Insanity vs. VoG revliation

[Agitel]

Egwene is not the best politician in the world, though. And her time with the Aiel certainly is adequate to explain her political leadership skills in leading the Aes Sedai after becoming Amryllin; she says so herself. This, combined with her tutelage under Suian is more than enough to explain her competence in politics. You agree with me that Perrin's abilities aren't impressive enough to require explanation. Your complaint that the LTT influence theory for Rand's meteoric rise in abilities lacks evidence because we don't learn about LTT's influence on Rand until the memories become explicit just doesn't fly. We may not have evidence for any explanation of Rand's abilities when he begins to manifest those abilities, but we do get evidence very soon thereafter, in the form of LTT's memories and personality manifesting in Rand. The explanation doesn't have to precede the event in order for it to be an explanation.

What does Egwene's time with the Aiel explain about her political skills? It explains how she can cope with the pain, but what else? And her tutelage with Siuan wasn't a very long time (nor was her time with the Aiel), and we still have someone going from no experience to mastery. Same as Rand. Yet she is regarded as the best possible candidate for Amyrlin? Better than Siuan? Of course, this is in no way implausible. As for the presence of LTT before his memories and personality began manifesting in TSR, where is the evidence? What suggests he was there? As it is, the explanation of Rand's sword skills being down to LTT's subconcious influence amounts to "must've been him, mustn't it." There's nothing to suggest he was there. It's an explanation based on nothing more than an inability to think of a better explanation - that is not enough to make your explanation right. Rand killed a Blademaster before he had any memories. So how do memories account for Rand being good before he had them? They don't. It explains nothing. If LTT was there, it might be a possible explanation. Give a reason to suspect LTT is there.

 

Such extraordinary growth in skill requires extraordinary explanation

Which is why I gave one - based on something that we know to be true (Rand's being ta'veren), as opposed to one based on something we have no reason at all to suspect has any basis in fact (LTT).

 

Egwene was demonstrated to be pretty bright and ambitious from the get-go. On top of that she was a keen observer. She followed Moiraine, had some experience in the Tower, had some experience in observing how the Wise Ones dealt with each other and the clan chiefs, was tutored by Siuane, and saw how the Aes Sedai in Salidar played politics. I'm not saying there isn't any stretching of belief here, but I can believe an intelligent and charismatic person could succeed as she has. She wasn't a pro from the start. She learned quickly, yes, but she wasn't always the confident Amyrlin. As for skill in the One Power for her and the three girls, Egwene is probably the most inventive. Nynaeve and Elayne have their respective talents in specific areas, and I'd like to point out that Nynaeves skill in Healing seems to have spread quickly among the new novices that were formerly wisdoms or something similar, as they'd all been pretty much doing it subconsciously. She managed the heal the taint's affect on men by doing something similar to removing compulsion, and it was Rand who taught her how to do that. It's also suggested by Ishamael in the first prologue that the AoL Aes Sedai had discovered the trick as well. Healing severing, though, that was something unique she'd come up with. Strength in the One Power leads to natural intuitiveness with the One Power. I think we also have to accept that these three were not subject to the incredibly conservative approach to the use of the One Power that the Tower had adopted and instilled on its pupils, and I'd say most other cultures felt the same way and forced that same conservative approach upon them. Given the long life-span of Aes Sedai it hasn't been nearly as many generations since the Breaking for them as it has been with the common folk (and over the first 1000+ years between the Breaking and the Trolloc Wars they lived even longer as the three oaths didn't exist), at least leadership-wise, and with such long-lived elders it would make the perpetuation of this conservative approach far easier than if there was a faster turnover rate. As for why the approach was adopted, we could attribute it to the founders themselves being inexperienced and very few and number so accidents from experimenting were exceptionally dangerous to the continuation of the order as a whole to it also being a counter-movement to what caused the Breaking. In Towers of Midnight, Rand explains that there were multiple schools of thought in the use of the One Power, and the progressive faction unleashed Shai'tan, which caused the War of Power, which led to the destruction of much of civilization, and then the Breaking. While the politics may have been lost over the millenia, I'm sure those early Aes Sedai were more aware of it and knowledge of the events instilled in them a fear of experimentation and other progressive uses. Even if this was a Sanderson-addition (though maybe based on Jordan's notes even if Jordan didn't tell him to include it in the story), I still think he makes a good point that there would be a conservative counter-movement against experimentation with the One Power given where it led. Experimentation was dangerous, both for the user and for humanity.

 

Anyway, moving on from the rambling, my point is that part of the gifted-ness we find in the girls may be because they escaped the Tower's instruction both quite frequently and quite early, which led to a far more progressive use of the One Power. I put forward the notion that had they received normal instruction and spent far longer in the Tower they would not have stumbled on nearly as much as they did.

 

I feel that Rand's ability with the sword may have been partially driven by LTT's memories and abilities surfacing in him. I'd expect reflexive, behavior memories to start appearing before historical memories. Given that LTT was a sword-master and that LTT memories don't just appear all at once but gradually grow stronger over time, and that Rand had no experience with the sword yet managed to accomplish it quickly, it's probable, though not certain, that these were the earliest stages of the emergence of LTT's person within Rand. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Ares, but I have to stand in disagreement with him on this.

 

Also, Egwene's candidacy does make sense. There is the stated reason that they wanted someone easily influenced, someone removed by the conflict at the Tower so as to be seen as impartial to what happened, and someone with ties to the Dragon Reborn, to give them both legitimacy with him and with other politicians. There are more unstated benefits as well. Keep in mind that the Salidar Aes Sedai were unsure of where to go, were not planning war, and were hoping to negotiate their way back into the Tower. Making an Accepted Amyrlin was a political move. The Salidar Aes Sedai were making the first move. Appointing an Amyrlin demonstrated to the White Tower that they were serious and would not come crawling back on their hands and knees. The fact that she was Accepted gave them an easy out of it once negotiations were finished, it was a statement that they weren't crawling back, but that they did want to come back. The Accepted herself would be given a penance at most, or possibly just considered to be a complete puppet when she returned, so she wouldn't be executed or punished much at all (which was shown to be true). Once negotiations are completed, it also gives the Salidar Aes Sedai bargaining power on their own side, as they can claim it was just a negotiating point. An Accepted would also be easier to make step aside than a full Amyrlin who got attached to the role. If they'd made a full Aes Sedai Amyrlin it would have been taken more seriously in a bad way by the White Tower, it wouldn't have just been a negotiating tactic but an outright statement of war (we get to war later, but that's not where we begin) and the returning Aes Sedai would likely have gotten harsher penances, especially whoever had claimed to be Amyrlin, and would have cemented a rift between the two factions (and again let me remind everyone that the people in Salidar were not at this point yet, other than perhaps the Blues). My point is that the selection of an Accepted to be Amyrlin was a complex political statement. Once that's established, it's easy to understand why Egwene was seen as a good candidate to fill that role.