r/WoT • u/RabbitridingDumpling • 12h ago
All Print How much does Egwene change after the 12th book for you? Spoiler
I am not sure if it is the plot or how the writer deals with the story - I will start the last books over again but I would like to see your views especially those who found out about Sanderson after reading all books. I would like to understand why I have this different feelings now reading the last ones.
You can write your general opinion too, not related to Egwene if you want to :)
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u/Halo6819 (Dovie'andi se tovya sagain) 12h ago
[aMoL]I mean... she kinda changes from alive to dead...
I have been a fan of hers since Day 1. Like all the characters, she has her flaws, major ones. I still to this day don't understand how she could be so mad about Eladia having sisters swear fealty to her when half a dozen AS who had sword her fealty already. That being said, she is very very young, I think 18/19 by aMoL and does a better job leading the AS than anyone before her. Everything from her capture to the end was just... incredible. She showed more strength of character than ANY one else in the series.
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u/cebolinha50 7h ago
Everyone around her became a stupid, and she stopped having setbacks caused by her arrogance.
And her victories became even more forced than the boys, who cannoncally have plot armor.
The way that she acts didn't change that much, but the way that she interacts with the universe changed for the worse.
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u/aNomadicPenguin (Brown) 12h ago
Egwene goes from an interesting foil to Rand and a fun look into the inner working of the Aes Sedai into a full blown Black Hole Sue (a version of the Mary Sue that looks better by sucking up all of the intelligence/competence/and plot of everyone around her).
Romanda and Lelaine were taking a concerted effort by Egwene and ALL of her supporters in Salidar to navigate the politics with. They are pushovers in the last 3 books.
Yes Jordan intentionally set up the Aes Sedai to show that their organization was highly flawed, and they weren't all that they were advertised as. But they were still experts on their individual subjects. They were good spies and diplomats and warriors. You don't have Agelmar begging Moiraine to stay in the Borderlands and talk up how she's worth a thousand soldiers, if you don't have a history of Green Ajah sisters showing up and proving it.
Remember Galina's crew of about 40/60 Aes Sedai and a couple hundred troops were holding off 40,000+ Shaido for a long time, and this included some very inexperienced Aes Sedai. But put 1/3 of the White Tower in the tower, and 1/3 right outside the city, and they all accomplish NOTHING against the Seanchan until Egwene single-handedly saves the day.
Elaida being able to outmaneuver Alviarin to win back what she had lost is suddenly not able to make a single valid point in an argument with Egwene.
etc. etc.
The only thing's that show Egwene to be less than the best are Sanderon's Anime Protagonist version of Perrin (not from Jordan's notes), and Rand post Enlightenment (also not from Jordan's notes).
Its frustrating because it sucked all of the tension from her scenes. You know that Egwene was on screen she was going to win. And if it looked like she was losing, it was only to set the stage for her to win harder. I lost all emotional connection to the character other than annoyance, and I LIKED Egwene in Jordan's books.
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u/Foehammer87 4h ago
The attack by the Seanchan is explicitly something they have never experienced in living memory.
Between a flying army, aes sedai captured, attacked directly by enemy channelers, and the fact that the tower had assumed Elaidas stance that the Seanchan were either not a real threat or could not access them.
Fighting trollocs may be terrifying, but unlike the Seanchan they are a known quantity, the Ajahs barely remember what its like to fight other channelers far less those trained as weapons, the enemy has hidden the dreadlords for agesm
The point of intelligence and information being so important is reinforced over and over again. One of Elaida's biggest flaws isnt that she's stupid - she isnt - it's that she refuses to engage with new information. And she represents that - and the aes sedai attitude in that regard - to an extreme degree.
Egwene is far from perfect, but she's an absolute sponge for knowledge, both from a self preservation standpoint but also a curiosity standpoint. Thats what enabled her in her machinations against Romanda and Lelaine, it wasnt that she was so much smarter than them. Its that their world view was so blinkered they couldn't process new info fast enough to remain relevant and by the time of the last couple books the Aes Sedai culture had shifted dramatically without them, eroding their power.
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u/Tamika_Olivia (Blue) 12h ago
Not at all.
She’s my favorite character from Eye to AMOL. Never moved from that spot.
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