Egwene Poll

[Guest PiotrekS]

Egwene is not only my favourite character in the series , but also the main reason of my liking the WoT . Her vision of the world is very similar to my own , but she has the qualities , which I lack , mainly great will power , energy and , when it's need , patience . I started liking her since the Ravens and the simpathy was only rising from book to the next one .

For her being written well ... I'm not a proffy here to criticize author , but it seems to me that RJ changed his mind about Egwene's importance somewhere in between .. so the first several books have lesser her parts than should be .

 

You're definitely right about Egwene's importance changing throughout the series - she was only one member of the TR party in EotW, in later books she was on par with Nynaeve and Elayne, in TGS she was a female Dragon.

[FarShainMael]

I'd like to vote 'indifferent' to the first part, 'well-written' to the second, and 'unchanged on re-read' to the third.

[Vinny]

After Rand Sedai she is my favourite character in the series. And VERY well-written. I like most how she reunited the WT in KoD and TGS.

 

Yoiks! Spoilerz!!

[randsc]

This isn't a spoiler-free board.

[Leyrann]

Is there a spoiler-free board for if you haven't read so far? Or do you just have to wait until you've read them?

[Hopefire]

I love Egwene as a character, but I think that as a person she's horrific. One of the greatest challenges in fiction, in my opinion, is the creation of characters that have negative qualities that don't come off as two-dimensional or as thoroughly wrong-headed, delusional, stupid or evil. Egwene succeeds at being such a character. To me, Egwene demonstrates a severe lack of awareness as to the relative importance of her position, excessive pride, callousness towards her friends, and general unpleasantness as a person.

 

That Egwene demonstrates those qualities without ever falling into self-parody or coming across as a villain is a tribute to both Jordan and Sanderson. Sometimes, the people on your side are really terrible people, but they're still on your side.

[capuga]

Is there a spoiler-free board for if you haven't read so far? Or do you just have to wait until you've read them?

 

When aMoL comes out they will split the board between a spoiler board and a non-spoiler board for aMoL spoilers. Currently spoilers are allowed on the boards through ToM. If you're afraid of stumbling on to something past what you have read, you'll have to be very careful which threads you read. I'd recommend making specific threads that request for no spoilers past a certain point. People will respect the no spoilers for discussions in that particular thread.

[XXX]

The worst character in the series..I read in places that RJ modeled Egwene on his wife Harriet. If this is actually how he intended her to come out then it is not very faltering to his wife.

 

He's said that all the females in the series have a little of Harriet in them. Not that Egwene or any other female was specifically modeled after her.

 

Hopefully Egwene has the least Harriet in her..

[mb]

Is there a spoiler-free board for if you haven't read so far? Or do you just have to wait until you've read them?

The Structured section has threads for individual books; spoilers for later books not allowed in those threads.

Though like another poster responded, you may make threads specifically requesting for no spoilers; and if you are specific on where you are at, the request will be respected.

[Guest Emu on the Loose]

I like the character; however, while I think she was fairly well-written in the early books, but poorly written overall.

[Kahsm]

I think I read a different WOT.

 

What the .... are you guys talking about her acting poorly, because I don't remember this epidemic of terribleness from the last books? Is this really completely based on her MILD opposition to Rand?

 

Also, she wasn't an annoying pansy like Rand Mat and Perrin at the start so how dare she also succeed? How dare someone with ambition actually walk the walk. It's not like she won the lottery and blew it on a boob job and blow.

 

I totally get that her early petulence was grating, but she turned it into something appropriate to her position.

 

And the worst mistake you all make is thinking that because Jordan has so many characters those are the only people in the world. But there's a whole city state, an economic powerhouse, and many others who still look to Aes Sedai.

 

She hasn't read the books, she's spent a good portion of the last while as a prisoner. She doesn't yet know that things hat were considered a truism for the past thousand years are possibly untrue, yet she's still a leader and has decisions to make. Rand purposely deprived her of information she needed to even form doubt. If anyone is possibly acting poorly it's the guy manipulating someone who likely would have helped had he just explained what he knew.

[Durinax]

I actually quite dislike egwene, the further in the series it goes the more I dislike her.

 

the reason I hate egwene is that:

she keeps transforming but never holds onto anything in reality. Plus she keeps breaking the law (or customs) without consequence and condemns others for the same.

