Specifcally in terms of Hawking it is a bit hard to look past the King Arthur comparisons, i find the actual tactical discussions and how the battles are managed to have clearer traces. A lot of what Mat quotes when discussing war and a general's place in it is extremely similar to Clausewitz or Machiavelli (although Mat is extremely ANTI-Machiavellian in areas other than war of course), the insistence that a general that leads the charge has surrendered his baton and the capability to lead and the very strong insistence on adaptability for example. his invention of cannons too and his instruction on their uses. The incredible value Mat places on speed and his desired results are very 'Blitzkrieg'-ish too...various considerations around scouting and logistics...but so much has become general knowledge it could have also all so easily been incidental. The cannon thing makes me think the closest historical figure to Mat in terms of war is Napoleon, who was an expert in use of cannon and especially 'defeat in detail' which Mat is arguably the absolute best in (not even mentioning them both being preeminent tacticians and generals of course). ...also OP Genghis Khan did not create the largest empire in history, that would be the British Empire.

She used the one power while handing them out in the first place to compel them, the use of the one power should have been enough, with normal people those coins would have become family heirlooms passed down for a hundred years. It would have been a thousand times weirder for an AES SEDAI to actually bother explaining ANYTHING to a bunch of village kids, if that happened there would just be a post instead of this one called "Why does Moiraine TELL the boys that they should keep the coins and thus tip them off that something is strange with them? Why would an Aes Sedai bother explaining themselves when they ddin't have to? Isn't this passage in the book weird? it doesn't make sense!!!"

Has to be Ishamael. Was made Nae'Blis so clearly the Dark One thinks so too, Ishi always knew the gameplan was to turn the dragon reborn and convince them to end the pattern and that was incredibly close to happening. Arguably the only Forsaken that genuinely understood that if the Dark One finally succeeded than the wheel would be destroyed and it would all end, the glory the other Forsaken are dreaming will be theirs (even their 'immortality') when they 'win' is a complete lie, Ishamael is the only one who can see clearly while the rest have been well and truly fooled.

Mat was definitely aware of his significance, considering he is given arguably the greatest military mind of the current age and a full warband it would be harder for him NOT to know lol, his designated role as the general of the forces of light in the last battle is not remotely surprising...but unlike Rand and Perrin the fact that he WILL do something or MUST be significant is unacceptable to Mat, as a gambler the idea that the outcome has already been decided is almost offensive to him.