Wheel of Time, Amazon Prime

[TheStranger]

That picture of the Children is the first thing I’ve seen that just seems off. I can’t look at those haircuts or clothes and take them even remotely seriously. I think “podcaster haircuts” is a good description. They just look like a bunch of modern guys cosplaying in goofy outfits instead of an actual military order that exists in the setting.

To be fair, I’m older than some and I live in a rural area where men’s style is pretty utilitarian (so is women’s style, for that matter). I’d probably be disinclined to take a bunch of men with those haircuts seriously in real life too. If you run in circles where a reasonable number of men look like that, ymmv.

[Psyren]

Wait, you mean the Children were meant to be taken seriously? The group that even country bumpkins roll their eyes at constantly? (Outside of Amadicia anyway.)

[TheStranger]

Wait, you mean the Children were meant to be taken seriously? The group that even country bumpkins roll their eyes at constantly? (Outside of Amadicia anyway.)

I mean, they’re not supposed to be comic relief. Or at least I never thought so.

[Ashen Lilies]

They're not wearing armor because the Light protects them. Anyone who takes a lethal wound was clearly a Darkfriend or didn't believe in the Light strongly enough.

I am holding out hope that we'll see them more armored up in a fighting context, like maybe when they demonstrate their superior military tactics against the vile Seanchan darkfriends. In the meantime though I think their outfits make them look like a bunch of selfrighteous, pompous jackasses. Which, conveniently, they are.

I mean, they’re not supposed to be comic relief. Or at least I never thought so.

Maybe they weren't intended to be comic relief, but it doesn't help that the narrative basically takes a dump on them every turn with how incompetent they are, as demonstrated by AES' reaction to them in the other thread. Getting shown up by a bunch of country bumpkins, their aforementioned demonstration of the superior military tactic of "running headfirst into a pack of damane" and the fact that their apparent idea of "keeping watch" is "let's just have a bunch of guys walk back and forth in a line without looking from side to side" doesn't speak much to their capability.

People in universe try to claim that they're an effective fighting force, and that Pedron Niall is a 'brilliant' commander, despite all evidence to the contrary, but my main impression is that the main reason they're able to make such a nuisances of themselves is because there are rather a lot of them and they're surprisingly well armed and equipped, on a continent where the average army size is very small and there isn't much of a concept of a professional soldiery or nationalized armies. The Whitecloaks aren't good soldiers, but they're bigger and better enough than the local lord and his armsmen, and frequently take advantage of local instabilities and political strife to exert influence in places that can't run them off. Any time we see them go up against an actual fighting force (the Seanchan, Shadowspawn, a bunch of angry villagers with longbows) they get completely bodied.

Two more teasers:

1) Interspersed with narration from Rosamund, we see Moiraine and Alanna(?) striding through the tower, a Trolloc kicking a door open, our first shot of Thom Merrillin(!) with his harp guitar, Nynaeve doing an epic braid tug flip(??), what looks like the Women's Circle gathering around Egwene, and a couple of other minor shots.

Thom being smoking hot is certainly a revelation, but the main takeaway I took from this is actually that there are electric guitars in the soundtrack! It was probably just something mixed for the teaser, and not indicative of what we hear in the actual show, but I personally would appreciate it if the show's soundtrack ran with having a mix of styles and instruments.

Nynaeve's braid flip was badass.

[Psyren]

They're not wearing armor because the Light protects them. Anyone who takes a lethal wound was clearly a Darkfriend or didn't believe in the Light strongly enough.

I am holding out hope that we'll see them more armored up in a fighting context, like maybe when they demonstrate their superior military tactics against the vile Seanchan darkfriends. In the meantime though I think their outfits make them look like a bunch of selfrighteous, pompous jackasses. Which, conveniently, they are.



Maybe they weren't intended to be comic relief, but it doesn't help that the narrative basically takes a dump on them every turn with how incompetent they are, as demonstrated by AES' reaction to them in the other thread. Getting shown up by a bunch of country bumpkins, their aforementioned demonstration of the superior military tactic of "running headfirst into a pack of damane" and the fact that their apparent idea of "keeping watch" is "let's just have a bunch of guys walk back and forth in a line without looking from side to side" doesn't speak much to their capability.

