Even if these guys are all great generals, they're not fighting any wars!
Yes yes, there's the war of "Light vs. Shadow" but that doesn't involve supply lines. It's a different type of war (for now, anyway)
Mat is a flat-out amazing general. Does have the skill to subvert an entire nation and dedicate its resources to his goals? Well, maybe, but it's not because of his military abilities.
tl;dr The Forsaken have been focusing on politics and espionage, not wars. Generalship doesn't come into it.
Yes yes, there's the war of "Light vs. Shadow" but that doesn't involve supply lines. It's a different type of war (for now, anyway)
Mat is a flat-out amazing general. Does have the skill to subvert an entire nation and dedicate its resources to his goals? Well, maybe, but it's not because of his military abilities.
tl;dr The Forsaken have been focusing on politics and espionage, not wars. Generalship doesn't come into it.
It might be the case that the women who were great generals (girls playing a boy's game, if you will) were destroyed by the women who were focused on politics, espionage or manipulation, while the men who were focused on politics, espionage or manipulation (a boy playing a game where the girls have the edge) were mostly destroyed with a few lucky straggles. On the flipside, once a man enters the arena of politics, espionage or manipulation (which is basically the setup for conditions in the 3rd Age) he is at a disadvantage while the arena is set for the women no holding military capability to thrive. This may be why there are actual permanent male deaths thus far while all the females have survived - the females had already culled the women without a certain amount of cunning during the War of Shadow.
Basically there are no generalized advantages or disadvantages - during the War of Power, where there massive amounts of troops, support systems and outright conflict, being a general conferred an advantage. Once society fell apart, and the infrastructure broke down there is very little advantage to having this sort of military knowledge - you are anachronistic in a manner similar to Aginor. Now, they're all on a level playing field but we see the Forsaken accounted above average in battle largely dead and beyond rebirth already because they weren't able to switch their strategy. That's part of why Sammael was getting angered - he sensed that he was being played, but wanted to do something, so he continued to take part in it.
"Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
This message last edited by RugbyPlayingAshaman on 02/10/2009 at 12:19:19 AM
Are women really bad generals?
01/10/2009 07:05:03 PM
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No.
01/10/2009 07:41:35 PM
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Or RJ just loves stacking ridiculously unfavourable odds against the male Forsaken generals...
01/10/2009 08:40:47 PM
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Lol... too true
01/10/2009 09:32:29 PM
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And you guys whine about the lameness of RJ's villains?
01/10/2009 09:41:54 PM
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I still haven't seen proof of Demandred or Ishamael's "brilliance".
01/10/2009 09:56:41 PM
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but you are difficult to please
02/10/2009 05:10:13 AM
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But they are lame... they've done minimal damage to the Light
02/10/2009 05:06:05 AM
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You can't have it both ways....
02/10/2009 06:47:21 AM
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Why not?
02/10/2009 08:45:35 AM
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Yeah
01/10/2009 09:57:01 PM
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Re: Yeah
01/10/2009 10:40:28 PM
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I thought the same in the past...
02/10/2009 07:01:18 AM
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Gah! Hate!
02/10/2009 04:11:49 PM
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Ah, come on...
02/10/2009 04:41:37 PM
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No no, I was just being pouty that I haven't read the new stuff yet.
02/10/2009 05:01:15 PM
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Re: Or RJ just loves stacking ridiculously unfavourable odds against the male Forsaken generals...
01/10/2009 09:51:30 PM
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Good points! Also, these "generals" haven't actually fielded any troops
01/10/2009 11:23:40 PM
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Further...
02/10/2009 12:14:44 AM
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But as individuals they are meant to be deadly too
02/10/2009 05:09:21 AM
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Well, yeah. They're knowledgable and deadly in person. Generalship doesn't come into it.
04/10/2009 12:09:50 AM
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nope
01/10/2009 08:06:57 PM
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Tylee Kirgan, Birgitte, and one other, Egeanin
01/10/2009 09:47:00 PM
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Birgitte's not a soldier though.
01/10/2009 10:10:50 PM
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She says she's not, but so does Mat.
01/10/2009 10:34:04 PM
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Mat's not a soldier, either - he's a general
01/10/2009 10:51:29 PM
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Birgitte is too cautious to be better than an adequate tactician.
02/10/2009 04:22:45 AM
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My opinion
02/10/2009 01:30:12 AM
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That's a poor excuse
02/10/2009 11:59:42 AM
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I disagree
02/10/2009 04:26:28 PM
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Re: I disagree
02/10/2009 08:31:29 PM
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Oh, puh-lease.
02/10/2009 09:09:30 PM
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Re: Oh, puh-lease.
03/10/2009 04:52:37 PM
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Re: Oh, puh-lease.
05/10/2009 05:08:27 PM
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I always know I've out-argued an idiot when they fall back on the tired old "RJ wanted it that way"
06/10/2009 04:42:11 AM
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And I can tell you're through when you've gotten to three+ insults per paragraph.
06/10/2009 05:46:24 PM
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Monday morning quarterbacking at its worst
04/10/2009 07:28:36 AM
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Men and football.
05/10/2009 04:49:35 PM
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She didn't kill anyone! Why SHOULD she feel guilty? She gave necessary orders.
06/10/2009 03:33:15 AM
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