An organisation dedicated to fighting the Dark One wherever his influence appears. Sadly, the current Children of the Light have devolved into fanatical Knight Templars who arrest and torture anyone they even slightly suspect of being a Darkfriend, earning themselves the detractive nickname "Whitecloaks". This extends to Aes Sedai, whom the Whitecloaks believe are the Dark One's foremost servants.
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In General
- Anti-Magical Faction: A standard belief among Whitecloaks is that the Breaking was caused by channers in general using the One Power, which they believe to be in the category of "These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know". It is more or less unheard of to have a Whitecloak willingly work alongside an Aes Sedai as a result, though only the Questioners really are willing to root out even female channelers when they pop up. They do not believe Magic Is Evil, but that people simply should not be allowed the power to use the present Background Magic Field.
- Badass Normal: Though the organization has been shrinking over the years, any capable fighter among the Children of Light is this by default.
- Black-and-White Insanity: Many of them smell rabid to wolves.
- Black-and-White Morality: Great believers in this yet woefully incapable of telling the difference. They believe that a person is either allied with the Children, or an enemy of the Light in some degree.
- Church Militant: Think "Spanish Inquisition" on a bad day. They believe that Aes Sedai are evil witches, and anyone who disagrees with them (the Whitecloaks, that is) must be a servant of the Dark One. Extremely militant.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To several orders, most prominently The Spanish Inquisition in how they deal with channelers, and The Knights Templar in their militant structure.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Members of the Whitecloaks are known as "Child" rather than Lord.
- Heel–Face Turn: The organization has taken a progressive turn toward the side of the general masses, rather than its own conservatism, as of Galad becoming Lord Captain Commander.
- Hypocrite: Very much so. The Children of the Light speak of compassion and claiming that no man is beyond redemption, yet their teachings also claim that future generations of Darkfriends must suffer for the crimes of their ancestors. Despite claiming to be fighting the Dark One, they focus more instead on terrorizing the public and glorifying themselves. Their hypocrisy becomes a massive point at the Battle of Emond's Field. They struck a deal with Perrin Aybara, promising to fight alongside him against the Shadowspawn in return for arresting him. Instead of helping in the battle against Shadowspawn, the very enemies they claim to go up against, they hide in safety and do nothing. Even worse, they still attempt to arrest Perrin, who angrily calls them out for refusing to help and drives them out of Emond's Field. The Children of Light ultimately claim to be righteous, yet their actions and beliefs say the very opposite.
- Knight Templar: And, perhaps intentionally, modeled similarly to The Knights Templar in structure.
- Light Is Good: As of Towers of Midnight, they are allied with Perrin Aybara, and by extension the other armies amassed for the Last Battle.
- Light Is Not Good: Ostensibly, the Children of Light are trying to be good people. The problem is that, in fighting against channelers, they are fighting some of the only people who can directly fight at Tarmon Gai'don, whether they believe it is coming or not. Also, in fighting against anyone who isn't deliberately on their side, they are also diminishing the forces for the Last Battle.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: However, several of them retain their opinions that certain elements of the world are Shadowspawn, such as Ogier. These opinions just don't lead to violence, and are told by their fellow Children as foolish.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: They are right to be suspicious of the Aes Sedai; not only are the Red Ajah as batshit crazy as the Whitecloaks themselves, but roughly a third of the Aes Sedai as a whole really are pledged to the Dark One as members of the Black Ajah. The problem is, the Whitecloaks don't actually know about the Black Ajah in the first place, and they believed that all Aes Sedai were pledged to the Dark One just by being Aes Sedai (not to mention that their own ranks, like the ranks of the rest of society, have also been infiltrated by people loyal to the Dark, whether they admit it or not).
- Sins of Our Fathers: According to the Children, "[t]he sins of the mother are visited to the fifth generation and the sins of the father to the tenth."
- These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: The general philosophy of the Children regarding Aes Sedai is that they are Darkfriends because dabbling in the One Power led to the Breaking of the World and the War of Power. Their hatred for male channelers goes without saying as well. This way of thinking goes away when Galad forces them to accept and work alongside Aes Sedai for the coming Last Battle.
