Definition of terminology:
Aegwenism - Rightful and righteous opposition to the unjustified glorification of the most obstructive and overrated protagonists of the whole series.
Egwenist - One who adheres to an admiring perspective of the aforementioned character, either through innocent PoV entrapment or blind pride at having staked so much affection on her due to heretofore unfulfilled promise or self-identification with the character, that admitting the truth has become impossible.
PoV Trap - The fallacy of accepting the perspective of a PoV character as objective fact or nuetral exposition of reality, rather than merely that character's opinion or wishful thinking.

The time is upon us. The latest book is almost here, and according to the first review, from Dragonmount, is suggest to be a great showcase for Egwene and it might even contain the climax of Egwene’s storyline – her presumptive take over of the White Tower. To be honest, some of us (me and Dark Cannoli) really thought this would be over with by now, and her actions as Amyrlin would have been a much greater contribution to the story in the late books and end game, rather than her finalizing her triumph just in time to get a good seat at Tarmon Gaidon. And really, I am wondering what exactly she CAN contribute. Amyrlin would seem to be one of those jobs that is better in helping to prepare for the fight, rather than the battle itself. People who complain about various protective ter’angreal sets being too convenient & deus ex machina-ish will not have seen anything yet, if a teenager who has never been in a serious or protracted battle, much less had any training to lead others in one, can shine as a combat leader in Tarmon Gaidon. Her role appears to be that of a supporting politician, and we are fast running out of time for politicians to make useful contributions. Egwene’s ascension to the Amyrlin Seat would seem to be better placed in the middle of the series, such as the founding of the Black Tower was, or at least somewhat closer to the Cleansing. The same could also be said about Elayne’s succession to the throne of Andor, but Andor is not the most militarily inept nation in the world and severely in need of major reform, or thoroughly populated by obstructionists and compromised by Darkfriends. A couple of royal decrees should be enough to get the country up to fighting speed. Egwene’s own authority is far less, and given that she has run as the anti-authoritarian, anti-dictatorial Amyrlin candidate, she would seem to have a lot of inertia to overcome in getting the Tower in shape.

But that is in the past. Obviously, she is supposed to win here or at least set the stage for it. And Jason at Dragonmount seems to think she is very impressive in her doing so in this book. But what does he know? If he was really smart, he’d be a wotmania pundit, and not have to go off and make up his own site, and he’d been less friendly with the Rigneys so he could stay back in stone-throwing range. Maybe that’s the problem with his review, but I don’t care. All I know is, if he honestly cannot tell the difference between the writing of Robert Jordan and Bradon Sanderson, he deserves the hell he is secretly experiencing, knowing he will not be sharing in our joy next week as we devour new WoTerial while he has to wait at least another year for his next fix. Anyway, back on topic (again. I think I have ADD, possibly resulting from a chocolate milk overdose or else some bad chocolate syrup – long story), what an Egwenist thinks about a chapter is not necessarily so. Recall a book ago, when Egwene did nothing much other than win the admiration of people who don’t matter, and hold out against the reunion of the Tower with Tarmon Gaidon in the offing, unless she could be the one in charge. Some ‘tard posted a theory on the wotmania Theory Post comparing her actions in that book to Jesus in the Gospels! Not screwing up, because the people who have protected humanity from a new Breaking of the World for 3,000 years were dedicating themselves to keeping her out of mischief, is a magnificent tour de force under Egwenish standards. Just remember all of this when you read of whatever accomplishments-by-a-technicality get attributed to Egwene in the new book. So here are my tips for fellow True Believers to endure an apparently Egwene-heavy volume in the series.

