Praise for Egwene

[Suttree]

Because despite all her faults, you really only need to look at her motivation.

 

ToM "The Amyrlin'e Anger

 

The dreams of all the people here-some from her world, some from shadows of it-reminded her why she fought. She must never forget that there was an entire world outside the White Tower's walls. The purpose of the Aes Sedai was to serve that world.

[brolie]

no need to make a faile thread.. it would die quickly.

 

egwene was my least favorite character in the beginning and slowly made her way to one of my favorite females. she has just the right amount of pride where she is not overbearing and i find myself waiting for her parts in the book. the chapter where she finally stands up to elaida was phenomenal! at the end i had to take a breather. she's strong and thinks things through effectively and quickly. she is a great leader and a wise thinker. because of allll of the stuff she goes through, not just being a damane, but even things like being captured by the white cloakes and her aiel training and her struggles with nynaeve and elayne. she has changed from a whiny little girl to a powerful strong woman. even the smallest decisions - like aiding novices in the white tower when she's held captive to give advice - are honorable and awesome. i just finished reading the part of gathering storm where she attacks the saenchan (so i didn't read too far into some of the other posts when i saw it was about future stuff) and she was a strong leader and bad ass with the wind blowing her hair as she destroyed the to'raken. that image was amazing. she's got a couple flaws, but nothing really irritates me about her. im eager to see what happens next!

[Apple13]

I would say that Egwene's greatest strength is that she knows what she wants and works to get it. Even if her plans go awry, she just goes with the flow and finds another way to accomplish her goals. Also, I think Egwene is the most accepting of other cultures of channelers than most (female) channelers we have seen so far. She was the first one to push forward motions to have the Aes Sedai, Wise Ones, and Windfinders work together instead of each group going around thinking they're superior to the other two.

[Himiko]

no need to make a faile thread.. it would die quickly.

 

Going by the number of people who dislike Egwene, you'd have thought this one would have, too, and yet everyone's managed to keep it civil and not descend into arguments- what the hell, I shall give it a try!

 

Oh, and to keep this on topic, I found one other thing I'd say is a positive about Egwene- she is willing to try out new roles and not neccessarily just do what is expected of her. Its seen in Emond's Field, where she is determined to become Wisdom, possibly even moving to a new village to do so. She's willing to become an AS, and an Aiel apprentice. My issue starts with the fact that she seems to cast off the majority of her previous role as soon as a new one comes along, and instantly transfer her ideas and loyalty to whatever she's currently doing, but I'll give her credit for the fact she's actually willing to try new things. Actually, this seems a trait predominant amongst the females in this series, possibly because our three main male characters are forced into their new roles by the pattern...

[brolie]

no need to make a faile thread.. it would die quickly.

 

Going by the number of people who dislike Egwene, you'd have thought this one would have, too, and yet everyone's managed to keep it civil and not descend into arguments- what the hell, I shall give it a try!

 

there are obviously many reasons to like egwene as there are reasons to dislike her, but i think she is more of a main character so there is more to go on. i saw the faile thread. made a smart ass post. sorry, i felt compelled to. like it was tavaren or something... couldn't help myself.

[NetSlider]

Good Things...well, she can avoid traps better then the other two. And I mean it in a good way, I DO! She is strong willed and probably the only wetlander to survive training with Wise Ones (at least at this time).

 

Here's the thing about her - it's not that she's really bad or stupid or anything, it's just..well, she's too young. Deep inside I actually like her but I think she just needs to go through a lesson that Cady went through with an old woman and to be humbled a bit. And please, don't start telling me she's not humbled when she sees sense - Rand Sedai anyone?

[randsc]

Good Things...well, she can avoid traps better then the other two. And I mean it in a good way, I DO! She is strong willed and probably the only wetlander to survive training with Wise Ones (at least at this time).

 

Wait, how did she get captured again?

[David Selig]

By my count Egwene is still in the lead in the "Getting herself captured" chart among the WoT characters. The Whitecloacks in EOTW, the Seanchan in TGH, the bandits on the way to Tear, the Black Ajah in Tear, the Tower Aes Sedai in COT - all of them managed to get her. She's terrible at avoiding traps.

[NetSlider]

Good Things...well, she can avoid traps better then the other two. And I mean it in a good way, I DO! She is strong willed and probably the only wetlander to survive training with Wise Ones (at least at this time).

 

Wait, how did she get captured again?

 

That was a set up that no one could avoid really and she risked for a very good reason. Its not like she has a death wish bigger than Mat's ego, if you follow my drift

[jwood01]

She learns incredibly quickly. The way that she transitioned from an innkeeper's daughter into a political mastermind that routinely outsmarts people who have been involved in politics for hundreds of years is something that bugs me as a reader...but more power to her, I guess.

 

She wasn't just the innkeeper's daughter, she was the mayor's daughter. She was also apprenticing with the Wisdom who was the head of the women's council. On top of that, she was probably serving drinks and food during every men's council meeting since it seems like they were held in her family's inn. Egwene has been around committee politics her whole life. She also has had one of the Randland's best political minds in Siuan Sanche as a tutor. She has also had the opportunity to observe the decision making process of the Aiel Wiseones. She may be inexperienced in the number of years she's been involved in tower politics, but she has had a better background education in politics than anyone. Not being nobility, she does not have a background in court politics, but IMO that is actually a strength considering how ridiculous Daes Daemar (sp??) can be; she sees the big picture much better than squabbling nobles do. She also has the significant advantage that she is incredibly strong in the power, so other Aes Sedai will defer to her.

