When in the course of reading a multivolume fantasy epic, it becomes necessary for a reader to criticize or comment in a negative manner upon one of the characters therein, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires he publish the reasons which impel him to the detestation. The History of Egwene al’Vere is a history of repeated violations of human decency and treason against the Light. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

Part 1
In those days, the Egwene-beast rose to blight the series of The Wheel of Time. And men cried out to the Creator, saying "Writer in the land of palmettos, why hast thou inflicted this curse upon us?” And others, for they simple of thought, spake admiration of the Egwene. And others, who were made blind with lust for the One Power, but embittered with disappointment, for it did exist only in the books, spoke favorably on any and all who used this Power. And some were fools and believed all the thoughts they read, so that when the Egwene-beast thought its foolishness, they read and were satisfied, and said "she thinks wisely."

But yea, in the site of wotmania, where the great king, called Mike did cause to be a haven for those who did read the works of the Creator, they came together, and posted and chatted, and praised one another for their folly. But righteous and wise men there were also in that site, and just women. And they rose up in protest at the iniquities they saw written, and the Quick Poll results that showed the folly of the hearts of those who smiled on the Egwene-beast. And they denounced their folly and blindness. And some were blind and were made to see. And others preferred the darkness, and picked up the third book, and thought it was good that Egwene did so much to help the Shadow have a fair chance against the might of the Dragon and the Nynaeve-goddess.

And the righteous among them were full of fury, and they strove to save their brethren - and their sistren too, for they were not sexist - from the snares and wiles of the Egwene-beast. But others rose up, pretendething to love all and seek peace, and they spake unto the righteous, admonishing them to get along. And the deceived and foolish also joined in their admonishment, but their hearts were false, and were glad to admonish, for their words in defense of the Egwene-beast were weak and when they wrote them on the site, all could see how foolish the thoughts of these were. And all was as darkness.

And there was in those days, a just and righteous man who was called Cannoli, after the best of lines in the greatest of movies, and he spake truth and was reviled, for his zeal in the works of goodness and truth shamed those who wallowed in folly and error.

So Cannoli set fingers to keys, and put forth the truth of the Egwene-beast. And it was full, and it was true. And because Cannoli was also fair he did even exclude the sin of Not Apologizing to Mat, because he did feel the Templar called Fanatic and others of good mind and pure heart made overmuch of this transgression.

And many days did pass, and new words came from the Creator. And the Creator passed on from the world of Real Life and his bride was sore afflicted and troubled in her head and she chose a man of tender years to reveal unto the world the hidden words of the Creator. And this man was clever and a Wordsmith of some renown, but he was so taken with his own words and concerns and cares that he had not the insights of the faithful and just and did not see into the hidden truths the Creator concealed in his Words. And verily, he did take them at face value and fall to the snares of the Egwene-beast, and think that she was good and write that she was good.

And it came to pass that the king called Mike found other things to do, and his kingdom fell to the darkness. But among the people of the kingdom rose a new leader, and he did find a new place for the people of the Books to dwell, and he went unto the king and said to him “Let our people go,” and they went. And wise was the new king, for he did invite the prophet Cannoli to join his council called Beta. And Cannoli saw that the new kingdom was good. And Cannoli joined the people who did go unto the new kingdom, but the Beast did strike a final blow.

Cannoli did gather all the wisdom there was to be found among the people of the Books, and assembled all of their writings, to carry with him to the new kingdom, but the havoc wrought by the dark crafters of the Toshiba tribe consumed all the writings and much was lost, and among those words were the list of dark deeds and sins committed by the Egwene-beast. And the Beast was no doubt content, for with the Creator passed from the world of Real Life, and the Bride sore afflicted and the Fallen Wordsmith lacking in wisdom and experience, the loss of the words of Cannoli would ne’er again sound to shine the Light upon the evil of the Beast.

And thus does he post, and the unrighteous can shove it, verily. - the Cannolaethon Cycle, vol. 1

Ahem. Sorry this is late. I was thrown off track by the unexpectedly early release of the prologue, which temporarily diverted all of my WoTtenion. Anyway, it’s kind of funny in hindsight. One of the challenges of this project is that once you have left off Egwene stripping the world of its defenses against the Shadow so she can assemble the armies of humanity in one place to satiate her ego and give herself the confidence boost she needs to thwart the Dragon Reborn’s plan to defeat the Dark One, it can be a little difficult to muster the appropriate outrage against her petty infamies. It’s like digging up Josef Stalin’s record at the seminary, or perusing Adolf Hitler’s art school report card for things like “fails to pay attention in class.”