[Suttree]

She hasn't read the books, she's spent a good portion of the last while as a prisoner. She doesn't yet know that things hat were considered a truism for the past thousand years are possibly untrue, yet she's still a leader and has decisions to make. Rand purposely deprived her of information she needed to even form doubt. If anyone is possibly acting poorly it's the guy manipulating someone who likely would have helped had he just explained what he knew.

 

This is one of the more accurate posts I have read on DM in some time. I would like to point out though that we don't know why Rand manipulated her, when all is said and done he may very well have had important reasons to do so.

 

The bottom line is Egwene is one of the few AS that consistently has inner thoughts that reflect on how to serve the greater good and reform the WT structure. In doing so she will be forced to make many difficult decisions, but we all must look at what her motivating factors are. The constant accusations of her being power hungry, as bad as Elaida, or having a secret mandate for world domination underneath the false front of fighting the shadow are as tiresome as they are false.

[Guest PiotrekS]

She hasn't read the books, she's spent a good portion of the last while as a prisoner. She doesn't yet know that things hat were considered a truism for the past thousand years are possibly untrue, yet she's still a leader and has decisions to make. Rand purposely deprived her of information she needed to even form doubt. If anyone is possibly acting poorly it's the guy manipulating someone who likely would have helped had he just explained what he knew.

 

This is one of the more accurate posts I have read on DM in some time. I would like to point out though that we don't know why Rand manipulated her, when all is said and done he may very well have had important reasons to do so.

 

The bottom line is Egwene is one of the few AS that consistently has inner thoughts that reflect on how to serve the greater good and reform the WT structure. In doing so she will be forced to make many difficult decisions, but we all must look at what her motivating factors are. The constant accusations of her being power hungry, as bad as Elaida, or having a secret mandate for world domination underneath the false front of fighting the shadow are as tiresome as they are false.

 

You can't deny though that a lot of Egwene's POVs show her thinking how to increase the WT's influence in the world. I could agree that it is one of the things the Amyrlin should be doing in normal times, but before the Last Battle it comes across as at least petty. It is not enough that she sometimes thinks about winning the Last Battle - she should be thinking of nothing more and all her actions should be concentrated on this goal.

 

The other thing is - and it was discussed in its own thread before- that her loyalty and devotion to the WT, superseding any warm feelings she might have for her family, friends and Two Rivers, simply comes from nowhere in the books. It makes her a difficult character to relate to.

[David Selig]

She hasn't read the books, she's spent a good portion of the last while as a prisoner. She doesn't yet know that things hat were considered a truism for the past thousand years are possibly untrue, yet she's still a leader and has decisions to make. Rand purposely deprived her of information she needed to even form doubt. If anyone is possibly acting poorly it's the guy manipulating someone who likely would have helped had he just explained what he knew.

 

This is one of the more accurate posts I have read on DM in some time. I would like to point out though that we don't know why Rand manipulated her, when all is said and done he may very well have had important reasons to do so.

 

The bottom line is Egwene is one of the few AS that consistently has inner thoughts that reflect on how to serve the greater good and reform the WT structure. In doing so she will be forced to make many difficult decisions, but we all must look at what her motivating factors are. The constant accusations of her being power hungry, as bad as Elaida, or having a secret mandate for world domination underneath the false front of fighting the shadow are as tiresome as they are false.

In her mind "greater good" almost always means "increase of the power of the White Tower, and by extension, my own". The rest of the world barely appears in her thoughts, it's all about the White Tower and its influence.

[Graveyardhag]

I like her, even though she has certain aspects to her personality that aren't terribly nice. So does everyone else in the world! She has done some thing that weren't great, but that doesn't make her evil incarnate.

 

She is written very well, I think she is one of the most human characters - hence, the very strong reaction the mere mention of her name brings out in people. People seem to recact like she has done something to them, personally. Thats some very strong writing right there. There was something off about her POV's in ToM though. No feelings I think, she thought things, but didn't feel them.

 

 

I can't really recall my opinion on her changing much. I started reading WOT about 9-10 years ago, the only thing I remember is not liking Nyneave at all! Being close to the same age as her at the point I probably related a lot more than I do now.

[XXX]

She hasn't read the books, she's spent a good portion of the last while as a prisoner. She doesn't yet know that things hat were considered a truism for the past thousand years are possibly untrue, yet she's still a leader and has decisions to make. Rand purposely deprived her of information she needed to even form doubt. If anyone is possibly acting poorly it's the guy manipulating someone who likely would have helped had he just explained what he knew.

