Excellent post, Cannoli! I've been insanely busy, so haven't been around in a while, but was happy to see this waiting on me when I visited tonight. I had been awaiting your take on Egwene in the last three books. So many people think she's such a great hero, but I think all they did was further prove what a power-mongering bitch she was throughout the entire series.
Her parts in TGS, in particular, was puke-worthy. Everyone in the WT had to be completely lobotomized to prop her up. It was bad enough to make all the rebels into fools, touting her brilliance at every turn because they were too stupid to deal with a spoiled megalomaniacal brat, but RJ/BS (yes, I think RJ is ultimately responsible for a what happened with her) had to also completely destroy everyone in the WT for Egwene's sake. How can we possibly believe the AS are at all competent when they couldn't handle Egwene?
Anyway...a few thoughts...
1: While Rand’s speculation that Egwene might actually let Semirhage go and keep him as a captive “just to give her another notch in her belt” is probably based on his bad emotional state, rather than anything Egwene might actually do, this is still the one character who has always had the most accurate picture of Egwene’s mentality, and the best at predicting her actions. That he could say something like this is suggestive of the bent of her behavior before this. Rand might be exaggerating, but there has to be some sort of foundation on which to build those exaggerations. That Rand could think of this demonstrates her past treatment of him.
We saw, from the very first scenes with Rand and Egwene, that Rand did not trust Egwene and thought she was an uppity know-it-all who went out of her way to cut him down to the bone. Though he may have been exaggerating, I’m not too certain he was exaggerating by much, given her thoughts about forcing him to stay when he actually showed up at the WT. Egwene is no friend of Rand’s, and never has been. The problem is that she’s no friend of Nynaeve’s either, but Nynaeve repeatedly showed loyalty to her. That was one of the few things about Nynaeve that I found infuriating.
5: Upon being confronted with another reminder of the Dark One’s touch on the world, Egwene calls it a “reminder that squabbles over authority were secondary to larger, horrible troubles”. So why is she still squabbling? Why is she persisting in her rebellion, instead of accepting her demotion for the sake of unity? The “squabble” is entirely on her part. If she and hers were to surrender, the Tower would be united. Without the excuse of the rebellion, Elaida’s supposed ineptitude could then be addressed as Siuan’s was, because in a united Tower, criticizing the Amyrlin would not be tacitly agreeing with the rebels. Even if the rebels have to endure penances, is that too high a price to pay? Elaida can order the Blue Ajah to no longer meet or wear blue, but she can’t change loyalties or eradicate secret communications and codes to allow the Blue to function clandestinely as the Black has. They don’t need the Black’s Oath Rod solution, since they wouldn’t need to lie, and have no higher allegiance to betray.
The only sticking point would be that Egwene would not be in charge. Oh, right. Squabble on, then.
This is more proof that all Egwene cares about is power. She could never have gained the shawl without being handed the AS, not because she was incapable of doing the weaves, but because she’s an asshole and sisters would not have been able to tolerate her attitude.
Egwene has all these grandiose thoughts of how she’d be willing to capitulate if she thought it would “unite” the WT, but the problem is Egwene believes she is the only one in the universe capable of ruling the world and controlling Rand. People talk about what a megalomaniac Elaida is, but Egwene is just as bad. She’s like the perfect mix of Lanfear and Graendal…she has Lanfear’s ego and desire for power (without her desire to want a man by her side to share in that power) and Graendal’s desire to turn everyone around her into mindless slaves who exist only to do her bidding. She cannot tolerate anyone disagreeing with her and feels the need to punish, demean, or attack anyone who does so.
She still shies away from admitting she’s at fault, instead focusing on all this ineptitude on Elaida’s part, but Elaida isn’t exactly going off the reservation.
Is there any time she shy away from admitting she’s wrong? She came close when Gawyn was lying on her floor bleeding to death because she was too stupid to listen to him, but she quickly ran away from that idea when Gawyn the Brainless took all of the blame upon himself. In Egwene’s mind, Egwene is never wrong.
She even admits that she’s going to keep “a civil tongue” because it is the best way to succeed while “maintaining some measure of pride.” By her own admission, belligerence and rudeness were her default plan, and her plan is more about her pride than any principle. Keeping a “civil tongue” is not meekness or mildness, it is simply refraining for insulting, rude or belligerent speech.
Well, this is Egwene, Cannoli. Being civil doesn’t exactly come naturally to her unless she’s trying to con someone she’s unable to bully. She knew she couldn’t get away with it, and knew Elaida would put an end to her shenanigans if she started declaring herself Amyrlin to Elaida’s face, so she found the only way she could to save face. I find it amusing how she attacked Nynaeve for doing whatever necessary to make herself look good, when Egwene refuses to bend her damned neck throughout the whole series.
Also, the woman who, in her first public appearance as Amyrlin, had servants get rid of the chairs provided by her hosts to be replaced with elevated seats to loom over said hosts, critiques Elaida’s private chair for looking like a throne. She criticizes the extravagance of the decor, when the very first time in her life she ever bought clothes, she tried to outspend the daughter of a queen, who came down on the side of wool over silk. The woman who has her vapid maid hang out during working meetings to interrupt her subordinates with mindless blather, condemns Elaida because the furnishings in her private residence are “distracting.”
Egwene’s lack of self-awareness would be amusing were it not so freaking irritating. All of the things she condemns Elaida for are things Egwene herself has done, sometimes to a greater extent. In Egwene’s mind, however, everything she does is justified because it will end in her getting more power.
