Again, the codes:

Arrogance or Pride

Selfish or Inconsiderate behavior

Tyranny / Abuse of power

Out of Touch mentality

Judgmental Attitude

Lust for Status / Envy

Lust for Power

Sycophantic behavior or cowardice. Note that going forward, this will apply more to her acceptance or tolerance/approval of such behavior, rather than acting that way herself.

Betrayal of a personal nature

Dishonesty

Protagonist Syndrome {behavior that is absolutely contraindicated unless the character knows she is a main character in a fantasy novel and thus critical to the resolution of the crisis, or bound for greatness against all in-story expectations}

Hypocrisy

Foolhardiness / Reckless endangerment of herself or others

And some that are venial level sins, or not explicitly bad or evil:

Flat out incompetence or incorrect conclusions or assessments

Stupid or Clueless behavior

Sociopathic mentality or desire toward violence or to victimize others (as opposed to actual action)

Petty, nasty or spiteful words and attitude / General rudeness

Uncooperative, resisting doing her part.

The Pattern at work, sometimes against Egwene, sometimes her going against it

Not a fault per se, but a noteworthy point of interest or milestone

Taking the side of the White Tower, or a position of inherent Aes Sedai supremacy

Part 8The Path of Daggers

1: Egwene kicks off her stretch in this book by following up on her character-bonding from the prior, finding ways to accommodate and assuage Siuan’s petulance over getting only a fraction of what she is due as an incompetent leader of a world power in a time of crisis. Egwene goes out of her way excuse Siuan's personality flaws by claiming it is understandable that this woman, long-established as a bully, vents her frustrations over being on the short end of the might-makes-right equation on an apparently powerless peasant woman who doesn’t kiss her butt for being Aes Sedai.

Likewise, Egwene is slanting her perceptions and favorably describing Halima, whose behavior and timing is highly suspicious. She excuses in Halima things that had her writing Berelain off as a disgustingly promiscuous fool or shrieking “Show respect!” to the Dragon Reborn.

Where 18 years of friendship fail to get you into Egwene’s good graces, a couple months of conspiracy to obtain power for her, and a few weeks of sycophancy, do wonders.

2: We also get the first mentions of the reaction of Egwene to the bargain Nynaeve & Elayne made with the Sea Folk to use the Bowl of the Winds. Egwene is, as her friends anticipated, upset. Her reasoning? The bargain, and the offer Nynaeve & Elayne made to the Kin, after taking Egwene’s words at face value, are “just the thing to cut her feet out from under her here” politically speaking. The world being saved from drought, and the Dark One’s efforts being thwarted (recall how, back in the earliest days of the series, Moiraine rightly pointed out that stopping anything the Dark One tries is an inherently sufficient motivation), this means little next to Egwene’s political position. What good is a world that has enough water to survive, if it is one where Egwene does not wield power openly?

3: When discussing the elimination of the Three Oaths, Siuan asserts, and Egwene confirms, that the latter would have punished the former severely for lying to her. Egwene. Egwene al’Vere. Was going to punish someone for lying.

And the sort of lie Siuan considered telling was exactly the sort of thing Egwene did in tSR through LoC, though Egwene’s reasons were arguably less valid. Egwene sought to illicitly obtain acceptance and respect that might not have been afforded someone of her actual stature, whereas Siuan would have been trying to get a completely uninformed, untrained, inexperienced, and arguably illegitimate, leader to do the right or prudent thing.

4: The ensuing discussion about lying and the Three Oaths is a collision of idiocy, with each woman trying to outdo the other in making morally bankrupt assertions. What’s just as appalling is that Siuan never counters Egwene’s arguments, tacitly concedes their validity, but offers a “better” approach to the obstructing factor in Ewgene’s rationale. Egwene, of course, eventually swallows Siuan’s philosophy whole, with no further discussion shown, so Siuan’s argument is as much to Egwene’s discredit as if she said the words herself.

Egwene claims that lying is okay when it is necessary (necessity in this case going conveniently undefined, though we’ve seen her label self-serving deceits & obtaining status under false pretenses as "necessary" ), so long as you are willing to pay the price. Egwene thinks it’s okay to mislead someone, and then, once you have what you want, say “Oops, I lied, so sorry. I’ll arrange for a spanking and we’ll call it even, kthx.” She alludes to “her time with the Aiel” either as if that was a case of necessary lying (it wasn’t) or as if her rationale was spawned during that interlude. Recall when Aviendha did that very thing, telling Rand that she hated him and telling Egwene that the flowers he sent her had been picked by Aviendha for Egwene. She did just what Egwene said, went to Bair to “pay the price” which Bair referred to as a waste of the Wise One’s time, considering her “penance” to be nonsensical. Egwene, once again, misses the direct commentary of the Wise Ones on a particular topic, choosing instead to make her own extrapolations that just so happen to fit her whims of the moment.