 

This is one of the more accurate posts I have read on DM in some time. I would like to point out though that we don't know why Rand manipulated her, when all is said and done he may very well have had important reasons to do so.

 

The bottom line is Egwene is one of the few AS that consistently has inner thoughts that reflect on how to serve the greater good and reform the WT structure. In doing so she will be forced to make many difficult decisions, but we all must look at what her motivating factors are. The constant accusations of her being power hungry, as bad as Elaida, or having a secret mandate for world domination underneath the false front of fighting the shadow are as tiresome as they are false.

 

In her mind greater power for the WT is analogous to best for the world. This is not true.

[Himiko]

I think I read a different WOT.

 

What the .... are you guys talking about her acting poorly, because I don't remember this epidemic of terribleness from the last books? Is this really completely based on her MILD opposition to Rand?

 

Also, she wasn't an annoying pansy like Rand Mat and Perrin at the start so how dare she also succeed? How dare someone with ambition actually walk the walk. It's not like she won the lottery and blew it on a boob job and blow.

 

I totally get that her early petulence was grating, but she turned it into something appropriate to her position.

 

And the worst mistake you all make is thinking that because Jordan has so many characters those are the only people in the world. But there's a whole city state, an economic powerhouse, and many others who still look to Aes Sedai.

 

She hasn't read the books, she's spent a good portion of the last while as a prisoner. She doesn't yet know that things hat were considered a truism for the past thousand years are possibly untrue, yet she's still a leader and has decisions to make. Rand purposely deprived her of information she needed to even form doubt. If anyone is possibly acting poorly it's the guy manipulating someone who likely would have helped had he just explained what he knew.

 

You make a valid point that Egwene hasn't read the books, but she HAS had the oppurtunity to see other groups that use the OP, HAS seen the weakness and power-hungry nature of a lot of the current AS, HAS actually expressed doubt over the AS way of doing things, and HAS been used by the WT to further its own ends- and abruptly changes to thinking AS and the WT are awesome, etc. That's one of the things that people criticise about Egwene- hell, its one of the things I've seen people praise her for, too. She's almost chameleon-like in the way she alters her thoughts and beliefs to match whatever position she's currently in, and whilst some people see this as her throwing herself into learning, and praise her for her ability to adapt, other people see it as either bad writing or that the character is rather flighty and immature in that she is so influenced by her position.

 

You also mention her ambition- I agree, nothing wrong with a character being ambitious, nothing wrong with them having success, but you yourself admit her petulance in the earlier books was grating- as I said, TDR was the point I started hating her, and aforementioned petulance had a lot to do with it- half her thoughts in that book were "I don't wanna do what Nynaeve says! Why is Elayne agreeing with her?? Just because Nynaeve had a good idea and is speaking common sense, Elayne should be here sulking and sniping with me!" Ugh. But again, some people- such as yourselves- see this as something that she turns into something good when she DOES gain authority. Others see this as a sign of her immaturity, or not respecting her friends but expecting respect from them, etc.

 

Basically, an awful lot of stuff is a matter of opinion, and I imagine a LOT of it will be coloured by whether you like or dislike Egwene to start with. If you like her, of course you're going to look on a lot of situations more favourably. If you don't like her, of course you won't.

 

As far as her being described as "an awful person" goes- Personally, I think she is, and for me, its nothing to do with Rand. Rand is clearly playing her, he knows how to push Egwene's buttons, he knows what he wants of her, he gets it. Its how she treats others throughout the series, Nynave and Gawyn spring to mind. Leaving aside the scene with Nynaeve in TFoH, which, personally, I have yet to hear ANY decent defence of, in ToM Egwene brings Nynaeve back to the WT for her testing, and allows the others to give Nynaeve what she knew full well was an unfairly hard test- one that tortured and nearly killed her- because she claimed that to do otherwise would have weakened her position. She is the Amyrlin Seat, she should not favour her friends, but she should come down like a ton of bricks if those doing the testing try and make it personal, and do what was done to Nynaeve. And does she? Nope, Saerin does, because she knows damn well it was out of line, but the woman who's supposed to be running the WT? "No, sure, guys, go right ahead and torture people that were my friends, I can't possibly risk being accused of favouritism by cracking down on misuse of a ter'angreal!"