- Trial by Combat: The archaic "Trial Beneath the Light," in which the guilt or innocence of a Child is identified by whether or not he survives a Duel to the Death with his accuser. Galad invokes the trial, which results in the death of Eamon Valda.
- With Us or Against Us: Several of the more extreme Children believe that any who do not work alongside the Children of the Light are Darkfriends. Of course, some of those more extreme Children- and some more moderate Children- are Darkfriends themselves...
Pedron Niall
Pedron Niall
The Lord Captain Commander of the Whitecloaks by the time the story begins. Niall is renowned as one of the Five Great Captains, with few enemies defeating him once and none twice. Niall believes Rand to be another False Dragon and his every move is calculated to both bring him down and expand the influence of the Whitecloaks. Killed by his spymaster, Omerna, due to the machinations of Valda and Asunawa.- Authority Equals Asskicking: In strategic and military terms, yes. Not so much physically, since Niall himself is an old man past eighty.
- Batman Gambit: Many, including false Dragonsworn sent to ravage the countryside to sway opinion against Rand. None of them really work out.
- The Chessmaster: He thinks he's this. Although his battle strategies are brilliant, he isn't very good at planning and plotting outside the battlefield.
- The Corruptible: Although he wasn't exactly helpful in the first place, Niall became much more paranoid and volatile after being influenced by Mordeth and Padan Fain.
- Disc-One Final Boss: For a long time it looked like he was being set up to be a major threat, but his death was quiet and barely announced.
- Knight Templar: Not to the same extent as some of the other Whitecloaks, but the sentiment is still there.
- Officer and a Gentleman: Morgase thought of him as one, anyway, especially compared to his replacement, Eamon Valda.
- Old Master: "Despite his age, there was nothing frail about him."
- Only Sane Man: Until Galad, he was far and away the most reasonable Whitecloak shown on-screen, even going so far as to tacitly admit that Aes Sedai, even if they meddle in forces no mortal should, are not actually all Darkfriends.
- The Strategist: As one of the Five Great Captains.
- Worthy Opponent: Morgase thinks of him as this after her abdication, and he thought of her as one in turn, inwardly noting first that she was incredibly tough for such a beautiful woman, before quickly amending it to incredibly tough full stop.
Eamon Valda
Eamon Valda
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Derisively described by Pedron Niall as having this mindset as a field commander.To Valda, the best offensive strategy was the charge. And the best defensive strategy: the charge.
- Duel to the Death: Takes part in one of these with Galad, as when the latter invokes the Trial Beneath the Light. Valda loses.
- Karmic Death: Killed in a Sword Fight with Galad, whose stepmother he raped.
- Master Swordsman: A Blademaster.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: His abuse and probable rape of Morgase is what led to his eventual death.
- The Starscream: Toward Niall, at Asunawa's urging.
- Sucksessor: Niall may have had his failings, but everyone seems to compare him favorably to Valda.
- Villain Team-Up: Made an alliance with the Seanchan shortly before his death.
Rhadam Asunawa
Rhadam Asunawa
The High Inquisitor of the Hand of the Light, derisively known even by the Children themselves as "Questioners" (with being "put to the question" being a common euphemism for torture in Randland), Asunawa orchestrated the death of Pedron Niall alongside Eamon Valda in order to gain more control over the Children of the Light.- Bald of Evil: In pictures drawn only. In the writing, he has gray hair.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: What his questioning amounts to. Since most of his subjects did not actually do anything wrong.
- Enhanced Interrogation Techniques: Quite a fan of these, and used them on Morgase.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Decapitated by his own allied Lords Captain for his treatment of Galad.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Not him, but everyone else about the Hand of the Light. Even other Whitecloaks call then Questioners and dislike their methods. Also, his hatred of Aes Sedai makes most Whitecloaks look tame.
- Evil Old Folks
- Exact Words: Ironically, his attitude towards the truth is a direct parallel to the Aes Sedai he so loathes:"Asunawa had a love of truth, a strange love; he could tie it into knots, or hang it up and flay it while it screamed, but so far as Valda knew, he never actually lied."
- Foil: Of a sort to the Amyrlin Seat, his Arch-Enemy. While the latter addresses other Aes Sedai as "daughter", he addresses all Children, up to and including the Lord Captain Commander, as "my son".