Meanwhile, Siuan strings together several unrelated issues. She first claims that there is some sort of moral purpose to the Three Oaths, citing them as a creed or code of behavior that unites the Aes Sedai, and provides the common belief that is the core of their organization. They are no such thing. The Oaths indicate absolutely no belief system or moral values. They do not preclude dishonesty or violence, they merely establish procedures for carrying out such practices, and in the case of dishonesty, allow for deceit and even abet and support deceit by allowing sisters to trick people behind a false reputation for honesty, while avoiding the drawbacks of a reputation for dishonesty. The well-known cautionary fable about lying is “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” wherein a liar eventually loses credibility, and thus has no help when he sincerely warns of danger. An Aes Sedai never faces that consequence, because she can always fall back on plain speaking when honesty serves her purpose. Likewise with violence. If the sisters were truly opposed to violence they would not take highly trained warriors, equip them with exclusively homicidal weapons and camouflage cloaks so they can sneak up on people, and give them superhuman physical abilities, and a loophole to permit the use of the One Power to back them up. A sister can order her warder to kill anyone she wants dead, and if her victim has the temerity to defend himself, she is then freed of any restraint and can blast him to a cinder for offering violence to her warder.

If there was any sort of moral inspiration to the Three Oaths, they would be simple & to the point, something like “I swear to never initiate violence or deceive by word, deed or omission, except when life is directly threatened.” Siuan goes on to inadvertently highlight this point by listing the advantages of the Three Oaths, and why it makes things so much better and more convenient for the Aes Sedai. She is basically saying “Special tactics that give us an advantage are what make us morally superior to any other group using questionable means to attain power.”

It’s also worth noting that this particular instance of regretting the Three Oaths on Egwene’s part, is that she is wishing the Andorans they face were in fear of Aes Sedai using the Power as a weapon. She wants to be free of the Three Oaths, so the sisters in general can terrorize everyone else into submission.

The fact that sisters might believe in the Three Oaths to the degree that Siuan asserts, imparts a kind of reality to the significance of the Oaths, in the grand WoT theme of the effects of belief, but that just makes the sisters idiots, like the Tinkers & their search for a magic song that will change the world. It does not make the Three Oaths a good principle or an acceptable substitute for a moral code, it is simply a condemnation on all the Aes Sedai who accept them as such, or their resistance to giving them up or substituting superior oaths or a legitimate code of conduct.

To some, the Oaths against using the Power as a weapon and making weapons do not seem particularly advantageous. The Aes Sedai are being either disingenuous or stupid in that this never comes up in discussions of the benefits of the Three Oaths, but what it really does is protect the Tower from the consequences of a sister rashly involving herself in a conflict. By restraining the Aes Sedai from using the Power as a weapon in any form, they also restrain the sisters from making the ultimate commitment to a particular cause or faction. Once you shed blood for a cause or a side, you are locked in, and if your side fails, you take your lumps along with them. Worse, from the Tower’s point of view, if your side wins, you have to live with the consequences of helping them win. The Sea Folk get this, which is why they refuse to fight for Elayne in Andor. They do not wish to offend her enemies if she falls, they do not wish to be the foreign scapegoats if her victory engenders hard feelings in the defeated, and they do not wish to be irrevocably tied to her regime once she has the throne.

We see several times in the series how the Tower makes a point of being connected to all sides. Elayne speculates that there is probably a sister concealed in Arymilla’s camp, and the sisters accompanying the Borderland rulers conceal their presence as well. Since they cannot use the Power to fight, everyone knows they have to work indirectly. When Elayne wins, the sister advising Arymilla does not become public knowledge, and everyone assumes the Tower’s assistance contributed to Elayne's victory. If Arymilla had won, the sister in her camp, and those survivors in Elayne’s, would all claim that Arymilla was the Tower’s favorite candidate. After all, how else could she have defeated an Aes Sedai claimant to the throne, without the help of other Aes Sedai? Since the Three Oaths enjoin them against casting fireballs at the other side, her advisor needs must work more subtly, of course. Oh yes, all those sisters in the palace? Why they were providing valuable information, and staying Elayne's hand to prevent that upstart chippie from doing too much harm, because they were trying to preserve Andor intact for their favored candidate, your majesty, Queen Arymilla.

And so it goes for any such conflict in the wetlands. We see a similar instance with Colavaere, where Annoura allows her to think the Grey is her advisor, which enables the Tower to claim at least partial credit for her successes, and step back, holding her skirts clear of the mess when Colavaere goes down in flames.

