57 minutes ago, Sir_Charrid said:

Every Channeller captured and collared increases the Seanchan ability to fight, and, a side effect of the Collar is that each Chaneller is far far stronger while they wear it because they don't have to worry about drawing in too much of the one power, they can channel on the edge for far longer. Also every Seanchan Chaneller is a weapon of mass destruction. All those thousands of Chanellers you mention, how many of them focus on healing, on protection, on anything other then being a weapon. How many of them will baulk in the face of an advancing army, or try and be the pacifist? 

The Seanchan are also martially far far stonger and better organised then the armies of Randland, especially after the last battle which will have destroyed the majority of the Randland forces, while we know there are still whole armies across the sea. 

There is also the 3 oaths, where do they sit specifically when it comes to a war with the Seanchan? 

In terms of numbers of Ashaman, will there numbers grow exponentially as quickly as you say, it will take generations for the male chaneller gene to become more prevalent in Randland and beyond, and, now that Men are at no risk of going mad they can also now be collared. 

The entire of Randland would need to join forces and work together, including the Aiel, to stop a war but, and this is the most important thing, the War was not instigated by the Seanchan. The Aiel use subterfuge and trickery to try and make a war that the forces of Randland are not ready for and don't want happen. That instantly puts the nations on the backfoot when you consider that the Seanchan are always ready for war. 

See, I don't think it would take the countries coming together. I think it would only take about 200 channelers deciding enough was enough and coming together to act unilaterally to end the war. The Seanchan can't link because they rely on the a'dam. We have seen no evidence that linking is possible beyond the "forced ring" that is the a'dam. If this is right, think of the power 5 circles of 40 channelers could summon and crush the Seanchan. A circle of Aes Sedai opened a gateway large enough for an entire army. A circle of only women changed the weather across the entire world. It is simply not reasonable, from what we know of the rules of channeling, that a bunch of individual channelers could stand up to an organized attack from circles of that size.

3 hours ago, Asthereal said:

The ability to link is also something the Seanchan will probably learn about from the Aes Sedai they snatched and collared. Or from Moghedien, for that matter. Not sure how they'll use it, with damane involved, but they will have time to figure it out, as Randland is in shambles after The Last Battle and will need to rebuild.

 

But indeed the main thing about the prophecy from Rhuidean is that it will happen if the Dragon's Peace fails to be established properly. And Aviendha suggests the Aiel get a place and job in the peace as well, which should help. That's the cool thing avout seeing the future: if you know what can happen, you can change it.

Always in motion, the future is. Oh wait, different franchise. 😉

 

Funny thing is: it does go a tad against the lore of the Wheel of Time, where the same basic things keep happening over and over (determinism/fate). In a world like that, you would expect the future to be fixed, and if you can see part of the future, you could expect that to come to pass no matter what. But on the other hand: the Aiel being destroyed in the fourth Age might not even matter in the long long run. I fully expect the sixth (or so) Age to last hundreds of millions of years and have no humans alive at all, or a very limited number at least. We need to get rid of any evidence of the first Age before the first Age comes again, after all. And humans being alive and active tends to lead to fast developments, which tend to lead to Ages lasting "only" 3000 years or so.

 

But I may be overthinking things. I tend to connect everything outside of the Ages we know of to my theory that the world and everyone in it, the pattern, the Wheel of Time and reality itself were only made by The Creator in order to keep Shai'tan imprisoned and busy, so he could focus on other things.

The a'dam is a "forced ring" that does not allow for expansion. Since the sul'dam can't channel, the circle can't be expanded further. This is my main point. Their way of channeling has a limit on the power they can put into a weave. We know the strongest channeler would be overwhelmed by 13 weak channelers. We know that adding 1 man expands the circle to 27 adding more allows for more expansion up to 72. Unless the Seanchan change their ways, and the visions clearly state they do not, I can't see how they can overcome large circles of channelers in battle.

8 hours ago, DaddyFinn said:

Wasn't it mentioned in her visions that seanchan won because Randlanders didn't unite against them and were destroyed/conquered one by one?

 Not really. There is an article on Tor that sumarizes the visions in chronological order rather than the reverse order and also attempts to estimate the time that passes. There is peace for a generation or two (roughly 57 years) before Andor enters the war with the Aiel. Once that happens, the Seanchan abandon the Dragon's Peace and begin collaring and capturing channelers everywhere. That's when I think Seanchan should have to start dealing with circles of channelers.

