Yes the seachan tested all girls at 14. It has nothing to do with the Black Tower though as no one ever recruited for them so all men with the ability to learn remained in the population for ever. So when Black tower recruitment began they could test the whole population. Seachan was also a 100% unified continent with a Monarchy\dictator that was in charge of all the channelers. Unlike Randland which was many small divisions. If you remember the story in the books of the Seachan Royal family occasionally for cruel entertainment putting the collar on men at court chained to a Sul'Damane and most of the time nothing happened but occasionally both would die screaming that was collaring a man who could learn.

Again if you want to enjoy the spectacle and not think about how the characters react then thats fine. I like things to make sense within the world that has been built. If you want the sitters and sisters of the tower to freeze in the face of danger and be incompetent with the power then that's the showrunner choice ( i dont like it but can accept it). However I think what we will see is the level of competence and power bend to the requirements of the story rather than having it be consistent to the actual character. We have already seen this in show from Moiraine when she is unable to defeat a Fade and around 30 trollocs yet at the end of season 2 is able to destroy 18 ships that have Damane on board. Yes we could go back and forth and I am happy to do so especially if it makes me realise an issue I have missed. And all I have done is provide factual responses to the things that you consider issues and I think where either explained in world or in the case of Mantherens queen potentially poor writing.

Nothing said that the Dragon had to be Aiel. That is why she questioned Nynaeve on if any of the boys were born outside the Two Rivers. You have 3 boys born at nearly the exact same time (when because of Gitaras foretelling the date is your best bit of concrete knowledge) why would you risk leaving 2 of them behind. Especially after all three are targeted by the shadowspawn. He is also only half Aiel the other half is Andoran. Egwene initially travels alongside Moiraine with the Aiel and also during the initial stages they have Kaderes wagons with them. The Aiel also do not travel at maximum speed all the time. They then always travel with the wagons until they return to the wetlands. I think there are always horses with them as Moiraine and Lan are either walking with the wise ones or mounted. I never liked the OP death channeler moments sure maybe you could draw a little too much and could do an extra kick but to wipe out every enemy channeler across an army was bad. The only thing that could explain it is the unreliable narrator. It's possible in the 1000 years since that her counterattack has been exaggerated in handed down stories.

As I have said many time I love the books ( i have probably reread the entire series nearly every year since its release) and I was incredibly excited when it was announced that it was coming to the screen. That excitement soon evaporated when confronted with the quality of the show delivered. I don't remember the scene in the books where 13 Aes Sedai basically stood useless while three of their sisters battled 5 black sisters.

I'd go for Mesaana as she is set up as basically the direct opposite of Egwene as Amyrlin. Demandred is a lock.

Okay thats just not right. The trainable channelers can be drawn from every single age group from approx 14 years old till death. You can only draw inborn spark users from around 14 to maybe 20 to 21 age group at a stretch. So out of 1000 Ashman you have maybe 100 to 150 at most who are in the target age group and only 20% of those would have the spark inborn. So the true number is maybe 20 to 30. So if those 30 say had not gone to the Black Tower 22 of those would have died from power complications leaving only 8 to be neutralized by the Reds.

You do realise that you are agreeing almost point for point the things I have been arguing for while you claim I have it backwards.

Geabril could be any of the other forsaken or a combination of a few of them does not have to be Rahvin

It's getting a big airing because it's a large chunk of content in a barren new season landscape. Its not the worst thing I have ever seen. It's much better than the end of season1 for a start. But it's got issues a lot of which could have been addressed with very little effort to tighten it up. Don't make it so overwhelmingly outnumbered. Don't have all the good guys except the major characters being absolutely useless. If this remains the level of the average (sitter above average i would think) Aes Sedai going forward in the show I will accept that as the showrunners vision (wont like but accept) but my gut feeling is this is not what will happen. I believe we will see the competence of the Aes Sedai vary to suit the script rather than the character.

Not exactly. In your analogy they are 20 ft because of the power but they would not be able to play any offence with their height unless they are attacked because of the oaths. The Tower Aes Sedai at Dumai wells held their own against a vastly larger number of wise ones. The Seachan channelers did absolutely nothing except use the power for battle they had no other objective in life other than preperation for fighting. And again we never have a direct head to head between the Aes Sedai and the Damane that was not heavily tilted in one sides favour or individual captures. (minimal sky lights and such I am not counting). When in the books are the Aes Sedai useless in battle and humiliated. The Seachan attack on the Tower is a surprise attack from a completely unexpected enemy from a completely unexpected vector designed to use overwhelming force to simply capture channelers and then flee. The Sharan attack was an ambush against a tired force behind the lines. They acquitted themselves well in the final battle against the same force only being backed down when Demandred in a full circle using a Sa'Angreal used balefire to break them. This assertion that seems to have crept into the argument that the Aes Sedai in the books were completely useless i find confusing.

No. All shows to varying degrees of success or intent fall all over this definition. I have no objection to people enjoying shows purely for the spectacle or action sequences. But if your aim is good storytelling and world building you need to aim higher than making your characters dumb or incompetent to facilitate it, unless that is their character for the entire series.

Lol I actually wrote a review on Reacher s3 on another site that praised the guttering for holding up a man of his size repeatedly. I also thought the bad guys must think Reacher has an incontinence issue at this point. Using Reacher as an example it has turned into absolute rubbish since they made the bad guys into morons, this occurred about s01ep5. If you want to enjoy the action thats fine but you have to completely turn your brain off to enjoy the story. If you believe that a tight run criminal syndicate with a small group of members would not suspect the new guy and actually promote him to number 2 with a bullet after 5 of them are killed in 3 days then i have a bridge to sell you.