People in universe try to claim that they're an effective fighting force, and that Pedron Niall is a 'brilliant' commander, despite all evidence to the contrary, but my main impression is that the main reason they're able to make such a nuisances of themselves is because there are rather a lot of them and they're surprisingly well armed and equipped, on a continent where the average army size is very small and there isn't much of a concept of a professional soldiery or nationalized armies. The Whitecloaks aren't good soldiers, but they're bigger and better enough than the local lord and his small number of armsmen, and frequently take advantage of local instabilities and political strife to exert influence in places that can't run them off. Any time we see them go up against an actual fighting force (the Seanchan, Shadowspawn, a bunch of angry villagers with longbows) they get completely bodied.

Yep. Remember how all their sentries loudly announce where they are in their patrol routes every few paces? Or how they don't have somebody watching their horselines, or keeping them well-lit? They've been incompetent from book 1. Also, Niall was a buffoon with a top-tier and very underpaid spymaster.

Thom being smoking hot is certainly a revelation, but the main takeaway I took from this is actually that there are electric guitars in the soundtrack! It was probably just something mixed for the teaser, and not indicative of what we hear in the actual show, but I personally would appreciate it if the show's soundtrack ran with having a mix of styles and instruments.

Nynaeve's braid flip was badass.

I mean, of course they're going to lean into Thom's silver fox-ness. Morgase don't go for the fuglies

Hell, his name at court had Fox in it!

[Ashen Lilies]

Oh I wasn't complaining.

[Ramza00]

The Children of the Light as a metaphor either Kobolds or Tucker’s Kobolds depending on what Jordan and Sanderson needs them to be. They are a DM tool that does not feel like a Deus Ex Machima for they are normal humans, who have an organization, and they are religious zealots. Thus either hyper useless or hyper useful depending on what the author needs to move a dozen pieces around saying character X needs to be in this village or city and so on.

For Example

Spoiler: Book Spoilers

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Padan Fain uses the Children of the Light in Book 4 to split the party and have Perrin go rescue his hometown of The Two Rivers while Rand and Mat are going to the Aiel Wasteland and re-enact Dune.

This was both unfortunate but also fortunate for the 3 Reality Warping boys, for while it sets up immediate problems for the boys, it also fostered relationships that were useful for The Last Battle since there is literally two dozen nations and even more factions that need to work together in a Battle that takes place over several books, like that Naruto incident.

[Sapphire Guard]

Depends what you mean by being taken seriously. In terms or are they correct in their beliefs, then no. But in terms of being a military threat, they're probably among the better fighters in the setting that are unlucky in their opponents. Niall has a wall full of banners of defeated enemy armies.

They're not an outright joke, especially given the Questioners habit of rounding up locals and executing them.

Bornhald and Niall have experience in the Borderlands too, making them one of the few armies that take the Blight seriously before it comes knocking.

They lose to the Seanchan, but so does everyone else. Shienaran Cavalry or Aiel would not do any better.

With regard to the photo, they're a little too pristine for an army in the forest, which may be the point, but still, floor length white capes are just asking for trouble.That art has it cut to the knee, which makes a lot more sense.

[Ashen Lilies]

Rodel Ituralde does way better against the Seanchan with his entire country in shambles (thanks Graendal) and a fraction of the resources. Amadicia got taken practically overnight.

[Psyren]

Well I'm not saying the Children are totally horrible on a straight-up battlefield. But come on, they're the muggle organization you'd expect to be the most adept at anti-channeler tactics on the continent, so they have a lot less excuse for getting utterly bodied by the Seanchan than most other forces. Even if they aim themselves primarily at Aes Sedai, they do hunt down Oathless wilders too - and besides, once they start attacking Warders then the gloves come off and they have to deal with as many lightning bolts and fireballs as shadowspawn do. Geofram honorably leading his men into a magical meat grinder was pretty nuts by any army's standards, and triply so by theirs when they of all people should know what the Power is capable of.