None of these underhanded methods of assistance would be possible if the sisters involved started fighting in defense of the factions they support or pretend to support. It’s harder for the Tower to claim they were never helping Arymilla when another woman wins the throne, if the One Power was used against the walls of Caemlyn. It’s harder for the Tower to look supreme and invincible if they made publicly obvious efforts in support of a losing cause. And it is much harder to avoid resentments when a ruler you helped to gain the throne turns bad, if you used the One Power to help him.

So the Tower affects a moral stance in opposition to violence, while retaining the actual ability to use it whenever it suits the sisters, and by the wording of their Oath, give the appearance of automatically being the defensive party, even though we see several times in the series that “last extreme” means no such thing, as sisters have only to walk onto a battlefield to be free to take part, if they wish. Meanwhile, thanks to the Oath, they can pretend to be constrained in order to free themselves of the need to provide concrete assistance to those they tie puppet strings to.

Take Kiruna & co at Dumai’s Wells, for example. Perrin knows they wanted to reach Rand, and when he accuses them of ignoring the battle plan to fight at a distance, choosing instead to lead men to their deaths to push through the fray, Kiruna uses the Oath as an excuse. Except the Oath says “in defense of her warder or another sister”. The people Perrin wanted them to use the Power against, the Shaido, were attacking a camp full of Aes Sedai – Kiruna’s sisters. Their probable goal was to kill (or capture) Rand, Alanna’s Warder. They were absolutely clear to use the Power if they so wished, they simply refused to think in those terms, so they could do what they want, and who cares if a few dozen men die for their political advantage. In that particular case, the existence and invocation of that Oath actually cost lives. But it let the Aes Sedai break their agreement and do what they want, without being held to account for it, so it’s probably worth the price in White Tower reckoning.

Such lovely, lovely people Egwene has taken upon herself to align with, adhere to, protect, advance and uphold, to the detriment of anyone who thinks he or she might be endowed by the Creator with an unalienable right to life and liberty or to use the inborn gift of the One Power as he or she sees fit.

5: When contemplating the increased numbers brought in by expanded recruiting methods, and the possibilities if those methods had been used previously, Egwene has a physical reaction to the thought of the power she would have wielded if the Tower’s population had been at the levels now known to be possible.

6: Even at this relatively late date, at the (unbeknownst to them at this point) last stop on the march before arriving at Tar Valon, Egwene notes that “too many sisters” are eager for any chance to put off or delay that march.

She also uses passive voice and careful wording in the recollections of her oath-blackmailed minions so that if you had not read CoT, you might be excused for thinking of these Oath-bound minions as a gift that fell into Egwene’s lap, maybe even of their own free will. They are sisters “who had sworn to Egwene” with much subsequent enumerating of their mistakes & unrealized aspirations, or their disbelieving reactions, but they simply “found themselves sworn to obey her.” Almost like Egwene did nothing wrong, unethical or immoral to cause that to happen to them.

Oh, and Sheriam is obviously happy to have been broken to the harness. I’m pretty sure that no one who claims those bound to them in involuntary servitude are happy that way, is ever mistaken, right?

Regarding that servitude, while understanding why RJ didn’t bother showing us the scene where Sheriam & co. swear to Egwene, I am a bit curious to as how it actually went down, or for that matter, why it went down at all, much less to Egwene’s advantage, rather than the other way around. I don’t know why Myrelle gave the Oath once Nisao was sworn. As anyone from a culture wherein oaths of fealty were commonplace would understand, such oaths are mutually binding, and the recipient has obligations of protection that go with obedience. Once she has accepted a single oath of fealty, Egwene is obliged to keep the secret with which she committed the blackmail in the first place, and to protect the sisters who swore in exchange. She literally has nothing to blackmail Sheriam and the others with. Once Nisao swore, Myrelle could have laughed in Egwene’s face, and told her “go ahead and rat me out!” Egwene’s little gambit would have been exposed, and Nisao would have been free of any obligation to obey her once Egwene betrayed her trust by revealing Myrelle’s actions with Lan, and thus Nisao’s part. Likewise, once Myrelle was sworn, Egwene had nothing to hold over Sheriam and the rest. She could not expose their misdeeds without also exposing Myrelle, with whom she had already made a bargain of protection.

Had she tried her ploy on sisters with half a brain, Egwene would have been the one swearing to obey their advice and keep them informed of everything Siuan learned, to keep the Hall from learning that she tried to blackmail sisters with preposterous allegations, and sought to impose an unprecedented requirement of fealty to the Amyrlin Seat.

7: A plan to stop for the day has to be announced with suitable pomp & ceremony and a formal announcement, so the servants are allowed to get up before dawn to do all the backbreaking work of getting several hundred women and their entourages packed and ready to roll out, only to have to undo all their tasks, because sending around a memo so the grooms and horse handlers can sleep in would violate the Sitters’ need to be the first to hear, and the Amyrlin’s need for an audience. Regarding the stop, and Sheriam’s surprise over the same, Egwene snottily suggests her Keeper talk to the workmen to learn about the maintenance and repair issues. Either Egwene neglected to take her own advice, or she did, and still refrained from mentioning that they would not be going anywhere tomorrow, so the farriers and the rest can plan on getting some work done.

