Your example proved my point - LTT only said that it was needed for certain weaves. - Edit 1
Before modification by RugbyPlayingAshaman at 08/02/2011 04:54:38 PM
During the Trolloc attackin KOD when LTT took control of said in from Rnad he could not form certain weaves until Rand moved his hands.
Yes, I already referenced this. This was the exception that proved the rule - in the majority of cases, when Rand demonstrated a weave that LTT knew, hand gestures had nothing to do with it (see his Trolloc killing lightning attack in The Stone of Tear, the myriad weaves he created in "Towers of Midnight" and his use of Callandor to create attacks - hand gestures are never used for any of theses). That scene actually demonstrated that Rand was now experiencing Lews Therins' blocks in addition to his weaving knowledge, whereas before, he would just want something to happen and unconsciously be able to recall how to do it.
I think almost all channelers make some kind of gestures when the weave, the AS are just the most flamboyant due to the natutre of their training.
Incorrect, as I've already shown examples of. You need only look at the use of the Bowl of Winds, the Windfinder Elayne saw, the damane who fought during "The Great Hunt" and any showing by the Forsaken to see that most do not gesture.
In fact, not only did RJ tell us this, this is a specific point made in the books - one of the Wonder Girls explicitly tells us that only Aes Sedai make a throwing motion to create fireballs, but they learned that you didn't need to move your hands to do it and bcause the Aes Sedai learned that way it was difficult to teach them another way of creating the weave.
It all depends on your training. While one group of channelers might use gestures for a certain weave, another group or other individuals wouldn't need to. But, in general, gestures aren't needed - they serve as a mental aid to concentration; think of it as an assisting crutch to envision three-dimensional space.
For example, one of the damane major punishments involves cutting off the hands, specifically because they aren't needed for a damanes' channeling (The Great Hunt, p. 572).
Verin specially calls out that even though she could not see or Sense the weaves she knew when she was in a fight for her life.
Yes, she knew that because the counter-attack was very strong. This had nothing at all to do with gestures or any hand movement. If you look at that section again, Graendal is not described as doing anything but walk, indicating that Verin was reacting to the weaves, not to any physical gesture indicating where Graendal was aiming.