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.

Not talking about the general population. Its a completely different thing comparing the Seachan attack on Tar Valon where they used overwhelming targeted strikes on a fractured tower with the sole aim of capturing Damane to Having a self confessed member of the Black Ajah standing right in front of you being defended by 4 other members of the Black Ajah and having a 4 to 1 advantage and not being able to do anything at all you even had 3 members of the green ajah in the room. The only kill they got was by using a club they are totally useless.

I didn't say that they knew the Dragon had been reborn. Are you trying to tell me the Aes Sedai do not know about the dark one and shadow and Children of the light. And i am not talking about the general population. Why are you strawmaning this so hard.

Did not mean any offence when i said the people, i just remember having a lot of arguments with posters who used that as the reason for that battle. In that scene there is not an existing storm present from the views i can see all though it is dark there is certainly no rain or lightning.

If i was guessing i'd say Bathamel and Aginor are almost certain to be cut as they are out of action so early. Belal, Rahvin, Sammael and Asmodean will probably got rolled into 2 characters drawing mainly from Rahvin and Asmodeans stories as they have the most impact. And the final cut Graendal. Simply less story impact and the decadence and compulsion heavy scenes may be tricky

Think about what you guys are arguing for. You have a powerful group of gifted power channelers. You know without any doubt that the Dark one and the forces of the shadow are real. You know that there is an entire nation dedicated to killing you. You live for hundreds of years. And you are saying that they are completely garbage at using the power they have in the defence of themselves their warders or others. Except for 2/7ths of your population.

Thats not the point people defended that scene and said it was her practice with the power that allowed her to use those attacks and now people are claiming that massively more powered Aes Sedai with decades maybe centuries more experience with the power are incapable with it. How would she even now how to conjure a lightning blast since she never even attained an Ajah and offensive abilities are only being taught to the Red and Green. If she had simply used massive simple attack like fire or air slices it could be explained. But that does not make a great visual is the answer. Its the Dothraki charge with flaming swords. Fantastic visual shit storytelling. As i said its possible the full episode could give meaning to the Moiraine and Lan scene.

You are wrong. The first things they did was cast a fireball and what appears to be a thread of air attack these are blocked by Leane. Then straight after that they walked into the middle and surrounded Liandrin then after setting up that defence. Then they cast a fireball and another air attack slicing the Brown in half.

Ok firstly there where 3 Reds initially yet the black sisters hit one of them with the power when her back was turned as I never saw her again i assumed she was of the fight making it 2v2. It's possible that a couple of blacks did not get involved however i would assume that anyone sitting on their hands in a fight between the Light and the Shadow would have some serious questions to be answered. You have people here arguing that only the green red and black are even remotely able to fight, and you are comparing it to a sneak attack against a fragmented tower by battle hardened units. Maybe you should get some glasses.

What about everyones arguments about Lady Amalisa being a trained channeler being the reason she could use Egwene and Nynaeves power at the end of season 1. She never made it even as far as an Ajah so would have received zero training in offensive abilities. How does this match up to this arguement that only certain Ajahs are trained in combat.

But they did almost nothing with that surprise they launched a couple of attacks towards Alanna and Siuan which got blocked by Leane then they walked into the middle at an unhurried pace turned and set up a defensive circle around the Black Ajah sister. If each of them had a dagger hidden up their sleeves they could have killed 4 sitters before they even embraced the power.

They are not specifically combat orientated but they could throw a fireball or use a thread of air to hit something without having to "charge up". 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 watch the Ryma fight again she starts with some of the stupid hand waving which then burns the sul'dam, but then basically within 1 second casts the ability to destroy the 2nd sul'dam Even if I agreed with all this there are 3 green sitters in the hall why are they not being effective in battle against the black. None of the 3 green sitters was of the black. And again what about the corridor battle you have 2 Red Ajah and about 20 warders vs the 2 Black sisters yet again the Blacks win taking zero casualties. even if you allow that a black/yellow sister = a Red sister the fact they have to avoid 20 of the best soldiers in the world while fighting would surely tip the fight in the lights favour. And where exactly is this Black Ajah training school to turn the nufties into battle ready warriors making them the match to the Ajah that exclusively trains as the battle Ajah.

Oh come on so Green Red and Black ajah are the only ones with those abilities that seems incredibly stupid and short sighted and they get insta cast as what a class bonus. I guess rigorous decades long training really does not mean that much Fair enough that you have some people who are better at fighting than others but to make the claim that the others need some sort of wind up time or something is just silly. Just lol that the most powerful woman and channelers in the tower are mostly just admin.