The Aes Sedai supply situation also suggests a good deal about their ineptitude, what with no one calling out Egwene for her assertions that stopping will strip the countryside bare, since all they need to do is Travel or Skim to a city to get their supplies in bulk. In this particular instance, Sheriam notes that some things they are running short of will not be readily available in the Murandian countryside, such as tea and salt. Sheriam, you moronic ginger, you could be in Tremalking itself in five bloody minutes! And this is one of the smart ones, who is good at administration. But we’re supposed to root for these people to win in the battle for the most powerful office in the world?

8: Aside from her other bits of malice or ineptitude, Egwene demonstrates a rather fundamental misapprehension of spycraft in this book and the prior. Noting that two of her servants are in the pay of two leading Sitters, she is constantly commenting on how they do a good job, particularly Selame, to Egwene’s evident surprise. Granted, Egwene usually handles being in a subservient role with something less than perfect grace, so she could not be expected to understand the concept of “ingratiating yourself with your target” or “maintaining cover” but you’d think the tactic at least would be obvious to someone as steeped in intrigue as she claims she is becoming.

9: We get a reminder of the awesomeness of Egwene’s friendship when reading reports of two rumors concerning the fate of Mattin Stepaneos, Egwene thinks the one of Rand murdering him in cold blood is “far more likely” than the one that actually seems to have happened. Mattin Stepaneous? Kidnapped by an organization infamous for doing that sort of thing to monarchs? No, it is far more likely that Rand murdered him personally with his bare hands, despite a history of doing that never ever at all.

The amusing thing about this is how everyone makes such a big deal about how the Hall & the leadership committee made a mistake choosing Egwene because they thought she would be a biddable puppet. The other factor in choosing Egwene was for her knowledge of Rand. Oops. Oh-for-two.

10: When Siuan is barely able to choke out the mention of her raising to the Amyrlin Seat, with only minor facial expressions, Egwene is full of effusive mental praise that she has never known a woman as strong as this petulant bully who is still sulking over months later following a relatively minor loss in the grand scheme of things. In Siuan's particular case, the worst consequence has been undone, she survived where most others do not, has inexplicably recovered a position of trust and authority, and unlike many others to fall from power, is in rather remarkably good health & comfort. Recall that this is one book after a rape victim who has been dethroned from a title she held since before Siuan first wore the shawl, is told, “Suck it up, other people have it worse.”

The reason for this effusive praise of Siuan on Egwene’s part is simply the inability of Egwene to imagine losing that much power, of both the temporal and One varieties, to know that she will spend the centuries of life that remain to her in a servile position, and keep on living. Egwene would be unable to function after such a loss and permanent curtailment of prospects.

11: When Romanda & Lelaine come to Egwene to remonstrate with her for making unilateral military decisions, and keeping them secret from anyone who might have actual knowledge of military affairs (which Egwene does not, remember this is the girl who thought the united Aiel clans, allied to Tear & Cairien, would be overstretched in a war with Illian and Andor just a few months ago), it happens to play exactly into the plan for manipulating the Hall, as Egwene herself reports to Siuan, and in spite of everything going just right, it is all Egwene can do to control her temper and her voice at the lack of servility in their deportment! They did not scream insults and curses at Egwene, the way she was prone to doing to Rand over minor inconveniences, when she had not nearly the experience and expertise to assert that he was making a dangerous blunder, or right to object when he made decisions without her, as the Hall of the Tower and every damn Sitter alive does compared to Egwene. All they did was demand to deal with the mess she has made, both offering Oath-supported promises to allow her to take power in her own time, once she gets a clue what she is doing.

And they are not wrong in their assessment either. This is only a good plan for Egwene’s purpose, which is not necessarily to the benefit of anyone but Egwene. The actual plan is create resistance to the Aes Sedai so as to inflame the Hall into a hasty declaration of war, and part of that is by calling a public meeting where a misstatement or error could result in the Aes Sedai committed in the eyes of the world to a policy or course of action. Egwene has created a precarious scenario so she can bring things to a head and leave the Hall with no options to consider on short notice. Needless to say, the fact that she has set such a thing up is rather appalling to the Hall’s leadership who find themselves in a sticky wicket less than halfway to their goal.

