We have seen that Rand has a wealth of military experience and intellectual capital in his command structure. If ever an army will be well lead, it will be the Light's forces in Tarmon Gaidon.

Apart from Rand himself - who is the reborn soul of the greatest leader in the history of the world, we have the following military genius level generals to command various wings of his army:

1. Gareth Bryne - one of the great captains
2. Davram Bashere - one of the great captains
3. Rodal Ituralde - one of the great captains
4. Mat Cauthon - with the sum total of 2000 years worth of battle experience in his head
5. 11 Aiel Clan Chiefs - hardened in war and masters of battle strategy all
6. Various lesser generals of an assortment of nations, brigade commanders from armies, personal Captains of Royal Guards and other experienced commanders.

I leave out the Seanchan and their incredibly disciplined and efficient army, as their allegiance is still unconfirmed, although we KNOW the Nine Moons will be bound to the Dragon in one way or another. So you can probably add their numbers to the Light's forces as well, eventually.

In contrast, the Shadow seems to be severely lacking in this regard.

They have Moridin - who is essentially the "Hitler" of their operation. The mad visionary who is focused on the overall goal, but while in overall charge, did not have a single field command during the War of Shadow and was never reckoned as even a capable general. In fact, he is NOT a general at all.

And then they have Demandred, who is probably the equivalent Von Manstein/Rommell/Guderian to Moridin's Hitler. He was apparently the second greatest general of the War of Shadow, after Lews Therin himself. Clearly he will play a major role in the Shadow's military campaign to come.

Other than that, they have a newcomer in the form of Mazrim Taim.

And that's it.

And even if they DO have an assortment of lesser lords from various nations - like the fool Weiramon and a few others - none of these individuals rank among the great captains and none of them could command the Shadowspawn in any case, as they do not have the Forsaken mark that enforces obedience among Shadowspawn.


So it seems to me it is basically going to come down to the vast array of Battle Geniuses on Rand's side, against Demandred's lone strategic ability.

Does anyone else see there's something wrong with this picture? And what is wrong, is that the wrong Forsaken have been killed off by RJ. Arangar, Moghedien, Cyndane and Mesaana should have been removed. But Sammael and Be'lal should still have been here. A three pronged assault, lead by the three greatest generals of the Shadow would have been a fearsome prospect, and much more difficult to counter.

Now, I think the best we can expect is the gates of the Blight being thrown open by Moridin, and some kind of suprise assault being launched by Demandred further south, to divert some of the Light's forces away from the Borderlands. And of course, all of this will be easily countered by the horde of military geniuses in Rand's entourage.

I'm so tired of mindless Trolloc assaults like the one at the Manor, where 100 000 Trollocs get obliterated in the blink of an eye, or the attack on the Two Rivers, where Perrin's bowman mowed down predictable waves of charging Trollocs without any meaningful tactical direction to guide them.

I guess we're up for more of the same come Tarmon Gaidon. Which will be soooo boring. Unless Demandred is even more of a strategic genius than even HE thinks. Which we know is not possible in RJ's world.