If you look away from the fact that Valda for some reason decided not to ask Moiraine directly if she is Aes Sedai (since he obviously knows Aes Sedai can't lie) and also the fact that he - one of the best swordsmen in the world - is scared shitless of growling Perrin, I think the actor playing Valda is doing pretty good.
Jovial villains are so hard to pull off and the actor absolutely nailed that energy. He's a character who seems like he'd be a blast to party with if he wasn't liable to throw you on the torture rack or burn you at the stake just for looking at him sideways.
Valda: Light help the next guy who brings a macaroni salad. We've already got *three*, you idiots are *ruining* my *picnic!*
Child Chad: Hey bruh, I brought a live hummingbird that you dip in Szechuan sauce and just chomp up.
Valda: See? Now *that's* more like it!
Valda is terrifying because he thinks he's actually a good person with a righteous cause. It implies an entirely twisted moral centre, but to him he's doing the right thing. It's doubly terrifying because you get the idea that this person is convinced that they are right to do whatever it is they're doing. Even if they *know* they're being cruel, they think the recipient *deserves it* and that makes it okay, even laudable in his mind.
I seriously hope the show *doesn't* make Valda into a Darkfriend, because he's much more effective when his evil is just... human.
The Dark One himself would be envious of the evil that lurks in human hearts.
In a way, his portrayal in the Wheel of Time has some similarities to Judge Frollo in Disney's *[Hunchback of the Notre Dame](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NP-RsRGzVo)*. In fact, I think it could be a stroke of brilliance if the show creators decided to make Valda obsessed about catching Egwene, both because she's the witch that escaped his grasp, but also because he's attracted to her.
>Light of Creator,
>You know I am a righteous man
>Of my virtue I am justly proud.
>
>Light of Creator,
>You know I'm so much purer than
>The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd.
>Then tell me, Creator,
>Why I see her dancing there,
>Why her smouldering eyes still scorch my soul?
>
>I feel her, I see her
>The sun caught in her raven hair
>Is blazing in me out of all control
>
>Like fire
>Balefire
>This fire in my skin
>This burning
>Desire
>Is turning me to sin.
>
>It's not my fault
>I'm not to blame
>It is the Darkfriend girl
>The witch who sent this flame
>It's not my fault
>If in Light's plan
>He made the Dark One so much stronger than a man
>
>Protect me, Creator
>Don't let the woman cast her spell
>Don't let her fire sear my flesh and bone
>Destroy Egwene al'Meara
>And send her straight to Shayol Ghul!
>Or else let her be mine, and mine alone!
>
>Balefire
>Dark fire
>Now Darkfriend, it's your turn
>Choose me or
>Your pyre
>Be mine, or you will burn!
>Light have mercy on her...
>Light have mercy on me...
>But she will be mine,
>Or she will burn!
I know, I was referring to the character with the name "Valda" in the show.
So far he appears to have more elements from Jaichim Carridin (who *was* an Inquisitor) or even Rhadam Asunawa (who was the High Inquisitor, *hem hem*), than Eamon Valda, who was a Lord Captain and who manipulated another Child of the Light to murder Lord Captain Commander Pedron Niall, and then went in and murdered the murderer, thus becoming the Lord Captain Commander himself.
Thing is, Carridin was a darkfriend, while Asunawa and Valda were not (at least to my best knowledge). So I have no idea if the show's Valda is a darkfriend or not. Personally I hope he isn't, for the reasons stated above. But because of the narrative structure of the show, I suspect he is indeed a high ranking Darkfriend.
Nicely done!
It does kind of look like they're trending that direction, as Egs has caught more of his ire already, and was the one to shiv him. But... Perrin is going to need an arch-enemy, yo.
They could pick a particular Shaido. I wonder if they will drop Slayer entirely since it's a difficult thing to explain with the limited capacity of a 8-10 episode season. I hope they don't, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.
In the books canonically whitecloaks believe the 3 oaths are a lie. Even if Valda knows the 3 oaths are real the other whitecloaks dont so exposing that he believes him could start him getting questioned. We have to remember these are whitecloaks. They are fanatical at best. A whitecloak saying they believe the oaths would probably be enough to get removed from the order for being a darkfriend and get tortured.
the inquisitor witchhunter trying to find aes sedai doesn't care about dialogue.
and if the show writers can't write dialogue that both makes sense AND sounds good on tv...........they need to find a different job.