In short, Lelaine, Romanda and every other woman invested in the success of the rebellion have plenty of reasons to be pissed at the person responsible for putting them in this position: Egwene al’Vere. But because they didn’t fawn over her like a brain-damaged maid (seriously, I think Chesa must have had a stroke or something), she can only refrain from heaving things at them until they are out the door. Rand puts up with worse lip from men under a death sentence, who live on his sufferance, and she has the nerve to say his head is swollen?

12: When riding out to meet the assembled nobles, Egwene secretly fumes over not being greeted like an honored guest, just because she is leading an army into their country uninvited. The word for the people doing that is “Invaders” and is universally a term with derogatory connotations. But just because Egwene is doing something wrong to you, is no reason to refrain from groveling to her!

She compares their supposed mistreatment with that of “the meanest farmer” who would be offered a holiday greeting appropriate to the coincidental date, when the more appropriate analogy would be the welcome a bunch of armed intruders would receive, since that is exactly what she & the sisters are.

Egwene decides that because the Andorans did not greet an invading army with comforts and treats, the Aes Sedai rejecting the offered chairs for nicer ones that place them above their hosts is perfectly justified. Even Egwene’s sensibilities were apparently jolted at that kind of arrogance, but the nerve of people who are so treacherous as to defend themselves when attacked erases any such doubts. “…they were not equals. They were Aes Sedai.” Remember her very first lesson on that topic, when Moiraine told her that Aes Sedai were women, just like everyone else?

13: It is worth noting as well, that Egwene is counting on the sisters taking offense at their reception to further her plans! She is terrified of Talmanes’ attendance, because she fears that additional army might be enough to intimidate the Andorans to letting them pass, which will rob her of the goad she needs for the next part of her plan. Even when it helps her cause, Egwene resents a lack of obsequious treatment, just as she hated her own pretense of helplessness earlier in her term of office.

The Andoran nobles’ position is a reasonable, calmly stated, rational assertion of national sovereignty and the rights of self-determination. The sorts of values upon which valid international law among civilized nations rests, in other words. And according to Egwene, they have “given her everything…she could have wished for” with this response. What Egwene is wishing for is something so disrespectful, so provocative and so infuriating, that it will drive the Sitters to an unthinking and hasty declaration of war.

And in Aes Sedai eyes, saying “This is our country, we don’t want to involve ourselves in your affairs, but you are bringing the wrath of your enemies down on us by passing through, and we do not wish a battle to be fought on our land, endangering the people for whom we are responsible” is exactly that provocation! How DARE anyone ask Aes Sedai not to march an army through their lands, “buying” food at the point of a blade from desperate people in the middle of winter, much less instigate a battle that will involve the use of the One Power on a scope not seen since the Trolloc Wars, that literally destroyed every nation in which such battles took place?! The effrontery of these people, acting as if their rank and power exist to protect the people they rule, rather than to exploit their subjects so as to better curry favor with Aes Sedai!

That is a seriously distorted, arrogant and inconsiderate view, and apparently an accurate representation of their perspective.

14: Egwene publically states that the Black Tower is the exclusive business of the White Tower, claims the exclusive right to deal with them, and then tells the nobles that male channelers must wait on more important business. Whatever the particulars of this bunch of male channelers, protecting the world from such men has been the duty of the White Tower, and the reason why they receive the deference they do, is their taking on the responsibility for such threats. If they abandon such obligations, why then do they deserve any respect?

What is more, by stripping others of the ability to take care of such matters on their own, by compelling all female channelers to be initiated into the White Tower, and forbidding them from associating if they are not, the Tower and the sisters incur an absolute obligation to attend to channeling matters. If the Black Tower are to be left alone, for whatever reason, they owe the people stuck with potential madmen in their backyard an explanation, and one a little more detailed than “More important matters must take precedence.” It’s one thing to tell someone to mind their own business. Telling them to stop minding their mutual business is a whole other kettle of fish.

She also makes a point of asserting that the nobles have no right to question her, no right of appeal or redress, that these people, who had nothing to do with her coming to power, did not agree to live under the traditions or participate in the process that brought her to her office, must accept her arbitrary actions on matters of life or death importance. It is also made explicitly clear when she is making these statements, that she is voicing her own thoughts for own her agenda, rather than merely acting as a spokeswoman for a general policy with which she might have reservations.

15: Setting aside the issues of the legitimacy of her authority, or political ploys, Egwene makes a number of unilateral decisions that are ill-advised, which is particularly risible given all her self-congratulatory thoughts on the Law of Unintended Consequences.

One of the decisions, which has been in play for over a week, since she asked Bryne about anticipated resistance, back in the last book, and thus has even less excuse for not considering the ramifications, is the choice to halt in place for a month, with a significant army present. Talmanes points out how that is going to effectively alter the power structure in the area, and in the future, we will see Elayne anticipating further strife between Murandy and Andor over the lands the former country loses thanks to Egwene deciding to rest the troops she is going to hold back from combat anyway.