None the less, people do still delve into the childhood backgrounds of the worst people in history. The journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step, and all that. Furthermore, the point of this project is to establish patterns of attitudes in order to properly identify congruent behavior in these latter days, and also to serve as a warning of how incongruous or minor misbehavior can be the beginning of a downward spiral. So let’s try to keep the destination in mind as we examine her first petty offenses.

A. Egwene initially presents as a mentioned-before-seen love interest for Rand. While Tam seems to think Rand is looking forward to seeing his girlfriend, Rand is actually uncertain about their relationship. He’s a decent guy, he cares about her, and societal pressure is indicating the appropriate thing to do is marry her. So he’s kind of rolling with that, yet from the very first time her name is mentioned in the series, we see he is not at all sanguine about that course of events.
Egwene’s error: She set this in motion. She picked him out and as later books will reveal, once she set her sights on him, the whole mechanism began moving to trap Rand in a relationship he did not want. While it turns out Egwene doesn’t either (he doesn’t have any spouse-transferable power, after all), it is still a case of her making quick choices on a poorly thought-out basis. Her usual pattern in such instances is to skip away from the situation that is partially of her own making, and damn the consequences to others. As we will soon see, that might very well have been her eventual escape from the Randlationship too.

...she could at that moment have been a reflection of Nynaeve's mood, arms crossed beneath her breasts, mouth tight with disapproval...her big brown eyes held no laughter now.
B. The first time she is actually seen, Egwene is hovering around Nynaeve, mimicking her mannerisms, as she scolds Mat.
Egwene’s error:While later books have imposed the notion of the two women being friends and equals, it is important to note that neither of them views their relationship in this manner at this point. Egwene is not choosing one friend over another. She is siding with The Man over a peer. The rationale? As Egwene herself reveals, Nynaeve is teaching her to be a Wisdom herself – the most readily available path to power. Not that she is not sincere in her imitation of Nynaeve and criticism of her friends, she is simply engaging in what will becoming a common path to power – remaking herself into the image of what she believes a powerful woman to be.

"There are other villages...Nynaeve says the villages north of the Taren always choose a Wisdom from away..."
"And you wouldn't like (never seeing me again)? You have not given any sign lately that you care one way or another."
"Maybe I want to see some of the places I hear about in the stories."(They tell stories about villages north of the Taren?)
"And I do not (know the difference between daydreams and what is real)?" she said furiously, and promptly turned her back on him...She jerked her cloak around her, a wall to shut him off, and stiffly walked a few paces away.
C. Egwene, in her relationship discussion with Rand, when he rather astutely indicates his skepticism over the notion of her playing second-fiddle to Nynaeve (Egwene simply does not DO ‘subordinate’ ) for fifty years, expresses her interest in pursuing her Wisdom career outside the Two Rivers, much to his chagrin, and then begins childishly turning her back on him and then baiting him with her song requests from Thom.
Egwene’s error:She is doing one of two things. Either she is playing childish games with Rand at a point in their relationship & lives when they need to be seriously thinking about those things, or else she is dead serious. If the latter, she is, as alluded above, trying to duck the consequences of a situation she engendered – marriage & being a housewife, back when that was her highest aspiration – to seek something better for herself. The fact that Rand is pretty much SoL, with most of the prime marriage choices likely matched off with other young men at this point, is beside the point to her.

While in modern society, it is no big deal for a young woman who comes of age to move elsewhere to pursue a career, and break up with her boyfriend from their teenage years in the process, in a pre-industrial time, it is a whole other ball of wax. As Rand clearly perceives, even if he wasn’t having second thoughts about their relationship (given the trust and consideration issues exposed so far, you can hardly blame him), there is still no place for him in this plan, and he is left with the onus of the commitment she initiated.

And following her on her quest for ego gratification is not really an option either. Making a living, for the overwhelming majority, requires farming. It depends on owning land and stock. Rand cannot simply find a new job at whatever town he and his wife settle down, he needs to obtain viable farmland, and then undertake the back-breaking startup labor. Where is the Home Depot or garden center where he is going to purchase the tools and seeds necessary to start his farm and build his house? Where is he going to get the money in the first place? We like to load the word “dowry” with all kinds of sexist connotations, but in such a time and place, it’s more like a necessity in establishing a young couple’s household. The normal practice in the Two Rivers is for the couple to live with one or the other’s extended family and work their farm with them, rather than start from scratch.

Tam might have started on his own, but he also came back to the Two Rivers with a high-ranking officer’s combat pay, on the scale of a professional who ranks among the elite of his field. Egwene will later cite the far superior wage an ordinary soldier earns compared to a farmer, but the second-highest ranking professional military officer of Illian would have been even more well off. And yet, the al’Thors have no apparent superior material prosperity to their neighbors (or maybe they do, which puts Egwene’s choice of a husband in a whole new light). The most likely explanation is that Tam sunk all of his earnings into the farm. Rand and Egwene would have no such initial capital.