I started reading WoT in 1991. The Eye of the World was in paperback and The Great Hunt was in hardcover. I remember picking up the paperback of EotW and liking the length, the plot description and the cover. I remember Perrin being my favorite character. I remember the wait between books 2 and 3 seeming like forever. I remember reading The Dragon Reborn in the car on my way to college. I remember meeting Robert Jordan at a book signing in NYC in 1993 for The Fires of Heaven and getting a Read and Find Out to my question. I remember hating Nynaeve. I remember hours and hours of reading and posting on the rasfwr-j newsgroup in the mid to late 90's. I remember printing out the FAQ, all hundred pages of it. I remember emailing an editor at Tor who was active online my displeasure with the cover of Lord of Chaos, and they responded that they saw a bowlegged little person and a Safeway checkout girl. I remember The Great Hoax, The Loy, The FAQ Queen, and Novak rightfully telling me I didn't know what I was talking about. I remember the endless speculation between books. I remember the gap between books 6 and 7, thinking it was forever. I remember Mat being my favorite character. I remember the slog. I remember the PLOD. I remember loving Nynaeve. I remember the news of Jordan's illness. I remember being so happy with Knife of Dreams. I remember hearing of RJ's passing. I remember hearing that Harriet had selected an author to finish the series. I remember running out to buy Elantris and being pleased. I remember hearing that there would be three books. I remember thinking Sanderson didn't quite get Mat right. I remember thinking that Sanderson got Mat right. I remember receiving A Memory of Light and knowing it was the end. I remember having a page in the book have a print issue so bad that I was sent a second signed copy and taking a picture of it to send to Tor trying not to spoil myself because I wasn't done yet. I remember making my wife drive home from work so I could keep reading the seemingly endless Last Battle chapter. I remember Rand lighting the pipe. I remember my gratitude that my favorite series by my favorite author was completed because my favorite author and his wife cared enough about his work and his audience to make sure it happened. I remember hoping, but not really expecting that a TV series would be made someday. I remember Winter Dragon airing at 1:30 AM. I remember Amazon announcing a series. I remember my excitement at the casting announcements. I remember watching the pilot and the dread I felt when Moiraine said "There are rumors of four ta'veren in the Two Rivers." I remember my disappointment at the end of season one. I remember my hope for season two. I remember...

I was 17 when I first picked up this series and now I'm almost 50. WoT has been a big part of two thirds of my life. While there won't be any more books, I have high hopes for the TV series. I continue to enjoy deep discussions about the series with friends and family. I have 3 kids who I hope will dive into the series someday.

As a long time reader of the books, there is one plot point that has bothered me for years and years. Brandon's recent spoiler discussion for the 10-year anniversary of Memory of Light, brought it to the forefront of my mind again and I thought I would see if the larger community had an answer. It is something I plan to ask Brandon himself if I ever get the chance.

When Aviendha goes to Rhuidean and through the columns a second time, she sees the future destruction of the Aiel. Essentially, the story is that the Seanchan prove to be too powerful, and they relentlessly pursue channelers across the continent and collar or kill just about all of them. What I can't wrap my brain around is how that is possible when linking is something everyone BUT the Seanchan can do. We know that the Aiel and Asha'man do not swear of the oath rod and are not limited by any Oaths. We also know that the Aes Sedai and Windfinders know how to link, as does Aviendha (Bowl of the Winds), and I'm sure many others learn it during the Last Battle. We know there are thousands of female channelers among the Wise Ones, Kin, Windfinders, and Aes Sedai. We know that there are hundreds of Asha'man and their number will no doubt grow after Tarmon Gai'don We know that a circle of thirteen women can overwhelm any individual channeler, we also know that the White and Black Towers know that men and women can link and extend the circles beyond 13 and those circles would be fantastically strong. So, how do the Seanchan with their inability to create circles compete with that? Once the Dragon's Peace is ended and all of the countries outside of Seanchan control have entered the war, the collaring and killing of channelers is an existential threat to the Wise Ones, Aes Sedai, Asha'man, Windfinders, Kin, and every other channeler. How are circles of dozens of channelers not being used to wipe the Seanchan off the face of the continent? Once the Seanchan bring the war to Andor, the White and Black Towers, The Two Rivers, and the rest of the countries outside of the Seanchan's control, this is the logical first step. Maybe the Seanchan could devise a way to combat the Aes Sedai with the limitations imposed by the oaths. But an alliance between the Asha'man and the Aiel, Windfinders, or Kin would surely be decisive.

Am I missing something?