But what makes it even worse is the stuff they do off the battlefield. Let's put aside their very silly scouting and guarding protocols for a moment; they even fail at the very basic task of getting remote villages to trust them, except perhaps for the true dregs of society like Coplins and Congars looking for an excuse to go after their neighbors. What the Children should really be is a peacekeeping force in remote areas, more recognizable and trusted than even the actual patrols from that nation's capitol. Common people should be glad to see Whitecloaks come into town, because banditry and other crimes should drop, and the odd southern shadowspawn or wilder stirring up trouble should be quelled in short order. And that would convince people to turn in their channeler neighbors before Tar Valon can get their hands on them.

Instead, they're absolutely hated almost everywhere they go outside of their home country, which directly impedes all their goals of whipping up anti-channeler fervor, and even hurts their secondary goal of bringing Darkfriends to justice since they're crying wolf all the time.

[TheStranger]

The Children aren’t shown as particularly competent or likeable, and they’re definitely C-list antagonists in the series. But they’re a legitimate military force that other characters generally take seriously as players in the setting. They’re powerful enough to control a minor nation in all but name and have armed groups roaming every nation, organized and wealthy enough to field a standing army of well-trained and well-equipped cavalry, and disciplined and brutal enough to massacre entire villages. Events outpace them rapidly once the series starts, and I’ll grant that their competence is more of an informed attribute than anything we see, but from a world building perspective they’re not a joke.

My issue with the picture isn’t whether the Children are a major player, though. My issue isn’t even that they don’t look like professional soldiers. My issue is that their look is immersion-breaking. They don’t look like people who live in the setting. They look like a bunch of guys playing dress-up.

[Rodin]

Well I'm not saying the Children are totally horrible on a straight-up battlefield. But come on, they're the muggle organization you'd expect to be the most adept at anti-channeler tactics on the continent, so they have a lot less excuse for getting utterly bodied by the Seanchan than most other forces. Even if they aim themselves primarily at Aes Sedai, they do hunt down Oathless wilders too - and besides, once they start attacking Warders then the gloves come off and they have to deal with as many lightning bolts and fireballs as shadowspawn do. Geofram honorably leading his men into a magical meat grinder was pretty nuts by any army's standards, and triply so by theirs when they of all people should know what the Power is capable of.

But what makes it even worse is the stuff they do off the battlefield. Let's put aside their very silly scouting and guarding protocols for a moment; they even fail at the very basic task of getting remote villages to trust them, except perhaps for the true dregs of society like Coplins and Congars looking for an excuse to go after their neighbors. What the Children should really be is a peacekeeping force in remote areas, more recognizable and trusted than even the actual patrols from that nation's capitol. Common people should be glad to see Whitecloaks come into town, because banditry and other crimes should drop, and the odd southern shadowspawn or wilder stirring up trouble should be quelled in short order. And that would convince people to turn in their channeler neighbors before Tar Valon can get their hands on them.

Instead, they're absolutely hated almost everywhere they go outside of their home country, which directly impedes all their goals of whipping up anti-channeler fervor, and even hurts their secondary goal of bringing Darkfriends to justice since they're crying wolf all the time.

I always read that as being a problem with the people in the organization itself. Befriending the local population and protecting them is something an organization of actually good people would do, or an organization that is fanatical on the outside but is lead by people who are practical and more focused on long term power than on the supposed mission of their organization.

Instead, the Children are fanatics top to bottom. There's a handful of semi-sane people around, but everyone else is absolutely bonkers. They genuinely believe that half of every village they come to are secretly Darkfriends. They've self-selected themselves an army of Mikos, with the result that any temporary successes they might have fall apart once some villager digests lunch in a Shadowspawn-like manner.

[lord_khaine]

Well I'm not saying the Children are totally horrible on a straight-up battlefield. But come on, they're the muggle organization you'd expect to be the most adept at anti-channeler tactics on the continent, so they have a lot less excuse for getting utterly bodied by the Seanchan than most other forces. Even if they aim themselves primarily at Aes Sedai, they do hunt down Oathless wilders too - and besides, once they start attacking Warders then the gloves come off and they have to deal with as many lightning bolts and fireballs as shadowspawn do. Geofram honorably leading his men into a magical meat grinder was pretty nuts by any army's standards, and triply so by theirs when they of all people should know what the Power is capable of.

