How To Fix Egwene

[idiostock]

It's not so much that it takes away brains, but consider the following:

 

They have the superhero complex. You can light things on fire. Do you use this power to cook Hot Pockets faster, or do you use it to fight bad guys? Fighting bad guys is dangerous, but you can set things on fire with your mind.

[ranjitb]

re-Add'amize her and give the bracelet to Suffa.

[Kal-El814]

Having only signed up recently, I'm surprised to see so much dislike directed towards Egwene. Who knew!

 

I may post more detailed thoughts on her later; a lot of people brought up compelling perspectives I hadn't considered.

 

That said, I don't think Egwene needs to be "fixed". To me some of her more egregious actions are adequately explained by:

 

1) Her behaving in the way she believes the Amyrlin should behave, even if that's flawed on some level. Rand eventually came to learn that his behavior wasn't going to end up with the results the world needed. He had his epiphany, zen Rand shows up on the scene and there you go. I don't know that Egwene will have a similar moment, but I don't think that a character needs "fixing" for not immediately conforming to exactly what she needs to be eventually. I think enough has happened to her character that a lot of how she behaves is justified even if it's not optimal. Other characters treat their partners in ways that resemble how Egwene treats Gawyn, etc.

 

2) Her "power grab" makes an awful lot of sense for someone who thinks that the Last Battle is imminent and, that Rand is insane and that breaking the remaining seals is going to release the DO from prison. She probably should have given more thought to the potential validity of his plan, but she doesn't have the insight into Rand's development as the reader does. She has been worried about Rand's sanity, then he comes to Tar Valon calmly with an obviously different set of behaviors, talks about how his personality is integrated with the man responsible for The Breaking and announces that he's going to break the remaining seals. Rand is "lucky" that he didn't get blasted right then and there; someone who hasn't spent a lot of time with him before and after VOG would think his plan is NUTS.

 

I know this post is a bit half baked... sorry about that. People have brought up some compelling points about her potential character flaws, inconsistencies, etc. I'll need to mull them over a bit.