Band of the Red Hand

In the The Wheel of Time series of fantasy fiction books by Robert Jordan, the Band of the Red Hand is a military group named after a legendary band of heroes who died in the defense of Manetheren.

History

The story of Manetheren (meaning "Mountain Home") is relayed by Moiraine in The Eye of the World. During the Trolloc Wars, Manetheren's military fighting under the Red Eagle banner had become a 'thorn in the Dark One's foot', their forces confronting the Trollocs at every juncture. (Manetheren herself came to be known as the 'sword that cannot be broken.') After victory in the Battle of Bekkar in the Borderlands, they learnt that the Trollocs were moving on their homeland. Marching straight from the battle they arrived just in time to confront the Trolloc hordes. They were vastly outnumbered, but King Aemon had sent out messengers, and aid was promised within three days; reassured, the Band launched into the fray, facing odds that should overwhelm them in the first hour.

They held out for three days, then five, and finally ten days, until Aemon felt the bitter taste of betrayal. Help would never come---Aemon and Manetheren were betrayed. Retreating and burning the bridges across the river, they sent their people to flee from the Trollocs. Some did not: men and women with bows and pitchforks and axes joined the army, in a trickle, then a flood, defending their country until finally they were overwhelmed. The Band, with their people, died defending Aemon and Manetheren.

Aemon's Queen Eldrene felt his death, and with the One Power obliterated the Trolloc army, destroying herself in the process. The old stories tell that spring rose where they fell at Emond's Field (Aemon's Field), where much later Matrim Cauthon is born.

Contemporary Band

Evolution of the Army

The Band of the Red Hand is now reconstituted after the events in The Fires of Heaven when Matrim Cauthon, aided by the memories gifted him by the Eelfinn, takes command of some of the forces of Tear and Cairhien fighting the Shaido, winning battles against the Aiel, killing Couladin in the process, and earning the respect of the men and their generals.

Known as Shen an Calhar in the Old Tongue, The Band's first members were from Tear and Cairhien, although their reputation has garnered recruits from Altara, Andor and Murandy. It is formed around military formations based on those used during the Trolloc Wars and Artur Hawkwing's time.

Today

Due to events in Knife of Dreams, the band is now in two sections. One part is with Mat moving northeast out of Altara; this group comprises three banners of horse (4500 cavalry) and four thousand mounted crossbowmen (horses for travel, fighting from foot). They lost four hundred crossbowmen and five hundred cavalry before their last battle in Altara, and recruited some Altarans (numbers unknown) who were fighting the Seanchan.

The other section, led by Estean and Daerid, comprises three banners of horse (again, 4500 cavalry), five banners of foot (15,000 infantry) and a Mason's Banner (an engineering corps, number unknown); it is moving north out of Murandy and into Andor.

The Band's banner consists of a red-fringed white square with a large open red hand in the center. Beneath the hand, Mat's motto has been embroidered in red: Dovie'andi se tovya sagain, or "It's time to toss the dice." Its unofficial anthem is "Dance with Jak o' the Shadows"---Jak o' the Shadows is a psyedonym for Death.

Redarms refer to members of the Band assigned to keeping the peace within the ranks, and they wear a red piece of cloth around their arm when it is their turn to perform their duties. Any damage caused by members of the Band while they are camped around population centers comes directly out of the Redarms' pay, giving them an extra incentive to make sure nobody gets too rowdy after a visit to the local tavern.

When in their battle gear, most everything they wear blends into their surroundings as Mat has had the soldiers of the Band paint their armor and helmets a dull green to fade into the background. Yet the army as a whole has adopted the style of wearing a length of red cloth on their arm.

Leadership & Organization

In The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, the Band of the Red Hand is described (World, 232–233); its organization is said to mirror that of earlier ages, with Matrim “Mat” Cauthon identified as the patron and commander in chief.

Makeup

Like the earlier Band, Mat's army is about half infantry and half cavalry (using lances, horsebows, etc.). He assigns roughly 1,500 men to a cavalry banner, while a banner of infantry consists of about 3,000 men. Contemporary armies typically divide the infantry, with about 80% pikemen and/or billmen, and the remaining 20% archers (bows, longbows, & crossbows). Mat differs from this tradition by significantly increasing the ratio of bowmen in his infantry. In Knife, his bowmen comprise nearly half of his foot; he has said that he wants to return to the standard of the orighinal Band when bowmen made up more than half of all the infantry (World, 233), which was a necessity during The Trolloc Wars, where the Humans would frequently find themselves outnumbered, and would need to strike rapidly at the flanks of an army.

In Knife of Dreams, the Band is nearly 30,000 strong.

Commanders

• Captain General Matrim Cauthon: Often called simply “Lord Mat” by his men, in actuality he disdains titles and any pretense to nobility. Occasionally called “General” by others, he does not use the title to refer to himself.

