We're told Sakarnen is powerful. We have no clue how powerful it is with respect to Vora's wand. If you read the section again, you'll see that before she overdraws, Egwene and Taim match each other exactly. Neither of their streams is able to overmatch the others. Its at this time that Egwene decides to draw in more of the OP than is safe.

 

So Sakarnen is definitely as powerful as Vora's wand. Which is unsurprising. Why should we think that there would be so many male sa'angreal in the upper reaches, but not female ones? And apart from the Choedan Kal and Callandor, Sakarnen and Vora's wand are the only two other sa'angreal that have names attached to them. To me, the attachement of a name indicates a powerful sa'angreal. So rare in its strength that it got its own name. It wasn't just some object, anymore. 

I think it's just a little suprising because nothing was ever made of the strength of Vora's wand.  If it's about the same strength as Sakarnen, then that means it's even stronger than Callandor. You'd think at some point someone would have mentioned how incredibly powerful it is. The other thing is that it's quite fortitious that the WT, having lost so many angreal and sangreal, managed to hold on to the most powerful one, apart from the CK. Also I wish we'd have been given some hint as to how Demandred found Sakarnen.

A lot has been made about the strength of Vora's wand. Its the first sa'angreal we saw in action, and right off the bat we're told it was the Tower's strongest.  We just attached less significance to it because its a sa'angreal for women. 

And do we know for certain Sakarnen is the male sa'angreal stronger than Callandor? Its a good assumption, but its still an assumption.

And its not fortuitous at all, I think. If it was one of the strongest female sa'angreal, it makes great sense that through the Breaking, it was carefully protected and used constantly by Aes Sedai to finish off remnants of the Shadow and fight mad male channelers. From there, one of the 12 groups joining to found the WT could have brought it along. 

We also did get some hints to its significance. I'm fairly certain that when Elayne and Nynaeve were using need to find something in TAR, they were first directed to Egwene, then to the Tower basements for a reason. The Pattern was setting in motion a long con. Elayne would later tell Egwene of the basements with the objects of the OP, allowing Egwene to Travel there and find Vora's wand. I'm convinced that the thing in the basement they needed was Vora's wand.

 

On the balance thing...no, I don't buy it either. Egwene is not the Dragon's equal. Her actions did not bring "balance" to the world. All she did was provide a temporary bandaid over the damage caused by the balefire. There's no way in hell she's as important, or as connected to the land, as Rand. In fact, I don't see her as being any more connected to the land than any other channeler. She just happened to be in the right place at the right time because she was too egocentric to let someone else take the sa'angreal and face Taim. In the end, her "I have to do it all because no one is as awesome as me!" attitude led her to her death, one which she embraced fully once she realized she had burned herself out from channeling too much (something that should've been obvious to everyone around her given how she was constantly channeling and doing it all herself).

 

 

My biggest issue with the idea of Egwene being the balancer of Rand, is that I've envisioned the 'balance' in the series as being more a see saw, with the forces of the Shadow on one side, the forces of the Light on the other, and the Dragon acting as the fulcrum in the middle.  It is after all his choice to agree or disagree with the Dark One that is the real heart of the Last Battle.   The shadow's force could defeat the Light armies everywhere and he could still decide to keep fighting.  The light's force could defeat the Shadow's armies everywhere and he could still decide to accept oblivion. 

You're making the assumption that only one kind of balance can exist. But lets be clear... Egwene mirrors Rand. She's his balance, the saidar to his saidin... All this may be true, but Egwene was neither ta'veren nor a major part of the Prophesies. Nor was Rand's other "balance", Nynaeve. There's a reason for that. While Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne contribute as much as Mat and Perrin, they're not destroyers of the old order. Women have had disproportional influence on the Pattern for 3000 years. The balance for that is an enormously powerful (I don't mean OP strength) man, Rand. The Pattern of Egwene's life closely matches Rand's, and they're tied together. As Egwene saw in her Accepted test, her past, present and future were all bound up with Rand. But neither she nor Nynaeve had the ultimate role because that doesn't fit with the Pattern's need for balance. 

