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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 3918 Views
There's fifty feet of crap between rock bottom and your post... *NM* - 28/04/2011 07:40:04 AM 461 Views
Almost three days since the last post...at least I'm trying. - 28/04/2011 12:17:59 PM 915 Views
Sorry about that... - 28/04/2011 10:58:50 PM 977 Views
Ah, its always good to see a good Egwene rant. Bravo! NM *NM* - 28/04/2011 01:58:46 PM 703 Views
Great work, Cannoli - 28/04/2011 02:09:28 PM 937 Views
Regarding the mother's permission.... - 28/04/2011 07:26:29 PM 1000 Views
while i agree with you on most of this - 28/04/2011 04:53:06 PM 1064 Views
hmpf, i post a good point and nothing - 28/04/2011 11:09:53 PM 844 Views
Everybody agrees with you, that's why there were no replies *NM* - 28/04/2011 11:29:13 PM 453 Views
Here's a scary thought - 28/04/2011 11:54:50 PM 1144 Views
OMGWTFBBQ!? - 28/04/2011 11:58:37 PM 899 Views
you could say the same about a lot of the relationships in this series - 28/04/2011 04:59:19 PM 1015 Views
Re: Avi/Min - 28/04/2011 09:48:01 PM 970 Views
In regards to the letters... - 28/04/2011 05:28:13 PM 1103 Views
But Gawyn was not Egwene's subject - 28/04/2011 06:09:31 PM 920 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 884 Views
The only issue is that Warders are not minions - they are honored junior partners. - 28/04/2011 07:39:18 PM 1038 Views
No, the junior partners are Accepted. Warders are essentially personal bodyguards and/or assistants. - 28/04/2011 08:00:17 PM 837 Views
Marriage - 28/04/2011 08:27:53 PM 860 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 1058 Views
Here's the thing though... - 28/04/2011 11:20:32 PM 889 Views
No, but it's cute and quirky when Faile does it. - 29/04/2011 03:06:50 PM 1053 Views
But... - 29/04/2011 10:52:03 PM 848 Views
That's not really clear - 29/04/2011 11:41:20 PM 980 Views
Actually, it is... - 30/04/2011 06:37:42 PM 991 Views
Re: Actually, it is... - 30/04/2011 11:17:21 PM 875 Views
Didn't Siuan, Gareth and Gawyn tell her about the Bloodknife they encountered? - 02/05/2011 02:33:08 PM 877 Views
It isn't the worst romance in WoT - 28/04/2011 08:10:23 PM 1188 Views
Re: It isn't the worst romance in WoT - 28/04/2011 08:25:31 PM 1104 Views
thumbs up to you both *NM* - 28/04/2011 08:45:51 PM 433 Views
Re: It isn't the worst romance in WoT - 28/04/2011 08:46:37 PM 1002 Views
Galad is a great option for a political marriage - 28/04/2011 09:04:46 PM 873 Views
Yes, but... - 28/04/2011 09:40:39 PM 914 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 949 Views
Exactly - 28/04/2011 10:27:04 PM 794 Views
Yes. An often overlooked point is that ELAYNE, not Egwene, gains the most power in ToM - 28/04/2011 09:42:43 PM 1249 Views
Except... - 28/04/2011 11:16:25 PM 912 Views
Well... - 29/04/2011 12:14:42 AM 862 Views
Re: Well... - 29/04/2011 08:39:37 AM 845 Views
Except they're both really hot. - 28/04/2011 10:01:46 PM 1047 Views
They were naive - 28/04/2011 11:10:34 PM 873 Views
Re: They were naive - 29/04/2011 03:18:42 PM 1113 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 1011 Views
Siuan... - 04/05/2011 05:42:59 AM 1014 Views
Re: Siuan screwed up big time. - 07/05/2011 03:35:46 AM 889 Views
Re: Siuan screwed up big time. - 12/05/2011 02:13:08 PM 877 Views
"McClellanesque", eh? I'll have to remember that one. - 16/05/2011 12:12:23 AM 1151 Views

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