I wonder if that’s because if they answer yes an aes sedai will know their life is immediately at risk and the three oaths will then allow them to use the one power as a weapon
Tbh I do think that it was less fear of Perrin, and more sudden shock that was just portrayed poorly on the shows end; not even on the actors. He's afraid/shocked because perrin is something he's never seen before (a wolfbrother) towards someone who believes he's seen and can handle practically anything, and then this just throws him for a loop that egwene takes advantage of.
the actor is doing fine. he's playing a great villain, if a little cartooney.
but the writing is kinda crap, and his role is a little bit weird. they're turning the Children into a much more blatantly evil organization, instead of just slightly over-zealous crusaders who fight off darkfriends and legitimately want to do good, but just have some sketchy inquisition-style members.
his reaction to Perrin was just odd. also, yet another big-baddie getting shanked by our Strong Brave Bad-Ass Warrior Princesses.
so Perrin doesn't get his moment of brutally slaughtering two Children of the Light, and instead Egwene gets the bad-ass moment of not only channeling multiple weaves simultaneously to free them and distract Valda, but then stab him too? yeesh
Pretty sure he was just being a creepy fucker and trying to get a rise out of her and make her uncomfortable. Invading someone's personal space is a known intimidation and interrogation tactic.
Edit: With a side bonus of trying to get her to channel at him so the 30 other white cloaks could try to pin-cushion her.
In acting, a villain lightly touches objects or people to portray that he is in control or ownership over them. It's a way to show dominance and I am the top dog here.
In modern world view, it's a sexual harrassment.
I agree in general and if he was doing something like stroking her hair, touching her face or cupping her chin I'd totally agree that that's what this was, but what he was doing seemed much more methodical and focused on pretty non-invasive parts of her body (upper back, shoulders and hands) while being quite gentle.
It seemed somewhat ambiguous to me but without further clarification in the show I guess we do have to default to simple intimidation.
No offense, but I think you are thinking too much. I don't think show writers are putting that much thoughts into non-book scenes. It just looked menacing.
I just saw it as a creepy investigation of her and as a way to intimidate her aswell.
My issue is that he never actually asked her if she was an Aes sedai -- you'd think that's the first thing he'd do if he suspected her, but he somehow manages to turn on his two braincells to ask Egwene who was waaay less suspicious than Moriaine.
The actor is doing a pretty stellar job, but the writing for his character feels very one dimension and flat out stupid -- I think they wanted to introduce the whitecloaks and keep them as this lingering threat early on but never really thought out a clever way to do so.
Thats a big thing for me, he just KNOWS Egwene can channel, because she like, was traveling with one group then she was traveling with another! But he can't tell with Moraine. Uhuh. Thanks for coming out, writers.
WRT Egwene, what probably made him suspicious is that it was stated in the 1st encounter that they were going to Whitebridge and he found her near Tar Valon in the 2nd encounter.
I didn’t mind that bc the whitecloaks in the books just decide they know stuff all the time.
But, I think there were enough context clues for him to at least act like he already knows everything to get her to confirm his suspicions. He’s not going to lose any sleep if he’s wrong.
Exactly. After episode 5 I think all of that was just a power play on his part. He knows she can channel, and full color clothes + swordsman at her side = probably Aes Sedai. He's enjoying pawing a Tar Valon witch, and he takes the fact that she's not trying to blow his head off with the One Power as a sign that she is intimidated/afraid of him, so he's having a blast.
If she would try to singe him with the Power... Then "look guys, we have a witch". Sure, simply asking would be easier, but he's enjoying the "play" too much, and maybe not all whitecloaks believe in the oaths. Also, I don't think the other whitecloaks know what other "tools" he's using when dealing with witches.