Problem is, anti-channeler tactic basically consist of stabbing them in the back, poisoning their tea, or if that fails die.
In this case they are especially handicapped by being used to Aes Sedai, who are bound by the oaths, and hence stay out of conflict between human nations.
And then instead run into Damane who are trained as living weapon. The situation was basically a bunch of tribals running into a gattling cannon.

[Rodin]

Do the Children even fight the Aes Sedai that much? The Aes Sedai consider the Children to be beneath notice mostly and the Children aren't crazy enough to directly assault Tar Valon. That means out and out battles between an army of Chldren and even a small number of Aes Sedai will be pretty rare. Walking an army into a large group of Aes Sedai has probably never happened, and running into the sort of combined arms force the Seanchan put out is unheard of.

It's one thing to conceptually know the power of channelers, and quite another to actually face them.

[lord_khaine]

They dont. They newer encounter anything but solidary Aes Sedai out traveling.
Aes Sedai, who by the way generally isnt practiced in anti-infantry channeling as much as in bickering and plotting.
And who remain bound by the oaths to not strike first.

[Tvtyrant]

The Children and Aes Sedai have a lot in common in setting. Really shoddily run organizations, are politically important on a regional scale but are second rate powers globally. I'm not surprised their antagonism didn't prepare each other for the world powers showing up.

[lord_khaine]

Well.. i think its hard to argue the White Tower is anything but -the- world power on their continent.
At least when looking at how many rulers have an Aes Sedai advisor.

[Saph]

Do the Children even fight the Aes Sedai that much?

No. The wars the Children get into are against the militaries of other Westland armies, and they actually do pretty well at them due to having strong morale and a good commander.

They get curbstomped by the Seanchan, but the Seanchan curbstomp everyone (including the Aes Sedai). It's not until Rand brings his own armies against the Seanchan (with war-trained channellers of their own) that the tide turns a bit.

[Rynjin]

Well.. i think its hard to argue the White Tower is anything but -the- world power on their continent.
At least when looking at how many rulers have an Aes Sedai advisor.

"On their continent" is the point, and Aes Sedai still have to play politics and at least pretend they aren't the NWO.

Meanwhile the Seanchan have an iron grip on the unified resources and manpower of a continent three times the size, for reference.

[Psyren]

Problem is, anti-channeler tactic basically consist of stabbing them in the back, poisoning their tea, or if that fails die.
In this case they are especially handicapped by being used to Aes Sedai, who are bound by the oaths, and hence stay out of conflict between human nations.
And then instead run into Damane who are trained as living weapon. The situation was basically a bunch of tribals running into a gattling cannon.

Charging at a bunch of AS across an open plain would have been no less fatal. If Geofram was determined to engage (keep in mind he was already disobeying orders at this point, so there was no real reason for him to do so), he should have used guerilla tactics instead - divide his men up, hide amongst the Toman Head civilians and buildings, pick off as many damane and sul'dam as possible (they wear uniforms for crying out loud), and either escape with useful intel or attempt to rally what remained of the town's defenders.

And hilariously, the Children didn't even get any credit for helping to repel the Hailene, because literally everyone who even witnessed the battle was too busy drawing Sky-Rand

Random Falman: "Wait, there were Whitecloaks fighting too milord? If you say so. But man, let me tell you again about that redhead I saw battling the Dark One!"

My issue with the picture isn’t whether the Children are a major player, though. My issue isn’t even that they don’t look like professional soldiers. My issue is that their look is immersion-breaking. They don’t look like people who live in the setting. They look like a bunch of guys playing dress-up.

In a very real sense they are.They cloak themselves in the Light and its very vague strictures simply so they can flout whatever customs and jurisdictions they happen to find themselves in. Even Niall saw them as circling the drain before his series of massive blunders, and if it weren't for literal armageddon around the corner I don't think they'd have made it much longer.

I always read that as being a problem with the people in the organization itself. Befriending the local population and protecting them is something an organization of actually good people would do, or an organization that is fanatical on the outside but is lead by people who are practical and more focused on long term power than on the supposed mission of their organization.

