Description
The name Asha'man means "guardian" or "defender" in the Old Tongue; the meaning is imprecise, as with many words in that language. What is known is that Asha'man supposedly describes someone who will always fight for a just cause, similar to the real-world concept of a Paladin and not unlike to the original meaning of their Aes Sedai legacy, which is "Servants of All". Asha'man (singular or plural) are men in the Third Age who can channel (controlledly manifestat the One Power) and who have taken part in a training program founded by Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn. They are roughly equivalent to the male Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends, although, out of necessity due to the Last Battle Tarmon Gai'don being very close, their training is greatly accelerated. This process, known as forcing, frequently results in channelers burning their ability to channel out of themselves. The taint on further increases the perils, but despite this, there may be as many as fifteen hundred men enrolled during the later books of the series, rivaling the White Tower of the female Aes Sedai. The Asha'man are headquartered at the Black Tower, a former farmhouse outside the city of Caemlyn in Andor. Though the ultimate leader of the Asha'man is Rand al'Thor, in practice they are trained and led by Mazrim Taim, a former False Dragon appointed to the task when he responded to Rand's amnesty for male channelers.
During the later part of the series, factions emerge within the Black tower, with many loyal to their official leader Mazrim Taim, but significant numbers of the rank and file loyal to their original founder Rand al'Thor and his deputy Logain Ablar. The later books raise some suspicion of Mazrim Taim and his followers being Darkfriends.
Several foretellings within the series cover the Asha'man and the black tower, some of which predict female Aes Sedai to walk the Black Tower grounds and fighting to occur, while others predict that "the Guardians (Asha'man) will balance the Servants (Aes Sedai)" and thus restore the balance between male and female lost since the Age of Legends.
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