The Farmers at The Field of Merrilor

[Kegsy77]

I've only seen this once in the forums(AMoL)...

 

Egwene's tent was on a rise, and she could overlook the many armies encamped here. "Is that a new one?" she asked, gesturing towards a smaller force that had taken position just below the ruins. "They came on their own," Gawyn said. "Farmers, mostly. Not really a true army; most don't have swords. Pitchforks, wood axes, quarterstaffs. I assume al'Thor sent them. They started wandering in yesterday."

"Curious," Egwene said. They seemed a various bunch, with mismatched tents and little understanding of how to set up an army camp. But there did seem to be some five or ten thousand of them."Have some scouts keep an eye on them". Gawyn nodded.

 

 

Now I might be barking up the wrong tree but something smells a wee bit fishy here. I cant see them being the Two Rivers folk, also I don't think they are the Legion of the Dragon as they have been training with Bashere previously.

So who the hell are they????....personally i think they are there to cause mischief of some sorts....Taims private army of channelers dedicated to the Shadow???

[murf2011]

Maybe they're the remains of Masema's rabble??

[Barid Bel Medar]

I wondered when this was going to pop up. Good question. I thought something along the same lines.

 

My first guess is it is the Darkfriends that Moggy. and Lanfear have been rallying (tGS prologue) come to mess things up a bit.

 

However, there is really nothing to go on, they could simply be random pesants gathering to fight, much like the Borderlanders we see in tGS prologue, going north to do their part.

 

So I havent really wanted to say anything, just waiting until we get some more information or I find something in the books that might point to it.

[herid]

I've only seen this once in the forums(AMoL)...

 

Egwene's tent was on a rise, and she could overlook the many armies encamped here. "Is that a new one?" she asked, gesturing towards a smaller force that had taken position just below the ruins. "They came on their own," Gawyn said. "Farmers, mostly. Not really a true army; most don't have swords. Pitchforks, wood axes, quarterstaffs. I assume al'Thor sent them. They started wandering in yesterday."

"Curious," Egwene said. They seemed a various bunch, with mismatched tents and little understanding of how to set up an army camp. But there did seem to be some five or ten thousand of them."Have some scouts keep an eye on them". Gawyn nodded.

 

 

Now I might be barking up the wrong tree but something smells a wee bit fishy here. I cant see them being the Two Rivers folk, also I don't think they are the Legion of the Dragon as they have been training with Bashere previously.

So who the hell are they????....personally i think they are there to cause mischief of some sorts....Taims private army of channelers dedicated to the Shadow???

I'm sure there is nothing sinister there. Those are likely just the people influenced by Rand's ta'veren pull. A few are mentioned in tGS prologue and a few more in ToM prologue. Gawyn guessed as much and I'm sure he is right.

[Thanatos]

I always assumed that the farmer's were the people that came with Almen Bunt. No evidence to back that up, just what I thought.

[Kegsy77]

I've only seen this once in the forums(AMoL)...

 

Egwene's tent was on a rise, and she could overlook the many armies encamped here. "Is that a new one?" she asked, gesturing towards a smaller force that had taken position just below the ruins. "They came on their own," Gawyn said. "Farmers, mostly. Not really a true army; most don't have swords. Pitchforks, wood axes, quarterstaffs. I assume al'Thor sent them. They started wandering in yesterday."

"Curious," Egwene said. They seemed a various bunch, with mismatched tents and little understanding of how to set up an army camp. But there did seem to be some five or ten thousand of them."Have some scouts keep an eye on them". Gawyn nodded.

 

 

Now I might be barking up the wrong tree but something smells a wee bit fishy here. I cant see them being the Two Rivers folk, also I don't think they are the Legion of the Dragon as they have been training with Bashere previously.

So who the hell are they????....personally i think they are there to cause mischief of some sorts....Taims private army of channelers dedicated to the Shadow???

I'm sure there is nothing sinister there. Those are likely just the people influenced by Rand's ta'veren pull. A few are mentioned in tGS prologue and a few more in ToM prologue. Gawyn guessed as much and I'm sure he is right.

 

You could be right Herid but something keeps nagging at me. Why would RJ/BS put in such a needless and uninteresting point,(if that is what it is!), when there is always some kind of foreshadowing throughout the books?..We have nearly all the forces of Light here in one place...would the Shadow really miss a chance to do some damage pre Last Battle??...

[herid]

 

 

You could be right Herid but something keeps nagging at me. Why would RJ/BS put in such a needless and uninteresting point,(if that is what it is!),

shrug. that's a matter of opinion. this is a natural part of the story of everybody gathering for the last battle. It has also been set up by previous events. I see nothing strange or suspicious there.

