Much obliged!
Jordan was unsure what he wanted her to do with Cairhien. He had noted down she might claim the nation on her own before TG, or that she was forced to accept that Rand handed it to her as part of his treaty at Merrilor. Obviously he hadn't developed this much, and Sanderson (who needed filler because of the book split) came up with this unconvincing way to make her claim the throne, and like most of his forays into WOT politics it was too simplistic and a let down
I always hoped that Galad would end up with Cairhien. Cairhien and the Whitecloaks both use the sign of the Sun, and Galad was Taringail's eldest child. But mostly I just thought it would be hilarious to have what is essentially the most straightforward individual in the series ruling the nation of excessive meandering subtleties. It would have fit in nicely with their complete inability to deal with Rand back in The Great Hunt.
That sounds interesting, though I have to wonder how nobody would monitor who came to visit her. Then again, with the complete distrust that was the Tower's attitude at the time, it might well have worked. Would Egwene still have fought off the Seanchan by her lonesome, or was she supposed to get evacuated before the attack?
It almost felt like a coincidence though, the way it happened just from Rand helping out wherever he could. I get the impression that there should have something more to keep Demandred distracted. Maybe Logain doing something. Or perhaps Narishma.
Oh, I know. Until this book I still believed Graendal was supposed to die in Rand's attack, Graendal's storyline in Towers of Midnight being so absurd I couldn't believe it was actually planned.
So... if anybody reads this who argued with me about Graendal surviving the balefire, then I am ready to admit I was wrong now 
.
Hmm, now that I think of it, has any Forsaken other than Lanfear ever used the Portal Stones? That might have been intended as a hint.
And yet I still lost entire armies. Aside from Murandy, or largely devastated countries like Arad Doman, Ghealdan and Cairhien, I don't recall the forces of Tear or Illian ever showing up anywhere (aside from their elite units). Those are two of the most powerful nations in the Westlands, surely they should have had more screen time. Actually, I think Ghealdanin and Domani troops are mentioned at some point
Hmm, I don't think I've ever read any military histories about specific battles. Those few I've read were about entire conflicts, and largely dealt with logistics and global strategy, not tactics.
Oh, I didn't even think of that. Actually, all of the Great Captains were pretty much forgotten after they were relieved of command. Bryne and Bashere were only remembered long enough for them to die. I don't think Agelmar is ever mentioned again.
You're right: Brandon has severely underplayed the OP factor (and cut arbitrarily (and without even a rationale behin dit) channeler numbers by the hundreds and thousands in place... each Aiel Clan had several hundred WO who could channel, for e.g. (the Shaido alone had 500). Aviendha should have had a whole army of WO, not a handful and being forced to rely on Cadsuane's followers).
My theory on this is that again it comes from Sanderson not mastering enough early modern military matters to take his ease and enter the speculative zone by factoring massive numbers of channelers of someone else's magic system into it. So he mostly used them episodically for "feats" and such (much as he does in his own books), or for Ayyad vs. AS etc. He didn't truly integrated channelers with the rest. His "advisors" most likely had troubles juggling with them while attempting to script an early modern battle too. It's really something only Jordan would have been totally comfortable to do, but that doesn't change the disappointment on how this was handled.
Wow, I hadn't realised how many Wise Ones there would be. That's actually pretty ridiculous when comparing to the White Tower's numbers. Though I guess it serves to illustrate how much the Aes Sedai shot themselves in the foot with their recruiting practices. The numbers of Novices found by the Salidar Aes Sedai is well established as being massive.
But even the White Tower's numbers make Demandred's boast of four hundred Ayyad sound absurd.
He basically brought them to Merrilor to deflate the Roedran red-herring, which he did in a poor way. He really should have left them to sit the LB at home, if you ask me!
Heh, I expected them to just "be there", maybe have some effect on Talmane's passages or something. I don't really think anybody should have been sitting at home for the Last Battle. Actually, now that I think of it the opening passage with Jarid Saighan's men deserting him to fight at the last battle could have worked with Roedran's Murandian army too.
Oh, that would've been nifty. I'd have liked to see more of him directly, though. There's this one chapter where he gets attended on by three women - Ayyad, I presume - and I immediately though of Rand's three wives. Probably just a coincidence, but if it wasn't I'd have enjoyed seeing more of it.
It's funny, I used to be Gawyn's defender on this board, but after The Gathering Storm, that flew out the window. Poor kid.
I hadn't even noticed that.
Wait, Androl was 'his' character? That explains so much.
Eh, maybe it could have been brought in so that it made sense, but as it was it felt pretty random to me.
Well, clearly you have a much better understanding of this series than I do .
~Master Splinter
Victorious in Bergioyn's legendary 'Reverse Mafia'. *MySmiley*
. *NM*