Asha'man
The Asha'man are an organization of men who can channel in the fictional world of Robert Jordan's fantasy series The Wheel of Time
Who are they?
The name Asha'man means "guardian" in the Old Tongue. Asha'man (singular or plural) are men in the Third Age who can channel (i.e. control the One Power) 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 being very close, their training is greatly accelerated, something known as forcing, which can easily result in someone burning themselves out by making a mistake and made more perilous by the taint on saidin, but despite this, they have well over seven hundred men enrolled. 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.
Of the six to seven hundred or so men enrolled, a faction is loyal to Logain. Taim also has his own faction. The one hundred men who attend his private classes are certainly his, and are probably all Darkfriends. Some Soldiers and Dedicated would also feel loyal to the M’Hael—although Taim’s harsh behavior is unlikely to make him very popular. A large portion of the Soldiers and Dedicated do not have any specific loyalty, and we could assume that they would obey Rand over Taim.
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. Ranks have been created like Tsorovan'm'hael, "storm leader", and the rank below it, Baijan'm'hael, "attack leader". Mazrim Taim himself holds the rank of M'hael, or simply "Leader". 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.
Taim's jealousy over Rand's destiny have led him to subvert commands given by Rand (such as who was 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.
Training
Asha'man training is much more militaristic and battle-oriented than the training of Aes Sedai. Training also proceeds at a much faster pace, and consequently the percentage of training Asha'man who burn themselves out or kill themselves accidentally is much higher than the comparative percentage for the Aes Sedai. The number of students they are finding, however, is comparatively greater, since no one has searched systematically for men who can be taught to channel (as opposed to those with the spark) in thousands of years.
Males who can channel saidin often describe it as fighting a torrential storm of fire and of ice, whereas women are taught to surrender to saidar in order to use it. In addition, the taint placed on saidin by the Dark One makes their training particularly hazardous, and several Asha'man have already had to be "put to sleep" with poisoned wine due to growing insanity. Rand's instructions to Mazrim Taim were explicit, however; he needs an army of male channelers to help fight the Last Battle with him, and he does not have time to train them himself. This seems to be the reason that he continues to allow Taim to train his Asha'man despite growing evidence that Taim has priorities that conflict with Rand's eventual purpose.
From the start Ashaman do all their chores with saidin, even if it takes them several times over the normal time to do a chore. Although their primary purpose are taught how to kill with the One Power, all Ashaman learn Healing and at Rand's instruction how to use a sword. Should an Ashaman defect they are hunted down, and have their head hung on the Traitor's Tree.
Recently an offer from Rand himself has been accepted by the Salidar Aes Sedai to bond Soldiers and Dedicated to a total of forty seven. However the Aes Sedai of the White Tower have also made a truce with the Asha'man allowing the bonding of Asha'man to Aes Sedai, done by Mazrim Taim without the knowledge of Rand, or Logain. How these two separate agreements will converge in the future is uncertain.
Numbers
Template:Spoilers The last time official rolls were given, the counts were 29 Asha'man, 97 Dedicated, and 322 Soldiers. These numbers are almost certainly low, as there has been a substantial time lapse between this roll call and current events. According to Logain, there are 41 Asha'man by KOD, but this may not include those Asha'man outside of the Black Tower. It is also stated that the Black Tower almost matches the White Tower in numbers.