 

when there is always some kind of foreshadowing throughout the books?..We have nearly all the forces of Light here in one place...would the Shadow really miss a chance to do some damage pre Last Battle??...

the shadow is doing its thing elsewhere. 5-10 thousand farmers with pitchforks in the face of numbers 50 times bigger than that is hardly something the Shadow would devise. I'm sure they are simply the folks pulled by Rand like Almen Bunt.

[Kegsy77]

 

 

You could be right Herid but something keeps nagging at me. Why would RJ/BS put in such a needless and uninteresting point,(if that is what it is!),

shrug. that's a matter of opinion. this is a natural part of the story of everybody gathering for the last battle. It has also been set up by previous events. I see nothing strange or suspicious there.

 

when there is always some kind of foreshadowing throughout the books?..We have nearly all the forces of Light here in one place...would the Shadow really miss a chance to do some damage pre Last Battle??...

the shadow is doing its thing elsewhere. 5-10 thousand farmers with pitchforks in the face of numbers 50 times bigger than that is hardly something the Shadow would devise. I'm sure they are simply the folks pulled by Rand like Almen Bunt.

 

Ahhhh but they could be in disguise!!!!....we could go on like this forever so we will just have to wait and see!!!....only another year or so to go!!>.(fingers crossed!).

[Diederichos]

It's not foreshadowing, it's a payoff after reading Apples First.

[Smiley73]

I believe that those are just people who have decided to fight the dark tide and not to run around like headless chickens, sort of like Renald Fanwar (the farmer from the prologue of tGS)

[A Rant Lord]

Maybe Demandreds doing. They do not even need weapons, with the chaos the FoM is about to hear of from Caemlyn, would it be really hard for those `farmers´ to start a quick fire and set some tents on fire? Now we have chaos on 2 points, Demandred is coming from Murandi and start advancing from the back.

[Majsju]

Maybe Demandreds doing. They do not even need weapons, with the chaos the FoM is about to hear of from Caemlyn, would it be really hard for those `farmers´ to start a quick fire and set some tents on fire? Now we have chaos on 2 points, Demandred is coming from Murandi and start advancing from the back.

 

That kind of things would be way easier to accomplish by having DFs infiltrating every single army. That way, they could do a lot worse than just setting a few fires, like poisoning water, interupting messages, random assassinations in camp just to cause panic, etc.

[Terez]

My best guess is that they're the ones Tam was gathering up in the Two Rivers (not the ones who went with Perrin obviously, so probably mostly farmers with odd weapons). It puts a nice touch of irony on Egwene's reaction to them.

[Sharaman]

They're not carrying the long-bow, which any TR contingent would. It's tough to imagine that Gawain would not remark on a bunch of archers with a very, very region-specific weapon. I think they're Black Hill farmers.

[Terez]

They're not carrying the long-bow, which any TR contingent would.

Perhaps. There was a contingent of archers at the battle of Emond's Field, but most of the defenders were carrying hoes and pitchforks and whatnot. I'd suspect that most of the archers went with Perrin.

[FarShainMael]

My best guess is that they're the ones Tam was gathering up in the Two Rivers (not the ones who went with Perrin obviously, so probably mostly farmers with odd weapons). It puts a nice touch of irony on Egwene's reaction to them.

 

Perhaps, but Tam is ex-military. He'd have got them a lot better organised than that, surely.

[Sharaman]

They're not carrying the long-bow, which any TR contingent would.

Perhaps. There was a contingent of archers at the battle of Emond's Field, but most of the defenders were carrying hoes and pitchforks and whatnot. I'd suspect that most of the archers went with Perrin.

Every 10-year-old boy in the TR uses a bow. Vide TSR

[Terez]

My best guess is that they're the ones Tam was gathering up in the Two Rivers (not the ones who went with Perrin obviously, so probably mostly farmers with odd weapons). It puts a nice touch of irony on Egwene's reaction to them.

 

Perhaps, but Tam is ex-military. He'd have got them a lot better organised than that, surely.

Maybe. If he was running around the Two Rivers recruiting, he might have just sent them in small groups by gateway figuring that Perrin would organize them when he got there (he had just arrived in that scene).

 

They're not carrying the long-bow, which any TR contingent would.

Perhaps. There was a contingent of archers at the battle of Emond's Field, but most of the defenders were carrying hoes and pitchforks and whatnot. I'd suspect that most of the archers went with Perrin.

