Throughout the entire series we have only been shown snippets of the Forsaken, their thoughts, their plans, and their actions. Hardly any of it has ever been sufficient to provide anything remotely resembling a complete picture. I think we have to accept that RJ never really intended for us to have more than "teasers" on the shadow side.

One of the defining characteristics of the world and story of WoT is that nothing is cut and dried, or black and white. Everything is a little messy, or in shades of grey. Good characters have flaws. Evil characters have virtues. Victories are incomplete. Defeats are not final. Most importantly, knowledge or information of any sort is almost always incomplete if not inaccurate. Perhaps it's intentional that the narrative itself sometimes reflects this defining characteristic. RJ never told us everything, and never intended to.

It's frustrating, and leaves us with many unanswered questions, but I think we need to accept it. I expect many of those questions will remain unanswered at the end of the series. In a way, it almost adds to WoT's charm. It makes it feel a little more like a historical record or interpretation of such, rather than an omniscient narrative.