I find villains more interesting when they seem regular but veer into evil by the way their mind works. I never really found the Whitecloaks good for anything besides canon fodder. Perhaps if they were less of a military organization, and more devoted to non-violence, they would seem more threatening, but by making them armed, they became nothing more than Yet Another Variation of Ye (Pseudo) Religious Fanatics.
I have to completely agree with you on this one. I always felt that this faction was one of RJ's failures in the series. As a Threat/Villian/World force they always seemed (to me) to be a bad joke.
You have a bunch of "religious fanatics" who's target is people that wield the one power, and we are supposed to consider them a threat? 2 Sisters, alone in the wilderness, are suddenly suprised by 1,000,000,000,000 white cloaks. Oh my what can they do??? Umm slap up a wall of air around themselves and sit down to tea maybe? Tie off the flow, take a nap, play a few hands of bridge, *sniff* at them a few times, then saddle up and ride off still surrounded by walls of air... Oh! the drama....
As a political faction they have no support from any of the major nation-states, and are universally despised. Basically, they are simply pathetic.
I got the impression that RJ just couldn"t wrap his brain around total fanatacism and thus wasn't capible of writing it. I wish he had left them out of the story.
Character discussion 11 : The Whitecloaks
- 26/07/2010 08:33:50 AM
1516 Views
I think Galad will lead them to their "epiphany" at TG
- 26/07/2010 08:53:52 AM
845 Views
Re: I think Galad will lead them to their "epiphany" at TG
- 27/07/2010 07:44:08 AM
760 Views
Have lost a lot of my interest since both Carridin and Niall died off
- 26/07/2010 06:44:58 PM
681 Views
None. Uninteresting villains.
- 28/07/2010 04:32:01 PM
680 Views
Re: None. Uninteresting villains.
- 29/07/2010 03:15:16 PM
848 Views
The only band of brothers pre-Rand?
- 04/08/2010 03:38:43 AM
742 Views
I don't think so, though.
- 04/08/2010 10:39:55 PM
692 Views
Their proper name is "Children of the Light." Will there be a discussion on the "Tar Valon Witches"? *NM*
- 06/08/2010 12:03:27 PM
290 Views
Maybe, Child Cannoli. *NM*
- 06/08/2010 05:52:53 PM
289 Views
Go read about saidar, child 
*NM*
- 06/08/2010 05:57:27 PM
288 Views
*NM*
- 06/08/2010 05:57:27 PM
288 Views
Repent your madness, the pair of you. No one is so far into the Shadow he cannot return to the Light *NM*
- 06/08/2010 10:56:58 PM
295 Views