Cadsuane will be fine since the Oaths will no longer be necessary; the Black Tower has no interest in taking them and the AS don't need to worry about DFs anymore. The 4th Age is going to lead to a different view of the OP, as well as different groups of channeled that have no connection to the White Tower.

That is why Egwene would have been a poor choice for Amyrlin moving forward; she held to the old notion of subjecting every channeler to the authority of the White Tower: the Kin, the Wise Ones, Windfinders. Cadsuane is more of a realist, not above political maneuvering but ultimately cognizant of the changing nature of her institution and its role in history moving forward.

That's why Cadsuane is a perfect fit for Amyrlin during the period of transition; she has the authority and also experience with men who can channel.

Egwene would have merely perpetuated the divide between the two.

It was that one character beat that made love Elyas:

"I said 'No', girl."

I kept waiting for Demandred to open Gateways into outerspace around his attacking forces, sucking them out into nothingness.

Nothing says Forsaken more than using your advanced understanding of the world against a bunch of medieval rubes!

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Also, couldn't Androl have just dumped lava onto the Shadowspawn/Demmy from a horizontal altitude gateway?

That captivity arc (along with her admission of toh to the Wise Ones and subsequent takeover of the SAS) really got me excited about Egwene. I thought that she, like Rand, had learned to embrace pain and become stronger in spite of it.

Then her character took a dive right after the unification plot. It was disappointing to see a character undergo so much without changing for the better. Sure Egwene triumphed, but it's as if she took that triumph as a sign that she was justified in everything she did and was.

Her redemption could have been achieved by communicating the anti-balefire weave to Nynaeve or Moiraine via TAR. If the Flame of Tar Valon had been used to Seal the Bore, I would have cheered for Egwene.

Classy move, Blue Sun. People get riled up all the time on boards but rarely have the mettle to admit it.

Your point on Egwene's treatment of Nynaeve is still valid, though.

It was also nice to see that Talmanes could hold his own against a Fade.

Lan was unreal, and the only thing I could think of that was more badass was Thom just passing the time composing a ballad between turns killing channelers and shoving them into a ditch, then returning to his verse.

Yeah, I know keeping the Black Tower off-screen for as long as a possible was a conscious choice by RJ, a hanging sword that the reader kept waiting to see drop. I remember being so depressed when I figured that out, and seeing the Battle for the Black Tower get left on the cutting-room floor for AMOL didn't help matters.

I see that some ridiculous arguments have been made in order to criticize Egwene, but addressing those doesn't invalidate the other, more reasonable lines of thought, or exonerate her quality of character.

Egwene was ambitious and envious, and she never progressed or matured despite multiple opportunities to do so.

She ignored the advice of her mentors anytime it didn't suit her.

She bullied Nynaeve beyond the scope of reason not in order to assert herself as an individual, but merely to further her agenda.

As far as her terms of captivity, Rand goes through unbelievable trauma and progresses into an integrated individual.

She chose to fall in love with an insecure, emotionally unstable man.

She ignores the obvious will of the Pattern and her personal experience with Mat & Talmanes by objecting to Rand and Mat at every turn.

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Like I said, not a psycho but definitely an ex-wife kind of person.

The only reason I've heard that adequately explains her behavior is metaphysical: like Yin and Yang, opposition was a central aspect of gender dynamics in Randland, with Egwene manifested as an avatar of this dialectic. Problem is, she's not a ta'veren (though she secretly wanted to be).

RJ had a lot of trouble finishing anything; I don't think he ever had to worry about wrapping it up too neatly :)

I'm still frustrated that we never saw more of the Black Tower. Androl's character alone showed how much drama and texture could be mined from that place, even without the Aes Sedai. Just reading about the Ashaman slowly watching the Tower change as Taim played his hand, the arrival of Logain, or the aftermath of the Cleansing and it's impact on the dynamics of the Black Tower would have been fascinating, especially with RJ's writing style.

Instead we got the Black Ajah hunters in the WT and the mystery of the Salidar Sitters....

I think we could safely say that Rand was psycho as well  :)

Blue Sun nailed it in post #321: Egwene never, at any moment, showed respect for her teachers. The only thing she wanted from her teachers was the knowledge, and the closest she came to respecting them was seeking validation ie authority.

It was always a power struggle with her. It's strange because reading that post made me feel a little more sympathetic towards Nynaeve. I forgot how much of a #$%(# Egwene acted as soon as they were out of the Two Rivers.

