I am not faulting her. That's why I gave this item a smiley code, rather than a number. Numbered entries are Egwene's faults, sins or crimes. The , and before an entry indicates it is not necessarily something wrong she did or is responsible for, but has a bearing on the analysis of her character. This particular entry was there more in response to people who believe she accomplished something extraordinary. I agree she did nothing wrong, but neither was she a hero, nor did she turn in a spectacular performance.

The point with killing the sul'dam is that it was murder, pure and simple. Under the Geneva Conventions, it is understood that taking prisoners alive is secondary to protecting yourself and your fellow soldiers, and thus you don't have to accept a surrender if it will hinder your side's fighting ability, or if there is a possibility it might be a sham. Egwene blows those defenses away by making special efforts to take the damane alive. We have seen that that can be dangerous, as for example, what happened with Rand's captive in tPoD on the Altaran campaign, where even the gentry, used to the civilized usages of war that Teslyn cites to Mat, were ready to cut her throat. If you are going to be taking the damane alive, however, there is no reason not to do so for the sul'dam. With the advantages of the Power, the excuses of inconvenience or lack of resources hold much less water. All you have to do is bind them with air and tie them off. Hide them with Folded Light and tie that off, so they can't be found and rescued by other Seanchan. Set the ward to end after two days in case you get killed, so they don't starve to death. Quick, efficient and humane. And when you have an option like that, murdering them as Egwene did is out of the question. You can't even blame this on Sanderson, since the one thing at which he is very good and clever, maybe even moreso than Jordan, is seeing implications and creative possibilities for the use of the Power. While it is possible that the artillery cave with its firing gateway was in RJ's notes, I also have no problem accepting that Sanderson might have come up with it on his own, given the very small sample of his original work, as well as things he has done with these books. I am fairly sure I read somewhere that Androl was his creation, and thus a lot of his actions, such as the lava gateway, are probably Sanderson's invention.

I was not calling Egwene out for killing the ones who were still complete, or aboard the raken and to'raken (or even for killing the Tower initiates held captive, though by doing so she denied them the chance to get free as she and Alivia both had), I was speaking specifically about the trio capturing Adelorna. She opened their a'dam, so the sul'dam were no longer complete and no longer a threat, as well as being totally helpless, before she set them on fire, which is a pretty horrible death. Essentially, Egwene burned alive helpless cripples, who were incapable of harm, while taking special care to take alive far more dangerous prisoners, who were just as likely to be loyal Seanchan who would kill Egwene's people given the chance.

Hence my inclusion. Again, I am not saying she did bad or wrong, I am saying she did nothing extraordinary or special or heroic.

I doubt it. They are not able to make themselves form the weaves, but there is no restriction on the Power itself, only on the actions of the Oath-afflicted. That Oath against using the Power as a weapon has holes in it a mile wide. At Dumai's Wells, Kiruna uses it as an excuse for moving onto the battlefield and getting the soldiers who were guarding the Aes Sedai killed, but as Perrin notes, they actually wanted to be present at Rand's rescue to take the LIONFISH'S share of the credit and try attaching puppet strings. Her excuse that they needed to be in danger to use the Power against the Shaido is sheer bullshit, and Kiruna's otherwise demonstrated mental shortcomings are the only reason not to assume she's a Black sister, and was telling the truth as her aristocratic pea-brain sees it. The Shaido were attacking Aes Sedai. Using the Power was the only way to defend Kiruna's fellow sisters, and for Alanna, so far as she knew, they were attacking her Warder as well. The sisters with Perrin had all the leeway they could wish under the Three Oaths, and they probably let an idiot like Kiruna make the argument, because Bera, who otherwise takes the lead, knows the truth and thus cannot lie in their defense when Perrin calls them on it.

On the other hand, to my mind, "last extreme" means you can't retreat, and that you have to avoid occasions of violence, not wade into them so you can claim self-defense. I'd think even the instances in KoD where Joline and Masuri and Annoura use the Power to support Mat and Perrin are pushing it, since they were not really in danger, specifically. They could have ridden away and they would not have been pursued. But even with that gaping loophole, there was no justification for Kiruna and the others to advance at Dumai's Wells, particularly given the deaths of their own side they caused.

On the other hand, Alanna claims they could not initiate violence against the Children of the Light. I guess that's because she had a better understanding of the realities of self-defense, as well as the limitations of what she and Verin could accomplish.

It quite obviously is not the First Law of Robotics, but even then, Asimov once had his characters speculate about the limitations. The law stated that no robot could cause active harm or allow harm through inaction. One robot had that second part removed, so he could drop a heavy weight on a person, intending to catch it so there is no harm to the person, but then change his mind, once releasing the payload, and thus he was only ALLOWING harm to come, through in action, which this particular robot was capable of doing. No other robot could let it fall, they would have to make every effort to catch it.

Now in that regard, could an Aes Sedai use the weave that was used to kill Anaiya and her warder, by an intention to remove it before her victim died, and then "change her mind" and passively allow the extant weave to kill the subject? IDK. On the other hand, Egwene claims that even sinking the boats that were approaching Tar Valon is impossible, because the possibility of harm coming to the passengers would render it a violation of the Oaths. Of course, she is both stupid and at that point, devoid of practical experience, so she could be totally wrong. Especially give the absurdly broad definition of "last extreme of defending my life".

There is that. On the other hand, where does she get off picking a guy like that? It's like spying on your spouse, or hiding money from him or her. The whole point of a committed relationship is not a license for Pope-approved sex, it is about mutual trust. If you don't trust the other person, your relationship is a joke. You need to be burned by a long history of misuse before justifiably taking such a step. Egwene expresses this requirement in their what, fourth? on-the-page conversation.