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... is defeated by Mr Happy Go Lucky DomA Send a noteboard - 06/11/2012 08:45:29 PM
It will just be so anticlimactic if after all the anticipation and mystery, Demandred is defeated by Mr. "Rand knows girls so much better than I do. Why are the dice rolling in my head again?"

It will just be so cartoonish. Demandred should be defeated by some kind of Saving Private Ryan or Braveheart scene, where heroic sacrifice leads to the great enemy general being overcome at great personal cost to the Light.

Not by some bumbling Huckleberry Finn who kills him by accident and then bends down to pick up his hat, slaying 10 Myrdraal with a flourish on the way out shouting Burn me and Blood and Bloody ashes all the while.

It just makes an even greater mockery of what should be a grave situation. The end of the world and all.


Well, you better get used to the idea, why else do you think RJ merged in Mat a juvenile trickster, with unnatural luck, with a walking encyclopedia of 2000 years of military knowledge if not to provide Demandred with a worthy foe in the LB?

You overestimate Demandred. The War of Shadow lasted just 10 years. In that time, Demandred first studied warfare in old books and build up armies of people who had no idea how to fight in a war from the ground up, all this to face Forsaken with nearly zero knowledge of warfare themselves who relied on armies of millions of Shadowspawn to face an unprepared, unknowledgeable foe...the early years of the WOS musn't have been fancy, it must have been a complete barbaric and chaotic mess... until Bel Medar/LTT got organized and started using real strategy and tactics against a foe that used primitive ones, relying of sheer numbers and savagery. It's hardly the greatest military minds of all ages Barid Bel Medar faced in his few years serving the Light, and then by mid-war he switched to leading billions of Shadowspawn against leaders of the Light who had by then a few years of field experience and who knew Sammael's and Demandred's styles very well, but were seeing their high tech gizmos disappear by the day, forcing them to rely more and more on channellers. Demandred's certainly very intelligent (far more than Mat), but he's still a gifted dilettante with a few years or real experience when it comes to war. He probably relied a lot on all the classic strategies and tactics he found in books, because the foes he faced didn't know any of that stuff, so all those old tricks worked. He won't have it so easy with Mat, who knows all this old stuff, and new stuff developped over 3000 years (and again, we've got the clues Demandred has started learning about all this in books)... Don't forget, Mat has greater "experience" (memories) of fighting Shadowspawn armies than Demandred and LTT combined. Ishamael isn't a military mind (though Moridin commented once he has studied since the WOS, even in fields favoured by Sammael, suggesting he's not hapless in warfare nowadays), he probably relied heavily on strategies developped by the Shadow's generals in the WOS for the Trolloc Wars, and Mat has a whole compendium of memories from that time.

Demandred's great advantage over Mat is that he's got the initiative and a whole lot of time to prepare his campaign, while Mat will have to improvise. But in the ten years of WOS, he'll have developped a personal style of generalling - again his luck may be that Mat won't have access to any of Rand's knowledge of Demandred's style for a while yet and will have to figure him out all by himself. But RJ has made Mat the ultimate general, because he doesn't have personal habits and quirks, Mat's own military knowledge is a total blank slate - whatever seems best in any given situation rather comes to him from his memories. He fights like one general one hour, and like another the next... extremely unpredictable. Not easy for someone even as intelligent as Demandred to fight a foe who switch pattern every day. You think you've figured out Mat, and he still does something unexpected.

My feeling is that Mat in the first part of the book will finally have a real challenge with Demandred and the Seanchan army may never be called "ever victorious" again. However, later in the war when Mat has had time to figure out Demandred, he's likely to turn the tide and ultimately defeat him.

Don't expect Rand will lead the campaign against Demandred, he flatly said in TOM he doesn't intend to lead the war this time around. It doesn't mean he won't finish him up ultimately, but he's not the one who will lead the campaign against him. And it's a boon for the Light, because all of Rand's battle knowledge comes from LTT and Demandred knows LTT all too well, and has no doubt prepared himself to fight a LTT who can rely only on third Age resources but for channelers he can train to use more advanced stuff. Demandred believes he knows his foe very well, he's in for a bad surprise. He'll sweat too, not only Mat will.