1. Keep the scope of the issue in mind Last book, Egwene won the hearts and loyalty of the novices in the Tower. Impressive, yes? But what does that achieve? How is that progress towards the fight against the Shadow? Or even to reuniting the Tower or gaining the Amyrlin Seat? It’s not like they have a vote or make an economic contribution. Likewise, most of the people she impresses with whatever qualities she fakes will be people who thought the bi-curious increasingly alcoholic megalomaniacal sadist was a good choice for Amyrlin. And finally, this is the White Tower we are talking about. The people who are at stake here are the most wealthy, powerful and socially influential people in the world. This war has both sides very leery of casualties and afraid to go too far and hoping for a bloodless victory. Egwene’s failure will not have devastating consequences for the innocent, such as Elayne’s might have had for Andor, or Perrin’s for the victims of the Shaido, his countrymen and friends, or Mat’s for the rump Seanchan Empire & it’s subjects (who at this point are mostly normal people from the wetlands, innocent of the societal sins of the Seanchan culture), much less the suffering of the world if Rand fails.

There will still be Aes Sedai, even if the Tower falls (especially since a good third of them are saying “a plague on both your houses” which shows you exactly how important this battle ISN’T), and there will be plenty of female channelers to do what needs doing. Egwene is not fighting a world-wide battle, or even a nation-wide battle. Very few lives are at stake, especially on the scale of the current times and crises. It is the status and privileges of a few hundred recalcitrant women, more than capable of protecting themselves, and who have enjoyed vast power & status and access to comforts undreamed of by any but nobles who will be affected by Egwene’s victory or defeat.

No matter how apocalyptically she might phrase her situation, it is not the fate of the world, but the fate of a moderate-sized yet disproportionately wealthy corporation that has exploited customers and corrupted governments freely for years…during a World War, a cataclysm and a pandemic outbreak, all rolled into one. On that scale, a conflict of leadership personalities is really not all that big a deal. So when Egwene wins, bear in mind, she has not averted a major calamity, or saved thousands of people, at a time when other battles are being waged that DO have those stakes! Ituralde’s strategic ambush of the Seanchan has FAR more follower’s lives, enemy lives and innocent lives and greater direct implications for the situation of the world than Egwene’s plan to expose Elaida’s tyranny.

Holding Egwene's victory as a major triumph in a league with the others taking place in KoD & future books is like commiserating with Egwene’s sufferings and admiring her triumphs in getting her stolen credit card cancelled and her $67 dollars back... while Rand is eluding black market organ harvesters, Mat is being mugged in the street, Perrin is being carjacked by horny prison escapees who are admiring Faile’s figure, and a van is pulled up alongside Olver as a sinister figure within invitingly holds out a bag of candy and a racing form. Sorry, Egwene. We REALLY are not impressed.

2. Keep in mind just whom she is defeating or winning over On a related note, I refer again to the novices – yes, she has not gained anything useful in her winning their hearts and minds, but she DID win them. She was impressive enough to make the novices dare their superiors’ wrath to offer her comfort and turn to her for guidance (poor suckers…) But as the Egwenists leap to point out whenever her irrational relationship behavior and childishness towards Rand is exposed – teenagers make stupid decisions. That is who Egwene impressed: stupid, hormonal-driven teenagers, and Egwene herself has noted that her advice is rather lame and obvious. Their hormone-ridden brains are too weak to grasp the obvious until it is pointed out to them, and Egwene is in a unique position to give them such “advice” because they are too dumb to grasp the scope of the ineptitude that placed her among them, and the Aes Sedai were stupid enough to make her the ideal hero-figure for teenagers: one of them, but with glorious and attractive status, no matter how frivolous, fleeting or meaningless that status might be (cookie-cutter pop star, excessively-haired effeminate actor, fake Amyrlin elected in a village whose Official Idiot position was overstaffed).

Remember how a few books back, when we were all chuckling with delight as Nynaeve and Elayne ran circles around the foolish full sisters who did not know nearly as much as they thought they did? Or how Rand put those arrogant Aes Sedai in their place, when they had the gall to assume they were capable of outmatching the Dragon Reborn? These are people who now admire and praise her. The Aes Sedai were the paper tigers of the early part of the series, and the emperor without any clothing in the middle books, and the only reason they have begun regaining stature in the readers' eyes in the recent books is that Rand has been associating with some of the more able sisters (who are conspicuously estranged from those involved in the Tower brouhaha) and the Tower & its contending sisters have been seen entirely through Egwene’s eyes.

