It doesn't mirror his whole storyarc, just one half of it. Egwene has mirrored Rand's political arc. Egwene has never mirrored Rand's champion arc. It's always been Nynaeve who mirrored that part, mostly through peripheral issues. It's Nynaeve and Rand who both left Emond's Field reluctantly and out of duty. What Rand went through as a sparker, Nynaeve has also gone through. As a wilder and blocked, she experienced in minor mode the rejection Rand experienced, and also some of the pressure of high hopes attached to his person.

She shared with Rand an early horror of what she was (learned this from Moiraine too, incidentally), and denied herself just like he did. Later on, the burden of a mission/duty layed on both their shoulders, Rand because he has to play the role of Dragon, and Nynaeve because she has to live up to being the Wisdom, and for both of them it's a variation of being forced to be the one who protects the others (for Rand the whole world, for Nynaeve her people), even at the expense of themselves.

It's been an important theme for both Nynaeve and Rand that they feared they are destroyers when one is a saviour and the other is a healer. Both had emotional problems. Nynaeve kept her emotions bottled up until she exploded in anger and lost control, forgetting her fear to channel. They had significant mirror scenes (ie: inverted), like the Moghedien accident when a previously escaped Forsaken balefired her boat and where Nynaeve in total state of despair to save the life of Lan reached to the only thing which could save him, and thus broke her block, whereas with Rand with got the dark counterpart when an escaped Forsaken trapped him and in total despair to save Min's life he reached to the only thing left to him, the TP, and he balefired the Forsaken (typical RJ mirror, one scene begins one way while the other ends that way, in reverse). They both shared a fear of their talent. Around the same time, each of them captured a Forsaken and forced the Forsaken to teach them.


And I could go on with both the ways in which Nynaeve parralels Rand or for instance how often Lan has been used in Nynaeve's storyline for a mirror effect, as he was the one parallelling Rand and Nyaneve offered the mirror or female complement, parallelling in turn Min, Elayne or Aviendha for that. Think for instance how Egwene handed down Rand to Elayne in a way quite reminescent of how Moiraine hand down Lan to Nynaeve.

The complementarity of Nynaeve and Rand has already come together for the Cleansing.

When Rand fell into darkness and despair and possession and paranoia about Min, Nynaeve's role as a healer of the those made sick by the spoiled food increased, and she had let Lan go, because that was someone who truly loved another had to do. In KOD that mirroring was already in place. Nynaeve had sent Lan away, Rand was letting Min stay close, which made him lose his hand.

When Egwene had no control whatsoever over Rand, it's Nynaeve she finally reined in.

I could go on a while, but I think it's enough to get the idea.

Meanwhile, Egwene has parallelled and mirrored Rand's political progression. This storyline has nearly ended now, Rand has already put in motion what should make Egwene the real political leader of the Light. It's LTT's political role Egwene has inherited. Rand understands he can't be ruler, general and champion all at once. He understood his real role is that of champion, putting the war and politics in other hands. Mat can be the general, put he has neither the skills nor the clout nor the time for politics. That role Rand played as King Dragon will fall on Egwene's lap. Not even Elayne can play it, only the Amyrlin has the clout to keep all the rulers together, and bring together the channelers.

and when it comes to OP skill, she is likely the foremost among the Light-side women. This being Nynaeve and Egwene could also fit with the fact that they were initially supposed to be one character that got split into two.

The reverse also works, you can say it has to be one over the other precisely because the character has been split, stripping the woman who's Rand complement as champion of any romantic connection to Rand and political role, and RJ - who said he's started by designing the ending first then worked its way to create a beginning - may very well have had someone else in mind for the second woman at Rand's side in the endgame even back then.



I strongly disagree with this. It was fitting that Amyrlin dealt herself with the Forsaken responsible for breaking the Tower, but RJ also used that to show Egwene still doesn't fully understand her own role and importance. She was on the eve of a crucial meeting with Rand, for which she's assembled this coalition and for which she thinks her Dreams are crucial. The alliance between female channelers rests totally on her shoulders, and though she doesn't know it yet, it's what she did with Logain against what any other Aes Sedai would have done and the fact he knows this all too well which may be the final key for the reunification of male and female Aes Sedai. She suspects also she's personally the key to a resolution with the Seanchan. And yet, Egwene once again put everything she has worked so hard for, everything she's gained, in the balance to go play the hero. The scenes made it all too obvious, she owed her life to Perrin, and then she nearly died a second time at Mesaana's hands. That wasn't a "great deed", it was the counterpart to Rand's folly of balefiring a whole palace full of people when the Pattern is at risk of unravelling to get rid of a single Forsaken. Egwene nearly unravelled everything the same way, leaving the WT leaderless and back into a political crisis to decide which woman for which Ajah was best suited to face the Dragon at Merrilor, while the WO and Windfinders go their own way, Logain would become very unlikely to trust any other Amyrlin, and the rulers suddenly lost the political leader who was bringing them together as a united front at Merrilor. All that because Egwene wanted to deal with Mesaana in her own way and herself. She made the same mistake before, when she took Bode's place and nearly unravelled everything she's accomplished with the rebellion. It's no more Egwene's place to play the action hero than it Elayne. She's better to remember the lesson this time. She should have stopped at what she did against the Seanchan, when that time she rose to be the woman the Tower needed at its head. That was her great moment as a "fighter", facing Mesaana herself was a mistake. The WT knows Egwene can fight, there's nothing she can gain now by fighting, and a lot to lose. Her, the Tower and the world. The stakes are too high. Only in TAR are Egwene's skills so unique she can't be replaced by someone more expandable. Egwene figthing as a soldier would be the same as Mat joining the frontline with the Band because he's damn fast and good with weapons, or Rand offering himself a sword fight with Demandred.