This is also why I wasn't surprised at her taste in men. Gawyn was insecure and could be exploited.

Still not calling her a psycho, and she's still better than Faile, but that's not really saying much. Perhaps a Type A personality.

The Battle for the White Tower and the Last Battle both seemed incoherent to me. I don't know anything about warfare, but I was able to follow the Battle of Falme and the Siege at Cairhien fairly well.

I respect Sanderson for finishing a series that had been stuck in neutral for the past decade, but he definitely follows the Michael Bay school of battle sequences. Lots of flash and bang, but for the most part the camera is so tight on the principals that you can't tell what the heck is going on.

Exaclty! I would have thought her time with the Wise Ones and the White Tower unification would have led Egwene to transcend that pettiness (and it seemed to look that way in TGS), but then Rand showed up and she immediately settled back into the same old rut. Then she questioned Mat's ability to command despite being present during the Siege of Cairhien and also having spent time with Talmanes and The Band.

How does she think to have the right to stop a ta'veren general lead the forces of Light in the Last Battle?

Pure ego. I give her credit for figuring out the inverted balefire weave. It's a shame that weave wasn't used to Seal the Bore.

For the reasons stated above, I also believe that Gawyn was a perfect match for her :)

I wouldn't call her a psychopath, but Egwene was like the Forsaken in one key aspect: she seemed to resent the ta'veren and anyone who could challenge her authority.

I think that the reason for this is, like the Forsaken, she envied the place in history Mat, Perrin, and Rand had in Moiraine's eyes, then in history. Egwene was always ambitious and she never wished to be left behind. She is a direct counterpoint to the ta'veren's characterization as reluctant heroes; the girl who dreamed of being special and who resented how small her life appeared in the larger scope of things.

Her ambition can be lauded or criticized, but the way in which that ambition informed her behavior during the LB, first with Rand then with Mat, is what compromised her as a character in my eyes. It seemed that she was ignoring both the will of the Pattern and common sense in antagonizing both, which is petty.  

Rome was a great series, IMO

Was anyone else disappointed by the lack of focus in the Seanchan forces?

I wanted more Deathwatch Guard, Ogier Gardeners, and raken air movements.

Also more Bloodknives, though I suppose that would have taken the impact away from Gawyn.

Yeah, I specifically remember an article from WOTFAQ that suggested pushing the gholam through a gateway into a volcano, Terminator 2 style.

Also, that Note that Egwene found really was the equivalent to Rand happening upon the fat man an'greal at Dumai's Wells. So last minute!

Well, Sanderson did admit to being influenced by Portal so perhaps that's where the plot holes came from.

Well said, Suttree!

I did have trouble with the tone all the way through most of the 2nd act, and there were times when I felt like I was reading an arcade game. For all the violence at the Gap, I never felt the pressure because part of me had already detected the theme of a checklist in this work. The stakes never felt high, and despite the map I found myself disoriented, even though I'd been able to keep up with all the other action set-pieces in the series.Though the introduction of the Sharan force gave me chills, I wasn't able to connect with Rand & the DO or the ta'veren conference at the end. The actual ending, with Rand escaping the press of his old life and the pain of his old body, was deeply satisfying. I felt so proud and happy that he could finally rest without dying.

A Lily in Winter said that we were doomed because this book was obviously the direct result of fan wish-fulfillment. The more I think on it, the more this statement made sense to me. You are right in saying that this book sorely missed some of Jordan's finest moments. I keep thinking about the chills I got when Semirhage casually mentioned to Suroth that she'd butchered the Imperial Family in Seanchan, and Suroth's reaction. That is a moment that works only in a work as layered and hand-drawn as this one.

Cheers to Jordan.

Congratulations, sir or ma'am!! To paraphrase a fictional genius, finishing the WOT is a terrible privilege.

When did you start reading the series, Chalk?

Doesn't Lanfear mention something about Sakarnen when referring to sa'angreal in her attempt to seduce Rand into giving her the Choedan Kal? I remember thinking it was the Ring of Tamyrlin

I don't recall her bringing up Vora, but then again she always liked to remain mysterious.

Yeah, we'd be getting into nasty territory if we start to consider the intricacies of slave-channel-breeding. Oh, gross!

Also, I just wanted Demandred to surround himself with gateways that led into space, sucking in the light armies around him. That would have been so epic! These rubes barely understand how lightning works! 

It's funny because those rings essentially turn Gawyn into a Fade. I wonder if their creation had anything to do with channeling through Myrdraal?