The other decision is to arbitrarily open the novice book to anyone who asks. The camp is strained for supplies, and they lack sufficient resources to properly clothe the novices they currently have. They are busy with running a war, and have no time to undertake the teaching or supervision of so many women, particularly ones who are brand new to the Tower, its customs and discipline. What’s more, the women who see teaching as an important or preeminent function of the Tower are hardly the sorts to leave the Tower over a political dispute in the first place. The Aes Sedai did not join the rebellion to take over teaching massive novice classes, but that’s what Egwene has dumped on them. Not to mention, by taking them in as rebels, they are creating potential dangers for the novices if the rebellion fails. Some of them would almost certainly have been rejected by the Tower, making Egwene’s promises false, and who is to say that an Amyrlin as unfit to hold the post as they claim Elaida is, might not decide to be permanently rid of the unsuitable novices, rather than risk hundreds of channelers running free in the world?

As referenced in the prior post, the Aes Sedai obligation to their novices is absolute, and the endangerment of them is a moral issue as well as a mere ethical or regulatory one. A similar principle is at work in their meddling with the Andor-Murandy border. If the Tower is going to deny the legitimate authorities agency, and retain it to themselves, the moral responsibility for all outcomes vis a vis their involvement with those parties rests solely on the Tower’s shoulders, yet there is not the slightest sign that they are affording the people whose lives they are changing the barest consideration beyond a curious example of one of Egwene’s lessons in play.

16: When the mingling part of the meeting takes place, Egwene is confident that Romanda and Lelaine will back up her declarations, because they will not repudiate her in public. If only their consideration was reciprocated.

17: Yet one more time, Egwene, when Talmanes expresses his loyalty to Mat, is astonished and still finds it hard to believe. She is constantly furious at people not expecting a teenaged girl to hold a position of authority, even before she's done anything to earn any respect, and yet, in the case of Mat, who has actually won battles, she is surprised anew at each reminder of his reputation and leadership. And during the conversation, thinks that Mat will never believe she is the Amyrlin until he sees her on the throne in Tar Valon.

But that’s par for the course, as in her conversation with Talmanes, she is concerned about his discretion, framing it in terms of his gender, even as she herself blurts out her request in extremely unsubtle fashion, and then being told that he learned news from gossiping women. It’s really almost funny the enormous disconnect between the topics of her indignation, compared to her own attitudes.

18: When Talmanes relates Roedran’s plan to unite Murandy and his own intention to participate, Egwene tries to warn off the professional soldier, leading an army that beat Aiel warriors and Andoran soldiers in multiple encounters to her certain knowledge. Note that Talmanes meets each of her objections and warnings with a ready answer, whether military or political, befitting a capable general and Cairhienin noble. Yet, she arrogantly takes it upon herself to demand that he not fight a war (despite his stated intention to avoid any such thing), claiming she will not leave a conflict in her wake.

It is okay for her to leave a significant stretch of land under foreign domination, but heaven forbid anyone fight for a cause in which they believe without her permission! Your fighting is disturbing Egwene’s (extremely ignorant) sensibilities, so cease and desist from trying to unify a country with Tarmon Gaidon on the horizon, or else from resisting the domination of a dissolute king!

Egwene seems to interpret Talmanes’ assent as recognition of her authority or amazement at her leadership, but the more likely answer is that he was dumbstruck by Egwene making an issue of compelling him to do exactly what he said he was going to do (recall how she similarly persisted in trying to persuade Rand not to go to Tar Valon with Elaida's embassy), and to avoid a situation in which he has no interest or motivation to get involved. Why on earth would she think it necessary to order him not to become involved in a foreign civil war? Who, with half a brain, would seek such an situation, especially when he has repeatedly expressed other priorities? That Egwene feels her admonitions or commands are necessary only demonstrates her colossal ignorance of military matters and practical politics outside of the rules of Aes Sedai procedures and precedence.

That political ineptitude is reinforced by her blunder with Pelivar when she confronts him, thinking that she can both address him as a superior authority figure and make casual small talk about the issue of the Succession of the throne of his country. She assumes that the personal relationship between Elayne & Pelivar equates to political support, unsurprisingly, since Egwene finds it impossible to even think nice thoughts about, let alone get along with, her political opposition; and also since her early political support was exclusively the result of friends taking pity on her. And as a result, she utterly fails in her objective in accosting him in the first place.

19: During the political lull, Egwene amuses herself by interrogating Siuan about her love interest. Because that’s what every woman in her 40s loves – being questioned about, and threatened with inference in, the most intimate aspects of her life by a teenaged virgin, whose near engagement ended with her partner sticking his tongue down her best friend’s throat minutes after Egwene broke up with him.

