A lot of this work was done by Moiraine and Siuan as well as Cadsuane and co. and lets not forget Verin either. The Wondergirls would not have existed but for Moiraine and wouldn't have become ready so fast but for Siuan.
So throw Moiraine, Siuan, Verin, and Cadsuane into the mix. That leaves you with 7 Aes Sedai out of roughly one thousand who have done little else but get in the way or make problems for the main characters in the series.
Why must everyone be a hero? Who can set the example... the Whitecloaks, the Aiel, the Sharans, the Seanchan? Every group has a bunch of achievers and legends. You can't expect 1,000 Sisters to all be special. They're mostly normal people who can channel and go about their daily activities.
My point is they aren't toted up to be normal people who can channel and they definitely don't mind their own business and go about their daily activities like normal people. I agree not everyone can or even should be heroes. But other groups that you reference aren't 100% composed of individuals who think they should be in charge of everything and everyone. The fact of the matter is, the majority of Aes Sedai (even those that aren't Black Ajah) negatively impact the war against the Shadow by meddling with everything they can on the grounds that they are Aes Sedai and should be in control. Very few Aes Sedai have had a positive impact in the series, and those that have done something positive have mostly had their actions negated by the rest of the Aes Sedai.
Yes, but remember that over 2/3 of Aes Sedai are permanently in the Tower - so it's not a fallacy to think that they are normal people who go about their lives. While most of them consider themselves to be queens on a level of royalty, they only act that way outside of the Tower, which is quite uncommon. Most Sisters stroll the halls and go about their daily activities.
The 'series' as you put it is a giant soup of good and evil deeds. It's very one dimensional to say that the Aes Sedai have had a minimal positive impact on the series. They do good things which are countered by Elaida's stupidity or the evil of the Black Ajah, but the same is really true of any group... Jaichim Carridin is surely counterproductive to any Whitecloak efforts to battle the Shadow, as is Suroth for the Seanchan.
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This message last edited by Sidious on 03/09/2009 at 09:24:52 PM
You know... it feels like the Aes Sedai are pretty superflouous
02/09/2009 09:48:19 PM
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Y'know, the paralells betwen the Aes Sedai in the White Tower...
02/09/2009 10:46:29 PM
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That is the inspiration for the Aes Sedai that RJ used - I can't find the article, though.
03/09/2009 02:39:14 PM
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When I was reading this I was thinking of the paralells between the white tower and
03/09/2009 02:47:33 AM
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And yet the WT has been THE single greatest force for continuity and civilization.
03/09/2009 03:37:14 AM
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Re: And yet the WT has been THE single greatest force for continuity and civilization.
03/09/2009 05:46:13 AM
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Really?
03/09/2009 05:52:38 AM
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Re: Really?
03/09/2009 06:03:13 AM
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So lets add a few more
03/09/2009 11:42:48 AM
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most of these are accounted for above
03/09/2009 02:18:01 PM
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Just because we don't know all their names, doesn't mean their effectiveness on the Pattern was less
03/09/2009 03:19:41 PM
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But who did the work?
03/09/2009 05:37:00 PM
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While these are good, none of it is because of the White Tower
03/09/2009 05:43:56 PM
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So if Elaida didn't order it, it doesn't count?
03/09/2009 07:29:20 PM
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Re: But who did the work?
04/09/2009 01:32:19 PM
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Only one point because obviously your mind is made up.
05/09/2009 06:13:23 AM
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well, yeah
05/09/2009 02:33:51 PM
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In that case, Rand, Mat, Perrin... all of them are superfluous.
05/09/2009 03:03:07 PM
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Re: In that case, Rand, Mat, Perrin... all of them are superfluous.
05/09/2009 04:57:44 PM
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I don't understand your point
03/09/2009 04:25:22 PM
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Re: I don't understand your point
03/09/2009 09:09:38 PM
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Re: I don't understand your point
03/09/2009 09:23:53 PM
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I was talking about the WT specifically, and only during recent years. It's Gotta be the Shadow,
03/09/2009 05:39:11 PM
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So what you are really saying is that if you ignore over 2/3rds of the AS the rest aren't doing much
03/09/2009 06:07:23 PM
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I'm talking about the organization as a whole
03/09/2009 10:07:37 PM
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You just made our point...
04/09/2009 12:49:44 AM
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WT has been THE single greatest force for stagancy and lack of development.
09/09/2009 08:58:58 AM
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Like I said earlier the AS are superfluous except the ones who aren't superfluous.
09/09/2009 11:55:47 AM
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To a certain extent
03/09/2009 11:33:30 AM
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Actually, I think Verin is a good metaphor here.
03/09/2009 07:59:46 PM
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Agrees with Nossy
03/09/2009 10:44:06 PM
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