It is a vicious cycle of false acclaim – through the eyes of a Tower-worshipping character of limited mental capacity and few accomplishments, they seem wise and powerful. They are actually idiots, who lose to that same character in a match-up of wits and so it seems like she has made an accomplishment. They compound their failure and blindness by refusing to admit their ineptitude and instead claim they were up against tough opposition, so she looks even better. Because she is impressed by them, and is seen to be so great, they look more impressive, and so on. Just because Egwene impresses someone does not mean it is an accomplishment.

My nephews think Uncle Cannoli is incredibly strong and enormous, because the oldest and largest of them is five years old and small for his age. They also might think Uncle Cannoli is kind of dumb, because he doesn’t know the names of the creepy bug-like friends of Bob the Builder, or a bunch of identical anthropomorphic trains with gray faces. Were they so linguistically advanced, they might dismiss his superior grasp of economic principles as frivolous "passions” the way Romanda laughs away protecting the world from the Shadow or another Breaking. That is an actual example of Romanda’s thought process and priorities, in the exact same chapter where she is expressing her grudging admiration of Egwene’s leadership, while plotting do undo one of the core planks to her admired leader’s platform.

The sort of people who admire Egwene are driven by blind friendship to find the good in her, even inventing some where none exists, or else they are idiots with distressingly distorted priorities, whose admiration and support are not worth much, because they are still going to oppose the bits of genuine good Egwene sort of stumbles into. Rand or Mat wins the admiration of his underlings, and they agree to follow him and grudgingly swallow his changes and policies because of that respect, so necessary stuff gets done. Egwene’s underlings are trapped into supporting her candidacy by circumstances or the efforts of her betters, and come to respect her, but will still drag their heels over her changes and policies! But it’s a win! That’s all that counts with Egwenists! They triumphantly will crow and strut and brag over such hollow achievements next week, and it will be our thankless task to point out the reality. Again.

3. Egwene is a shameless hypocrite. Be aware of the gulf between her nobly-expressed philosophies and the reality of her actions, orders or policies. Egwene is heartsick at what she hears of Elaida doing to those sisters who are trapped in the Tower with her, and condemns her in absentia for her abuses of the power of the Amyrlin Seat, but still plans to set Nynaeve down hard for going her own way and exercising that free will Egwene is so proud of tolerating in contrast to her rival. And it’s not like she thinks Nynaeve is off on a beach sipping mai-tais in the Sea Folk isles. She knows Nynaeve went with Rand, and has "words for her" for just that!

Egwene castigates Elaida for allowing sanitation standards in Tar Valon to slip up during a time of world-wide crisis (not to mention having to deal with Egwene’s rebellion), even as she herself locks down the harbors to cut off all trade to the city. This is like starving someone while criticizing a rival for not keeping their victim clean! She is furious at the divisions among the sister and the enmity between them which she finds in the Tower, and this situation is regarded by her followers and herself as her work being halfway done for her! And gives orders to her fellow captives to further exacerbate the situation she holds against Elaida.

Egwene highly approves of anything that smacks of disrespect towards Rand, because he is only the Most Important and Indispensible Man in history, and he must be prevented from daring to take that seriously. Egwene’s highest priority concerning Rand, when in the same country as he, is to prevent his head from getting too big, and if that means treating him like crap, that’s what she has to do. Until she gets a highly dubious position of authority herself, and suddenly it is “Rudeness to the Amyrlin Seat is a crime” and threatening women with beatings because they have the utter gall to question her experience.