Even though, I'm not generally a fan of Egwene's character, I was still hoping to see her and Rand's relationship resolve in some meaningful way.  The lack of that resolution does bother me a little bit.  

We did get it. Their last scene together was touching, and Rand giving her a ribbon to braid her hair was fitting (since their first major on screen fight was over Egwene unbraiding her hair, all the way back in EotW). They hugged, they made up, and immediately discovered the Seals were fake. The weight of the world interfered with any more time they could have had in peace. And Rand and Egwene thinking of each other as brother and sister was good too. Its a surprisingly subtle hint to where the Asha'man and Aes Sedai are headed... brothers and sisters, as they were before. 

And then came their true farewell. Whether it was Egwene herself Rand spoke to, or merely her simulated voice in his head, she's the one who points out to him that he hasn't failed yet, and that he needs to accept her death too (her talking about embracing death makes me think its the real Egwene, since that's only something the Wise One's have said before, and they said it to her). That was certainly a fitting end, no?

But, at the same time, the lack of resolution is consistent with her general character throughout the series.   She is consistent and with RJ's original concept of inverting the 'battle of the sexes' and I wonder if her death in the Last Battle is part of that original concept.  An example, of what I mean by this, is before the meeting in the tent at Merrilor, while Rand is walking across the field with the grass greening up around him, she wonders how he does it, but doesn't think to ask him.  Instead, she sends Gawyn to ask the Ashaman how he does it. 

Yep. It would have been ridiculously out of character for them at that point to talk about these things. But later... I'm surprised we didn't get a scene where Egwene tries to get as much knowledge from "LTT" as possible. The eternally sponge doesn't try to soak up from the greatest source of knowledge available to her? Not convinced.

Suttree: Adctually it mirrored Eldrene's death much more closely.

Keep in mind that Eldrene's death already mirrors LTT's. There's elements of both here. Loss of Warder followed by overdrawing through sa'angreal to kill enemies and dying in the process is very Eldrene like. But at the same time, dying in a column of Light that eventually caused a hilly region to collapse very strongly mirrors LTT's end. Egwene also has a "kinslaying" moment, killing Sharans and her own people in her rage (and mirroring Rand in tPoD against the Seanchan), as does Eldrene, when she burns down the most beautiful city in the world (with people in it?) as she kills the enemies who took her husband. 

The core elements are the same. Powerful channeler loses loved one. Is devastated. Overdraws on the Power deliberately, causes massive destruction. And the mountain and fire motif. Lews Therin raises Dragonmount, which is home to fire. Eldrene, who brings down the Mountain Home with fire. And Egwene, who unleashes the cleansing fire of the Flame of Tar Valon upon Polov Heights. I just wish the name of the weave and the heights for Egwene's end had a better ring to it. Dragonmount, Manatheren and Polov Heights?

The other connecting threads are Tar Valon and Ishamael. Lews Therin, forced into lucidity by Ishanael, creates Tar Valon in his death by fire. He's the "Father" of the Tower/Tar Valon. The Tower failing its Daughter, Eldrene, can be viewed as the beginning of its decay, and we can make conjectures as to Ishamael's role in the Tower end of this failing. Eldrene's descendent (possibly), takes stewardship of the Tower and cleanses it. And in her death, the Flame of Tar Valon, the "Mother" of the city, gives birth once again to hope and strength in Lews Therin's soul, allowing him to continue his ancient battle against the Shadow by stepping out of the Darkness and fighting... Ishamael!

Sabio: I still don't fully understand Egwene's last fight, I mean Taim had one of the most powerful things every built yet Egwene overpowered him.  With that mace he sohuld of been able to fry her to a pile of cinders.  Even with her drawing too much, we saw how powerful Demandred was with that mace.  That fight and her taking out all the remaining channlers at her death just seemed too cheesy for me.

We're told Sakarnen is powerful. We have no clue how powerful it is with respect to Vora's wand. If you read the section again, you'll see that before she overdraws, Egwene and Taim match each other exactly. Neither of their streams is able to overmatch the others. Its at this time that Egwene decides to draw in more of the OP than is safe.