- Karmic Death: Killed by his own Whitecloaks after capturing Galad, the new Lord Captain Commander, for trying to force a new change in leadership and name their own Lord Captain Commander a Darkfriend when their numbers are already so low.
- Lean and Mean: He has the gaunt frame and emaciated face of a martyr, despite being one of the most powerful and well-connected Whitecloaks.
- Off with His Head!: How he dies. His head is presented to Galad to make the Lord Captains' allegiance perfectly clear.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Runs off after the duel between Valda and Galad goes south for him.
- The Starscream: In an alliance alongside Valda.
- Villain Team-Up: With Valda, though Valda still hates Asunawa simply because he is a Questioner.
Jaret Byar
Jaret Byar
- Brainwashed and Crazy: He was Compelled by Graendal to kill Perrin. It didn't work.
- Creepy Monotone: His voice is gravelly and devoid of any emotion, which even his allies find a bit disquieting.
- Hypocrite: Is willing to do anything, even betray the strongest precepts of his order, to kill those he sees as darkfriends, which leads him to do things a lot more evil than the deeds of those he pursues.
- In the Back: Again, by Dain.
- Jerkass: Even more so than most Whitecloaks.
- Karmic Death: Killed by Dain for trying to kill Perrin under Graendal's Compulsion after Perrin and Galad secured an alliance after a battle with Shadowspawn in Book 13.
- Lean and Mean: He has a gaunt, skeletal appearance and a zealot's disregard for others' lives.
Geofram Bornhald
Geofram Bornhald
- Bolivian Army Ending: Charged into battle at Falme alongside the Heroes of the Horn thinking he was fighting the Shadow on all sides. He doesn't make it out.
- Everyone Has Standards: Bornhald is a Knight Templar just like the rest of the Whitecloaks, but he finds the methods of the Questioners to be utterly appalling.
Dain Bornhald
Dain Bornhald
- Fighting Your Friend: Killing, more like. He killed Byar in Book 13 for trying to kill Perrin after an agreement had been made about his sentencing (unbeknownst to him, Byar had been Compelled by Graendal), but Galad noted that he had "loved" Byar far longer than he had hated Perrin.
- Like Father, Like Son: Both he and his father joined the Whitecloaks.
- You Killed My Father: To Perrin, though the latter actually didn't. He finally accepts the truth in Book 13.
Jaichim Carridan
Jaichim Carridan
An Inquisitor of the Children of Light and a Darkfriend.- The Alcoholic: He takes to drinking heavily as the crushing difficulty of juggling his responsibilities as a Whitecloack while taking orders from the Shadow and the Forsaken weigh down on him.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Averted. Carridan is given conflicting orders by Sammael, who wants him to search for a cache of angreal in Ebou Dar, and Ishamael, who wants him to hunt down the ta'veren. However, Ishamael's Compulsion overrides Carridan's mind and he makes no effort to follow Sammael's orders after the Compulsion's latent orders are activated by encountering Mat.
- Death by Irony: A heavy drinker, he is eventually killed by Mili Skane, under orders from Moridin, by being force-fed brandy until he drowns.
- Dirty Coward: Carridan was obviously never a particularly nice person, as a Darkfriend and a particularly ruthless Whitecloak, but he firmly cements himself as irredeemable by not only showing no sympathy for his family as they are murdered by Myrddraal as a punishment for him failing to find and kill Rand, but actively encouraging Liandrin to kill the remaining members of his family as a way to save his own hide. He even encourages them to prey on his remaining sister by telling of her preferred horse-riding route, and considering the things Myrddraal are known to do to women...
- The Mole: A Whitecloak and a Darkfriend.
- Offering Another in Your Stead: Shaidar Haran tells him that, for as long as he fails to kill The Chosen One, his family will die one at a time, saving him for last. When Liandrin contacts him, he assumes his time is up and immediately starts blubbering that he has more relatives.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: In his first scene, Carridan is attending a meeting with several other disguised Darkfriends, and when he notices one has the colorful garb of a Tuatha'an, he feels revolted that a "tinker" is among their numbers.