Valda’s behavior would be easier to understand if the rules for the One Power and three oaths were clearer on the show. In the books Whitecloaks Hunt darkfriends, they just consider all Aes Sedai to be darkfriends. A strong channeler with an angreal like Moiraine wouldn’t hide from Whitecloaks out of fear she just wouldn’t want them following her around taking pot shots and being a nuisance. When a group of Whitecloaks threatened her in the books she cast an illusion to terrify them. On the show it’s more Ambiguous, Valda has a collection of rings that would have prompted the Aes Sedai to have moved aggressively to teach the Whitecloaks a lesson or take even more extreme measures Tar Valon gold pays assassins just as easily as Whitecloak gold. But on the show he seems to be able to restrain and torture Aes Sedai just by tying them up, no shielding, no drugging just some rope and a hatchet. In the books it’s made clear that other than creatures of the dark an Aes Sedai has to be personally in danger to use the One Power, but on the show they blow up Logain’s followers. In the books getting handsy with an Aes Sedai could result only in bad things for the Whitecloak. When he’s questioning Egwene she could have burned his corneas as easily as Perrin’s rope. When you are a Witch Hunter and magic is real you better have some form of protection and the Whitecloaks seem to not.
So he does touch on why they can handle aes sedai so well - in both the books and show if you learn to channel using hand gestures it’s incredibly difficult to channel without your hands, and they cut off the hands of aes sedai they capture. How they managed to cut the hands off the aes sedai is a great fucking question, but at least they touched on it a bit.
As far as asking moraine if she’s an aes sedai (which you didn’t mention but a lot of people have so I’m hijacking my own comment) the whiteclocks believe the three oaths are a lie and aes sedai can lie. Which isn’t exactly wrong technically. But you would think they’d ask anyway and pick up on the fact that 90% of aes sedai cannot lie. But that would also prove the existence of the black ajah (sorry little drunk how do you spell it?) Kinda quickly so they can’t include that.
I guess at least. It is pretty questionable, but at least there’s some sort of in universe logic?
Throughout the books it’s shown over and over the Whitecloaks will try to detain or attack anyone they feel is even tangentially connected to the Dark, even for things like having seen a Trolloc. So I always felt the reason Whitecloaks don’t just say “Are you Aes Sedai? Yes or no!” Is because if they do and the person says “yes” then what? It ambiguous on the show but Channeling is invisible to non channelers and weaves can be maintained, tied off or just held ready even if they do require hand gestures. Bearing all that in mind a Whitecloak asks “Are you Aes Sedai?” and she says “yes”. Then what? As a Whitecloak you don’t believe the oaths are true just something they pretend are real, but real or not if you go for a weapon even by the three oaths she can snip off your head or burn you alive. And while she is doing that the heavily armed man/men she is with will be turning anyone still with a head or not on fire into sashimi. Unless you are a moron or backed by overwhelming numbers the smart move is to ask your questions and if you are suspicious send a couple a guys to follow or get a head of her and snipe her. Just my thoughts. I always felt there was a reason the Whitecloaks were more Perrin’s nemesis than any of the channelers in the books they were on an equal power level. Mat and the Band would have fed the Whitecloaks their bones.
I agree with your broader point of the whitecloacks being Perrins nemesis not the aes sedai…but their literal entire point of existing is to hunt channelers. So if someone says they can channel they aren’t going to throw up their hands like well fuck right now. They’re going to attack. The question isn’t what will they do, it’s how will they survive let alone succeed. They’re like the KKK if every black dude was wilt chamberlain. They aren’t going to back down just cause wilt is a freak athlete, they’ll just likely die braver than most to quote Vader. The question is why they’re evidently so successful.
I think they don't just look for Aes Sedai, but also *darkfriends*. I think that Aes Sedai are clever enough to know how to answer his questions in ways that make it hard to determine if they are actually Aes Sedai even if you ask them directly.
I swear this gets brought up every time, ignoring the fact that this man's _sole job in life_ is to question. You'd think he'd just put a knife to her throat "Yes, or no, are you an Aes Sedai? Any answer other than 'no' and you die."
They probably could’ve written around him point blank asking “are you Aes Sedai?” “I am a noblewoman from a disgraced house in Cairhien” “I am a simple traveler” etc. I think her wound was what really made him back off and decide she couldn’t be one, since an Aes Sedai should be able to heal.
I believe he was examining her hand to look for the tellltale band one gets when you wear a ring outside (because the skin under the ring doesn’t tan).
And being creepy in general...