 

As far as Gawyn goes- and don't get me wrong, he irritates the living crap out of me throughout the series- he tells Egwene he thinks she's wrong about the assassins, tries to protect her, and she just refuses to listen to him. Yes, she's in charge, and doesn't want others to see her being commanded, but would it really be that much of a comedown to yield that he maybe had a point and she should probably look into that? Not once does she think this, and when he gets sick of it and leaves the city, THEN she feels irritated with him for doing that. The first time we see her genuinely regretting not listening to Gawyn is when he is bleeding to death on her floor. Had she given his opinion any worth, it might not have come to that. Surely part of being in charge is listening to other people's advice? Similarly, whilst I don't blame her for being played by Rand, she praises Nynaeve for being clever and resourceful, and then when Nynaeve makes a point about him breaking the seals, she waves it off as Nynaeve being ta'veren influenced. No, she doesn't have to agree with other people all the time, but give other people's opinions, thoughts and arguments consideration sometimes, not just your own.

 

So, yeah, there's a couple of the commonly used reasons for thinking Egwene is a horrible person :P Some people use hypocrisy as one- she uses Elaida's oaths of obedience as a reason to overthrow her, and yet has sisters swear to her without thinking twice.

 

I'm not trying to change your mind on Egwene, you like her and that's cool, but trying to show why many don't seem to share your opinion.

[Elvira_Sedai]

She hasn't read the books, she's spent a good portion of the last while as a prisoner. She doesn't yet know that things hat were considered a truism for the past thousand years are possibly untrue, yet she's still a leader and has decisions to make. Rand purposely deprived her of information she needed to even form doubt. If anyone is possibly acting poorly it's the guy manipulating someone who likely would have helped had he just explained what he knew.

 

This is one of the more accurate posts I have read on DM in some time. I would like to point out though that we don't know why Rand manipulated her, when all is said and done he may very well have had important reasons to do so.

 

The bottom line is Egwene is one of the few AS that consistently has inner thoughts that reflect on how to serve the greater good and reform the WT structure. In doing so she will be forced to make many difficult decisions, but we all must look at what her motivating factors are. The constant accusations of her being power hungry, as bad as Elaida, or having a secret mandate for world domination underneath the false front of fighting the shadow are as tiresome as they are false.

 

You can't deny though that a lot of Egwene's POVs show her thinking how to increase the WT's influence in the world. I could agree that it is one of the things the Amyrlin should be doing in normal times, but before the Last Battle it comes across as at least petty. It is not enough that she sometimes thinks about winning the Last Battle - she should be thinking of nothing more and all her actions should be concentrated on this goal.

 

The other thing is - and it was discussed in its own thread before- that her loyalty and devotion to the WT, superseding any warm feelings she might have for her family, friends and Two Rivers, simply comes from nowhere in the books. It makes her a difficult character to relate to.

 

I do agree that Egwene thinks about WT restoration , which it needs more than whenever after Elaida's stupid rule and BA's plague are finaly gone . However I cannot agree that everyone should think about tDO and TG before anything . Someone should see farther and prevent new Breaking and my guess that the Amyrlin Seat is right person for this .

Also I disagree about her lackness of warm . Egwene , dispice of how high she is risen , still thinks about permission to marry from her parents . For the rest , it is the fact that old childhood friends not very often leave its for the whole life . However , Nynaeve and Elayne still consider her a friend and Amys , Bair and Melaine too . And I hope Moiraine would also .

[Manscher]

She thinks of permission to marry from her parents because she's horrible conservative, not because of any "warmth". It seems to be the only point where is actually isn't a giant hypocrite, when she constantly complain about Mat, Rand and Elayne not being decent.

[Guest PiotrekS]

I agree about permission to marry - it is the only sign of Egwene ever seriously thinking about her parents. They might as well be dead for all that she knows. She does nothing to learn about their fate or to inform them about hers or to ensure their safety. Yet she has time enough to think about increasing the influence of the White Tower.

 

I also don't know how increasing the WT's political power could prevent the second Breaking. The second Breaking could come because of the outcome of the Last Battle, because of the way DO was sealed again. Whether WT has control over the Aiel, Sea Folk etc. after the Last Battle is absolutely irrelevant from the point of view of possible second Breaking.

