 

Granted, had it not been for Mordeth, there would be many things that would be very different in the pattern of the age. Just shows the brilliance of the Age Lance.

 

As for killing Hitler's mother to prevent his birth. If you were able to go back in time and do this thing, do you have any idea the effect that it would have? I, personally believe, that even if you could travel back in time you wouldn't be able to actually change anything. But if you could change time, you would have no idea the effects that Hitler not living would have.

 

Yes, you might prevent what he did and the war he started, but what's to say someone else wouldn't have done the same thing, or that it would somehow bring about some other great catastrophe.

 

But that's totally off topic.

 

At what point does "the end justifies the means" put you past the point of no return? At what point does the end become different from that you first aimed towards? At what point do the means become too dark to continue to be justified by the end? Where do you draw the line once you've set foot along the path?

[Luckers]

Not necessarily a coincidence, but a good example of how men can abandon 'the light' and embrace evil thinking he's doing good. it sets up the CoL story arc, you're automatically suspicious of any Whitecloak after this piont, and leads them to the prologue of Kod really.

 

You see me, i didn't really like the CoL change in KoD... i didn't think it was backed up all that well with development... it was too sudden. It was like.

 

Whitecloaks: Grr. Witches. Lets kill them.

Galad: We should fight alongside the Aes Sedai.

Whitecloaks: Mmm... your pretty. We love that idea.

[algspkr]

Not necessarily a coincidence' date=' but a good example of how men can abandon 'the light' and embrace evil thinking he's doing good. it sets up the CoL story arc, you're automatically suspicious of any Whitecloak after this piont, and leads them to the prologue of Kod really.[/quote']

 

You see me, i didn't really like the CoL change in KoD... i didn't think it was backed up all that well with development... it was too sudden. It was like.

 

Whitecloaks: Grr. Witches. Lets kill them.

Galad: We should fight alongside the Aes Sedai.

Whitecloaks: Mmm... your pretty. We love that idea.

I disagree a bit Luckers. They heard about the Seanchan enslaving several of their number. They know they cannot deafeat the Seanchan alone. And Galad knows that not all Aes Sedai are bad, he just thinks most of them are, and I would not be surprised to learn that he does not believe that most of the bad Aes Sedai are not darkfriends.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Not to mention their membership has been decimated, Tarmon Gai'don is obviously impending, and when Galad said that, he was speaking as Lord Captain Commander. They weren't happy about it (as evidenced by the ones who followed Asunawa), but military chain of command (and justification from the words of Lothair Mantelar) gave them an excuse to accept a necessity that had become obvious.

[Jellybelly]

It also raised the possibility that most common Whitecloaks do not believe that all Aes Sedai are darkfriends. After all, we have only seen the points of view of people like Geofram Bornhald, Pedron Niall, and heard the opinions of Jaret Byar, Asunawa etc., on the subject.

 

I would not be surprised if the prologue to KoD indicates that most of the common soldiers chose the Children of the Light because of a dedication to the Light and not a dedication against Aes Sedai.

[mègon]

From my impressions during my reading all CoL believe Aes Sedai are dark friends for 1 reason: they touch the True Source.

 

It was people who were touching the True Source that broke the world, therefore anyone who does it must be a darkfriend, because they have the potential to once again break the world.

 

I think what Galad does is more of a "Look, you idiots, they fight against the DO as much as we do. We don't like them, but we can't do it without them. They hate the seanchan, we hate the seanchan, so let's use them to get what we want, then do what we must after."

 

It's no so much of a "Let's go against what we've been taught", but a "Let's do something logical to obtain our goal and make a feeble alliance with an enemy to combat a common enemy" whether that common enemy happens to be the DO or the Seanchan, it is basically the same.

[bradg2010]

Just as a side note a kind of found it intriguing that that passage describes Aridhol just like some descriptions of Rand. Getting harder rather than stronger.

...Aridhol drew in on itself, hardened. It was said that some would rather see Trollocs come than the men of Aridhol. The victory of the Light is all..."