So Sakarnen is definitely as powerful as Vora's wand. Which is unsurprising. Why should we think that there would be so many male sa'angreal in the upper reaches, but not female ones? And apart from the Choedan Kal and Callandor, Sakarnen and Vora's wand are the only two other sa'angreal that have names attached to them. To me, the attachement of a name indicates a powerful sa'angreal. So rare in its strength that it got its own name. It wasn't just some object, anymore. 

I hadn't seen these quotes before, so thank you for those.

 

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to disagree with Robert Jordan's views here. I think he's making the classic mistake of approaching ancient religion with a modern (and therefore far more secularised) mindset. Back then religion was far more real and central to modern life than it is today, and to people in the middle ages saints and prophets really did exist and miracles happened all the time. There are hundreds of documents and hagiographical works denoting various miracles and divine occurences, and many larger Churches had priests whose duty it was to investigate claims of miracles from the public. Faith was not 'something that cannot be seen', since medieval society already had tangible evidence of the divine (In their minds) with the relics of saints and holy artifacts.

 

We may look back and think, "Well obviously those 'miracles' didn't happen." But that's a modern mindset that's not really applicable to the superstitious and heavily religious society of the time period equivalent to that of the WoT.

You forget that the WoT world of today is a descendent of the Age of Legends, which was highly advanced (more so than us). It was a time when Aes Sedai created living things like the Nym and Chora trees. They could travel into alternate dimensions, differnt worlds, see the future, see the past...

While the technology to do all this was lost, the knowledge that such wonders could be achieved by humans with no aid from "God" is still very present. Thus, while the characters occasionally pray to the Creator, there are no mystic rite, no temples and churches, nothing... becuase it is known that the Creator does not intervene, cannot intervene. They also know (well, the educated do) that the Creator created a morally neutral Pattern. While there is the "hope of salvation and rebirth", it has nothing to do with pleasing the Creator, and everything to do with doing what is actually right. We have seen no language on how to achieve salvation. Like Hinduism, that seems to be left to the individual.

I didn't say their manipulations were wholly unsuccessful, and I didn't impugn the intentions of the White Tower as a force for the Light. Aes Sedai, in general, have gotten the raw end of the 3rd Age. I'm quite familiar with the BWB and the Compact between the 10 Nations. My point is that the Aes Sedai are politically incapable of being outright leaders.

I give you... Mabriam en Shereed, Eldrene ay Ellan ay Carlan, Rashima Kerenmosa, Elayne Trakand, and a host of Amyrlin Seats who were outright leaders.

They are reduced, and have been since the Breaking, to ruling through manipulation and taking advantage of the fear and mistrust that the people feel for them to sustain their agendas.

This isn't even true now, let alone in the Tower's heyday. The majority of the Tower's power comes from its access to saidar and the extensive knowledge it has of the world. While neither of these are as much as they could be, they are exclusive to the Tower, which is what makes it so powerful. The econimic independence of the Tower is an added bonus.

In the past 1000 years, yes the Towers political might has declined, but only in the southern nations. The cause for this is not some new fangled fear of retribution, but tied up to the Hawkwing-Bonhwin confrontation. Even during the time of Hawkwing, when he absolutely controlled all of the Westlands and was wildly popular with the masses, the Tower's political and polular might was enough that it did not starve despite a twenty year siege!

It's telling that every "ordinary" person who contemplates disobeying or interfering with an Aes Sedai has fear of retribution from the White Tower as one of their foremost concerns,

You have Two Rivers mistrust-itis. You see things through the lens of our main characters. Look to the Borderlands, Andor, Cairhein, even Arad Doman for examples of normal people respect Aes Sedai.

even now almost two thousand years after the Aes Sedai adopted the Oaths, which ought to make such retribution as they fear impossible. Aes Sedai rulers even in the first 1000 years after the Breaking mostly hid the fact that they were Aes Sedai, because the people would not often tolerate an openly Aes Sedai ruler after the Breaking.