While living a lie about her status with the Tower in order to impress the Wise Ones, she assaults Nynaeve in Tel’Aran’Rhiod and berates her for a minor whitewashing of an irrelevant event, told solely to avoid losing face to one of those Wise Ones who is already hostile to Nynaeve’s activity in T’A’R (possibly because she Dreamed that Nynaeve would surpass all of that bunch’s own achievements put together in the World of Dreams). It just goes on and on.

The lesson to take into tGS from this point is that just because Egwene says something, do not give her credit for it. Check it against her history. Check to see how the shoe she describes fits the foot of Egwene herself. Always recall that it is the liar who is most outraged about falsehood and the murderer who is most fearful of his own life. When Egwene decries the splinter in her rival’s eye, that is a sure sign you will find the proverbial beam in her own.

4. Cui bono? Ask yourself, who stands to gain from Egwene's actions or policies, regardless of the expressed intent? Dollars to doughnuts, it’ll be Egwene. “Elaida must be stopped – despite the paramount importance of uniting the White Tower, surrender to Elaida is not an option, because she will violate the rights of the sisters.” Noble and high-sounding…and it just so happens that this idealistic course means Egwene gets to stay Amyrlin, and has an excuse to NOT sacrifice her power and position.

Violating Aes Sedai rights is the mark of a bad Amyrlin, neglecting novices is deplorable, not being the best mayor of Tar Valon is grounds for deposing…just because those happen to be accusations she can pin on her enemies. Never mind the supposed shaky legal foundation of Elaida’s claim to the Amyrlin Seat, which WOULD be the best argument (if true), Egwene’s is even shakier, so she attacks Elaida on the basis of things she herself has not been in a position to do or fail to do. She is not suddenly irate about these offenses, she is irate that these are actions of Elaida herself. Four legs good, two legs bad. Elaida is in her way, therefore Elaida is wrong, therefore what she does is also wrong, therefore, she should be removed so Egwene can advance.

Egwene speaks on her first day as Amyrlin of a “dream” she has. She speaks in grandiose idealistic terms of uniting all women who can channel to the Tower (and never mind that members of the three other groups she knows about then would be appalled at the idea). It might seem strange that she never expressed such a dream before that day…until you realize that connecting every female channeler to the Tower would place her in charge or at least the highest-ranking female channeler in the world.

When the Three Oaths appear to limit Aes Sedai, Egwene is against them and does not want to swear them, hoping to avoid such restrictions. When it is explained to her how crucial they are to maintaining continuity among the sisters (and by extension, maintaining their loyalty to the Tower and thus the Tower authorities keeping control over the sisters), suddenly she is in favor of the Oaths! After all, she’s going to be sitting in an office – what is a little personal danger from non-Shadow-types to those sisters in the field?

Always examine the probable outcomes of Egwene’s policies and agendas – you are more than likely to discover some advantage her course of action will bring to her, no matter how nobly she expresses her motivation.

5. How does Egwene get what she got? Egwenists celebrate her getting something, as if that is what matters. Egwene has a check for $500 dollars and that is flat out a far superior accomplishment to Nynaeve’s paltry check for $300. Never mind that Nynaeve earned hers through hard work and brilliant problem solving, and Egwene’s was a bequest from the grandmother who died in the passenger seat when Egwene had her drunk driving accident… Egwene ended up with more! She is the best! She has the most! Q.E.D.!

Egwene has a history of getting things through sheer luck or by proximity to people who actually matter in their own right. Most of what she has achieved has been because her association with Rand brought her to the attention of the powers that be, who then singled her out for important tasks, or targeted her to hurt Rand. As a result of this attention, she got extra chances and extraordinary circumstances in which to rise. Had she gone to the Tower on her own, she might have been forgotten, or one of those novices weeping over ghosts and changing corridors while the three ta’veren went about the business of saving the world. By contrast, Nynaeve is still Nynaeve, with her self-discovered extraordinary Healing prowess and refusal to back down when people need help. It is highly likely she would have found herself in a position to affect the great events of the day and fight the Shadow if no one had ever become interested in her as an associate of Rand’s.

