Parshendi tactics in WOK

[Arcoss]

As you may remember, the Parshendi employed strange and rather inefficient tactics in WOK, such as bringing two armies into the battlefield only when the Alethi did so. Now this worked well when they were a mysterious and unknown race but in WOR we do get a glimpse of their society and it makes no sense to me that they will act like that

[Eagle of the Forest Path]

I think the two armies thing was a bluff. As we discover in WoR, the Parshendi are in a tight situation, population-wise.

The Parshendi were on the receiving end in a war of attrition, in those cases it's usually a good idea to make it appear that your opponent's tactics aren't working, even if they are.

When the Alethi started bringing two armies on plateau runs the Parshendi did the same as a signal that "Hey, we can do the same, so don't even bother." but I doubt they would have been able to maintain a policy of mobilizing double the warriors per assault in the long run.

[Nyali]

My impression was that they sent as much of an army as they thought was necessary in the initial group. The second "army" was Eshonai and her guard, who stayed out of the fighting because Eshonai was their last shardbearer and they didn't want to risk her, but she wanted to be there in case the other Parshendi were being slaughtered so she could step in. Or, she was there looking for Dalinar, hoping to get word to him that she wanted to meet with him.

 

Personally, I didn't get the impression that the Parshendi were mimicking the Alethi tactics, just that there was this second force that was always nearby by that point in the war, but when the Alethi brought two armies, it was more obvious that there was this other group of Parshendi sitting out the fight. Back when there's only one army on the field, they do mention seeing Eshonai and some Warforms watching from a distance occasionally.

[BrightVoid]

The parshendi only had a few warform left, so they would only use the second force if the first force was being slaughtered.

[Tyson]

The plateu assualts where smash and grabs. Sorties. It was never the purpose to fight and win against the enemy. The goal was to get the gemheart with the least possible troops as possible and get the hell out of there.

 

My guess is that when Alethi started to change to rules of the war and play more agressive, the second army of Parshendi where present only to prevent flanks and hold adjacent platues for a safe escape route. 

[CaptainRyan]

Personally, I have a few ideas on this.

 

1| The Parshendi are different from humans in their thinking, their worldview and their culture. When they decided to assassinate Gavilar they also decided to take responsibility (in their own way) for the action. They knew it would mean war and they planned accordingly by preparing a place deep in the Shattered Plains that would be nearly impossible for the Alethi to find/reach. From there I think their #1 goal was simply to survive the coming war. They needed those gemhearts so they would fight for them but they also knew they did not have the strength (or the shardbearers) to engage the entire Alethi army so they did not attempt to overrun the warcamps.

 

2| They were possibly trying to deescalate the situation by only fighting when they had to. Eshonai wanted to try and make peace before becoming crazy lightning Stormform Eshonai (CLSE). By reducing the amount of fighting and only fighting defensively the Parshendi were pursuing a policy of deescalation.

 

3| There is more going on then we understand. If the Parshendi wanted to assassinate Gavilar why did they need a treaty? I think Szeth would have been more than capable of taking down Gavilar without all the pomp and fuss of a treaty. Someone was pulling strings. Those same string pullers might have been forcing/tricking/bribing/etc. the Parshendi into not just fighting the Alethi but also to keep the Alethi focused on the Shattered Plains. That would explain why the Parshendi were fighting in such a way as to prolong the war. If this is the case, my money is on Mr. T but there are other plenty of other possibilities.

[Argel]

SInce TWoK is in the title and I think we learn some of this in WoR (and mayb some WoB), I'm using spoilers:

Gavilar revealed his intentions to bring their gods back to them late in the game. That's when they had him assassinated. There was no need for any string pulling because Gavilar was part of the conspiracy. He just assumed the Parshendi wanted their gods back and found out the hardest way possible that they didn't.