What speaks the most of Lanfear being a Dreamer is rather how thematically RJ built her to be Egwene's "evil twin".


They have tons in common, for example in their personality they have the same daredevil attitude and disregard for danger, a similar ambitious character (though expressed quite differently), the same bravery, the same desire to be in charge in relationships, a similar reputation for bad temper/severity with those under their authority - and for examplary punishments, and they also share a dislike for letting others to do the job for you (with Lanfear, we saw this with the way she resented having to use Asmodean and how she was always on his back, or in her dislike, close to despise, for using Shadowspawn).

Jordan has also given Egwene and Lanfear similar early personal stories/backgrounds, for instance Mierin was a "youth friend" of LTT, and was once the girlfriend of LTT. And they broke up.

And then, there's the Talents and OP. Egwene is always one who likes, and isn't afraid to experiment with the OP. She is a great natural talent in TAR, and a Dreamer. Lanfear is also very talented in TAR, and as she also showed signs of having skills associated in the Third Age to Dreamers (finding and entering people's dreams - if this can be taught to someone who isn't a Dreamer, the WO don't appear to know how, at least based on their pupil's knowledge about that issue), it sounds very likely she has the full array of the Dreaming Talent.

Lanfear-Egwene is RJ's female answer to the Moridin-Rand (LTT) couple. In Rand and LTT's cases, we are to understand their ability to love deeply (and in general to connect with other humans), and their compassion were key factors. When Rand nearly lost that, he got very close to Elan Morin's worldview, in fact he was at the very edge on Dragonmount, just about to accomplish Moridin's final goal by putting an end to creation. How Moridin and Rand reflect one another is also built on all sorts of little details, such as mirroring motifs (take for example of this how LTT broke up with Mierin convinced that she didn't love him but sought power through him) and how Moridin did the opposite, and leashed to himself Lanfear's power, and treats her publicly as a lover...

With Egwene and Lanfear, they are very similar though it sounds to me like RJ sought to show how some traits of personality can be developped positively or negatively, depending on the core of the person and external factors like experiences and upbringing. So Egwene has to face some (not all) of Lanfear's challenges, and avoid the traps Lanfear fell into, much like Rand had to avoid embracing Moridin's worldview (and avoid LTT's failure, where he ended up both punishing and saving himself by suicide - abandonning humanity in the end). Egwene is impetuous, but she tends to recognize her mistakes, and to heed lessons (as long as she's the one realizing she's made a mistake and deciding to heed the lesson - she hates being chastized or held back by others). We have Lanfear who never realized she mistakes love for LTT for her obsession for ultimate power (she wanted LTT to form the couple that would have been the pinnacle of the AOL, of humanity itself in her way of thinking) and she never let go, obsessed over LTT for decades and kept going once she woke up from SG, and we have Egwene who was never much interested in Rand's power, realized early she didn't love him, and for that reason decided to break up, and tried to do it kindly without wounding Rand if possible. Egwene also befriended Rand's lovers, and unlike Lanfear who made a furious scene at LTT's and Ilyena's wedding, Egwene brought Elayne and Rand together (in a rather immature and bizarre way, but the kind intent was there).

Then we have Egwene learning TAR ethics from "Wise Ones", while Lanfear breaks any rule there is for her own interest. RJ made sure to give a few signs that Egwene isn't immune to temptations similar to those Lanfear gave in to (and pushed to the limit... eg: her skills at causing mass nightmares, or invade dreams to deceive, manipulate or terrorize) to use her TAR powers to frighten Nynaeve for instance, to spy on her lover's thoughts, or to play "the Queen of TAR" who shows off to underlings from time to time, and to dislike rules until she understands why there's such rules (and she prefers to discover this through direct experiences)