 

If that was Egwene's goal, she should be thinking how to influence the act of sealing in a way that would be safe for the world. But she does not think about it- she thinks about opposing Rand and has no idea beyond that. She also has almost zero knowledge about the first Breaking, so that does not make her the most apprioprate candidate to decide how to prevent the second one. To conclude, Egwene opposing Rand could theoretically have something to do with preventing the second Breaking. Her plotting to increase the Aes Sedai political power over other groups of channelers and monarchs for after the Last Battle has nothing to do with it.

 

I can't also call her attitude -even if it had anything to do with the future state of the world after TG - "seeing farther". It is like wondering what furniture to buy for your flat when you see a huge tsunami wafe rushing straight at it. She does not help ensure that the world even survives at all, how can she be called wise to plot for its eventual future political distribution of power?

 

That's true that Nynaeve and Elayne considered Egwene to be their friend even after she's become the Amyrlin. I don't really know whether they contitnue to do so or not, but the relevant point is not what they think, but what Egwene herself thinks. We're not talking about Nynaeve or Elayne after all. It seems to me that there has been no scene with both Egwene and Nynaeve (or Elayne) after a certain point in the series where the main focus was not Egwene's authority. What it tells about their "friendship" I leave without comment...

[Elvira_Sedai]

I agree about permission to marry - it is the only sign of Egwene ever seriously thinking about her parents. They might as well be dead for all that she knows. She does nothing to learn about their fate or to inform them about hers or to ensure their safety. Yet she has time enough to think about increasing the influence of the White Tower.

 

I also don't know how increasing the WT's political power could prevent the second Breaking. The second Breaking could come because of the outcome of the Last Battle, because of the way DO was sealed again. Whether WT has control over the Aiel, Sea Folk etc. after the Last Battle is absolutely irrelevant from the point of view of possible second Breaking.

 

If that was Egwene's goal, she should be thinking how to influence the act of sealing in a way that would be safe for the world. But she does not think about it- she thinks about opposing Rand and has no idea beyond that. She also has almost zero knowledge about the first Breaking, so that does not make her the most apprioprate candidate to decide how to prevent the second one. To conclude, Egwene opposing Rand could theoretically have something to do with preventing the second Breaking. Her plotting to increase the Aes Sedai political power over other groups of channelers and monarchs for after the Last Battle has nothing to do with it.

 

I can't also call her attitude -even if it had anything to do with the future state of the world after TG - "seeing farther". It is like wondering what furniture to buy for your flat when you see a huge tsunami wafe rushing straight at it. She does not help ensure that the world even survives at all, how can she be called wise to plot for its eventual future political distribution of power?

 

That's true that Nynaeve and Elayne considered Egwene to be their friend even after she's become the Amyrlin. I don't really know whether they contitnue to do so or not, but the relevant point is not what they think, but what Egwene herself thinks. We're not talking about Nynaeve or Elayne after all. It seems to me that there has been no scene with both Egwene and Nynaeve (or Elayne) after a certain point in the series where the main focus was not Egwene's authority. What it tells about their "friendship" I leave without comment...

 

Do you forgot about letters which Egwene had written to her parents , its are mentioned in 2nd or 3rd book ? To the rest of the series , RJ simply had no time for such things , him already is punished for unnesessery plot detalization . However , RJ has found a lot of time for WT plotline , may he knew better what is vital for the future than us , readers ?

 

Egwene's desire for allince with WOs and WFs is very significant for all groops of channeling women if they don't agree become damane and , at least , me think they don't worth this destiny .

 

To the point of Egwene and Nynaeve friendship , they fight Mesaana and BA together and this isn't a sort of job to cooperate with someone whom you doen't trust .

[Manscher]

The fight in Tel'aran'rhiod is another brilliant example of her inability to listen to reason from others. Nynaeve suggest to ask Rand for help regarding Mesaana, and she flat out refuses it on the spot, most likely contributing it yet again on Rand's Ta'veren influence rather than Nynaeves actual advice. 2 sisters and 1 accepted ends up dying, and Egwene herself was damn near dying as well, had it not been for Perrin bringing the Dreamspike, Mesaana would most likely just have killed Egwene on the spot instead of forcing her to tell the location of the Dreamspike.

[Smittyphi]

In her mind "greater good" almost always means "increase of the power of the White Tower, and by extension, my own". The rest of the world barely appears in her thoughts, it's all about the White Tower and its influence.