Rand’s protestations to Egwene about the craziness of her aspirations are not, as a 20th century reader might think, merely the result of hidebound parochial thinking, and failing to appreciate other possibilities. In fact, he is actually being rather sensible, as of the many women of her profession seen in the series, none are as young as Nynaeve, let alone seven years younger. Whatever her dreams of Wisdom-hood, Egwene will be years, if not decades, in making her reputation, before anyone will trust a strange woman with a significant leadership position in her community, no matter how skilled at brewing herbal teas, and objective outsider or not. Furthermore, it is an incredibly unrealistic plan. It’s not as simple as finding a job as a secretary or waiting tables until she can achieve her big break. She has no way to make a living, and expecting Rand to follow her is even more ridiculous and economically nonviable. Also, just because she hates her sisters is no reason why Rand should have to leave his father and friends behind (Egwene is notably without any kind of friends of the close degree that she might spare a single thought remembering ever over the course of the series).

And in spite of all this, where Rand has good cause for first of all doubting her commitment to the course of action, secondly, for questioning the soundness of her plans and third for refusing to go along with it, she pulls a snit. The only person I have ever seen in real life make a show of ignoring someone because she is mad at what they just did, was my five year old niece, upset that I was playing catch with her younger sister & cousin, rather than the game she wanted to play. And just as Egwene butts into the conversation Mat and Perrin strike up with Rand that she affects not to notice, my niece was sneaking looks over her shoulder to make sure we were aware of her displeasure.

Maybe Egwene is right in the next point, where her opinion on the boys’ trustworthiness differs from that of the village authorities – after all, how can you trust the same authorities who thought Egwene was mature enough for marriage? My niece is precocious, but not THAT much, and given the close parallels between her and Egwene…

Mat and Perrin...telling her of their encounters with the black-cloaked rider, but Rand kept silent. He was sure he knew what she'd say when they were done.
C. Rand doesn’t bother to discuss the Myrdraal he saw with Egwene. Despite having two witnesses on his side, despite him and Perrin both being considered reliable witnesses by her own father and the Village Council, he is fairly sure the woman who maneuvered to be his partner for life will not trust him, even with corroboration.
Egwene’s error: Well, she’s wrong. The grownups and sensible people, even if they, like she, fail to credit the particulars the boys relate, accept that there is cause for concern. Had Rand shared his knowledge with Moiraine or Lan, they might have been able to advise the Village Council even better. As it is, Rand is ready to turn around and spread the word as soon as Tam shows him the slightest bit of credit. If not for Egwene’s ridicule, maybe he might have done so sooner. While Moiraine admits she could not have stopped the attack, the more forewarning she had, the better it could have been. But Egwene would rather be able to ridicule her friends than risk embarrassment by trusting them when they could be wrong. And either way, what is reality next to an excuse to berate your boyfriend because you're mad at him for being right in your last argument?

Basically, this little conversation completely prefigures ToM, where Rand knows Egwene will never trust his word regarding an important threat from the Shadow, only now he is wise enough to account for that in his planning. It turns out a key ability Rand will call upon in his strategy for Tarmon Gaidon is the ability to predict Egwene’s contrarian nature, a trait he demonstrates in this early scene.

"...Master Gleeman," Egwene said, a hint of disapproval finally breaking though...
"Now you're a lovely lass...how would you like to stand beside me tomorrow for a part of my performance?...I always choose the prettiest girl I can find..."
E. A final thing, that is actually kind of funny to see, is her falling into the role of charmed hick in her efforts to prove her maturity in the face of Perrin's & Mat’s snickering when Thom names her the prettiest girl. That’s an old performer’s trick to win over a critical audience member by flattering them and giving them a role or attention. Where Mat, generally a fellow with an eye for an angle, and Perrin, renowned for his insight, figure out what Thom is doing with his over the top compliments, Egwene is incensed that they have the temerity to believe that anyone could be less than perfectly sincere in praising her, and plays into the gleeman’s hands.
Egwene’s error: Ego, of course. Thom MUST have meant it when he sought Egwene for his assistant. After all, isn’t every new and interesting or powerful person singularly interested in Egwene? An Aes Sedai visits her and Nynaeve in their tent, and if MUST be to carry an invitation from the Amyrlin Seat, of course. Amys speaks of someone who has accompanied Rhuarc to Chaendar, and she can’t POSSIBLY be referring to her prophesied leader or the two women she has Dreamed of…no, surely it must be Egwene who is her primary interest! Surely Rand’s awkwardness when she brings the girl who was getting naked in his dreams into his bedroom must be a sign of his attraction to Egwene herself – he can’t really MEAN that he doesn’t love her anymore…can he?