The Seanchan have been bugging me since I finished the book. They did sod all. Seanchan is the largest continent. Their army on Randland was built to conquer it - 'at least twenty years' in the planning. They built ships and trained massive armies, all for The Return. When they landed, nations trembled. They were feared - their force seen as capable of conquering the entire continent.
Fast forward to The Last Battle. Matt mentions that the Seanchan are 25% of his force on the Fields of Merillor. That puts their force at a roughly equal size to each of the other three armies, who had been through hell and lost as much of 2/3rds of their number. Add in the army in Thakan'dar and I really struggle to see how the Seanchan were so scary. Randland managed to field a force as much as 12 times the size of the Seanchan force (actually, more if you count forces already fighting in the Borderlands and the masses that died at Maradon). And that Seanchan force includes recruits from Tarabon, Amadicia, Altara and Almoth Plain. I'm not saying they couldn't have conquered with the landing force, just from evidence of The Last Battle, it's hardly the sort of force you take to a foreign continent that you know very little about, prepared to conquer if they will not yield. Had there been no imminent threat of the Shadow, had the nations allied together, the Seanchan would have risked everything with a force that small, damane or no damane (also, did they know the Aes Sedai couldn't attack them? If they didn't, it makes The Return look truly desperate, rather than the glorious event it was intended to be).
Am I imagining things, or were they nerfed? I'm sure they were a force to be reckoned with. When the Sharans appeared and the Seanchan agreed to join The Last Battle, I was expecting an almighty showdown. A battle between two strong martial societies, between the two greatest armies in the world. I was expecting Matt at the helm of the Ever Victorious Army, aimed directly at the Sharans. Instead, I was treated to utter lameness. An army that we were told to fear a few books ago did... nothing. They spent most of Tarmon Gai'don sat around, posturing.
Initially, after finishing the book I was reading in to Tuon's comments about the Dragon's Peace, thinking to myself "she barely suffered any losses, she'll ignore the peace soon and sweep across the land. She has the forces for it". Then the numbers hit me - BS has reduced the Seanchan to insignificance. Even with their losses, the other nations retain enough strength to turn the Seanchan in to the ocean if they so choose. Left to recover, they'd have no trouble pulling it off. Give it 20 years and Andor could likely do it alone (with Black Tower assistance), especially if gunpowder technology continued to advance.
Battles (Full Spoilers)
in Wheel of Time Books
Posted · Edited by McPhee
The Seanchan have been bugging me since I finished the book. They did sod all. Seanchan is the largest continent. Their army on Randland was built to conquer it - 'at least twenty years' in the planning. They built ships and trained massive armies, all for The Return. When they landed, nations trembled. They were feared - their force seen as capable of conquering the entire continent.
Fast forward to The Last Battle. Matt mentions that the Seanchan are 25% of his force on the Fields of Merillor. That puts their force at a roughly equal size to each of the other three armies, who had been through hell and lost as much of 2/3rds of their number. Add in the army in Thakan'dar and I really struggle to see how the Seanchan were so scary. Randland managed to field a force as much as 12 times the size of the Seanchan force (actually, more if you count forces already fighting in the Borderlands and the masses that died at Maradon). And that Seanchan force includes recruits from Tarabon, Amadicia, Altara and Almoth Plain. I'm not saying they couldn't have conquered with the landing force, just from evidence of The Last Battle, it's hardly the sort of force you take to a foreign continent that you know very little about, prepared to conquer if they will not yield. Had there been no imminent threat of the Shadow, had the nations allied together, the Seanchan would have risked everything with a force that small, damane or no damane (also, did they know the Aes Sedai couldn't attack them? If they didn't, it makes The Return look truly desperate, rather than the glorious event it was intended to be).
Am I imagining things, or were they nerfed? I'm sure they were a force to be reckoned with. When the Sharans appeared and the Seanchan agreed to join The Last Battle, I was expecting an almighty showdown. A battle between two strong martial societies, between the two greatest armies in the world. I was expecting Matt at the helm of the Ever Victorious Army, aimed directly at the Sharans. Instead, I was treated to utter lameness. An army that we were told to fear a few books ago did... nothing. They spent most of Tarmon Gai'don sat around, posturing.
Initially, after finishing the book I was reading in to Tuon's comments about the Dragon's Peace, thinking to myself "she barely suffered any losses, she'll ignore the peace soon and sweep across the land. She has the forces for it". Then the numbers hit me - BS has reduced the Seanchan to insignificance. Even with their losses, the other nations retain enough strength to turn the Seanchan in to the ocean if they so choose. Left to recover, they'd have no trouble pulling it off. Give it 20 years and Andor could likely do it alone (with Black Tower assistance), especially if gunpowder technology continued to advance.