Instead, the Children are fanatics top to bottom. There's a handful of semi-sane people around, but everyone else is absolutely bonkers. They genuinely believe that half of every village they come to are secretly Darkfriends. They've self-selected themselves an army of Mikos, with the result that any temporary successes they might have fall apart once some villager digests lunch in a Shadowspawn-like manner.

Agreed but that's the thing - when your organization reaches a certain size, you can't count on people to just magically stay good or competent. Rather, you need systems and controls that keep them that way. The Aiel are a fantastic example of this done well, with ji'e'toh + the Wise Ones ensuring that the vast majority of them stayed honorable and effective (and feared/respected outside the Waste) for centuries, and only one clan really going sour in all that time.

The Children and Aes Sedai have a lot in common in setting. Really shoddily run organizations, are politically important on a regional scale but are second rate powers globally. I'm not surprised their antagonism didn't prepare each other for the world powers showing up.

I actually agree to an extent, but the Aes Sedai still have better controls in place. Sure the BA infest their tower like so many weevils, but they still have to be circumspect; they couldn't do stuff like grab every angreal and sa'angreal in the Tower, nor did they end up with an unaccountable secret police force. The need to stay hidden hamstrung the Black Ajah in several key ways, such as the massive timelag on any orders they wanted sent through multiple hearts.

[Ramza00]

Just a reminder the "western" area of Randland is 1.9 the size of the United States, and 4.3 the size of the Roman Empire at its Height without all that easy to synchronize areas via using the Mediterranean , Black Sea, and other water ways to quickly synchronize nations / areas of land.

Likewise the population density is all messed up being 1/10th and some pleases even less than of the amount of people you would expect in said area. We are talking way less people than ever lived in Europe even after natural disasters like the Black Plague.

This is not nitpicky details but kind of important since we are given ratios of the number of female channelers who have the potential to to be trained, and the number of female channelers who are wilders have the spark and NEED to be train or they randomly die or teach themselves enough magic unconsciously to not kill themselves via accident.

-----

My point here with these 3 paragraphs above is Robert Jordan did not think through the mechanics of how an actual medieval world operates with magic or without magic. The Children of the Light not making sense with their actual tactics is another thing to add to the heap of stop looking at the story wrong and finding all its flaws Likewise the countries not making any sense, where you can see the bones underneath the costumes is another thing on that big heap of a fantasy epic.

Well.. i think its hard to argue the White Tower is anything but -the- world power on their continent.
At least when looking at how many rulers have an Aes Sedai advisor.

Well that is because Jordan is borrowing from Dune, and Bene Gesserits may not be the rulers but ever lord in the noble houses we do not see has a BG on staff.

[Tvtyrant]

Charging at a bunch of AS across an open plain would have been no less fatal. If Geofram was determined to engage (keep in mind he was already disobeying orders at this point, so there was no real reason for him to do so), he should have used guerilla tactics instead - divide his men up, hide amongst the Toman Head civilians and buildings, pick off as many damane and sul'dam as possible (they wear uniforms for crying out loud), and either escape with useful intel or attempt to rally what remained of the town's defenders.

And hilariously, the Children didn't even get any credit for helping to repel the Hailene, because literally everyone who even witnessed the battle was too busy drawing Sky-Rand

Random Falman: "Wait, there were Whitecloaks fighting too milord? If you say so. But man, let me tell you again about that redhead I saw battling the Dark One!"



In a very real sense they are.They cloak themselves in the Light and its very vague strictures simply so they can flout whatever customs and jurisdictions they happen to find themselves in. Even Niall saw them as circling the drain before his series of massive blunders, and if it weren't for literal armageddon around the corner I don't think they'd have made it much longer.



Agreed but that's the thing - when your organization reaches a certain size, you can't count on people to just magically stay good or competent. Rather, you need systems and controls that keep them that way. The Aiel are a fantastic example of this done well, with ji'e'toh + the Wise Ones ensuring that the vast majority of them stayed honorable and effective (and feared/respected outside the Waste) for centuries, and only one clan really going sour in all that time.