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[Mik's Warp] - Demandred is.....*click to find out* - 05/11/2012 01:06:42 PM 2637 Views
There are only 2 months left before AMOL comes out (or less)... - 05/11/2012 02:10:07 PM 1221 Views
Nah.. forget that - 05/11/2012 08:29:53 PM 1073 Views
Re: Nah.. forget that - 05/11/2012 10:07:46 PM 925 Views
Re: There are only 2 months left before AMOL comes out (or less)... - 06/11/2012 12:40:54 PM 1117 Views
I'm not saying it's not a well-reasoned theory; it is. - 06/11/2012 06:02:36 PM 1097 Views
I say Roederan is a better choice simply because of where he is located - 06/11/2012 11:01:28 PM 1006 Views
Re: I say Roederan is a better choice simply because of where he is located - 07/11/2012 09:42:00 AM 1251 Views
I applaud your effort, but to be honest I just can't see it - 07/11/2012 04:48:17 PM 909 Views
Re: I applaud your effort, but to be honest I just can't see it - 07/11/2012 08:36:34 PM 1157 Views
There has been a lot of waste in WOT..... - 06/11/2012 06:26:56 PM 837 Views
LIKE! *NM* - 09/12/2012 02:37:49 PM 987 Views
Whoops *NM* - 06/11/2012 07:27:06 PM 515 Views
Plausible, albeit antilclimactic *NM* - 05/11/2012 06:32:38 PM 565 Views
Unless Mat is Demandred, at this point it will be anticlimactic. *NM* - 06/11/2012 04:02:38 AM 531 Views
That would be EPIC *NM* - 06/11/2012 07:53:30 PM 539 Views
That would be EPIC *NM* - 06/11/2012 07:53:31 PM 533 Views
You've tried too hard... - 05/11/2012 07:53:41 PM 2713 Views
Will be so disappointed if the Shadow's greatest (non-crazy) leader is defeated by Mr Happy Go Lucky - 05/11/2012 08:57:59 PM 1054 Views
I doubt Mat will kill him personally but - 05/11/2012 09:24:48 PM 824 Views
I don't know - 06/11/2012 02:01:41 AM 826 Views
My prediction of how it plays out... - 06/11/2012 07:12:15 AM 931 Views
I don't think that's likely - 06/11/2012 06:04:55 PM 900 Views
LOL ... it will be a saying in the next Age - 06/11/2012 10:36:04 PM 834 Views
Re: I don't think that's likely - 06/11/2012 11:21:21 PM 824 Views
Re: I don't think that's likely - 07/11/2012 08:14:28 PM 939 Views
Re: I don't think that's likely - 07/11/2012 09:05:07 PM 1047 Views
Re: I don't think that's likely - 08/11/2012 05:52:16 PM 884 Views
It sounds like we're at the same stage of vision of the AOL - 08/11/2012 07:48:17 PM 824 Views
Statistics refute some of that... - 09/11/2012 07:35:59 AM 834 Views
We're not talking about the same things... - 09/11/2012 11:31:12 PM 826 Views
It doesn't mean no one in this Age can be at Talented or Intelligent. - 09/11/2012 11:43:26 PM 1012 Views
Re: It doesn't mean no one in this Age can be at Talented or Intelligent. - 10/11/2012 07:34:34 AM 933 Views
You seriously believe that? - 10/11/2012 04:17:09 PM 869 Views
Mat has grown quiet a bit since those days - 06/11/2012 01:55:48 AM 969 Views
You're putting the Evil on a pedestal. - 06/11/2012 03:12:38 AM 756 Views
No, just desperately trying to raise the stakes a bit... - 06/11/2012 07:00:59 AM 882 Views
That's essentially what I was saying - 06/11/2012 03:35:45 PM 1008 Views
hmmm - 06/11/2012 10:27:00 AM 1142 Views
... is defeated by Mr Happy Go Lucky - 06/11/2012 08:45:02 PM 990 Views
Mat is essentially the man (men) who wrote the books Demandred studied - 06/11/2012 10:42:40 PM 807 Views
Exactly... - 06/11/2012 11:45:36 PM 974 Views
