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you could say the same about a lot of the relationships in this series Ava Send a noteboard - 28/04/2011 04:59:19 PM
Many of the relationships in WoT have no build-up, are ridiculously one-sided, and would be completely unworkable in real life. Take Rand and his ladies, for example. The only one who got even a bit of foreshadowing was Elayne, and that was limited to one single week of kissing in corners. Most people here in our world wouldn't even call that a relationship in their freshman year of highschool. Then after that single week, they separated for nearly a year, and the very next time they saw each other they got married. Right. The other ladies didn't even get that much foreshadowing; Min was treated like a stranger and Aviendha as an enemy, until both said "oh btw let's get married." Avi has some standing of her own and doesn't necessarily need Rand for social status, but Min is basically riding his coat tails. Similar to how Gawyn has limited standing on his own (he's the first prince of the sword, but that's basically a glorified general, whose role Birgitte has filled, and Elayne is getting on just fine without him); his attachment to Egwene, and more generally to the Tower, is the only thing that actually makes him matter.

You could draw similar parallels to AS and their Warders. Almost none have had any foreshadowing to their relationships and have power balances tilted heavily to one side. Por ejemplo, Mo and Lan, who were enemies until Mo said "btw let's bond". Or Merise, Daigian, Beldeine, and all the other AS with Ashaman warders: all of them barely knew their bondees before bonding them, and most treat their "partners" like crap. Or Myrelle and Lan, who didn't know each other at all, got pushed into the relationship by factors which were unusual if not necessarily out of their control, and then had a highly one-sided relationship in which Myrelle actually tried to prevent Lan from doing something which could save his life (ie protecting Nynaeve) in order to preserve her control of him. And let's not even get into Berelain and Perrin (and Galad), Valan Luca and what's-her-face, Tuon and Mat, or the whole Women's Circle versus Village Council nonsense that seems to govern the 2R. Truth be told I don't have a lot of sympathy for Gawyn, because he was a moron to side with Elaida in the first place, and during ToM he treated Egwene at least as disrespectfully as she treated him, but given how Maury-like most Randland relationships are, he could have done a lot worse.

Anyway, long story short, Egwene and Gawyn have a jacked up relationship, but that is not unusual in the series. The lack of foreshadowing, one-sidedness of the relationship, stupidity of the partners, and disrespect inside the relationship, are endemic to relationships in Randland.
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Egwene vs. Gawyn (ToM spoilers of course) - 28/04/2011 05:01:46 AM 3951 Views
There's fifty feet of crap between rock bottom and your post... *NM* - 28/04/2011 07:40:04 AM 470 Views
Almost three days since the last post...at least I'm trying. - 28/04/2011 12:17:59 PM 931 Views
Sorry about that... - 28/04/2011 10:58:50 PM 990 Views
Ah, its always good to see a good Egwene rant. Bravo! NM *NM* - 28/04/2011 01:58:46 PM 708 Views
Great work, Cannoli - 28/04/2011 02:09:28 PM 945 Views
Regarding the mother's permission.... - 28/04/2011 07:26:29 PM 1012 Views
while i agree with you on most of this - 28/04/2011 04:53:06 PM 1075 Views
hmpf, i post a good point and nothing - 28/04/2011 11:09:53 PM 852 Views
Everybody agrees with you, that's why there were no replies *NM* - 28/04/2011 11:29:13 PM 457 Views
Here's a scary thought - 28/04/2011 11:54:50 PM 1155 Views
OMGWTFBBQ!? - 28/04/2011 11:58:37 PM 913 Views
you could say the same about a lot of the relationships in this series - 28/04/2011 04:59:19 PM 1025 Views
Re: Avi/Min - 28/04/2011 09:48:01 PM 979 Views
In regards to the letters... - 28/04/2011 05:28:13 PM 1115 Views
But Gawyn was not Egwene's subject - 28/04/2011 06:09:31 PM 930 Views
Which was why I thought it was appropriate, since he meant to act as Egwene's Warder. - 28/04/2011 06:19:53 PM 894 Views
The only issue is that Warders are not minions - they are honored junior partners. - 28/04/2011 07:39:18 PM 1050 Views
No, the junior partners are Accepted. Warders are essentially personal bodyguards and/or assistants. - 28/04/2011 08:00:17 PM 847 Views
Marriage - 28/04/2011 08:27:53 PM 871 Views
Accepted are not anything, let alone junior partners. Don't think N&E's experience was typical - 28/04/2011 09:32:22 PM 1073 Views
Here's the thing though... - 28/04/2011 11:20:32 PM 898 Views
No, but it's cute and quirky when Faile does it. - 29/04/2011 03:06:50 PM 1066 Views
But... - 29/04/2011 10:52:03 PM 863 Views
That's not really clear - 29/04/2011 11:41:20 PM 991 Views
Actually, it is... - 30/04/2011 06:37:42 PM 1003 Views
Re: Actually, it is... - 30/04/2011 11:17:21 PM 884 Views
Didn't Siuan, Gareth and Gawyn tell her about the Bloodknife they encountered? - 02/05/2011 02:33:08 PM 889 Views
It isn't the worst romance in WoT - 28/04/2011 08:10:23 PM 1199 Views
Re: It isn't the worst romance in WoT - 28/04/2011 08:25:31 PM 1119 Views
thumbs up to you both *NM* - 28/04/2011 08:45:51 PM 439 Views
Re: It isn't the worst romance in WoT - 28/04/2011 08:46:37 PM 1010 Views
Galad is a great option for a political marriage - 28/04/2011 09:04:46 PM 883 Views
Yes, but... - 28/04/2011 09:40:39 PM 926 Views
but galad knew nothing of berelain's closeness to rand, so that couldn't have affected anything - 28/04/2011 10:12:23 PM 961 Views
Exactly - 28/04/2011 10:27:04 PM 805 Views
Yes. An often overlooked point is that ELAYNE, not Egwene, gains the most power in ToM - 28/04/2011 09:42:43 PM 1261 Views
Except... - 28/04/2011 11:16:25 PM 924 Views
Well... - 29/04/2011 12:14:42 AM 875 Views
Re: Well... - 29/04/2011 08:39:37 AM 861 Views
Except they're both really hot. - 28/04/2011 10:01:46 PM 1059 Views
They were naive - 28/04/2011 11:10:34 PM 885 Views
Re: They were naive - 29/04/2011 03:18:42 PM 1123 Views
I can only quibble; Egwene became so insufferable in ToM I'm convinced her fate will be unpleasant. - 04/05/2011 12:41:53 AM 1024 Views
Siuan... - 04/05/2011 05:42:59 AM 1029 Views
Re: Siuan screwed up big time. - 07/05/2011 03:35:46 AM 898 Views
Re: Siuan screwed up big time. - 12/05/2011 02:13:08 PM 887 Views
"McClellanesque", eh? I'll have to remember that one. - 16/05/2011 12:12:23 AM 1161 Views

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