What I've noticed is that the Wheel used the web of destiny around Rand to silence the whole room when he met Egwene. This has never happened before, not so strongly. The Aes Sedai all felt it, and couldn't speak a word. All of them but one: Egwene. Egwene never even felt Rand pulling at her.

It sounds obvious enough: there's nothing there to worry about. Egwene's current "opposition" is part of the Will of the Wheel. Rand saw to other things, while Egwene mobilized the Tower and the world leaders. She's mobilized them for one purpose, but that's not necessarily the purpose the Wheel has in mind for this gathering.

And no, I don't think the Wheel would really let Egwene oppose Rand and the other two ta'veren at this point. She's way too closely caught in their webs for this.




No, I don't think they stand much chance either. The Finns told Rand about this. Between him and Egwene, they've made the north and the East "as one" and coming to the fields of Merrilor. Tuon by mobilizing for her strike at TV is finally making the West and South "as one". The next stage is that "the two must be as one".

The time where Egwene has to face her dream about her and the Seanchan woman having to help each other to reach the top (beyond the cloud cover, where the Light shines) is coming soon, very soon. Will it come through a victory of the Seanchan over the WT at first? Possibly, possibly not. I think it's at least pretty much a given Rand will never agree to serve the Seanchan (which isn't in itself a problem now.. he's proclaimed himself Servant of All, there's no shame for an AOL Aes Sedai to see himself as a Servant) unless they've ended their war of conquest. So it appears it's Egwene's and Tuon's job to come to a settlement. I don't think the Seanchan will come to Merrilor peacefully, it would be extremely anticlimactic. It sounds more likely the Seanchan will attack TV shorly after the gathering, when the LB has started. It may be part of what sways Tuon eventually. The LB has started, her prophecies have turned out wrong or now spell that "all is lost" because the Return has failed. She has no choice, she must find another solution, or face that this is the end of everything. It's similar for Egwene. She refused to even contemplate an alliance with the Seanchan, she fled that dream in horror. It sounds to me like the only way these two might ally is when it becomes a clear choice between annihilation or survival, for both of them.

There's more to play out... Egwene has very recently gained the women with whom she could expose Tuon as a latent channeller, and worse.. the fact she's kept the fact sul'dam can also channel secret. Tuon's rule could be shaken to the core by this, and in the midst of TG, the Seanchan wouldn't survive this - they'd shatter in factions, with no clear leader. The thing about the Seanchan is that only the central power keeps them together. Remove it, and all falls apart... just like happened in Seanchan itself.

Also ask yourself what Gawyn will do with his Bloodknife Rings. It's a loaded gun, it's been shown too much in TOM, it will be used. It sounds obvious sooner or later he will have Tuon within his reach... which might make an initial conquest of the WT by Tuon early in TG a strong possibility.

What seems likely to me is that after Merrilor, Egwene will have committed a large number of AS to the LB (the whole Green Ajah, certainly) and thus they won't return to TV, meaning the Seanchan might conquer the city of Tar Valon, but most AS will have escaped them, in other words a near complete failure. It might also be even worse, for instance if at Merrilor, Egwene decides to commit the whole Red Ajah to join Logain to deal with the BT. OTOH, it might feel disastrous if the opposite happens and it's Logain who goes to TV to prepare with the Reds the strike at the BT.

As for Egwene at Merrilor, I wonder more and more about the role of Nynaeve, Moiraine and Cadsuane at this meeting. How much influence Cadsuane the Legend has over the Battle Ajah. If the Amyrling decides not to commit the Tower or refuse Rand's demands, what will Cadsuane do? Cadsuane has influence over the Wise Ones as well, and an alliance with Sorilea Egwene knows nothing about. She has ties to the Windfinders as well, and to Nynaeve. Incidentally, by going through the test, Nynaeve stands at the top of the Tower hierarchy in truth now, and that she is AS can no longer be denied. Where would Nynaeve stand if Egwene goes too far in her opposition? Will she stay on the WT side or announce she goes to join Rand? And then there's Moiraine, who has gained legendary status by "dying" and now returns from the dead. Where will Moiraine stands?

It looks to me like between Nynaeve, Moiraine and Cadsuane resides the potential to break the Ajahs and the Tower for good and undo everything Egwene has accomplished, if Egwene doesn't step carefully at Merrilor, or goes too far, and if Cadsuane, Moiraine and Nynaeve decide the role of the AS, the purpose of the AS is more important than saving the institution. She might lose the Blue, the Green and the Yellow Ajah, and see her vision of uniting the WO and the Windfinders with the Tower evaporate like mist in the sun. There's no telling what the White will do as well, once they hear Rand's arguments. If his logic is unbeatable....

The only way Egwene could preserve her leadership and keep the Tower whole would be by announcing that despite her opposition about the seals, she commits the WT to Rand and the LB.




No, this got fulfilled in LOC. "The Unstained Tower" was merely a reference to the Taint.



Well.. LTT himself now says Latra Posae may have been right to oppose him. He also stated flat out that his plan was flawed. That's LTT's real failure: he didn't come up with a good plan. All he had was a flawed, extremely risky plan he thinks Latra may have been right to oppose, and Latra's flawed plan of her own.

From Egwene's perspective, it makes perfect sense to oppose Rand breaking the seals. Cadsuane for instance knows exactly what he's about, and she does not oppose him. Egwene doesn't know what he's really about, and had a very worrying dream about it. From her POV, this seems insane. You can't blame Egwene for at last taking her "international" responsabilities now that she's mananged to clean house. It would also be a complete deriliction of the Watcher of the Seals's duty to the world if she's told Rand "Okay, let's do this" just because he announced he would break the Seals. Rand wasn't about to reveal all his plans to Egwene. He wanted the whole world gathered to hear his demands. He told Egwene just enough to motivate her to make this gathering happen. Egwene thinks it's about the Seals. It's not, Rand is already decided on the issue.