... is defeated by Mr Happy Go Lucky - 06/11/2012 08:45:29 PM 1033 Views
I didn't try hard at all; Demandred found me... - 06/11/2012 03:31:41 PM 982 Views
My biggest contention with Demandred being with the Sea Folk - 06/11/2012 10:54:50 PM 967 Views
Re: My biggest contention with Demandred being with the Sea Folk - 07/11/2012 12:07:02 AM 989 Views
Well, it instantly gives the Shadow access to attacking every coastal city... - 07/11/2012 10:32:23 AM 872 Views
Exactly! - 07/11/2012 10:54:14 AM 1412 Views
If he married Nynaeve and Moiraine he'd have his wives at Rand's side in the Pit too.... - 07/11/2012 03:28:38 PM 847 Views
I find that approach unnecessarily convoluted. Just hit them with 1 billion Trollocs and crush them. - 08/11/2012 07:00:36 AM 835 Views
Not likely he has that many... - 08/11/2012 03:00:32 PM 772 Views
May I ask some practical questions? - 08/11/2012 05:28:41 PM 780 Views
Re: May I ask some practical questions? - 08/11/2012 10:35:38 PM 909 Views
Re: May I ask some practical questions? - 10/11/2012 12:09:15 AM 850 Views
Re: May I ask some practical questions? - 10/11/2012 03:11:59 AM 842 Views
LOL ... Seems more than a little far fetched *NM* - 10/11/2012 06:17:34 AM 478 Views
Well you asked for an explanation - 13/11/2012 10:23:41 PM 757 Views
fair enough *NM* - 14/11/2012 01:31:52 AM 445 Views
Re: May I ask some practical questions? - 10/11/2012 07:15:58 PM 898 Views
Exactly! - 11/11/2012 07:38:46 AM 899 Views
Good practical questions... - 09/11/2012 07:24:14 AM 865 Views
He doesn't need the SF for that - 09/11/2012 03:00:34 PM 648 Views
Well, they hadn't planned on them being Traveling grounds as they didn't know about - 09/11/2012 02:57:16 PM 727 Views
Re: Well, they hadn't planned on them being Traveling grounds as they didn't know about - 09/11/2012 09:03:14 PM 834 Views
I know. I'm saying they were not doing this with Traveling in mind. - 09/11/2012 11:57:34 PM 828 Views
Re: I know. I'm saying they were not doing this with Traveling in mind. - 10/11/2012 10:08:04 PM 2327 Views
I see what you are getting at ... And I see how Zaida used it to her advantage - 11/11/2012 07:45:19 AM 888 Views
Re: I see what you are getting at ... And I see how Zaida used it to her advantage - 12/11/2012 02:57:08 PM 884 Views
Nesta sent 2 ambassadors to the Coramoor. Both looking for the same thing - 12/11/2012 04:11:50 PM 923 Views
Re: Nesta sent 2 ambassadors to the Coramoor. Both looking for the same thing - 12/11/2012 06:01:33 PM 1016 Views
Well there is also the fact that Harine pretty much tells us she MUST make a Bargain - 12/11/2012 06:51:24 PM 1051 Views
Re: Well there is also the fact that Harine pretty much tells us she MUST make a Bargain - 12/11/2012 09:30:57 PM 838 Views
Not to belabor the point - 12/11/2012 10:56:39 PM 791 Views
Re: Not to belabor the point - 13/11/2012 12:46:21 AM 743 Views
I think you are way off base on the economics - 13/11/2012 01:24:35 AM 710 Views
Re: I think you are way off base on the economics - 13/11/2012 03:48:40 PM 831 Views
no reason to *NM* - 14/11/2012 01:35:55 AM 466 Views
I don't see the problem... - 07/11/2012 10:52:49 AM 1557 Views
This is preposterous - 07/11/2012 04:15:11 PM 1254 Views
Who? - 06/11/2012 07:29:46 PM 797 Views
Paah, he's clearly on the Isle of Madmen to the south. - 10/11/2012 03:28:26 AM 1194 Views

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