tl; dr- Character development happens slowly in WoT, and there have been no signs, external or internal, of her changing in the direction you suggest.


Egwene... I'm trying to think of a term for her.

It's not Mary Sue- she's been shown to act wrongly, or immaturely, or judgmentally.

But... RJ's tone never passes judgment on her for this. It's always kind of a, "She means well, and has a good heart, and look at her go! She's full of vim and vigor!"

Like... she adopted Aiel ways. This was a little ridiculous to me, but its treated like Egwene is the most honorable person ever because of it. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but RJ treated it as if there was no way that this was a bad decision.

It had the feel of "Egwene is slowly but surely becoming more mature and wise." Not that I think she DID, but that's what the tone of the book is.



So, to link this with my original point (which I hope I haven't lost...), Egwene's story arc has been all about changes to the Tower, and reunification of the rebels and Tower Aes Sedai. She's learned how to rule.

Now, Egwene has all these... attitudes and ideas about what the White Tower should do in its relationships with other channelers, the Dragon Reborn, and the world in general. They all- all!- operate on the assumption that the White Tower is good, and wise, and knows what's best for everyone.


There has been no indication that the author thinks she is wrong. No foreshadowing, no serious objections from other characters, nothing. And that's just not how it works in WoT.

People would talk about how Rand had to accept who he was, or how he had to remember to laugh and cry again.

There was stuff with Perrin accepting that his wife would be in danger, and being a lord, and the hammer-axe decision. Mat's coming to terms with destiny, and being a leader of men. Moiraine learning to relax and advise Rand, instead of trying to control him. Even Siuan becoming used to giving up her authority and obeying Egwene was a character arc!


Do you see what I'm trying to say? Character development in WoT does not happen abruptly. There are multiples stimuli, parallels, conversations, interior monologues, the works!

And Egwene has had nothing- nothing!- saying that, "Hey, maybe Aes Sedai aren't as great as you think." On the contrary, the general trend in the last few books has been "Rand needs to make a concordance with the Aes Sedai, for they can be a powerful asset."