Cavalry

• Lieutenant-General Talmanes Delovinde: Talmanes, a Lord from Cairhien, originally commanded the First Banner of the original cavalry. In Knife of Dreams, he leads the Altara contingent of three banners supplemented by a large group of crossbowmen.
• Banner-General Edorion: A Cairhienen Lord, leads a banner of horse.
• Banner-General Reimon: A Lord from Tear, leads a banner of horse.
• Banner-General Carlomin: A Tairen Lord, leads a banner of horse.
• Banner-General Mandevwin: A Cairhienen, commands the crossbowmen temporarily attached to the Altaran cavalry contingent.

• Lieutenant-General Estean: Battle-field/temporarily promoted to command the cavalry of the Murandy contingent, particularly three banners of horse.

Infantry

• Lieutenant-General Daerid Ondin: A commoner, commands five banners of foot soldiers in the Murandy group. Mason’s banner also probably under his command.

Former

• Lord Nalesean Aldiaya: Originally commanded the Second Banner of the original cavalry, now deceased. Was part of the group trying to take The Bowl of the Winds out the Rahad, Ebou Dar, Altara and was one of the casualties of that fight.

Advantages

The Band seems to have considerably more success than would be expected of any army; some of the reasons that lead to those victories are the following:

Allies

Mat has lamented that a true ta'veren would have men flock to his cause and enemies turn to allies; the irony is that is exactly what happens with Mat. During the Battle against the Shaido, The Bands' Battles were ended either by a group of allied Aiel arriving to attack the Shaido, or being hit by lightning bolts Rand, Egwene and Aviendha were using. With little effort on his part, Talmanes has made antagonistic King Roedran a stanch ally. Although Tuon has not materially participated as an ally yet, the fact that she stood by while Mat destroyed her armies was incredible in itself. With virtually no recruiting, the Band has grown to more than five times its original size in the past few months.

"Battle Luck"

Mat is lucky, and as one of his commanders says he has battle luck, where a Company can find a chink in the enemies line, or catch the enemy unaware. Ever since his separation from the Shadar Logoth Blade, and then later his return from the Finns, his luck has increased and may well effect something as random as a battle can be.

"I remember times we were outnumbered, with enemies on every side, and he danced the Band around them. Not to slip away, mind, but to beat them. Beautiful battles. . . . You cannot deny there is battle luck, when you find a weakness in your enemy's lines that you never expected, that should not be there, when you find him arrayed to defend against attack from the north only you are coming from the south. Battle luck rides on your shoulder, my Lord. I have seen it" (Knife, 595-6).

Crossbows

In Knife of Dreams, when reunited with the Band Mat is informed of the new Crossbow Talmanes had acquired while journeying to meet him. Its a form of automatic crossbow, with the string being rewound simply by turning the crank 3 times. It has vastly improved reloading times, surprising enemies who expect a long reload time, and also causing the Seanchan to vastly overestimate his numbers. Talmanes brags that a good bowman can get off eight quarrels in a minute, meaning that they are now about as fast as bowmen with regular bows.

Deception

During the fight against the Shaido he frequently used deception to meet the enemy on ground he wished, or cause them to do something he wanted. In his battles against the Seanchan, he spread his forces out to raid as many places as he could, which along with the new crossbow and his fast movement of groups, caused them to vastly overestimate his numbers and pull back an entire army to face him.

"Dragons & Eggs"

Named by Aludra who has invented them, these are The Wheel of Time cannon and cannonball, introduced in Knife of Dreams. Although not used in the books yet, prophecies and foreshadowing in the series indicate that Mat is crucial to their fabrication and deployment.

Already the precursor has been successfully implemented; slingmen are being used to throw Aludra's grenades---fireworks wrapped with rocks---at attacking armies.

Maps

In Knife of Dreams, The Band has acquired its own mapmaker, Master Roidelle, who makes maps as they travel and has a large collection of very good maps made by other master cartographers. One has the positions of nearly every Seanchan position in the Altara gleaned from scouts and signing up Altaran Dragonsworn and bandits.

Morale

Ever since he took command in his first battles, the Band has believed its Luck is tied to Mat, and as such Mats presence has a huge morale boost on his men who believe he can't lose a battle.

Scouts

While waiting near Cairhien after skirmishing with the White Lions, he asks for the poachers and horse thieves his generals had found in the army but been unable to find enough evidence to charge them. From the original members, he found more and more. He promised the scouts less work and more pay if they were willing to work as Scouts. The best scout is a horse thief named Vanin, widely acknowledged by even the scouts to be the best amongst them.

Speed

When moving towards Tear in accordance with the Grand Plan Mat, Rand and Bashere worked out, he forced the Band to march many more miles than any of them expected. They quickly proved they could managed the pace.

Utilising this speed he was able to later deploy his men to raid out of Altara, his troops spreading widely and raiding supply camps, men moving faster than any other army.

This is another factor that caused the Seanchan to overestimate his power, the speed of his armies, and the organisation of raids and there power leading them to pull an entire army back to face him.

References

Real World Comparisons

The name of the Band and its historical role is similar to the Red Branch Knights from the Irish Ulster Cycle.

The sigil of the Band may well be drawn from the Red Hand of Ulster.

External links

• More on the Band of the Red Hand at WoT Compendium: Shen an Calhar - The Band of the Red Hand