I actually agree to an extent, but the Aes Sedai still have better controls in place. Sure the BA infest their tower like so many weevils, but they still have to be circumspect; they couldn't do stuff like grab every angreal and sa'angreal in the Tower, nor did they end up with an unaccountable secret police force. The need to stay hidden hamstrung the Black Ajah in several key ways, such as the massive timelag on any orders they wanted sent through multiple hearts.

Agreed. The Aes Sedai are much better then the Children, but they share a lot of problems

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heck that were finding the Black Ajah by making an unaccountable mind altering secret police by the end.

The Aes Sedai are the strongest power on the weakest continent, basically. The Aiel, Sharra, and Seanchen are all massively stronger and the Aes Sedai's rule is so loose they didn't notice they shared the continent with two other groups of channelers ( three counting the Black Ajah.)

[Traab]

Yeah its honestly kind of funny as the series goes on that we and the characters learn how most nations have an entire organization designed to keep the aes sedai from realizing how many channelers there are there. Or how organized they are there.

[Mechalich]

The Whitecloak's general incompetence is mostly a symptom of overall problems with how fantasy warfare is presented in WoT. They just happen to be the conventional Randland military force that ends up actually in described combat scenes more often than any other, weird as that may be (most of the Randland forces we see fight take part in exactly one engagement). WoT fantasy warfare is determined primarily by various systems that Jordan fetishized: the Aiel have a severe case of Fremen Mirage, the Seanchan have a serious 'katanas are better' problem, the Two Rivers are guilty of massive longbow fetishization, and both the armies led by Ituralde and Mat are better than everyone else because Jordan's viewpoint seriously over-emphasizes the impact of generals in the context of Early Modern Period Armies. And beyond that, the novels describe a society in transition from Late Medieval military setups to much larger Early Modern ones (with Channelers mostly serving in place of firearms and cannon) and the Whitecloaks, as a heavy cavalry force, are exactly the kind of unit that gets left behind by this transition.

So the Whitecloaks take it on the chin, something they are ideally placed to do because they are a group of religious fanatics whose beliefs are completely wrong, and the audiences knows they're wrong. The fact that the Whitecloaks even exist at all and have any real political power serves mostly as emphasis for how badly the Aes Sedai have bungled just about everything.

[Psyren]

Nitpick - it's explicitly not medieval, per WoG it's closer to 17th-century-without-gunpowder. (The channelers-as-artillery metaphor is apt.)

I think a group like the Whitecloaks would have existed no matter what. Muggles who know about casters will want some means of, if not fighting back, at least feeling like someone is doing so; the fact that mages in this setting are effectively gender-locked makes it worse as well.

But having said that, the Whitecloaks are more or less about to collapse under their own weight during the main events of the story.

[Gnoman]

Agreed but that's the thing - when your organization reaches a certain size, you can't count on people to just magically stay good or competent. Rather, you need systems and controls that keep them that way. The Aiel are a fantastic example of this done well, with ji'e'toh + the Wise Ones ensuring that the vast majority of them stayed honorable and effective (and feared/respected outside the Waste) for centuries, and only one clan really going sour in all that time.

This is exactly how you can reconcile Niall being reckoned as a Great Captain when the Children do poorly on the battlefield. He's not personally commanding them (leaving less-competent subordinates filled with more zeal than sense), and his military talents don't translate to actually running the organization.

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Plus, we mostly see Niall after Fain got his hooks in, so not necessarily at his best either.

[Anteros]

I believe there's a subtle implication that Niall isn't quite as competent as his reputation makes him out to be. I can't think of any particular examples off the top of my head, but I definitely got that impression on re-reading the series. He's certainly not incompetent, especially for one of the Children, but he's not on the level of the other great captains I think.

[Mechalich]

I believe there's a subtle implication that Niall isn't quite as competent as his reputation makes him out to be. I can't think of any particular examples off the top of my head, but I definitely got that impression on re-reading the series. He's certainly not incompetent, especially for one of the Children, but he's not on the level of the other great captains I think.

It's more that Niall is no longer the tiger he once was. According to the wiki Niall is eighty-nine when he ultimately dies. When the series begins he hasn't led in the field in over twenty years, since the Aiel War, and the various exploits that acquired him Great Captain status occurred another twenty years before that. Critically, during that period the nature of warfare in Randland has moved to the cusp of a drastic shift, one that unfolds during the series.

