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Good points all round (do you switch brains when getting into real world politics? ) & re: the Talk Cannoli Send a noteboard - 12/05/2011 02:04:06 PM
I'm not sure she was "still technically Rands girlfriend" at that point; I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they'd already had The Talk and she certainly didn't think of herself that way regardless.
She might not have thought of herself that way, but the rest of the world, including Rand, was unaware of that. Rand might have decided that he didn't want to, and could not, marry Egwene, but he was still staying faithful to her to both not hurt her, and to shield himself against any other relationships. As far as the rest of the world was concerned (including the pining future mother of his children) they were still an item. They only had the Talk once Egwene decided to pass along his pink slip, and in her own PoV after the conversation, we see her primary motivation was not so much doing what was necessary to be officially free or to set him loose, but rather emotionally manipulating him to leave him vulnerable to Elayne's overtures. As it turns out, no thanks at all to her, the first friend of Egwene's to allow her to realize her attraction to Rand was Elayne and not some random headcase or Darkfriend, so her high-handed and arrogant presumption to dictate Rand's next love interest works out well in her choice of recipients. Of course, an even better match for Rand would have been Aviendha and Egwene's interference in his love life hopelessly complicated that relationship. And any suggestion that Egwene is being a good, caring & sensitive friend to Elayne by her prioritizing her new friend's wishes over the intentions of her childhood neighbor and one-time love interest, is severely undermined by the fact that Elayne has all but been jumping up and down since the first day they met yelling "I'll take him if you don't want him!" in Egwene's face, but Egwene only realizes it after a year and a half's acquaintance. Some friend. Only Egwene would find a way to give the shaft to both ends of the same couple in her matchmaking. A little more sensitivity on her part and she could have made Elayne happy by giving her the green light a lot sooner than three days before they were leaving Tear and she wouldn't see him for another half a year. Keeping her mouth shut and her nose out of other people's love lives would have permitted Rand to indulge in a relationship with a more suitable (or at least available) partner. Either way would have simplified his life immensely by either giving Elayne time to build a committed relationship with him before having to split and let others get access, or by not creating the fictitious Elayne claim that messed up Aviendha so much. Further, if Rand gets into a serious relationship with either woman and no Egwene games interfering with her commitment to him, chances are he never gets involved seriously with Min. It's one thing to sleep with a girl when the last thing you heard from Elayne is a piece of hate mail, and Aviendha gives every sign of wanting nothing further to do with you. It is another thing entirely cheat on woman with Min.

It's not like our Egwene would wait for Rands permission once she convinced herself she was a free agent; she'd rationalize a morally defensible way to do as she pleased.
True enough. In Elayne's shoes, do you think she'd have spent as many weeks in Tear as they apparently did without making moves or trying to worm her way in, regardless of what she perceived to be his official relationship status? She'd have been saying the exact same things in her head about the guy's girlfriend that Min said to her at the end of tGH. And see her behavior with Aram among the tinkers as exhibit B.

Speaking of rationalization, it may be a little trite, but I think perhaps in this case the Dream's the thing; as Egwene ventures into a more raw and primal realm where she's fairly defenseless at first, where progress is made by opening oneself in much the way channeling had conditioned her to do, and where the subconscious reigns supreme, it's plausible that her awareness of Gawyn grew greatly without her even realizing it, and feelings she didn't even perceive blossomed or deepened before she knew it. It's still a bit abrupt, and surprising that she wasn't more skeptical of what she experienced (though she does express some surprise at first that Gawyn is inexplicably in her dreams), but not utterly bizarre. Stranger things have happened, and it's not so unusual for young women to form a crush that way; hers just happened to later become more than just a crush.
This is actually a good explanation for where her feelings - or the feelings that she used to rationalize the advantageous relationship - come from.
Cannoli
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
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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 936 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 452 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
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 919 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 876 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 1103 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 872 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 793 Views
Yes. An often overlooked point is that ELAYNE, not Egwene, gains the most power in ToM - 28/04/2011 09:42:43 PM 1248 Views
Except... - 28/04/2011 11:16:25 PM 912 Views
Well... - 29/04/2011 12:14:42 AM 861 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 1046 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 876 Views
"McClellanesque", eh? I'll have to remember that one. - 16/05/2011 12:12:23 AM 1150 Views
Good points all round (do you switch brains when getting into real world politics? ) & re: the Talk - 12/05/2011 02:04:06 PM 831 Views
I remember being blindsided by "The Talk" in tSR - 12/05/2011 05:04:08 PM 842 Views

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