Amending opinions after rereading

[althoritis]

So I have been rereading the series and trying to put it in my mind more coherently. I just finished the chapter in PoD where Egwene - after meeting with Andoran and Murandian nobles - declares war on Elaida. I have never liked Egwene, but I found some respect for her after TGS. Now, rereading this chapter, it has increased. The respect I mean. That chapter and the whole incident drags on, but man, it is powerful. What a shift of power and (even though I still think of her highly manipulative), amazing work by Egwene.

[Dredlord]

I've always liked Egwene as Amyrlin.  After her training with the Aiel she became pretty hardcore, and basically stuffed it down those  Aes Sedai throats that she wouldn't be a puppet.  Most of what annoys me about her is how dimwitted she can be about Rand.  "Something will have to be done about him blah blah blah"  He's the dam dragon reborn and she still treats him like the farm boy...  HE knows more about what's going on then any of em!

[Mhoram]

Yeah, this.  Just posted something along these lines in the "when does your mind wander" thread, before I saw this, but I'm really enjoying Egwene a lot on the second read through - and because I'm seeing her as an 'equal main' character this time, rather than just Rand's former girlfriend, the Aes Sedai story arc is more interesting as well.  The glaring exception to this is when she's dealing with/thinking about Rand.

 

The Aiel training is definitely where Egwene becomes a more interesting character IMO.  Before that, she's a bit of a spoilt brat.  For me, on this reading, my favourite scene with Egwene is when she's with the Wise Ones in the Waste (book 6 I think) and she and Aviendha have been told to run around the camp 50 times before they go to bed.  Aviendha says something about there's no reason for Egwene to run the full 50 as she doesn't subscribe to ji'e'toh, and Egwene in her head is thinking "this is stupid, no-one would ever know if I didn't run the laps" but she does so anyway.  Was the turning point IMO from when she changed from bright, know-it-all child to mature adult with a true sense of herself. 

 

The way she forces the SAS to pull together and acknowledge her as Amryllin is cool, and the story arc in 11 onwards where she aims to bring down Elaida as a prisoner is awesome.  I won't spoiler, but after reading 12, she's an awesome character.  She's much better than Elayne, Nynaeve, and probably Aviendha as well.

[rizman]

The way she forces the SAS to pull together and acknowledge her as Amryllin is cool, and the story arc in 11 onwards where she aims to bring down Elaida as a prisoner is awesome.  I won't spoiler, but after reading 12, she's an awesome character.  She's much better than Elayne, Nynaeve, and probably Aviendha as well.

 

I started my first re-read yesterday, so I can't really comment on the OP's question. But from my first read I totally agree with Mhoram's last statement here. For me, Egwene was always OK as a character and I found her storylines pretty interesting. But I must say that since book 11 and 12, she as all my respect. She is a very strong character. For me, it is one of the best storylines in the whole series (at least from what I remember from my first read :-) )

[Durinax]

Well so far I have found that I dislike Egwene more than before. And I have found I am enjoying the Elayne Nyn arcs more. Although I did enjoy them my first time through. Mat I found I have less patience for because atm he is just a comic character who is full of self pity (when he is with tylin). Perrin I have found he is a much deeper and involved character than I first thought, and that he is really interesting and that I figure that his stuff with faile is justifable especially since I am reading so soon after the two rivers incident with his family and only having one person in his close family type thing

[dokfeelg00d]

Agreed Egwene becomes more the awesome all the time, and TGS is amazing for her.

 

Elayne and Aviendha and Min all bother me.

[Tollieman]

There are 2 reasons my dislike for Egwene continues;

She behaves in a manner that more than suggests a higher moral code, yet constantly justifies lying to herself. A comment, "she hates lying, but hates doing nothing, more". Fine, that might actually be justified in some cases, but I get the 'get off your high horse' a lot, when reading her...

 

And number 2, as has been said already, she acts like she knows absolutely everything about what the Dragon Reborn is supposed to do. If Rand kept telling her what she's supposed to do as Amyrlin, he'd annoy me just as much.

 

Honestly, everything I might dislike in this book, is because of miscommunication bordering on farsical.

 

edit - this is pretty offtopic, oops.

[dokfeelg00d]

No that is a perfectly valid point.

 

I just think that the miscommunication and Egwene feeling all omniscient about how to handle Rand is a key part of the story right now.  She learned it to start from Moiraine, then the Wise ones, then the Salidar Hall... I think she is going to take it a different direction soon tho.  We are witnessing (starting with her capture at the end of CoT) her shedding those layers and turning into her own person.  *I hope there was no spoiler action in there*