My point here was that Egwene accepted Siuans view very easily. I mean it would be one thing if there were no side-effects from the oaths, but unless I am mistaken Egwene already knew at this point that the oaths cut the lifespan of the user in half.

And all Siuan could offer for her pro-oaths view was that they are what define Aes Sedai. That seemed to me to be a very weak explanation for either dying 50% too early, or being forced to retire from the tower to some knitting circle, which in practise would mean sending the most experienced AS in the tower to the pasture.

I would have thought that Egwene, not having been "brainwashed" by years as a tower initiate should have been able to realise that Aes Sedai don't suddenly stop being Aes Sedai just because they do the smart thing and give up the oaths, and that there are other traditions that can be made up to add cohesion to the Aes Sedai, and other actions the Aes Sedai can take to make the population at large trust them (such as free healing stations in every city just to give an example).

Thats why I brought this up as one possible candidate.



Sure, but the point was that maybe Halima enhanced aspects that were already there. So basically, Egwene was distrustfull of Rand for several reasons, and Halima might have taken advantage of that by strenghtening that distrust even more, making it more difficult for Egwene to work with Rand.



The Seanchan are the boogeyman of Egwenes (and for valid reason given the torture) and there is no doubt that of all the groups around, a tower filled with channelers would be a primary target for Seanchan attack. You don't need to be a dreamer to predict that the Seanchan would very much like destroy the tower.

Though I admit this is the least likely possibility. Mostly I was just throwing examples where Halima could have done what you yourself suggested and used compulsion+psychology to create more subtle and longer lasting compulsions by weakening/strenghtening feelings and thoughts that were already present in Egwenes mind, rather than installing forcible and blatant compulsions like "kill the dragon reborn" which Egwenes mind would instantly try to fight off as hard as possible.



But who is to say that Halima might not have done the same thing? Or something similar. Moghedien was never implied to be a master compeller, and even she knew that if you worked with the mind rather than against it, you could create compulsions that last a lifetime (her compulsion to LIVE). Halima may not be as good psychologist as Graendal, but that does not necessarily mean she was totally incompetent. Graendal was best of the best. Halima might have just been average compared to her, but even average might be sufficient. Especially since Halima had quite a bit of time to observe Egwene and learn her habits and what makes her tick.



Actually, in Lord of Chaos chapter 6 we get a POV from Sammael, who observers Graendals "pets" who have suffered compulsion similar to that boy Nynaeve found. There Sammael thinks that its possible to use compulsion like a "hammer" and totally rewrite a persons entire mind (which Graendal does to those near her), but its also possible to use compulsion with such delicacy that its nearly undetectable. So both types of compulsions were present in the series prior to TGS, and Graendal is master at both. Brandon did not invent this.



Theres still one book to go. Truthfully, I kinda agree that there should have been some hints by now, but its still possible for some very subtle "Verin-like" compulsion to be present that will suddenly manifest in the meeting at FoM.



This could be explained by Halima not wanting to use too rough compulsion on Egwene and damaging her mind or doing anything that would alter her to the point of suspicion. The "theory" I am suggesting is that Egwene is under some very slight and subtle compulsion and nothing more. Compulsion closer to to Verins compulsion rather than the type of compulsion Graendal uses on her pets.

If Halima had used compulsion to interrogate Egwene directly, she would have first had to use compulsion to make Egwene talk, and then actually used even more compulsion to erase her memories of that. And we know from Nynaeve that compulsion that blatant (blocked memories) can be broken through by someone with a strong willpower. Perfecly reasonable then that Halima would not have wanted to risk Egwene suddenly recalling those memories.