Egwene goes on to think about how most men are flighty and frivolous when it comes to romantic issues. This from the woman who has to be remonstrated with for bringing up romantic stuff with a major political even in the offing, who interrupted a discussion about the Black Ajah to chat about dating & boys with Elayne, and who was so pissed at Rand for not putting wooing Elayne ahead of garnering the support of the Aiel, that she encouraged a woman with a near-psychotic hatred of him to torment him on romantic issues. Yes. Men are the ones without a sense of proportion about romance.

If she’s even a little bit right about male priorities, the Sitters should probably ask for a do-over on the get-nekkid-to-make-sure-the-Amyrlin’s-not-a-dude ceremony.

20: It’s worth noting that Sheriam’s reminder that other people might suffer the consequences for Egwene’s risks has absolutely no effect on her.

21: As a cap on the question of who has been the brains of the outfit this whole time, we see Siuan running Egwene through rehearsals of what she is supposed to say and do and during her speech on declaring war, Egwene recalls that her own instincts were wrong and Siuan had to make her give the speech calmly and rationally, rather than making an adolescent emotional appeal.

It’s fairly safe to say that Egwene would have got nowhere on her own, even if she didn’t make some horrible blunder that left her with still less freedom than she enjoyed at the outset. Siuan has not been merely teaching her the rules of the game, she’s been calling the plays as well.

22: Thanks to her friends binding a skilled political operative to her cause, Egwene is able to get the vote she wants, and in the grandest tradition of Adolf Hitler and Emperor Palpatine, takes power in the time-honored manner of instigating a crisis to trick a legislative body into giving her dictatorial powers. And several aspects of that crisis include outright lies, to Egwene’s certain knowledge, such as the Reds’ involvement with Logain.

So, to answer the eternal question inspired by the title of this series, No I don’t think “evil” is too strong a word for Egwene. Look at her role models, after all.

Regarding her accomplishment, note how her success, more than any other character, relies upon made-up technicalities. Much of what Rand or Mat or Perrin does is plausible in a real world situation. You blast a guy with lightning or fortify a village or organize an army to attack a foe from behind, those are tactics that succeed in their own right. Egwene can only “win” because RJ inserted loopholes in Tower procedure that allow it.

And speaking of loopholes, how much colossal idiocy is necessary on the part of the Sitters to allow Egwene to win? There are laws against debating in the Hall, and there are rules prohibiting delaying or putting off votes to allow for a discussion in the proper forum! Who on earth puts procedures like that into place, and why is such an irresponsible decision-making process (actually it does make sense, given certain constants that don’t apply here) given primacy over all other governments in the known world?

This is no doubt the source of the referenced custom whereby no one puts forth a proposal without getting support beforehand, but if someone is going to blow aside the proprieties to prevent a responsible approach to passing laws - particularly declarations of war! – you should simply vote it down until she brings it up in a more reasonable fashion, to enable the Sitters to handle it like adults instead of spoiled children smarting over having been told “no” by outsiders for the first time in a while.

Why didn’t someone demand a recitation of the Law of War, since Egwene has already cited one little-known loophole to her advantage earlier in the sitting?

Why doesn’t Takima volunteer the information, since she is not only opposed to the declaration, but knows the ramifications?

Why do supposedly grown and mature women vote for a declaration of war, whose ramifications they don’t understand, because people effectively called them chicken? How did normal human society last until the release of Back to the Future 2 if this behavior is not commonly understood as a bad idea?

Once Egwene has taken dictatorial powers against the will of everyone in camp except Siuan, Leane and the Black Ajah (note that Delana is plainly voting according to her orders, rather than her preferences), why do they simply not depose her and name ANY OTHER candidate? Hell, why not name a woman who isn’t present, like Merilille, so they can do whatever they want?

And to think that a lot of this went down because people not accepting Aes Sedai hegemony is such a rare and unthinkable occurrence. Egwene’s speech largely revolves around her belief that such a state of affairs is wrong and should be rectified. WHY? People who would establish, follow and then forget the details of the White Tower's system should not be in charge of a two car funeral. The fact that they were stupid enough to sign on to Egwene’s prescription for putting them back on top is proof that they don’t belong on top.

23: Remember when Rand ordered that no Aiel commit any atrocities or war crimes in the wetlands, under pain of death (the traditional penalty for indiscipline in a war zone, for murder and for unauthorized looting), and Egwene was sure that he could be brought around to moderate his stance in the name of political expedience? Or when he declared an intention to liberate Andor from the rule of one of the Forsaken, who had murdered her best friend’s mother, and this military ignoramus called it madness, and thought he would be overextended? Or when he wanted to lead the Aiel out of the Three Fold Land to bring peace to the world in time for the Last Battle, and Egwene subjected him to a shrieking tirade?

