I confess I am not a fan of Egwene and so upon re-reads I tend to skip her chapters so correct me if I am wrong (which is possible), but was Egwene not very much a part of mantaining the split?

That is to say, she was fully aware that Siuan was able to lie and that the whole story about Logain&Red Ajah was utter nonsense. Was she also not the one who used the war law or whatever to start the actual siege and make a peacefull resolution far less likely?

The rebels may have caused the split, but that split happened during the chaos of Siuans deposing. I think it might be understandable that people react in such a way in such circumstances. In Egwenes case however, it seems she knowingly and coldly manipulated events to maintain the split or even make it worse.

Sure, you could argue that giving the tower to Elaida would have been an utter disaster, and I agree with that. But I seem to remember it being mentioned that only the rebellion kept Elaida as an Amyrlin and that if not for that, her crimes and stupidity with both Rand and the Black Tower would have resulted in her getting deposed.

So essentially, if not for Egwene and Siuan and their conspiracies, the White Tower would probably have been reunited faster and easier, and that with the rebellion over, the other sitters/ajah heads would have dealt with Elaida and someone saner would have got the job instead. Only difference being that it would not have been Egwene.

If I am correct, then I would say that Egwene here was indeed being a huge hypocrite. She is the one who most benefited from all of this.


Ofcourse, from Rand's perspective the split was a very good thing since it kept the AS more focused on each other, allowing him to act more freely and without constant AS interference. I wonder if the pattern arranged things so that this would be so?

Remind me, how much time passed between Mat leaving the WT and the split? Could Elaida have been spurred into action by Mat's ta'veren influence? Likewise, Mat was also visited the rebels. Could he have changed people's minds and made them more likely to maintain the rebellion to keep the WT split and Rand free. Maybe Mat manipulated even Egwene herself.


You know, something just occurred to me. Does Rand not possess an incredible ability to damage Egwene's cause? I mean since he has merged with LTT he probably knows that stilling releases you from the oaths. He also has Logain working for him so he probably knows that Siuan convinced him to tell that lie about the Red Ajah to get revenge.

What would happen if during the meeting where "Rand knows the amyrlins anger", he were to retaliate by openly pointing out that Siuan can now lie and that Siuan&Egwene collaborated to spread the Red Ajah lie and that Logain is willing to testify to that fact. Egwene could not directly deny it since she has now taken the Three Oaths.

How would the AS react if they were to learn that Siuan and Egwene manipulated them, lied about the Red Ajah and did huge damage to the AS reputation. All to maintain the rebellion against Elaida. The rebellion that conveniently resulted in Egwene becoming Amyrlin. What kind of backslash would this cause?

Heck, I am surprised that Egwene is not facing trouble already. I mean Halima was a forsaken which is apparently openly known now. And she was a personal assistant to Egwene and helped her with her "headaches". Why is it that no one is even willing to consider the possibility that Egwene might be under compulsion. The leader of all AS, under compulsion by the shadow.

Hmm, is it possible that Egwene had less choice in all of this than I first thought. Did she maintain/strengthen the split because Halima made her. And if Egwene's brain is filled with compulsion, what else might be there, just waiting for the right trigger.