Asha'man - Ranks

Ranks

There are three official ranks of Asha'man:

• Soldier, the lowest rank; they wear no decoration on their collars
• Dedicated, those who have advanced a certain level of skill; they wear a silver sword pin on one side of their collars
• Asha'man; they wear the silver sword pin of the Dedicated as well as a gold-and-red Dragon pin on the other side of their collars

Beyond this system instituted by Rand al'Thor for the training program, however, the field organization of the Asha'man (instituted by Mazrim Taim) is akin to battle units. Modern female Aes Sedai have a very gradual hierarchy based on an individual's strength in the One Power; the Asha'man use a more explicitly militaristic system. However, it should be noted that Soldier, Dedicated, and Asha'man bear similarity to the Aes Sedai ranks of Novice, Accepted, and Aes Sedai, which is in keeping with the commonly repeated theme of the series in which men and women, while having equal-yet-different strengths and weaknesses, differing in their abilities but having a parity with each other. (see Yin and Yang, a common theme of the Wheel of Time.) One other important difference is that Soldiers and Dedicated are expected to serve in the field, being Soldiers ready to fight almost from the moment they can touch the Source. Aes Sedai do not allow Novices and Accepted (except in very rare cases) to go on field assignments, thinking they need to be protected until they are fully trained. Ranks have been created like Tsorovan'm'hael, "storm leader", and the rank below it, Baijan'm'hael, "attack leader"; these ranks have thus far only been confirmed to belong to Asha'man who follow Taim, and have ended up trying to kill Rand. Mazrim Taim himself holds the rank of M'hael, or simply "Leader" in the Old Tongue, and his position seems to combine the roles of Aes Sedai Mistress of Novices and Amyrlin Seat. This seems to be approximately equal to the Amyrlin Seat, but M'hael strongly implies leader of everything, not just the Asha'man. Though it seems more likely that Rand ought to hold that position in truth, since he is the Dragon Reborn, Rand does not have the time to train, and leaves it over to Taim, who is abusing his position to build his own power-base against Rand.

Taim's jealousy over Rand's destiny has led him to subvert commands given by Rand (such as who are to be placed on the Traitor's Tree list for desertion), so it is unclear exactly how much power Rand actually holds with the rank-and-file Asha'man. Those who have served directly under Rand seem to be loyal to him in his position as the Dragon Reborn.