 

I am not an Egwene fan, but I am not a fan of politicians in general and that is exactly what she is. I have no problem with her when she is kicking a** and taking names on the battlefield. I believe that post-TG she will retire from the WT and use her prospecting talents to become the 4th Age's first oil tycoon!

[DemandredFO]

Most of what she said to Nyneave needed to be said, just not for the reason she did it. I truly hate Egwene but think she has the ingredients to be great(like Nyneave, Cadsuane, Moraine, Verin, etc). She just needs a come to the creator moment. Now I've exhausted my supply of praise for Egwene so I'll say no more.

[aclund3]

Well, that was all enjoyable to read for once, way to keep it civil everyone!!!!

 

Has anyone done a multifaceted poll on Egwene, i didn't see anything on a quick search. I would attempt to figure out how to do a poll, but i'm at work and have already taken too long of a lunch. It would be interesting to actually get some data on how people feel about her. Sounds like the people who don't like Egwene are more numerous....Anyways, these are the questions i would ask....

 

 

Like Egwene as a Character?

Do Not Like Egwene as a Character?

 

Well written?

Not well written?

 

Like Egwene as a person?

Do Note Like Egwene as a person?

[CrossArmant]

More so than most all of the other female characters, she's much more open to change. She tries her best to learn from others instead of being stubborn about her own abilities. While everyone else scoffed at the Aiel for being savages and the Wise Ones being weak wilders, she jumped right in and started as a novice with them to learn their secrets. She also is not afraid to ask for advice and was always excited and enthusiastic about becoming Aes Sedai. She was also relatively humble and was rarely petty or petulant.

[Himiko]

 

Like Egwene as a Character?

Do Not Like Egwene as a Character?

 

Well written?

Not well written?

 

Like Egwene as a person?

Do Note Like Egwene as a person?

 

I don't know that this is the right place for me to answer, and if you do end up creating a separate topic or poll for this, I'll happily post my answers across to there, but:

 

Well written? Ummm... I'm honestly not sure. On the one hand, to my mind she has a lot of flaws- not going to outline them here, I've posted in the other Egwene thread about it- which are written reasonably consistently throughout the series. So, on that point, yes- though she rarely seems to suffer any repurcussions for these flaws, but then, that doesn't always happen in life, either... On the other hand, everything she tries her hand at, she is excellent at, with comparative ease- again, I've posted on this before, but consider how long she spends as Novice/Accepted, Wise One Apprentice, Dreamwalker, Amyrlin (especially in her capacity as politician), compared to how long others spend in the roles (most girls are Novices and Accepted for many years before being raised, Aviendha spends longer as an Apprentice, and she is also apparently gifted, the Aiel Wise Ones have been Dreamwalking for many years, and pretty much all AS are well versed in Tower politics, many of them having been around in excess of 100 years) and then consider how she's always listed amongst the best in the aforementioned field. About the only thing she's openly not very good at is Healing. I find that to be fairly poor writing, and unrealistic, even in a book where 90% of the leads are massively superpowered :P So, basically, yes and no.

 

Like her as a person: Hell no :P

 

Like her as a character: I find her interesting to read at times, mostly because, as a powerful political figure, she can affect the plot quite a lot. But I find pretty much anything involving Egwene's personal life rather than Egwene's channelling/political life to be irritating, and I care more for her effect on the plot than she herself. So... not really. But she's not the dullest character to read about, either. And, being fair, she certainly polarizes opinions, as can be seen by the fact we have this thread for praise, and another one which contains large amounts of criticism. She doesn't seem to leave many people indifferent, which is a good thing, I guess?

[Hopefire]

Good Things...well, she can avoid traps better then the other two. And I mean it in a good way, I DO! She is strong willed and probably the only wetlander to survive training with Wise Ones (at least at this time).

 

Not to be difficult, but the Aes Sedai who were present at Dumai's Wells all became Wise One's apprentices; while we don't have a complete picture, I'd say that for some of them, what they went through wasn't that much different than what Egwene went through. Certainly, the three Aes Sedai that Rand stilled at Dumai's Wells and the Aes Sedai sent along with Perrin seem to have gone through Wise One apprenticeship whether they wanted to or not, and they seem to have emerged as better, stronger people.

[Hopefire]

More so than most all of the other female characters, she's much more open to change. She tries her best to learn from others instead of being stubborn about her own abilities. While everyone else scoffed at the Aiel for being savages and the Wise Ones being weak wilders, she jumped right in and started as a novice with them to learn their secrets. She also is not afraid to ask for advice and was always excited and enthusiastic about becoming Aes Sedai. She was also relatively humble and was rarely petty or petulant.

Advice? Like that one time Mesaana was in the Tower, and Nynaeve tried to point out that Rand (being Lews Therin and all) might have some insight into the situation, and Egwene shot her down out of hand? But then, that's one of the things I love about her as a character. She has a strong sense of pride, and the conditions under which she'll accept advice reflect that. The same sense of pride that was able to be a benefit when dealing with the three main factions among the rebel Aes Sedai, refusing to knuckle under and just stand with one side, is the same sense of pride that sometimes leads her to reject the ideas and opinions of others. Again, it's one of the best things about Egwene as a character, how consistent her characterization is across the board.

 

Egwene will usually hear out the other party, at least enough to understand their intent; however, at the end of the day, she'll make her own decision. It's a valuable quality in a leader (though it can be a liability as an apprentice).