why all the hating on Egwene

[moratcorlm]

Not being a fan of Egwene, I can't agree with the fifth paragraph (or perhaps vice versa), but I'm with Exy on the rest of it.

[GaseousAnomaly]

 

Here's an interesting question: If the gender roles in WoT were reversed ' date=' would the fans bash the males ? I'm sure as hell they would , not to mention that the books wouldn't have been published in the first place. [/quote']

That's the biggest unique feature of Egwene's personality -- she's willing to abandon her attitudes and preconceptions and throw herself into anything. When she decided to become an Aes Sedai, she became the best Aes Sedai she could. When she trained with the Aiel, she became the best apprentice Wise Woman she could. When she became the Amyrlin, she became the best Amyrlin she could. She'll throw herself into whatever circumstance and embrace whatever it requires of her. I find that to be an appealing quality, and one that's fairly unique among the major characters in the books. Contrasted with the other characters' parochialism, it seems like a positive to me.

 

Really? It appeared to me she always thinks she knows best. Wise ones tell here she can not go in the world of dreams on her own and she pretty much does it every night in secret during the whole time she's with them. Anything that can give her an edge she will do and she'll manipulate people and do things in secret to achieve her goals. And when someone thinks differently she pities them for being fools.

[capuga]

That's the biggest unique feature of Egwene's personality -- she's willing to abandon her attitudes and preconceptions and throw herself into anything. When she decided to become an Aes Sedai, she became the best Aes Sedai she could. When she trained with the Aiel, she became the best apprentice Wise Woman she could. When she became the Amyrlin, she became the best Amyrlin she could. She'll throw herself into whatever circumstance and embrace whatever it requires of her. I find that to be an appealing quality, and one that's fairly unique among the major characters in the books. Contrasted with the other characters' parochialism, it seems like a positive to me.

 

I view it as she is willing to abandon her loyalties, lessons learned from previous experiences, and sense of identity to try and be just like whatever group she happens to be around at the time. To me this is easily the biggest negative of the Egwene character. It indicates a weak personality that is unsure of what it wants and who it wants to be.

 

Contrast that with Nynaeve who has shown an ability to adapt and become what she wants to be without losing her own sense of personality, loyalties, and ability to think for herself.

[Lupy]

Contrast that with Nynaeve who has shown an ability to adapt and become what she wants to be without losing her own sense of personality, loyalties, and ability to think for herself.

 

That. That is why Nynaeve is reasonably well liked and Egwene is not. Egwene is not loyal, and if she was people would like her more. If she had stuck to her guns on wanting to be like a Wise One, would people hate her? Or even if she had refused to stop being like an Aes Sedai in the waste, people would like her more. I'll say what many people have said before me, Egwene is despicable because she has no loyalty, to her friends, to her organization, or to anything else.

[JenniferL]

Since I don't understand why we have spoiler and non spoiler discussion of Egwene's character flaws, I'm closing this thread. Feel free to move this discussion to the spoiler board.