 

Greater good FOR the rest of the world. The Aes Sedai are supposed to be servants and help the world. Now, that never turns out to be the case as the Ajahs themselves are detrimental to the overall purpose of the WT.

 

I like Egwene and have since she went into the Aiel waste. Saying how Egwene was butchered in ToM just because you don't like what happened to her Elan, is silly.

[Guest PiotrekS]

I agree about permission to marry - it is the only sign of Egwene ever seriously thinking about her parents. They might as well be dead for all that she knows. She does nothing to learn about their fate or to inform them about hers or to ensure their safety. Yet she has time enough to think about increasing the influence of the White Tower.

 

I also don't know how increasing the WT's political power could prevent the second Breaking. The second Breaking could come because of the outcome of the Last Battle, because of the way DO was sealed again. Whether WT has control over the Aiel, Sea Folk etc. after the Last Battle is absolutely irrelevant from the point of view of possible second Breaking.

 

If that was Egwene's goal, she should be thinking how to influence the act of sealing in a way that would be safe for the world. But she does not think about it- she thinks about opposing Rand and has no idea beyond that. She also has almost zero knowledge about the first Breaking, so that does not make her the most apprioprate candidate to decide how to prevent the second one. To conclude, Egwene opposing Rand could theoretically have something to do with preventing the second Breaking. Her plotting to increase the Aes Sedai political power over other groups of channelers and monarchs for after the Last Battle has nothing to do with it.

 

I can't also call her attitude -even if it had anything to do with the future state of the world after TG - "seeing farther". It is like wondering what furniture to buy for your flat when you see a huge tsunami wafe rushing straight at it. She does not help ensure that the world even survives at all, how can she be called wise to plot for its eventual future political distribution of power?

 

That's true that Nynaeve and Elayne considered Egwene to be their friend even after she's become the Amyrlin. I don't really know whether they contitnue to do so or not, but the relevant point is not what they think, but what Egwene herself thinks. We're not talking about Nynaeve or Elayne after all. It seems to me that there has been no scene with both Egwene and Nynaeve (or Elayne) after a certain point in the series where the main focus was not Egwene's authority. What it tells about their "friendship" I leave without comment...

 

Do you forgot about letters which Egwene had written to her parents , its are mentioned in 2nd or 3rd book ? To the rest of the series , RJ simply had no time for such things , him already is punished for unnesessery plot detalization . However , RJ has found a lot of time for WT plotline , may he knew better what is vital for the future than us , readers ?

 

Egwene's desire for allince with WOs and WFs is very significant for all groops of channeling women if they don't agree become damane and , at least , me think they don't worth this destiny .

 

To the point of Egwene and Nynaeve friendship , they fight Mesaana and BA together and this isn't a sort of job to cooperate with someone whom you doen't trust .

 

I have forgotten about the letters, I have to admit. But it does not change the fact that afterwards, after rising to power, she has completely forgotten about her parents, just like about the rest of her roots, everything that wasn't "all powerful Amyrlin 100% Aes Sedai". All things human and personal, independent of her function, political power, strength of will or channeling and Dreaming talents. Likes and dislikes, dreams and memories, friends and family, fears and hopes. Personnal, not connected to doing her job. All is gone and only this empty shell with "powerful Amyrlin" written on it remains.

 

Lots of people think that she cut her roots and former "selfs" (Wisdom's apprentice, Rand's fiancee, WO's Apprentice, Accepted, friend to Nynaeve, Elayne and Aviendha) because they dragged her down. I definitely disagree - if the price for gaining power is ceasing to be yourself and becoming a human incarnation of your position, if there is nothing left of

Egwene but the Amyrlin - then I think the price was not worth paying. Who would she be if the position of the Amyrlin suddenly ceased to exist? How would she go back to relationships with people when even her "romantic" relationship was concentrated mainly on obtaining her "partner's" unquestioning obedience.

 

Compare how often Rand thinks that he would like to go back to Two Rivers but he can't (he also thinks about Tam). Mat thinks he would not really like to go back to "milking his father's cows". Perrin goes back to defend Two Rivers against the trollocs. Nynaeve feels guilty over leaving the people and her Wisdom duties. Only Egwene does not really care and takes no position at all. She cares about the White Tower instead, with a neophyte's passion.