Logain really did not do enough to merit the glory Min saw.

 

 

His glory was saving the peasants.

 

I assume it was referring to glory in the 4th age; saving the peasants is only the first step to his glory. Logain, as the head of the Black Tower, will probably spend the next 200-400 years as one of the most powerful/influential individuals in the world.

Agreed. He will be remembered as something like a male version of the first Amyrillian. His glory will be establishing the Black Tower as a positive influence in the world. That influence could extend for hundreds or even thousands of years. I imagine him growing into a wise old dude who is vigilant for the Light because he never forgets how close he came to madness or being turned. I don't know why everyone is so caught up on military greatness. Being the founder and rule-maker of one of the most powerful institutions of the Age is glorious too -- especially if he makes good rules (like the 3 Oaths) that ensure that male channelers become "servants of all" like they were in the Age of Legends.

This may have been touched upon previously, but if so I missed it.

 

Was anybody else amazed that the dragons/cannons were not used at Tarwin's Gap?

 

That is the strategically perfect place to mow down a bottlenecked army. A lot of lives for the Light were lost because of this decision.

You're right from a tactical perspective. But, from a literary perspective, I think the author(s) wanted the Tarwin's Gap battle to be an homage or allusion to the Spartans at Thermopylae. 

I agree with Mitsobar that a pre-industrial world could not support armies numbering in the millions. 

I also think there is a plausible justification for the decision to fight 4 separate battles instead of destroying the isolated Shadow armies in detail (using traveling). The results of the physical confrontation between the armies was something of a side-show in the grand scheme of things -- at least from the Dark One's perspective. The Dark One would win or lose on the result of his confrontation with Rand. It probably didn't matter to him whether his armies were successful or not as long as they distracted the forces of the Light from the main event.

Conversely, the physical confrontation was important to the Light side because the Trollocs basically kill everyone and destroy everything in areas they overrun.  So there was the possibility that the Trollocs would have exterminated a large percentage of the human race already even if Rand won the last battle.  So, it made some sense to use the 4 separate armies in holding actions until Rand prevailed. Rand's victory would at least demoralize the Shadow and maybe cause its armies to disintegrate like they did after the Bore was sealed in the Age of Legends. At that point, the pendulum should swing the other way and the forces of the Light could rally.