I think Egwene will have way too much to handle as the real political leader of the Light to even think about joining the battlefield as a mere soldier. She'll constantly have all the Ajahs reporting to her and the Hall. The White Tower will do far more than merely provide soldiers in TG. They have the healers, and those who will help move people and armies when needed. There will no doubt be delegates with the rulers, and sisters if not Egwene herself on the war councils. Through TG the WT will need their Amyrlin and Hall to remain where they belong and do their job.

I don't rule out Egwene will be involved in TAR fights, likely ones she won't choose this time, but I sure don't expect her to play the Soldier Amyrlin, who died on the field which created chaos and most likely is when the law preventing the Amyrlin from putting herself in direct danger without full approval of the Hall was passed.

There's also the aftermath of TG to think of. It's hardly a good time for people like Elayne and Egwene to go play the hero and get themselves killed for it. Rand has understood this, and stepped down as "ruler". He's done with his "you do what I say now, and once I'm dead you'll do whatever you want" attitude. There's plenty of examples in WOT history why Egwene should stay out of the battlefields, the most glaring one being how only Hawkwing's person held his Empire together. There's no alternate leader à la Latra Posae with an established authority who can step in if Egwene gets herself killed. That alternate leader is Egwene herself, so Rand can concentrate on his role as Champion. Rand is expandable as long as he defeats Shai'tan. Egwene soon won't be because she'll be central to holding everything together after TG. The world will face very difficult years post TG, the longer the cooperation and alliances for the LB can hold, the better Aviendha's future can be avoided. We know the alternative... the Seanchan reverting to their war of conquest and taking over rather then spending the next few years planning their return to the other continent, likely departing as allies of the Westlands.

That doesn't mean Egwene won't wish she'd be the one at SG or on the battlefields, but Rand has already all but handed her down the responsabilities to keep the world united behind him, and Egwene can't play both roles, no more than Elayne can rule Andor and be at the head of its armies at the same time. That's a recipe for collapse, a collapse the world cannot afford at this juncture, not during nor after TG.

I expect both Elayne and Egwene to wisen up about this.

Edit: sorry, got cut by the "Québec Spring", had to make sure the cat was in and didn't get eaten by one of those evil commie- anarchist students in the streets.

The second character who parallel (rather than mirrors, in this case) Rand's arc as champion has always been Moiraine, while it's always Siuan who played Egwene's role. It's so obvious... because RJ emphasized it heavily in NS. Both Rand and Moirane have their life path set before them by a prophecy about the same event: Rand's birth. Like Egwene and Rand were romantically involved as teenagers and went different ways as adults, Moiraine and Siuan were lovers than put an end to it. Like Rand now rejects his political role to devote himself to his mission, Moiraine fled from playing a political role that would have meant an end to her mission. Moiraine found Lan who swore his life to protect her, Rand has Nynaeve who did the same. Both Rand and Moiraine tried to control everything only to see control escape them. In the end, Moiraine understood she could play all roles at once and she couldn't be Rand's friend and guide, the arm of the White Tower at his side, and fulfill her own destiny. Like Rand accepts he might have to do, Moiraine accepted her true role and embraced death (to the world) and now rebirth, part of the way she could live and see the LB won. Rand's Cleansed Saidin, Moiraine was the first Aes Sedai to accept a male channeler had to live in 3000 years. Etc. Moiraine dedicated herself to the LB and the Dragon, Siuan had to sacrifice her desires for a similar role to be the one holding the Tower and the world together to face TG.. Moiraine had to let go, she couldn't be the Dragon in Rand's place, Siuan also had to let go, she coudn't be Egwene. Etc.

It's always been Moiraine as the parallel and Nynaeve mostly as a mirror.

Moiraine and Nynaeve also complement each other in regard to Rand. One see the dragon before the man, the other used to see the man before the Dragon, though going through TGS/TOM she started getting a more balanced view that Rand isn't only Rand and she can't see him only as Rand. The counterpart to that would be the returning Moiraine at last developping a personal rather than strictly "professional" relationship with Rand - a true frienship at last.