Cadsuane had Ter'angreal that could detect male channelers and the use of the power as well as detecting the direction. 1000 channelers cannot attack an army unless it is in self-defence or they are shadowsworn. This is well known. The towers power is almost entirely political at the start of the books.

Absolutely no moving of the goalposts from me. Your claim was that the Red Ajah was rubbish because look 1000 Ashman. I pointed out the facts that the Only men with the ability inborn would ever manifest use of the power. Of that small number 75% of those would die because they had no teacher. Red Ajah can only react to reports of that small number using those powers. Ashman actively recruited those with the ability to learn as well as those with the spark inborn and had access to travelling. All abilities that the Red could not possibly have. Absolutely no moving of goalposts and the suggestion is disingenuous.

Ah the old It's space wizards for children argument. I'll step out of this line of argument here as I have no desire to rerun all the old apologists for poor writing themes again. If you are unable to differentiate the fast and the furious and the wheel of time in regard to storytelling then we are simply too disparate in our viewpoints to ever come to an agreement.

If you could explain to me how exactly they would identify a man who never channels the power that would be great. Are they just running round throwing shields at every single man they see? The only way the Reds can find a man who channels is by tracking down signs of his use of the power. Since the only men to do this would be those with ability inborn that is a small % and then 75% of those would die after only a few uses of the power. The Ashman actively recruited and tested for those with the ability to learn something the Aes Sedai were incapable of doing.

I never liked the fact that the tower did not support the borderlands in what was basically set up as an annual invasion period vs the shadow. Actually having an annual invasion is also not that great of an idea. If it was basically set up as continual raiding instead, not exposing increasingly rare channelers in multiple smaller skirmishers would have been more believable. You could have had the set up the end of book 1 by simply having scouted an enormous force of shadowspawn and it was too late to call for aid from the tower. The towers power was always heavily on the political side of things in regards to the non channelers of the world and the oaths enforced it. The tower was arrogant and isolationist and made mistakes yes. But when you are viewed basically worldwide as the puppet master behind every decision then claiming they suck is probably going too far. Asha'man men where stronger in the power than woman and multiple Aes Sedai were always sent to capture False Dragons. Damane in the book never fought the Aes Sedai directly apart from individual captures and the single sneak attack on the divided tower. The Reds remember would only ever find a male channeler if he had the ability inborn, which was rare and even then would likely only find those that had managed to learn some control without a teacher which eliminated 75% of those inborn the ability according to Moiaines numbers. So the numbers of male channelers would be incredibly tiny.

Yes it would be a shock but the first thing I would do when people started throwing the power around as a weapon would be to put up a shield to protect myself while I figured out what was going on. As soon as the self confessed darkfriend called on her sisters for aid and they then attacked the leader of your organisation with lethal attacks for you not to take any steps to defend yourself almost immediately is just insane. Even just putting up the shield like Leane did would protect you.

Would really have to ask why you clipped the quote in that way when the very next sentence says What the hell is the purpose of the power in the Tower then outside of the Red, Green and Yellow since they apparently have no actual use for it and are rubbish using it even in defence of their lives.

If you want to enjoy the wheel of time on the same level as a story that launches a car into space to ram a satellite then that's fine. I am hoping to enjoy it on a slightly deeper level.

No not at all. The Aes Sedai where already at under half strength due to the split and further splintered due to Elaida. The Seachan attacked from a direction that was completely unexpected. The Seachan at no point ever intended to occupy the tower and nor could they. The sole objective was capturing individual channelers and then fleeing. Tar Valon was surrounded by another army so the gates and bridges where guarded further weaking its internal defences when attacked from a completely unbelievable direction. Could they have guarded against a known army using an unknown troop deployment method maybe? But it's unlikely. Don't forget that the Seachan had travelled for many nights to stage this attack Tar Valon was a massive way from the Seachan lines at this point. The only warning they had was Egwenes dream which Elaida refused to listen to.

Wrong the seachan where aiming for a purely hit and run attack their objective was simply to capture Damane using a lightning strike and then escaping as soon as they met resistance they were to retreat. They employed overwhelming force via an avenue of attack that was not thought possible. It was a good plan. Standing against 4 to 1 odds toe to toe is a shit plan. If you think it was the novices that held their own you need to go and read that section again. Egwene was the sole rallying point not the novices. Egwene used some of the novices by linking and then took Vora's Rod and ended the attack by herself. Egwene was the faction that's canon dude.

So you are really arguing that the Tower does not really believe that the Dark one is a threat despite all the prophecies and all their knowledge. Just noticed X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett ~ Absolutely love that Pratchett is my 2nd favourite Author

I was just going along with the assumption that Couladain was going to be very confrontational as he is in the books which would make that big a turn around surprising. In the books having the Gleeman made sense because it played on the Thom role and his stories and music could inform and relax Rand and leaders having bards is fairly old hat. if you wanted to keep Couladin close he needs a cover which is harder. it would have to be almost Aviendha role he took.

The children are a point because the Aes Sedai dont just live behind the shinning walls their entire lives. Browns visit libraries Greys negotiate treaties Blues get involved in the world. So being aware of the dangers means being able to defend themselves. Again not the point. Not expecting the last battle to happen in your lifetime is a reasonable assumption or possible assumption. Them knowing that Shai'tan and the forces of the dark are 100% real in another.