Notably mostly medieval-style armies of not more than ten thousand highly trained troops are replaced by mass mobilizations of an order of magnitude larger that more accurately represent the Early Modern Period nature of the setting. This point is made explicitly during the books when it is noted that the nations of Randland alter their military policy in direct reaction to the mass migration of the Aiel armies led by Rand and Couladin (though nations in the west undergo an enforced mobilization imposed by their Seanchan conquerors). This means that at the beginning of the books the various nations were drastically under-mobilized. This actually makes sense give Randland's population density issues - the vast expanses of very thinly settled territory between and in some cases within national borders (a point is made that Eastern Cairhein is significantly under-settled as a consequence of the Aiel War) mean that there are massive logistical difficulties to waging any sort of war of conquest.

So the Children of the Light as led by Niall represent a legacy of an older style of warfare that mostly no longer holds, something the books also make clear by having Mat - who explicitly breaks the 'laws of war' on many occasions - tromp all over basically everyone who dares to fight him (Ituralde also leads mostly highly unconventional campaigns). We can also see this in terms of the Children's overall numbers. Each Lord Captain leads a 2,000 man legion, and only eight lords captain are even named in the entire series. The full massed strength of the Children is probably never more than 20,000 men. Galad, when he takes command of the largest remaining faction of the Children, musters considerably less than that, to the point that the Children are no more than a rounding error in terms of the last battle. The Children do fight effectively when Galad leads them against the Trollocs in the final books, but their low numbers means that it doesn't matter.

I suspect there may have been a dropped/switched subplot with regard to the Children that was originally intended to make their ultimate allegiance substantially more significant. If the Children has undertaken some sort of mass recruitment during the middle of the series, a logical popular reaction given ongoing events, their forces could have represented a significant group needing to be brought into the ultimate coalition. However, Masema ended up occupying that space, to rather different ultimate purpose, and the profusion of both soldiers and channelers meant that the Children just didn't matter much in the end.

This isn't really unique. The numbers really got away from Jordan and Sanderson only boosted them further. The actual battle at the Field of Merrilor involves a truly mind-boggling number of combatants, possibly larger than any battle ever fought on Earth (the largest 'battle' in history is probably the Battle of Kursk from WW2, which involved upwards of 3 million combatants) and well beyond the ability of societies at this technological level to actually fight.

[Anteros]

It's more that Niall is no longer the tiger he once was.

There's also that a lot of his reputed successes seemed due to luck more than planning. One example is when he stations half his army to watch an impassible pass based on a gut feeling rather than scouts or any sort of planning and just happens to catch his opponent pulling a Hannibal through the Alps. Or when he convinces Morraine to sign his treaty by coincidentally executing a darkfriend she thought was going to rescue her.

He's also the anti Cenn Buie. Cenn is treated by the narrative as a doddering old fool, who espouses crazy theories and is dismissed by everyone. Basically every time he says something crazy and unbelievable, it's foreshadowing some future event. Compare to Niall who is treated as a hyper-competent super general, but every time we get his perspective of events he's wrong.

[Psyren]

Or when he convinces Morraine to sign his treaty by coincidentally executing a darkfriend she thought was going to rescue her.

Morgase*
To be fair, that one probably was due to scouting (or more accurately, spying.)

He's also the anti Cenn Buie. Cenn is treated by the narrative as a doddering old fool, who espouses crazy theories and is dismissed by everyone. Basically every time he says something crazy and unbelievable, it's foreshadowing some future event. Compare to Niall who is treated as a hyper-competent super general, but every time we get his perspective of events he's wrong.

Yeah Cenn had some funny ones, like predicting Tinkers would make off with Emonds Field children (followed by Perrin and Egwene taking up with them for a while), and betting that Tarmon Gaidon had finally arrived (he was what, 2 years off I think? 3?)

He didn't bat 100 though - he thought the Trollocs came to Emonds Field because of Moiraine, when in reality Ba'alzamon sent them by way of his Padan Fain radar beginning to hone in on the three boys.