I personally think the Oaths are inane and do more harm than good, whether it's preventing Aes Sedai from using lethal force to avoid Whitecloak abduction that will end in a hanging just because the ones holding her at the point of a crossbow won't actually KILL her themselves so long as she complies, or everyone in Randland, including other Aes Sedai, sifting every word that leaves their lips for prevarication and equivocation. If Nynaeve had told them to stick their Oath Rod where the sun doesn't shine and it precipitated a mass revolt that led to the end of Oaths for EVERYONE I'd applaud. I certainly wouldn't want to be the one who has to tell the "living weapon" Asha'man that they must swear a binding Oath never to kill with the Power unless their life's in danger, but if the Oaths remain Tower law I think that conversation must take place after Tarmon Gaidion. In the final analysis, there's no virtue in any oath made under duress, and making someones shawl dependent on swearing the Oaths when they've already proven themselves is duress in my book. It's like denying someone their diploma because they didn't show up for a final they didn't need to pass a class.

The problem, unsurprisingly, is Egwene (yeah, yeah... ), or rather, the Amyrlins commitment to an obsolete and counterproductive Tower rule that should never have been created. Her position isn't as precarious or her powers as limited as she seems to think after what we've seen of the rank and file acclaiming the Hero of the Seanchan Raid and the Sitters of both the Tower in Exile AND the Usurper Tower voting her Amyrlin. If she said Aes Sedai need no longer swear the Oaths, who's going to argue with her? The last person who argued Tower law with her is wearing a collar in Ebou Dar now.

Yet Egwene let Siuan convince her that "the Oaths are what MAKE us Aes Sedai" even if she delayed her convincing long enough that changing her mind could be rationalized as entirely her decision. If the Oaths are to remain part of the Towers secret handshake, Nynaeve unilaterally refusing them would be turning her back on the Tower of which she nominally wants to be a part. It wouldn't make her any less Aes Sedai than Elaida or Bonwhin were, but it WOULD make her a rather disgusting kind of Aes Sedai that recognizes no authority with which she disagrees. She'd still be Aes Sedai by right of merit and accomplishment, but repudiating such a basic Aes Sedai principle would make her a shameful blot on the order. The only way that's acceptable, tenable, is if the Oaths are forever revoked for all Aes Sedai, not just the really powerful ones who can reject them because they grew up with the Amyrlin. Nynaeve could've forced the kind of confrontation that would've spelled an end to the Oaths, but, for whatever reason, the way things have been set up she would've lost that argument when Egwene came down heavily on the other side. I'm still not convinced the Hero of the Seanchan Raid won't end up the Martyr of Tarmon Gaidon (and before you celebrate the thought, bear in mind that if RAND survives she may get most of the credit) and if she ends up turned because she didn't see a threat to her life that would justify the Power the whole issue may be revisited. After all, any time the Shadow's trying to turn someone with a circle of Myrddraal they OBVIOUSLY don't intend to kill the person, so no channeling the Power as a weapon, even if you don't mean to kill with it.