Well it was stated in the book that she had done things to extend her life, was it not?

I disagree, the entire series is about weaving and "the pattern", each character no matter how insignificant has servred their purpose, and in many cases small things they have done are over looked. I've always thought that RJ was a master craftesmen, if the smallest thread was to be removed the weave would unwind.

 

Aram, he knocks down Perrin in their fight and because of this, Perrin is missed by the arrows that would have killed him.

 

Julian- comes into possesion of Damane oufits for their escape, brings the former leader of an entire nation with them, and not to mention it was his "Figs and Mice" type comment of salt and something else that broke the women into telling them about the Aes Sedai.

 

Slayer- His party is still yet to come, but as the prophecy went the outcome of the Last Battle would be determined by him going to the blight.

 

All of these characters no matter how small add substance to the book and reinforces the idea of the patteren working for an end.

True, but one could also argue that these events performed by these certian characters could have been filled by someone or something else. Did these events really need to happen? If RJ didn't even write about Perrin and the arrow would it even matter? Of course these are things that are only for the sake of argueing. It has been written, and it's done, hah  :P

 

I thought that RJ did a great job with the Whitecloaks in creating 'villians' that were in no way associated with the DO, and instead had their villiany stem from their self-righteousness and the classic 'power corrupts' mantra. A good cautionary tale for Galad. Masema just seemed pointless.

 

And I want to be clear for those reading this - its not that I have a problem with any of the wonderfuly inventive characters that RJ introduces... rather, I regret that we may be missing time we could be spending with CORE characters, exploring and learning more about them and enjoying all that we have already come to learn about those 40 or so individuals, rather than trying to keep up with another tangentally semi-relevant 100 more.

While I do agree that the Whitecloaks are essential in creating the "Good villians", I just had a really hard time with the numorous characters within the Whitecloaks, some I just found useless characters who only served the purpose of filling a chapter. This again is my opinion. But you're right, the Whitecloaks as a group were done well by RJ. And while I love the fact that there are so many characters, sometimes I just get a headache trying to remember those who aren't in the main group. And as a person who is horrible with names to begin with, it's bothersome  ;)

I often feel that way whever I came across another Whitecloak that was introduced. Their story never really interested me in the first place because I just found most of their POV's boring. But evertime I came to a chapter when yet another one was introduced to the series I'd always think "Are you kidding me? Another name to remember....ughhh" hah.

But I do agree with your Aram view. I thought the whole time he was gonna be awesome, here we have the story of a guy who doesn't believe in fighting and he quickly turns because of tragic happenings. I was very dissapointed to see him just be dispatched so quickly and currupted so easily by a man so obviously crazy anyone should see it.