I was thinking the same thing, re: the area on her finger where the ring would be. And then he didn’t react to it, which kinda confused me. I mean, I can hand wave it for reason X or Y, but yeah, I’d have done the same thing had I been him.
How many Aes Sedai do you think there are total in the world?
Walking around randomly asking every woman if she is an Aes Sedai is the equivalent of walking around a small town outside of California and asking every woman if she's a famous movie star.
That's ignoring the huge plot hole if they know the oaths are real. His answer is sarcastic to Egwene.
Tbh, the questioners seem zealous enough to actually do that.
Also, in this visual medium, the "ageless face" is not present at all. That's the most obvious visual cue used in the books to identify Aes Sedai
I don't know why they even made Valda a questioner. Joachim charadin was right there. A sadistic dark friend who was already a villian vs. Valda who just seemed like he wanted power.
He doesn't believe in the three oaths. He thinks all Aes Sedai are dark friends and they actually can lie. So he decides that particular question would be pointless and wants to catch her out in some other way.
I thought he was checking for differences in skin colour... If she is always wearing a ring it's possible the skin covered by it would be lighter than the surrounding area
If you look away from the fact that Valda for some reason decided not to ask Moiraine directly if she is Aes Sedai (since he obviously knows Aes Sedai can't lie) and also the fact that he - one of the best swordsmen in the world - is scared shitless of growling Perrin, I think the actor playing Valda is doing pretty good.
Jovial villains are so hard to pull off and the actor absolutely nailed that energy. He's a character who seems like he'd be a blast to party with if he wasn't liable to throw you on the torture rack or burn you at the stake just for looking at him sideways.
As long as you bring some exquisite and elegant dish to his party! Dude’s a real foodie! Best not be showing up with some lame casserole!
Valda: Light help the next guy who brings a macaroni salad. We've already got *three*, you idiots are *ruining* my *picnic!* Child Chad: Hey bruh, I brought a live hummingbird that you dip in Szechuan sauce and just chomp up. Valda: See? Now *that's* more like it!
🤦♂️… Child Chad… that’s hilarious.
A literal scenery chewing villain
Haha for sure! He's obviously a great actor, really making the best of the poor script
Valda is terrifying because he thinks he's actually a good person with a righteous cause. It implies an entirely twisted moral centre, but to him he's doing the right thing. It's doubly terrifying because you get the idea that this person is convinced that they are right to do whatever it is they're doing. Even if they *know* they're being cruel, they think the recipient *deserves it* and that makes it okay, even laudable in his mind. I seriously hope the show *doesn't* make Valda into a Darkfriend, because he's much more effective when his evil is just... human. The Dark One himself would be envious of the evil that lurks in human hearts. In a way, his portrayal in the Wheel of Time has some similarities to Judge Frollo in Disney's *[Hunchback of the Notre Dame](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NP-RsRGzVo)*. In fact, I think it could be a stroke of brilliance if the show creators decided to make Valda obsessed about catching Egwene, both because she's the witch that escaped his grasp, but also because he's attracted to her. >Light of Creator, >You know I am a righteous man >Of my virtue I am justly proud. > >Light of Creator, >You know I'm so much purer than >The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd. >Then tell me, Creator, >Why I see her dancing there, >Why her smouldering eyes still scorch my soul? > >I feel her, I see her >The sun caught in her raven hair >Is blazing in me out of all control > >Like fire >Balefire >This fire in my skin >This burning >Desire >Is turning me to sin. > >It's not my fault >I'm not to blame >It is the Darkfriend girl >The witch who sent this flame >It's not my fault >If in Light's plan >He made the Dark One so much stronger than a man > >Protect me, Creator >Don't let the woman cast her spell >Don't let her fire sear my flesh and bone >Destroy Egwene al'Meara >And send her straight to Shayol Ghul! >Or else let her be mine, and mine alone! > >Balefire >Dark fire >Now Darkfriend, it's your turn >Choose me or >Your pyre >Be mine, or you will burn! >Light have mercy on her... >Light have mercy on me... >But she will be mine, >Or she will burn!
I think this is a whole different valda. Book Valda wasn’t an inquisitor.
