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Who will be the DreadLords in the Last Battle?


DREADLORDS: Those men and women who, able to channel the One Pwer, went over to the Shadow dureing the Trolloc Wars, acting as commanders of the Trolloc forces.

  1. Black Ajah. Pro: loads of channeling experience, and bossing people around. Con: not much battle experience, except for Reds who hunt down False Dragons, and Greens, who do that sort of thing for fun.
  2. Darkfriend sul'dam, with a damane or two as a Power source. Pro: Battle experience. Con: depends upon a possibly non-loyal damane for Power. This could cause problems in the middle of a fight. No experience in using the OP by oneself.
  3. Runaway DF damane. Pro: knows how to use OP in battle. Con: not much experience in commanding things, making decisions, etc.
  4. Asha'man. Pro: big motivation to be sworn to the shadow--protection from the Taint. Very skilled at OP in battle. Possibly, a recruiting agent right in the camp (Mr. Taimendred? I'd like to join the BLACK tower, if you know what I mean.). Con: Some have less experience in command, and thus would make poor commanders.
  5. DF Windfinders. Not much to say pro or con, since we know next to nothing about the Sea Folk or Windfinders at all.
  6. Male Aiel Channelers: Pro: tradition is to go into the Blight to fight Shadowspawn until you die. (ObStupidIThinkRJCopiedFrom: Reminds you of Klingons, no?) Maybe some don't die, but get picked up and offered a second chance at eternal life, sans taint. Con: the Blight is NASTY. It's doubtful even an Aiel could survive a long time there, if he was bent on fighting. Not likely that many survive long enough to get recruited/13-converted. Plus, nobody has ever SEEN these supposed Aiel Dreadlords, either in the Blight, at SG, or in Randland.
  7. Random Joe Randlander who finds out he can channel. Pro: why not? again, a great incentive to join up--no taint. If Joe is already a DF when he discovers channeling, all the more reason. Con: With all those other great candidates, why would the Shadow bother searching the populace for the 1:10000+ men who channel?
  8. Dreadlord Search Program: Darkfriends are screened for the ability to channel, and then put into a Dreadlord Training Program. (Liandrin was recruited as a DF before she ever went to the Tower. She learned some channeling, too (?))
  9. Non-Channelers. Pro: In TGH, Bors thinks he has a chance of being a Dreadlord, even though he cannot channel. Con: You need to be Fain or a channeler to have enough power over a fade to command him. We already know J. Carradin never stood a chance with a Fade. (Beginning of TDR).
  10. No Dreadlords--the DO has something better. Pro: Look at that shiny new Myrddraal the DO has! Even the Forsaken are frightened by it. It can scare channelers, channelers can scare normal Fades, Fades scare Trollocs. Cut out the middlemen, and make a bunch of Super-Fades to be dreadlords? What Lord of Evil needs humans anyway? It's not like he's going to leave them around after he wins, after all. Con: Shadar Haran is special, we've only seen one of his kind. Maybe the DO can't make any more like him. Maybe the DO doesn't want to. SH is too much of a mystery to assume he is the first of a new model of Fade.

So, who are the New Dreadlords? I pick a mix of choices 1-7, with the majority being Black Ajah and DF Asha'man.


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