Not true. Mabriam was openly Queen, as were the Queens of Manetheren. Its only in the last thousand years that openly Aes Sedai queens have become a rarity. But as Elayne's example proves, this is not an impediment that is all that hard to overcome.

Their incapacity in being open leaders is not through any fault of their own. The "fault" lies with the quite understandable mistrust and fear of channelers that pervades the common attitude, and has for over 3000 years.

That has never stopped them from being open leaders. An Amyrlin can summon the Lord Captian Commander of the Whitecloaks, and expect him to be there ASAP! That is open power.

Also:

Cemaile Sorenthaine, raised from the Gray, had commissioned it dreaming of a return to the days before the Trolloc Wars, when no ruler held a throne without the Tower's approval.

That also, is open power, that too when the memory of the Breaking was a lot more fresh than it is today.

But for all their power, they were unable to unite the land, or foster any kind of significant re-building in the time after the Breaking. It took Artur Hawkwing to do that, and that was essentially the Pattern working its ta'veren magic to do it.

Uhh... read the BWB again:

In 209 AB (After the Breaking; the Toman Calendar had been universally adopted about ten years earlier), the Compact of the Ten Nations was formed. This compact, also called the Second Compact, was largely the work of Queen Mabriam of Aramaelle, reported to be Aes Sedai (as were a number of queens, apparently, between the Breaking and the end of the Trolloc Wars), so it is likely that the White Tower played a large role.

Mabriam en Shereed, incidentally, is the most famous Grey sister ever.

The Compact lasted for roughly eight hundred years, protecting all its members against the creatures of the Shadow. During this time culture and social graces began to flourish, for memories of the Age of Legends had not been completely lost. There was still hope that the glories of that past Age could be rebuilt.

Most of these hopes failed when, about 1000 AB, Trollocs suddenly roared south out of the Blight in large numbers to begin a series of wars that would shatter the Compact. These wars, known as the Trolloc Wars, spanned approximately 350 years and spread destruction across most of the continent.

So the WT was largely responsible for a renaissance in culture and society. Which is why, of course, Ishamael threw a 350 year war at them to undo all that.

And the Aes Sedai were unable to maintain any sort of unity, or even maintain the infrastructural progress Hawkwing created after the fall of Hawkwing's Empire.

Again, no:

Deane did, however, manage to restore the prestige of the Tower, and was believed to be convincing the warring nobles to accept the leadership of the Tower and thus restore unity to the land when she was killed in a fall from her horse.

How much do you want to bet the Black Ajah was behind the "accident"?

Ummm. One of them always had the bracelet on. They would take turns wearing it, but someone always had it on. But if I'm mistaken, can ya quote me a passage t hat says otherwise?

Elayne removes it just before she joins into Anaiya's link to help people in the Bubble of Evil in LoC. Egwene also says she removes it at night.

A stilled person tends to die of depression. Great lot of use that will be in sul'dam!

This quote from the BWB clears eveything up:

The White Tower itself is one of the most impressive buildings of the world; certainly nothing known to the writer in the present day compares in any way. Designed by Aes Sedai, and therefore lacking the organic touch found in many of the finest Ogier structures, it was created by Ogier aided by Aes Sedai wielding the One Power. The main tower of the building is constructed entirely of white stone and towers five hundred feet above the ground. It is three hundred feet across at the base, making it the largest structure erected since the Age of Legends. Slightly wider at the base than at the top, the Tower was designed to house the Ajahs in the top half; each within its own pie-shaped section, while leaving the wider bottom half to general purposes. A smaller palace-like structure attached to the back of the main tower was intended for novices and Accepted, while a large building behind the Tower and palace was to function as a library. The front of the Tower faced a great public square, which emphasized the deep broad steps and massive doors of the main entrance. A stone wall, broken occasionally by columns and rails, enclosed the perimeter of the grounds. The square was bordered by various public buildings, many of which were not only Ogier-built, but Ogier-designed, to seem animated by a life and vitality that belied the stone of their construction. Today, the White Tower and the square appear much as they must have then.