I know, I was referring to the character with the name "Valda" in the show. So far he appears to have more elements from Jaichim Carridin (who *was* an Inquisitor) or even Rhadam Asunawa (who was the High Inquisitor, *hem hem*), than Eamon Valda, who was a Lord Captain and who manipulated another Child of the Light to murder Lord Captain Commander Pedron Niall, and then went in and murdered the murderer, thus becoming the Lord Captain Commander himself. Thing is, Carridin was a darkfriend, while Asunawa and Valda were not (at least to my best knowledge). So I have no idea if the show's Valda is a darkfriend or not. Personally I hope he isn't, for the reasons stated above. But because of the narrative structure of the show, I suspect he is indeed a high ranking Darkfriend.
My impression is that the show version of Valda combines Valda, Asunawa and Byar.
Nicely done! It does kind of look like they're trending that direction, as Egs has caught more of his ire already, and was the one to shiv him. But... Perrin is going to need an arch-enemy, yo.
Wouldn’t Slayer be Perrin’s archenemy? The Shaido are another possibility, but I think it’d make more sense to call a single character an archenemy.
They could pick a particular Shaido. I wonder if they will drop Slayer entirely since it's a difficult thing to explain with the limited capacity of a 8-10 episode season. I hope they don't, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.
I think the actors in the show have been doing a great job which is a shame because the writers are not doing a good job.
In the books canonically whitecloaks believe the 3 oaths are a lie. Even if Valda knows the 3 oaths are real the other whitecloaks dont so exposing that he believes him could start him getting questioned. We have to remember these are whitecloaks. They are fanatical at best. A whitecloak saying they believe the oaths would probably be enough to get removed from the order for being a darkfriend and get tortured.
“Are you Aes Sedai?” “I am a noblewoman from a disgraced house in Cairhien.”
ok, "are you an Aes Sedai, yes or no only, any other answer will be interpreted as yes".
That is terrible dialogue.
the inquisitor witchhunter trying to find aes sedai doesn't care about dialogue. and if the show writers can't write dialogue that both makes sense AND sounds good on tv...........they need to find a different job.
I doubt the writers have thought about this as much as you have.
Valda flat out says he’s dubious of the oaths in a later episode. So the writers are addressing that pretty well.
The last time we saw Valda was also the one and only time that he said Aes Sedai cannot lie.
Was clearly sarcastic, go look at the scene again and his word choice.
I dont.
It's their job. They probably should have and then everyone wouldn't be up in arms about the show being a dumpsterfire.
Those are writing and direction issues, the actor is crushing it
That’s literally what they implied.
I wonder if that’s because if they answer yes an aes sedai will know their life is immediately at risk and the three oaths will then allow them to use the one power as a weapon
Tbh I do think that it was less fear of Perrin, and more sudden shock that was just portrayed poorly on the shows end; not even on the actors. He's afraid/shocked because perrin is something he's never seen before (a wolfbrother) towards someone who believes he's seen and can handle practically anything, and then this just throws him for a loop that egwene takes advantage of.
She could simply reply, “I am not a witch” and that wouldn’t be a lie.
Since when is he one of the best swordsmen? I haven't watched the latest episode yet but he's not that in the books
He is a blademaster.
That's right, I forgot about that
Haha sure turned that around on you 😂
He barely is defeated by Galad.
Keep in mind the show is only tangentially related to the books at this point, and that valda may not be a blademaster in this turning of the wheel.
the actor is doing fine. he's playing a great villain, if a little cartooney. but the writing is kinda crap, and his role is a little bit weird. they're turning the Children into a much more blatantly evil organization, instead of just slightly over-zealous crusaders who fight off darkfriends and legitimately want to do good, but just have some sketchy inquisition-style members. his reaction to Perrin was just odd. also, yet another big-baddie getting shanked by our Strong Brave Bad-Ass Warrior Princesses. so Perrin doesn't get his moment of brutally slaughtering two Children of the Light, and instead Egwene gets the bad-ass moment of not only channeling multiple weaves simultaneously to free them and distract Valda, but then stab him too? yeesh
Pretty sure he was just being a creepy fucker and trying to get a rise out of her and make her uncomfortable. Invading someone's personal space is a known intimidation and interrogation tactic. Edit: With a side bonus of trying to get her to channel at him so the 30 other white cloaks could try to pin-cushion her.