Every 10-year-old boy in the TR uses a bow. Vide TSR

To young boys, a bow is like a toy, so that's no surprise. Again, Perrin probably took the most skilled archers with him; for the rest, the boys and remaining young men probably do most of the hunting that's not done with traps.

[herid]

My best guess is that they're the ones Tam was gathering up in the Two Rivers (not the ones who went with Perrin obviously, so probably mostly farmers with odd weapons). It puts a nice touch of irony on Egwene's reaction to them.

anybody Tam would send would join Perrin and be better organized than those peasants. Their camps are described as separate. Perrin has been there for a little while yet they have not merged and there was no indication that they were going to. Plus when Perrin traveled to Merrilor both Ashaman were with him. there was nobody in the Two Rivers to make gateways for whoever Tam gathered unless Perrin sent for them.

[Ataxia]

I figure they are just there to represent the regular people. They will choose someone to rep them during the meetings and will throw their lot in with Rand. Perrin represents numerous nations but mainly the Two Rivers. The others are just camps full of soldiers(and AS). They will be the regular folk who know its getting bad and something has to be done. Egwene will be moved by them but still wont budge until Perrin makes his speech that Brandon hinted at.

[Muad Cheade]

Perrin makes his speech that Brandon hinted at.

?

[Terez]

My best guess is that they're the ones Tam was gathering up in the Two Rivers (not the ones who went with Perrin obviously, so probably mostly farmers with odd weapons). It puts a nice touch of irony on Egwene's reaction to them.

anybody Tam would send would join Perrin and be better organized than those peasants.

That's an assumption with nothing to back it up.

 

Their camps are described as separate. Perrin has been there for a little while yet

Again, Perrin had just arrived.

 

Plus when Perrin traveled to Merrilor both Ashaman were with him. there was nobody in the Two Rivers to make gateways for whoever Tam gathered unless Perrin sent for them.

The Aes Sedai probably learned Traveling in Caemlyn.

[herid]

My best guess is that they're the ones Tam was gathering up in the Two Rivers (not the ones who went with Perrin obviously, so probably mostly farmers with odd weapons). It puts a nice touch of irony on Egwene's reaction to them.

anybody Tam would send would join Perrin and be better organized than those peasants.

That's an assumption with nothing to back it up.

only Tam's rather extensive experience in training the Two Rivers people starting in TSR.

Their camps are described as separate. Perrin has been there for a little while yet

Again, Perrin had just arrived.

He's had enough time to set up camp, communicate with the other armies and refuse to meet with Egwene. yet the peasant army apparently shows no sign of intending to join him.

 

Plus when Perrin traveled to Merrilor both Ashaman were with him. there was nobody in the Two Rivers to make gateways for whoever Tam gathered unless Perrin sent for them.

The Aes Sedai probably learned Traveling in Caemlyn.

possibly. but this is never mentioned. and none of the Aes Sedai are mentioned as being away. when the gateways for Perrin's army are made it simply says the Ashaman the Aes Sedai and Edarra made them.

 

Anyway, I'm convinced you are wrong on this one but it's hardly important. Perhaps BS will be kind enough to clarify the issue some time.

[Terez]

My best guess is that they're the ones Tam was gathering up in the Two Rivers (not the ones who went with Perrin obviously, so probably mostly farmers with odd weapons). It puts a nice touch of irony on Egwene's reaction to them.

anybody Tam would send would join Perrin and be better organized than those peasants.

That's an assumption with nothing to back it up.

only Tam's rather extensive experience in training the Two Rivers people starting in TSR.

With nothing to say that he took the time to train them. He was kind of in a hurry.

 

He's had enough time to set up camp, communicate with the other armies and refuse to meet with Egwene. yet the peasant army apparently shows no sign of intending to join him.

Elayne's army is still coming through the gateway at this point, so he's barely had time to set up camp and refuse to meet with Egwene.

 

possibly. but this is never mentioned. and none of the Aes Sedai are mentioned as being away. when the gateways for Perrin's army are made it simply says the Ashaman the Aes Sedai and Edarra made them.

True, but none of that prevents any of them from making regular trips to the Two Rivers to pick up folk.

 

Anyway, I'm convinced you are wrong on this one

It was only thrown out as a guess, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's wrong, but the arguments against it have been mostly illogical so far.

[Jon Paul]

I believe they're just answering the tug of the wheel. These will be people who've probably been wandering since the events in The Great Hunt or people like them. The **** is going to hit the fan at Merrilor. The Wheel demands they be there.