Rand can only make a Gateway that is about 4 paces by 4 paces ... that's what 12'x12' ... doesn't seem like even he could make one large enough to make this maneuver safe!



Not the case. Even most Asha'man cannot make a Gateway large enough for a cart to pass through, much less a wagon! We saw this in PoD when Rand was fighting the Seanchan near Illian.

Yes the Seanchan's ability to move has increased, but without the ability to link the damane do not have enough strength to move more than men and horses and relatively small amount of equipment. This ability will be fantastic for them in certain ways, but a huge tactical advantage is lost by not being able to move large armies and establish unraidable supply lines.



Large armies that they cannot establish supply lines for or equipment properly. Practically speaking they couldn't even bring a Generals command tent etc along since they'd need wagons and such to make it happen!



I'm not saying they won't pick up information from Elaida and the others they captured, I'm saying they aren't likely to believe that there is no super weapon just because a few women they captured don't know what it is.




You are incorrect. Karede has already addressed this in KoD when he's thinking about Mylen. He can't even imagine anyone allowing themselves to be Healed by a damane. These people don't look at damane as human. It would be like you or I going to a dog instead of a doctor. Oh it might be tempting to go to the dog since we'd heard that it had magical powers, except I also believe that the magic it uses to heal me will also destroy the world if the dog gets off it's leash.

The Royals don't want the common folk of Seanchan to be comfortable with the Power, if they get comfortable with it they might start questioning why damane (like their sister or cousin perhaps) need to be leashed.



Capturing Elaida will be seen as a great thing, assuming they don't think the woman is simply insane ... given her raving it's possible they will think her a mad woman

As for information in the 13th depository will only be meaningful to the AS... the common folk of Randland are already distrustful of AS, some hidden tidbit from 500 years ago will mean less than nothing to someone like Tam!



The raid was aimed at crippling the marath'damane headquarters and gain 2 specific weaves. One weave they don't have and the other will prove to be less effective since damane cannot link and create Gateways large enough to make massive military maneuvers possible.

Look at it from the Seanchan side... they did not achieve all of the goals they set out ... they still believe there is a weapon the AS can use against them and discovered a much stronger opponent than they anticipated. They lost far more raken than they should have since Egwene fought back so fiercely, they lost many damane and sul'dam and got a real dose of what they think the WT is capable of ... by no means was this a loss to the Seanchan, but it wasn't some massive, or even decisive, victory. It served about half of it's purpose and nothing more.