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Re: The way I read it, the book implied that many of the newly raised Asha'man had been 13x13'd DomA Send a noteboard - 13/11/2010 04:58:26 PM
I don't think it's what the situation implied at all.

Rather, it seems many of Taim's new recruits are progressing way too fast, and show too much strength too fast, to be what they claim to be.

These men aren't recruits at all They are fully trained Dreadlords, sent to reinforce those Taim trains at the BT, and help him bring the endgame about (it involves turning all the Lightside men and women channellers there).

It's becoming more and more obvious. Taim's faction is merely the tip of the iceberg. He isn't in charge of the male dreadlords, he's just a lieutenant, with the special mission to remain at the BT, control it and how and in what the men are trained (he knows everything about the Asha'man, their tactics, their knowledge... their weaknesses, including those he probably managed to manipulating into adopting, through flawed training) for as long as Rand left him in charge - and ultimately destroy Rand's efforts.

The male dreadlords aren't Asha'man, and it appears the core of them weren't even trained anywhere near the BT. There is another secret organization elsewhere, in which Taim and his men have ranks and all. Taim had already been taught how to test and recruit before he was sent to Rand! Most of the men found by the Shadow have been sent elsewhere, to someone else. Taim was given only those he needed for his mission within the BT, without attracting too much attention (it was a close call with Logain).

Now the endgame is coming. Demandred is gathering his whole forces and about to enter his southern headquarters, from where he'll lead the war. Taim has been ordered to "clean up" the BT of the Light's forces. The move to capture Caemlyn is underway. Demandred must be moving to capture all the Waygates and Portal Stones he can, right at the beginning. He's planning to singlehandly undo the failures of the Shadow's generals, and re capture their planned fortresses. Demandred will have or try to have Tear, Illian, Cairhien, Rhuidean... and Caemlyn. If he succeeds, Demandred will soon turn Caemlyn into a fortified coral for Shadowspawn, keeping them fed with the population.

Moridin intends to direct the war from the North, in the Blight - and barely leaves his fortress, protected by some of Demandred's non-Asha'man dreadlords. Demandred will lead the war from the South. He's waiting from Taim to finish the clean up to come claim his dreamspike protected headquarters.

Demandred's interest in Caemlyn goes way back, and it was to be right between forces Semirhage only needed to turn Tuon to the Shadow to control (and now, we know why this needed to wait until the last minute - the changes are too apparent), and the Tower undermined by Mesaana. Demandred won't have it as easy as he hoped, and worked for... but he might still be in a very advantageous position.

It sounds more and more like Mat will have to make his peace with the One Power and Aes Sedai, and lead them (men and women) to war. It sounds like Mat might be about to lose most of the Band left in Caemlyn, the same way its predecessor perished in the last stand of Manetheren... and for a while to equip the Shadow with dragons.... and the Creator knows what Demandred could make of all those bronze cast projectile weapons. With the right Talents among his men, he could easily transform them into something far more deadly...

It sounds like Elayne could find herself in Lan's situation soon, as Queen of realms fallen to the Shadow. Unless Rand sends his forces to Caemlyn, but this sounds more and more like Mesaana and others told Demandred and Moridin about Rand's meeting, and the Shadow had a full month to time and organize its initial assault in the South with deadly precision.

If news of this filter to the meeting, Rand might have a harder time convincing the world now's the good time to break the seals and increase manifold the Shadow's power.... if the attack didn't start the minute Rand broke the seals at the meeting, as seems quite possible. That would be extremely clever, as beside taken advantage of the Shadow's increase in strength, it sounds likely the Light forces will be less than enthusiastic about the seals, even if Rand manages to win his point by an hair. The Light's leaders will freak out, and it will be devasting to morale and confidence in Rand if the Shadow has a sudden and major military victory almost right on the heels of the breaking of the seals. Demandred is a military genius, but Moridin has also always been a master of psychological warfare...

Of course, it's possible LTT has anticipated Demandred, and has a plan within his professed plan to gather the Light and break the seals on that specific day.

This message last edited by DomA on 13/11/2010 at 05:04:34 PM
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Freaky stuff going on at the Black Tower - 09/11/2010 09:20:05 AM 1686 Views
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She can heal the mad ones, but the 13x13 ones... - 09/11/2010 01:26:08 PM 1188 Views
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Looks like only Mezar and Tarna so far. But not irreversible... - 09/11/2010 08:58:55 PM 1505 Views
The way I read it, the book implied that many of the newly raised Asha'man had been 13x13'd *NM* - 10/11/2010 08:22:18 AM 475 Views
Re: The way I read it, the book implied that many of the newly raised Asha'man had been 13x13'd - 13/11/2010 04:58:26 PM 732 Views
Where are these Dreadlords coming from, then? - 21/11/2010 05:15:08 AM 1032 Views
How is it done? - 10/11/2010 02:18:18 AM 1050 Views
Re: How is it done? - 10/11/2010 08:24:56 AM 817 Views
Ah. - 10/11/2010 11:20:27 PM 1059 Views
We saw it about to happen in Egwene's Accepted Test. *NM* - 11/11/2010 01:38:25 PM 379 Views
Nyaeave's gonna heal it - 10/11/2010 08:45:53 PM 780 Views

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