It turns out that contrary to her belief of tFoH, backtalk against a ruler who is initiating warfare is actually not a good thing at all! When Lelaine seeks to know what Egwene intends to do with her newfound dictatorship, noting her absolute and total inexperience, Egwene responds with a demand for respect and threatens her with corporal punishment, then turns around and threatens Romanda with the same, just for political convenience. Once again, behaving like Egwene is a matter of strict condemnation, although you can earn equal punishment for no greater reason than disliking a woman Egwene is punishing!

24: In an incident referred to only in recollection, by a woman (Elayne) who is, at the time, a bit disproportionately fixated in chain of command issues, we learn that Egwene pitched a fit over the terms of the bargain Nynaeve and Elayne made with the Sea Folk. Apparently capturing a Black sister, surviving a Shadowspawn attack, swaying a sitting monarch from Elaida’s camp to theirs, co-opting a group of old school sisters who didn’t respect her authority, rescuing hundreds of Kinswomen from the Seanchan AND saving the world from the dual threat of the Dark One’s touch and a bunch of pig-ignorant Aes Sedai like Romanda interfering with global weather conditions, was not enough, Egwene wanted it at a cheap price too, so she dismisses all these accomplishments as behaving “like witless loobies who might have brought ruin down on all their heads.”

Considering that list of accomplishments from one trip alone is more that Egwene has in her entire life, aside from winning at a very limited and closed game of politics, she displays a colossal nerve in criticizing them for anything. At least they got the Sea Folk to listen to them at all, unlike Egwene’s one attempt.

As for the bargain itself, they traded away nothing irreplaceable, except the Bowl, and given the attitude of the leading Sitters, keeping it miles away from Salidar is worth some payment all on its own. All they did was share knowledge, in return for the Sea Folk doing the exact same thing. The Sea Folk did an enormous favor that saved the shorebound from certain starvation, and there is no single act the Tower could offer in return. So it is only fair that they pay with a broad array of lessons, matching the size of the Sea Folk aid with numbers. Many small bits of knowledge, to repay an infinitely large single use of knowledge. Most of the supposedly more onerous-seeming provisions in the deal are imply there to ensure the Sea Folk get what they have been promised, and thus are the fault of the White Tower, since the Aes Sedai have firmly established a 3,000 year reputation for dealing in bad faith, making deceptive promises and evading their obligations through technicalities.

The other thing the Tower is known for is conscripting any and all female channelers they want. The Sea Folk don’t know all the specifics of that, but to Tower insiders or readers, the truth is even worse, with conditioning initiates to worship the Tower above all else and then murdering anyone on whom it doesn't take. When a bunch of women whom the Sea Folk fear will kidnap their Windfinders, and carry them away from their favored environment, turn up on their boat saying “Oh yes, we are totally aware of the greatest secret you try to hide from us,” expressing interest in the relationship with their prophesied savior, and asking to take a bunch of their strongest Windfinders away from the sea to mess with the world’s weather…hell, Nynaeve & company are lucky to have left the ship alive! And it is entirely to their credit that they overcame the not-unreasonable fears of the Atha'an Miere to get their aid at all.

The Sea Folk demands were very reasonable, and having exclusive knowledge the Aes Sedai needed, possessed the advantage to see those demands met. No veteran Gray sister does any better in negotiations with them, and the Sea Folk have no interest in the affairs of the land, just in not getting screwed over by the shorebound. But the bargain that saved the world from the Dark One might cause political problems for Egwene, so her friends can just endure a tongue lashing, and never mind that they are at least indirectly responsible for every scrap of political influence or real power Egwene possesses at that point!

The point of the Aes Sedai and the White Tower is to protect the world from supernatural threats. The point of the Amyrlin Seat is to enable sisters to do that. The point of having Egwene on the Amyrlin Seat was to protect the protagonists from the stifling authority or self-serving machinations of the White Tower, so they could be free to go about saving the world.

But in Egwene’s mind, Nynaeve and Elayne exist to bolster her political power. They save the world to bring credit and acclaim to her faction. So their triumphant escape from Ebou Dar merits a draconian punishment in her brain. Isn’t it GREAT to have a friend of the heroes in charge?

25: Remember back when mocking and belittling and outright cursing out a fellow Two Rivers who held a leadership position was good for him? You know, those dozens of times when Egwene did it to Rand? Well, that’s not a thing anymore. Now, Egwene has her fellow Two Rivers girls punished for sticking their tongues at her.

There is a chance I might combine the next two books. A lot depends on how few points I can condense Egwene’s obnoxious behavior in twoTel’Aran’Rhiod conferences. If it’s small enough, and I can do the same for her pair of appearances in KoD, I might just wrap up the RJ books in the next volume. Of course, CoT might preclude that, as she gets up to her share and more of shenanigans in there. We’ll see.