The gap in education between Elayne and Nynaeve (and Egwene early on) is shown to be pretty big quite a few times. Egwene is quite annoyed about it a few times in TDR. ;)

WoT isn't really like real 16-17 history in this respect, at least in Two Rivers and other areas. Everyone in Two Rivers is literate and plenty of them has read a lot of books. Books seem to be relatevely cheap due to printing presses.

 

Here is what Jordan said about this when asked:

 

"For Kison, education in this world is a very sometime thing. In the Two Rivers, where literacy is valued, parents teach children, and if, say, old Jondyn is known to be knowledgeable about history, parents send their children to him. This education is not as broad as that they might receive in a school, but then, the education given in many schools as late of the 19th Century would hardly stand up to today's standards. Rhetoric was given as great a weight as mathematics when it wasn't given more. Modern languages were deplored, and not taught even at university level. Parents teaching children is the general model followed. Sometimes a village might hire a sort of schoolmaster, but this is usually thought to be a waste of money since the parents between them have enough knowledge to teach most subjects to the extent necessary."

Yeah, the whole Perin and the Shaydo subplot is so dumb it's just painful to read. Perin needs an army and has Travelling available it makes zero sense that he didn't ask go to ask for help his close friend, who happened to be the most powerful man in the world and was already an enemy of the Shaido and had a huge army and numerous channellers. No, instead he made a deal with the Seanchan of all people. Completely ridiculous stuff.

 CoT, Ch.14.

 Some of the Wise Ones in Caemlyn knew Rand was the father.
 

Monaelle smiled at the exchange. She was among the few who knew about the bonding of Rand, and who the father of Elayne’s baby was.

 Well, Nynaeve had been basically the leader of a sizeable village for years and has had to deal the mayor and the Village Council and with problems within the women circle, so she should've been experienced in negotiating. And Elayne was trained for Queen her whole life, and obviously negotiating is an important skill to have. Obviously they aren't supposed to be top experts on this like the Sea Folk leader, but still being so completely outmanoeuvred was very implausible to me. Especially considering that one of the Sea Folk gave away how precious the Bowl was for them before the negotiations started and that Elayne and Nynaeve had no idea only the Sea Folk had the knowledge to operate it successfully.

The books answered my second question.  It seems that he is still using that alias.

 

other questions::

who else knows about Elayne's pregnancy?  And who do each think is the father?

Min, Aviendha, Birgitte, Morgase; know that the father is Rand.  Egwene, Nynaeve, Gawyn; guessed Rand.  And I think several of Elayne's servants also know of the pregnancy; but I think that they have no opinion about who fathered them.  The Kin, Sea Folk, Borderlanders, Cairhien people, several other main characters; seen Elayne since the conception, but I think that they only suspect the pregnancy.  Memory of Light chapter 1 reveals another character.

The Aiel Wise Ones who were in Caemlyn know all about it. Mat, obviously. Thom. Perrin and Faile.

 

In the beginning, Andor nobles and Caemlyn residents seemed to think that "Doilin Mellar" fathered Elayne's babies.  Do they still think that or have recent events change their mind?  If the later, who do they now think fathered her babies?

 

Is Daved Hanlon still using that alias or is he using a different name?  If the later, what name is he now using?

Up to the end of of ToM the situation is that most of the Andoran nobles and Caemlyn residents still believe Doliin Mellar is the most likely candidate to be the father of Elayne's babies.  Elayne has not publicly denied the rumours, and most people are not aware of the exact nature of events that happen in the palace in ToM.  

 

After he was arrested as Darkfriend and waiting for an execution, and later on almost killed her, I would think the rumour died out quickly, with Elayne's help.

Maybe this is the wrong topic to ask this question, but I'll ask it anyway:

 

I am from the Netherlands and I want to buy the series. I'd like to buy the Orbit books, written in English and with hardcover. But I can't seem to find them anywhere with hardcover, only the Tor books seem to come with hardcover. Didn't I search hard enough or are the Orbit books only published in paperback? In the Netherlands I found the books (translated to Dutch), with hardcover and with the Orbit covers. That's why I thought they had to be in English with hardcover too. 

I have a few of the WoT books as Orbit hardcovers, there are such versions for sure.

 

They are available at online stores too, see the links below for example:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1841498726

 

http://www.bookdepository.com/Memory-Light-Robert-Jordan/9781841498720

 Not having a reliable info on the Dragon Reborn for months is pretty crucial. Nynaeve hasn't been in contact with Egwene or Elayne for months.

Doesn't Rand have the Choedan Kal?

 

Why isn't he using that to roflstomp all of his problems? (like the Seanchan) It's not like he has to worry about taint anymore.

 

Is he afraid that it'll break if he uses it too much like with Nynaeve so he's saving it for when he really needs it?

 Because the series would've been too short.

 

Has Moiraine had sex with a man before Eye of the World? If so, do you think it was with Lan or somebody else?

 

emphasis on the word man here btw... 

The prequel does not tell of any such scene.  And the first 13 books do not give any indicator of any such event.

 

These characters for sure have had sex at some point::

-those who are pregnant

-those who are parents

 

As far as I recall, this series does not have sex without pregnancy coming shortly after.

Since Moiraine does not have any children, I would guess she never had sex.

 

 

 

Has Moiraine had sex with a man before Eye of the World? If so, do you think it was with Lan or somebody else?

 

emphasis on the word man here btw... 

The prequel does not tell of any such scene.  And the first 13 books do not give any indicator of any such event.

