** Whitecloaks **

These conical helmets are never said to cover the cheeks, unlike those of the Andoran Queen's Guards, or the Shienaran lances. Hundredmen, presumably those of higher rank, and possibly those of lower rank, also wear steel gauntlets into conflict <TSR: 1, 41, Seeds of Shadow>.

One variation on the breastplate and mail combination exists: Galad once appears simply in a shirt of shining mail <TFoH: 16, 309, An Unexpected Offer>. I suspect that Galad was simply dressed casually, having left his breastplate in the tents, however strange the idea of Whitecloaks being casual about anything.

Typically mounted <TEotW: 30, 444, Children of Shadow; TGH: 5, 71, The Shadow in Shienar, and numerous other references>, the Children carry long lances tipped with long steel heads, the sharp steel heads long enough to go through the chest of a well-muscled blacksmith, or presumably some 16 - 24" in length <TEotW: 30, 444-5, Children of Shadow; TSR: 33, 539, A New Weave in the Pattern; TSR: 45, 735, The Tinker's Sword>. Lances are slid into holders along the saddles as Whitecloak cavalry prepares to charge <TSR: 45, 738, The Tinker's Sword>.

Some Whitecloaks, however, also carry bows, though it is uncertain whether this is a weapon used by all the Children <TDR: 10, 139, Secrets>; these are likely the short horsebows unlimbered at Emond's Field <TSR: 45, 738, The Tinker's Sword>. We are also told that Child Byar appropriates Perrin's axe as his own <TEotW: 38, 568, Rescue>; this appears not to be a problem, though such flexibility is unusual in the Children of Light, especially given that other weapons are not mentioned for them, in any other context.

The same uniform is shared by all officers, the Hand of the Light, and the rank and file, differing only in the insignia on the breast of the cloak. The cloaks of underofficers are marked with a "silver lightning-flash" beneath the sunburst <TEotW: 41, 623, Old Friends and New Threats>. Officers of both the rank and file, and of the Questioners, bear golden stars or knots of rank on their breast, below the golden sunburst, the number of knots denoting their rank <TEotW: 38, 569, 576, Rescue; TGH 5, 73, The Shadow in Shienar; TDR: 10, 139, Secrets; RJWoT: 25, 226, The Children of the Light>.

Lord Captains are denoted by a white-and-gold tabard and white undercoat; burnished armor is strapped over the undercoat when in the field <TEotW: 30, 446, Children of Shadow; LoC: 47, Prologue>. Mentioned for the first time in KoD are "three golden star-shaped knots of a captain sat beneath the flaring sunburst on the breast of his white cloak." <KoD: Prologue, 16, Embers Falling on Dry Grass>

The cloak of Lord Captain Commander Pedron Niall, bears a "... sunburst embroidered across the chest of his white tunic ...", or elsewhere, "... large on the chest." <TDR: 14, Prologue; TGH: 5, 72, The Shadow in Shienar> No knots of rank are mentioned; it appears only this larger-than-usual sunburst distinguishes the Captain Commander.

His successor, Eamon Valda, appears far more flamboyant: still the white-and-gold tabard, but far more richly embroidered, and in silk, over gilded breast- and backplates. Further:

"His white cloak, the flaring sun large on either breast in thread-of-gold, was silk as well, and his gold-embroidered white coat. The helmet beneath his arm was gilded and worked with the flaring sun on the brow, and a heavy golden ring on his left hand, worn outside his steel-backed gauntlet, held a large yellow sapphire carved with the sunburst. Another mark of favour received from the Seanchan." <KoD: Prologue, 17-18, Embers Falling on Dry Grass>

To physically mark the Questioners, or Inquisitors of the Hand of the Light, "Behind the sunburst on the cloak's breast [lies] the scarlet shepherd's crook of the Hand of the Light ..." <TDR: 18, Prologue> Except, of course, for the High Inquisitor, whose cloak is marked only with this shepherd's crook, and who eschews the sunburst entirely <ACoS: 48, Prologue; RJWoT: 25, 226, The Children of the Light>.