Just keep in mind HOW Egwene wins. Is it the result of a carefully planned strategy or the execution of prearranged contingencies? Or is it merely circumstances beyond Egwene’s control creating a situation where she looks good? I think we know how this will turn out.

6. Comeuppance does not matter, and the lack of it does not hurt our cause. Let Egwene have “The lightly proffered laurel, the easy, unguarded praise…” We know the truth, and she can coast to all the temporal power and cheap accolades in the world. We know her for what she really is, no matter how much worldly success and power she gains. This is ever the way of things. A coalition of nations combines to destroy Hitler, and Stalin, his fellow genocidal tyrant dictator and who was Hitler’s loyal & helpful ally until Hitler turned on him, reaps the majority of the spoils. The nation most responsible for defeating him goes home with no territorial gain beyond some land in which to bury their dead. The nations that permitted Hitler's rise to power claim a share of occupying the prostrate nation, even as their foreign colonies continue under their yoke and racial discrimination. The only nation that fought him, often alone, from the first day of the war to the last, whose people served alongside other nations with valor in almost every front in the European theater, is condemned by their pusillanimous allies to a half century of slavery, and their own ethnicity becoming a punchline synonymous with stupidity, even as the more inept nations among the victors congratulate themselves on their moral superiority in going to war to “save” that nation. This is the way of the world - the venal get rewarded while the valiant fall to defend them and enable their rise.

Egwene’s happy ending does not prove anything about her, and is not a repudiation of our position. Trust not in the assertions of her heroism when they come from her or her sycophants, but weigh them against what she actually does.

7. If Egwene DOES do something genuinely good, we STILL win! Quite simply, her course of action thus far has been wrong, stupid, immoral, mean or petty. That is WHY we can’t stand her. She hasn’t done anything to us, personally, after all. So therefore, if she does manage to achieve a genuine good, she will surely to reverse her previous positions or else take up a course of action we have been wanting her to take all along. She backs down and goes our way, who gets bragging rights on the MB and who has to eat crow? US! It’s like Tom Coughlin leading the Giants to the Super Bowl: all of us fans who criticized him in previous seasons were NOT proven wrong, because so much was made by the media over how he had drastically altered his approach and handling of the players that season. We did not have to back down, because Coughlin did so first, and even better, achieved (some might say overachieved) the success we wished for, on OUR terms. WE were right to criticize him, because he succeeded as he never had before in his career once he changed. So it shall be for Egwene. Either it will be a cheap victory that falls into her lap through none of her own doing, no matter how much effort she expends on futile & self-serving pursuits that actually contribute very little to that victory, a false accomplishment, spun by her egocentric mentality into a grand triumph and blindly swallowed by the readers through the magic of the PoV Trap, or else it will be a retraction of her prior faults and a genuine change and improvement that will only prove WE have been right in our criticism all along.

The important thing for we of the Aegwene position to remember is that we ourselves be wary of that PoV trap and not accept Egwene as the hero unless she genuinely proves she earns it. Nothing she does now can change what she has been all along, after all. Her success in the final books does not prove us wrong, and depending on its nature, may actually prove us right. We are and have been right in our analysis of her actions and motivations up to this point. She cannot prove us wrong by suddenly doing what she should have been doing from the beginning, and her admirers lowering the bar to claim she is a hero does not alter the facts of her actions. Let her take a disproportionate share of the glory in the world of WoT, depriving Rand or Nynaeve of their rightful due. They don’t care about the credit, and it just makes them more heroic. Let her mouth all the platitudes about wishing things could be different. It is SOOO hard to be trapped as the most powerful woman in the world and helpless to see right and justice done! We know what is what, and who is right and who is wrong, and nothing Egwene does and nothing others do for her can change that. Don’t listen to the naysayers, and look forward eagerly to her chapters in tGS. They will only prove us right, one way or another.