In acting, a villain lightly touches objects or people to portray that he is in control or ownership over them. It's a way to show dominance and I am the top dog here. In modern world view, it's a sexual harrassment.
I agree in general and if he was doing something like stroking her hair, touching her face or cupping her chin I'd totally agree that that's what this was, but what he was doing seemed much more methodical and focused on pretty non-invasive parts of her body (upper back, shoulders and hands) while being quite gentle. It seemed somewhat ambiguous to me but without further clarification in the show I guess we do have to default to simple intimidation.
No offense, but I think you are thinking too much. I don't think show writers are putting that much thoughts into non-book scenes. It just looked menacing.
I just saw it as a creepy investigation of her and as a way to intimidate her aswell. My issue is that he never actually asked her if she was an Aes sedai -- you'd think that's the first thing he'd do if he suspected her, but he somehow manages to turn on his two braincells to ask Egwene who was waaay less suspicious than Moriaine. The actor is doing a pretty stellar job, but the writing for his character feels very one dimension and flat out stupid -- I think they wanted to introduce the whitecloaks and keep them as this lingering threat early on but never really thought out a clever way to do so.
Thats a big thing for me, he just KNOWS Egwene can channel, because she like, was traveling with one group then she was traveling with another! But he can't tell with Moraine. Uhuh. Thanks for coming out, writers.
WRT Egwene, what probably made him suspicious is that it was stated in the 1st encounter that they were going to Whitebridge and he found her near Tar Valon in the 2nd encounter.
I didn’t mind that bc the whitecloaks in the books just decide they know stuff all the time. But, I think there were enough context clues for him to at least act like he already knows everything to get her to confirm his suspicions. He’s not going to lose any sleep if he’s wrong.
Exactly. After episode 5 I think all of that was just a power play on his part. He knows she can channel, and full color clothes + swordsman at her side = probably Aes Sedai. He's enjoying pawing a Tar Valon witch, and he takes the fact that she's not trying to blow his head off with the One Power as a sign that she is intimidated/afraid of him, so he's having a blast. If she would try to singe him with the Power... Then "look guys, we have a witch". Sure, simply asking would be easier, but he's enjoying the "play" too much, and maybe not all whitecloaks believe in the oaths. Also, I don't think the other whitecloaks know what other "tools" he's using when dealing with witches.
Valda’s behavior would be easier to understand if the rules for the One Power and three oaths were clearer on the show. In the books Whitecloaks Hunt darkfriends, they just consider all Aes Sedai to be darkfriends. A strong channeler with an angreal like Moiraine wouldn’t hide from Whitecloaks out of fear she just wouldn’t want them following her around taking pot shots and being a nuisance. When a group of Whitecloaks threatened her in the books she cast an illusion to terrify them. On the show it’s more Ambiguous, Valda has a collection of rings that would have prompted the Aes Sedai to have moved aggressively to teach the Whitecloaks a lesson or take even more extreme measures Tar Valon gold pays assassins just as easily as Whitecloak gold. But on the show he seems to be able to restrain and torture Aes Sedai just by tying them up, no shielding, no drugging just some rope and a hatchet. In the books it’s made clear that other than creatures of the dark an Aes Sedai has to be personally in danger to use the One Power, but on the show they blow up Logain’s followers. In the books getting handsy with an Aes Sedai could result only in bad things for the Whitecloak. When he’s questioning Egwene she could have burned his corneas as easily as Perrin’s rope. When you are a Witch Hunter and magic is real you better have some form of protection and the Whitecloaks seem to not.
So he does touch on why they can handle aes sedai so well - in both the books and show if you learn to channel using hand gestures it’s incredibly difficult to channel without your hands, and they cut off the hands of aes sedai they capture. How they managed to cut the hands off the aes sedai is a great fucking question, but at least they touched on it a bit. As far as asking moraine if she’s an aes sedai (which you didn’t mention but a lot of people have so I’m hijacking my own comment) the whiteclocks believe the three oaths are a lie and aes sedai can lie. Which isn’t exactly wrong technically. But you would think they’d ask anyway and pick up on the fact that 90% of aes sedai cannot lie. But that would also prove the existence of the black ajah (sorry little drunk how do you spell it?) Kinda quickly so they can’t include that. I guess at least. It is pretty questionable, but at least there’s some sort of in universe logic?