9: Besides her difficulty in not screaming at Elaida or insulting her like a childhood friend, or condemning Elaida for not sharing her opinions about which side is legally in the right, Egwene is full of indignation that Elaida dares to contemplate imposing an Oath of obedience to the Amyrlin Seat, saying that it would “undermine the Tower” and “transform the Amyrlin from a leader to a despot”. At least Elaida would be doing it openly, instead of compelling that same oath through blackmail!
Again, she fails to see the parallel between her actions and what Elaida does. I blame the author(s) as much as the character, however, because I always had the feeling RJ was somehow trying to show that it was okay for Egwene to break Tower laws/traditions, but when Elaida’s actions mirrored Egwene’s, it was somehow wrong. The thing was that I never bought it, and still don’t.
Her perspective is that “she wished she hadn’t been forced to spill the soup on the floor.” She thinks that her temper fit was being “forced”, but Elaida has been warped by power, because she’s rubbing the penalties for treason and rebellion in the face of a woman who is not only a traitor, but a liar who is attempting to use friendship as a pretext to further her spying, and even take sexual advantage of Elaida under a false pretext. Everything Meidani is attempting to do is the work of a horrible person, but Elaida is evil for being “cruel” to her, while she tolerates the indignity for political reasons. Egwene is not at all transformed by her stint wielding power, which is why she is pouring out soup on the rugs…sorry, being forced to dump out increasingly scarce food, at the horror of being exposed to opposing viewpoints!
And upon leaving, she wonders if Elaida had ever been a true Aes Sedai in control of her emotions. Yelling at a malingering juvenile who ruins dinner is emotionally out of control, but dumping food in a fit of temper is Aes Sedai serenity. Remember, at no point does Egwene attempt to characterize her act as a calculated gesture of subtle defiance, repeatedly describing it as an expression of her temper.
In Egwene’s eyes, she had no choice and it was all Elaida’s fault for angering her. You have to wonder if the author(s) realized how immature Egwene seemed during this scene. She condemns Elaida for failing to control her emotions while she throws soup in a temper tantrum. It just further proves that Egwene is not mature, not respectable, and not “leadership” material.
And then she segues into “What was Rand doing to the world without guidance?” In the first place, once again, she is assuming the worst of Rand. He has been taught by Moiraine, whose final words on the subject were “You will do well,” and Egwene has never ever guided him. She herself long ago noted that he doesn’t trust or listen to her, and his successful leadership of several nations argues strongly against his needing any of her undemonstrated expertise at anything. Who is supposed to be guiding him? All those Aes Sedai she is always fuming about not taking proper care of novices or according proper respect to the Amyrlin Seat or stupidly following Elaida when it is plain she is a disaster in the making? There are simply no reasons for her assumptions, and nothing in her experience or knowledge to indicate any particular need on his part for guidance.
Egwene believes it is her place to “guide” (read: control) Rand. As much as I despised Cadsuane and accused her of really meaning to control Rand because of the way she treated him, I admit now that I was (mostly) wrong on that count. Cadsuane didn’t try to talk him out of breaking the seals, or even out of cleansing saidin, and, instead, just frowned and stood by his side. Egwene, on the other hand, really did want to control him, and was about to start a war to make him do what she wanted. I wish Cadsuane had slapped the ever-loving crap out of her.
12: In spite knowing just about all the facts of the Asha’man bonding Aes Sedai, including the fact that it was in self-defense against women sent to kill them, and that Rand had nothing to do with it, Egwene is still full of outrage and condemnation of him. In a private conversation, where even the excuse of political appearances cannot hold. Later her thoughts confirm she isn’t posturing with Siuan, either, that she really is indignant that Asha’man chose not to be murdered (in violation of the so-wonderful Tower Law that mandates such men be taken to Tar Valon for trial), and chose in turn, not to refrain from executing their attempted killers.
I think, in Egwene’s POV, the Asha’man and everyone at the farm should’ve allowed the Aes Sedai to slaughter them instead of doing anything at all to protect themselves. After all, Aes Sedai are gods and can do whatever they want (isn’t that basically what she told everyone when she marched armies through their lands?), and if anyone dares try to stop them, they should be destroyed. Of course, after it was done, then Egwene would have had more leverage to use against the WT to help her gain control. “You broke the law and killed innocents! Yes, the Asha’man had to be dealt with, but there were women! Now, kneel before Zod!! Er, your Amyrlin!”
No, no, no. Egwene is never responsible for anything bad. That was someone else’s fault, probably Rand’s or Nynaeve’s. </end sarcasm>
I found this entire scenario utterly ludicrous. As I said, the only way they could apparently find to make Egwene seem smart (or rather, less stupid than everyone at the WT) was to make everyone at the WT behave like bumbling idiots. If a sister has no clue how to deal with her Warder, then she doesn't need one and should be wearing white. If a freaking Yellow doesn't care about healing and is, instead, more concerned with mending political disagreements, then she needs to be sent to the farm to work the rest of her days. I didn't find Egwene intelligent at all in any of these scenes. Instead, I was left with the feeling that the best thing that could happen to the world was to have Dragonmount erupt and destroy the WT and the AS completely, leaving it nothing but a smoking hole in the ground. These people are too stupid to breathe.
- 10/04/2015 04:50:28 AM
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