The Black Ajah had existed for centuries. The corruption by the time of Gitara was systemic and institutional, the results of which we saw for 13 novels.

 

If 1/3 were out in the world, 2/3 never left Tar Valon.... Not really a good ratio. Without question, the 33% were out doing all that stuff you rightly cite.....yet over and over we are told the Aes Sedai reasons are not what you think they are"; "don't let an AesSedai tie a string around you"; "manipulating events"; etc......ALLrulers stepped carefully around them, and EVERYONE treated them with the sort of trepidation given to a Mafia member...... This perception/reaction is repeated time after time, in book after book.

 

Wait are you trying to claim Ishy didn't start the BA? They were targeted by the shadow. The BA was started centuries ago by Ishy during one of the intervals that he was loose from the bore. The WT was the premiere power and as such Ishy made it a mission to infiltrate from the inside. AS can not be held accountable for his actions.

 

As for the rest you are looking at it all wrong. That 1/3 rotates in and out, virtually every sisters room we see has mementos from a long life lived out working in the world. It is not solely the same 1/3 out working. You are taking  the rest of those things far too literally, much of that is merely rumors and the like. Certain countries do view them with trepidation while in others they are openly welcomed and treated far differently.

The issue is that the White Tower created a culture that produced people inclined to turn to the shadow.  Sure they may have been targeted by Ishy but he was not lose 100% of the time.  Seems that it took barely any effort to start and was quickly self-sufficient.  Even when IShy was not directly involved Sisters turned to the shadow at an astronomically higher rate than the general population.  Black and Light sisters had completely opposing end goals in day to day matters they were pretty indistinguishable.

The Black sisters are able to constantly initiate plans, like kidnapping Rand, that the light sisters wholeheartedly buy into.  The White tower breeds into all its members a supreme arrogance and belief that they are better than anyone else.  They are not special because they can channel, they can channel because they are special.  This attitude, that was created by the Light sisters, created the perfect recruiting ground for the dark.

there is no foreshadowing of egwene's death at all in this series. not even once.

That is just not true.  All the talk about her being the longest reigning Amyrlin ever was pretty obvious foreshadowing.  She topped my shortlist of characters I thought would die.  To be fair though, I had Rand up there with her.

Considering that the DO's forces were split in 4 and that it was Bashere who announced it was fate that this meant that each Great Captain could fight one of them, it seems it is plausible that the forces of the ligth were manipulated into splitting up. 

This has been bothering me for years, probably more than anything else in the series. How did this happen? I understand that the Atha'an Miere are supposed to be great bargainers but suspension of disbelief only goes so far.

Why did they have to give up anything? They should have been bargaining for how much the Atha'an Miere could offer for finding their long lost bowl of the winds for them. At the very least they could have just told them about it and they would have looked for it on their own without a bargain. It is not like they would not change the weather back if they found it themselves.

How to the Atha'an Miere turn this around and make such ridiculous demands and why do Elayne and Nyneave feel they need to give anything up. Especially since Elayne is otherwise portrayed as a cunning planner/negotiator.

My favorite scene is with the Malkieri merchants when Nynaeve shows up and convinces them to join lan.

 

That is the other one I was gonna include "The Golden Crane." Great. It got to me, but I figured it was mostly a personal thing.

 

I was in the military, and when I left all of my officers were kinda surprised, not unhappy, but surprised, and asked why, and I said "Because I'm the Worst kinda Marine. A true believer." and I left on my own terms fighting tears the whole time. when reading "The golden crane" I sorta had a feeling that I was being called back rather than being allowed to walk away.

 

It gets you right there, like a knife.

 

 

I served in the IDF. Never made a connection between that scene and my service before. However, thinking on it now it seems to eerily mirror the motivations that made me as an American volunteer in Israel. I had always liked it because Nynaeve had become one of my favorite characters and this scene cemented her at #1 for me. She is pretty much the only one that both accepted her new role while never once forgetting where she came from and what that meant.

 

This is all still true, however now I have something to think about.

 

 

i know this is off topic but why did you serve in the IDF?

If you really want to know send me a PM...I am happy to discuss it but it tends to be a sensitive topic on all sides and I do not want to go into that here and risk ruining a good thread.

My favorite scene is with the Malkieri merchants when Nynaeve shows up and convinces them to join lan.

 

That is the other one I was gonna include "The Golden Crane." Great. It got to me, but I figured it was mostly a personal thing.

 

I was in the military, and when I left all of my officers were kinda surprised, not unhappy, but surprised, and asked why, and I said "Because I'm the Worst kinda Marine. A true believer." and I left on my own terms fighting tears the whole time. when reading "The golden crane" I sorta had a feeling that I was being called back rather than being allowed to walk away.

 

It gets you right there, like a knife.

I served in the IDF. Never made a connection between that scene and my service before. However, thinking on it now it seems to eerily mirror the motivations that made me as an American volunteer in Israel. I had always liked it because Nynaeve had become one of my favorite characters and this scene cemented her at #1 for me. She is pretty much the only one that both accepted her new role while never once forgetting where she came from and what that meant.

This is all still true, however now I have something to think about.

My favorite scene is with the Malkieri merchants when Nynaeve shows up and convinces them to join lan.