With Rand/Moridin, the differences are more in their cores. With Egwene and Lanfear, one fundamental difference is that Egwene is strong in the power, more so than all the AS (which went to her head a bit at first), but she doesn't have Lanfear's near insane strength, and she won't stay the strongest AS for very long (in fact, this is already over, now Nynaeve was raised). She also learned ethics (TAR and others) from the WO, which helped her to define her own ethics and what she does with her TAR powers, and as Amyrlin. Egwene grew up with two parents who were the ultimate authority figures in the village, and has learned watching them the responsabilities of power. It rather sounds like little Mierin didn't have that chance. Mierin's obsession with power needs to express itself over others, and is forcibly extremely competitive in nature. She needs to be seen as "the Queen". Egwene was rather handed political power she didn't want and learned the hard way to accept she was in charge and what this entails. Egwene's obsession with power is all about self-control. Rather than seeking power over others (though she got to enjoy some of the perks of that), Egwene is obsessed with surpassing her own limits, of making the most of what she was given. More than anything, Egwene is in competition with herself, internalized (which some confused with egocentrism and narcissism à la Lanfear - Egwene's far too self-critical to fall in those traps) she doesn't envy others' power or skills, nor is she truly interested in being recognized as the best around.


Egwene had the most difficulties with the interpretation of her dreams. That requires introspection, an open mind to accept what can't be changed and to be open to accept what the Dreams shows, and the Dreamer needs to know herself for who she truly is, not build a self-image that don't correspond to reality. The WO are very good at this, Egwene had to do much work on herself to get there (and really got there in TGS, in that Tinker camp where she looked at herself, where she came from and where she needed to go very honestly and frankly). We saw an earlier example of Egwene's failure to accept: that dream with the Seanchan woman on the cliff. Egwene never learned what could have been extremely useful, because she refused that the Pattern might be heading there. She shut the Dream off before learning enough to be able to interpret it.

I think Lanfear has to be a Dreamer too, but from what we've seen of Egwene and the WO, Lanfear must suck big time at interpreting Dreams. Lanfear is an expert at rejecting anything that don't fit in her worldview, a specialist at refusing to see what she doesn't want to see, even when it's plain to everyone around her (she could give lessons even to Elaida about this). Moridin has the right personality to be a talented Dreamer, though he too must twist the interpretations - but Lanfear really doesn't have the right kind of personality to make much of the Talent, and may even have rejected it/shut off.. the good dreams are merely what she wishes to happen because otherwise the "bad dreams" too would be the reflect of what could or will happen, and Lanfear can't accept that. We can probably see a reflect of this when in a conversation with Rand she brushed off prophecies as merely what people wished (in other words, dreamed) would happen. That may also explain her opinion of Ishamael and his Dark Prophecies (which are implicit rather than spelled out, however).

I get the feeling Moghedien's skills are trained rather than natural, that to her TAR is above all an escape from reality where she's a coward and massive underachiever. In TAR, she can hide and tell herself she's the best (though the way a still not very trained Egwene escaped her trap, and how Moghedien got trapped by Nynaeve cast a big doubt on the real extent of her Talent. I agree with you Darius that her claim to be the best is probably boasting. I have no doubt her skills and knowledge are extensive, but Moghedien appears to be really good as long as she can surprise you and get the upperhand, or as long as she can stay hidden. When faced with opposition, her skills she seems to lose all her means. In the end, TAR changes nothing to the fact she's a total coward, with very little control over her fears, and fears tend to sap your self-control, a major weakness in TAR. I wouldn't put her up against any of the fearless WO in a face-to-face, but they'd likely sweat some to fight Lanfear in TAR, unless they manage to get Lanfear very angry to make her lose control (I get the feeling it will be Egwene's job to rid the world, and Rand, of Cyndane however. The "new" Rand may have too much misplaced compassion for Cyndane - in fact I get the strong feeling it's precisely what Moridin is counting on: "so you're back to love and your stupid beliefs that the Pattern is a good thing and lives are worth living and thus humanity must be saved... well, well, sounds like a didn't kept Cyndane alive for nothing after all, let's see if you can resist trying to save that one... She looks miserable and broken, let's see if you'll fall for that and fail to see in time the harpy still can bite).