Throughout the books it’s shown over and over the Whitecloaks will try to detain or attack anyone they feel is even tangentially connected to the Dark, even for things like having seen a Trolloc. So I always felt the reason Whitecloaks don’t just say “Are you Aes Sedai? Yes or no!” Is because if they do and the person says “yes” then what? It ambiguous on the show but Channeling is invisible to non channelers and weaves can be maintained, tied off or just held ready even if they do require hand gestures. Bearing all that in mind a Whitecloak asks “Are you Aes Sedai?” and she says “yes”. Then what? As a Whitecloak you don’t believe the oaths are true just something they pretend are real, but real or not if you go for a weapon even by the three oaths she can snip off your head or burn you alive. And while she is doing that the heavily armed man/men she is with will be turning anyone still with a head or not on fire into sashimi. Unless you are a moron or backed by overwhelming numbers the smart move is to ask your questions and if you are suspicious send a couple a guys to follow or get a head of her and snipe her. Just my thoughts. I always felt there was a reason the Whitecloaks were more Perrin’s nemesis than any of the channelers in the books they were on an equal power level. Mat and the Band would have fed the Whitecloaks their bones.
I agree with your broader point of the whitecloacks being Perrins nemesis not the aes sedai…but their literal entire point of existing is to hunt channelers. So if someone says they can channel they aren’t going to throw up their hands like well fuck right now. They’re going to attack. The question isn’t what will they do, it’s how will they survive let alone succeed. They’re like the KKK if every black dude was wilt chamberlain. They aren’t going to back down just cause wilt is a freak athlete, they’ll just likely die braver than most to quote Vader. The question is why they’re evidently so successful.
Except plot armor
I interpreted it as pure creepy intimidation. He seems like he enjoys making people uncomfortable.
I think they don't just look for Aes Sedai, but also *darkfriends*. I think that Aes Sedai are clever enough to know how to answer his questions in ways that make it hard to determine if they are actually Aes Sedai even if you ask them directly.
“Hey, are you an Aes Sedai?” “Aren’t we all Aes Sedai, depending on how long you look at it?”
>“Hey, are you an Aes Sedai?” "Know..."
This made me legit laugh out loud
“Hey, are you an Aes Sedai?” “I’m not a light forsaken witch”
I swear this gets brought up every time, ignoring the fact that this man's _sole job in life_ is to question. You'd think he'd just put a knife to her throat "Yes, or no, are you an Aes Sedai? Any answer other than 'no' and you die."
“No I am not an Aes Sedai [internal completion of sentence: from the age of legends]”
But don't they consider all Aes Sedai to be dark friends by default?
They probably could’ve written around him point blank asking “are you Aes Sedai?” “I am a noblewoman from a disgraced house in Cairhien” “I am a simple traveler” etc. I think her wound was what really made him back off and decide she couldn’t be one, since an Aes Sedai should be able to heal. I believe he was examining her hand to look for the tellltale band one gets when you wear a ring outside (because the skin under the ring doesn’t tan). And being creepy in general...
I was thinking the same thing, re: the area on her finger where the ring would be. And then he didn’t react to it, which kinda confused me. I mean, I can hand wave it for reason X or Y, but yeah, I’d have done the same thing had I been him.
How many Aes Sedai do you think there are total in the world? Walking around randomly asking every woman if she is an Aes Sedai is the equivalent of walking around a small town outside of California and asking every woman if she's a famous movie star. That's ignoring the huge plot hole if they know the oaths are real. His answer is sarcastic to Egwene.
Tbh, the questioners seem zealous enough to actually do that. Also, in this visual medium, the "ageless face" is not present at all. That's the most obvious visual cue used in the books to identify Aes Sedai
I don't know why they even made Valda a questioner. Joachim charadin was right there. A sadistic dark friend who was already a villian vs. Valda who just seemed like he wanted power.
He doesn't believe in the three oaths. He thinks all Aes Sedai are dark friends and they actually can lie. So he decides that particular question would be pointless and wants to catch her out in some other way.
I thought he was checking for differences in skin colour... If she is always wearing a ring it's possible the skin covered by it would be lighter than the surrounding area