Most of this should probably be spoilered.
Quote Originally Posted by Olinser View Post
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The problem with the Aes Sedai is that it is UNJUSTIFIED arrogance.
Absolutely agree.

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Somebody like Cadsuane being arrogant (or Morraine, though she was more self-assured rather than arrogant) is perfectly justified. She's powerful, has a wide array of knowledge, and a LOT of experience in applying that knowledge.

Arrogant little ****s like
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Egwene, Elayne or Nynaeve
seem to think simply BEING an Aes Sedai (despite being the lowest class of Aes Sedai for less than a year) should grant them slavish obedience from any of the unwashed masses, have demonstrated absolutely NOTHING to earn any kind of respect or deference. Seriously, when the Two Rivers group encounters Mat again they act like he should get down on his knees and kiss their feet simply for being a part of the White Tower.

At it's core, Aes Sedai arrogance grinds my teeth because the lot of them are criminally incompetent. Morraine is one of the few exceptions.
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Frankly, I don't see how Cadsuane's arrogance is all that justified. Granted, it's been awhile since I've read the series, but I don't recall her accomplishing all that much, at least not within the story itself. It is made clear that she had a lot of past accomplishments to point to.


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Seriously, nearly a quarter of the freaking Tower was serving the Dark One and nobody figured that out? Freaking ELAIDA was made the leader and nobody thought that maybe it was a bad idea?

As a group, they seem to think the White Tower should effectively rule the world, that Kings and Queens are basically granted their thrones by the Tower, and yet NOBODY in the Tower leadership seems to have any kind of actual plan to deal with ANYTHING. They have slavish adherence to rules and doctrine with no thought to a better way or even WHY they have the rules in the first place.

The Blight was allowed to flourish completely uncontested by any Aes Sedai, the Whitecloaks attained a rather unbelievable amount of power given their brutality and fanaticism, the Seanchan allowed to conquer half the continent with no opposition, and the Forsaken are ruling multiple major countries. Who do the Aes Sedai gather together and attack? The male channelers that Rand is grouping up. You know, the guy supposed to save the world. Yeah, THAT'S the group you should be worried about.

Every one of them except Morraine spends most of the first few books running around trying to suppress or control every male channeler instead of paying any attention to very real and obvious Shadow threats from multiple quarters.
Mostly agree, but
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it seems pretty clear that men who could channel were dangerous and needed to be tracked down.