 

These characters for sure have had sex at some point::

-those who are pregnant

-those who are parents

 

As far as I recall, this series does not have sex without pregnancy coming shortly after.

Since Moiraine does not have any children, I would guess she never had sex.

 

Rand and Min had plenty of sex without her getting pregnant. So did Perrin and Faile.

^ Yeah, but Elayne is a special case. As a Queen she can't renounce her loyalty to her country and doesn't intend to be just a pawn of the White Tower.

 

"Necessary and right, though; when she sat on the Lion Throne, she would still be Aes Sedai, and subject to the laws and rules and customs of Aes Sedai. Not for Andor — she would not give her land to the White Tower — but for herself"

 

 

As your Moiraine quote showed, she did, in fact, show aptitude with politics. For comparison, it took Rand two weeks of training from Elayne (mixed with kissing sessions) to come up with a plan to play the Tairen factions against each other. Why is it okay for Rand to pick up politics from his girlfriend in two weeks, but not okay for Egwene to pick up politics after months of lessons from Moiraine?

IIRC it was three days, not two weeks.  

 

Every main character in this series learns things at an amazing rate. Not sure Egwene tends to be singled out for this. Mat learned to juggle 6 balls at once in 2 weeks or so, and Elayne learned how to make back flips on a high rope in about the same period. Even freaking Aram become super badass with a sword in a few months.

 It makes no sense to kill off Egwene due to fan pressure at the end of the last book. The series is over, it won't increase the sales or anything like this. 

 

 And if it was done to satisfy her haters, why give her such a heroic death?

 

 Egwene's sudden expertise in politics and manipulation always seem to come out of nowhere to me too. The mention that she happened to listen to Moiraine's lectures to Rand (even though we never see it on screen) isn't  the most convincing to put it mildly. I think it would've been better if she had spent more time in training in the WT and also if there were some scenes of Elayne explaining political stuff to her, after all Elayne has been trained in this her whole life.

She should have requested her superior, the Dragon conduct her wedding.

Yeah, what a great idea. Egwene's previous boyfriend conducting her wedding. It wouldn't have been awkward at all. And it's not like Gawyn loathed and wanted to kill Rand for half the series - oh, wait...

I love the sheer absurdity and audacity of using Egwene sacrificing herself to stop the bad guys as an argument to make her look bad.

Honestly the Aiel numbers (both channellers and regular fighters) were so huge Jordan spent the second half of the series coming up with contrived ways not to use the vast majority of them to keep some tension in the battles and military campaigns. All those thousands of channelling Wise Ones were barely ever used even when rand couldn't use the Asha'man. Sanderson just followed this.

Gawyn was already told that those rings kill those who use them in ToM.

 

“Bloodknives do not live long,” Kaisea said. “Once they are given a duty, they do not rest from it. They are granted abilities from the Empress, may she live forever, ter’angreal rings that make them into great warriors.”

 

“Those blur their forms,” Gawyn said. “When they are near shadow.”

 

“Yes,” Kaisea said, sounding surprised that he knew this. “They cannot be defeated. But eventually, their own blood will kill them.”

 

“Their own blood?”

 

“They are poisoned by their service. Once they are given a charge, they often will not last more than a few weeks. At most, they survive a month.”

One thing that really dissapoints me about BSs treatment of Egwene in the last 2 books is his lack of love for the character. It's really evident in the way he writes her and Gawyn that he doesn't understand what motivates of drives them.

Case in point, Rand and Perrin both got to reconnect with their Emond's Field father figures before heading off to the last battle or before their last fights. In doing so they got reminded of their roots. Egwene was constantly aware of her roots in earlier books, making decisions as Amyrlin basd on advice or annecdotes she got from her father about how to be Mayor.

Really? I can't remember a single case of this. Someone has a quote?

 

Why would her father advice her how to be a Mayor when this is male-only job in Two Rivers anyway?

 

Surey we could have had one less descripton of a point in the battle and instead had more than a throw away sentence mentioning that Egwene is now married. I think earlier when Gawyn asked she said she couldnt marry him without her Father present. Surely some grounding and a chance to show her loving nature by returning home for her wedding with her family, and some words of wisdom from her parents would have created more love for her character.

This I agree with. Her marriage should've been shown. Especially after in ToM they decided her parents and Elayne (and Morgase once she turned up alive) should be there and they can't just married immediately with nobody present. It would've been a nice scene. The way things are now, it's pretty weird. All we got were a few throwaway sentences about the marriage, and no reaction from Elayne (was she even invited?) or anyone else.

Speaking of the Aes Sedai in general, I was really annoyed that they didn't use the Accepted and novices at all in the numerous battles, even when the situation got really desperate. It makes no sense to hold them back, when pretty much everyone who can hold a weapon was fighting and doing his part. Especially since:

1)surely many of them have no or very little Talent for Healing so would be near useless in Mayene

2)they didn't have to fight directly, just linking them with the full Aes Sedai would've helped an awful lot

 

Same for the Kin. They were used only for Gateways and Healing.

 

Speaking of the KIn, their situation and the potential conflict between Elayne and the Tower leadership about them wasn't resolved at all after we got a few hints that Egwene wasn't happy about the deal between Kin and Andor, which is disappointing.

 

As for Egwene herself - a mixed bag. Some of her stuff was very good, some was pretty bad. Apart from the already mentioned problematic scenes, it baffled me that she was sneaking out on feet the camp when Sharans overtook it instead of simply opening a Gateway.

Genetically, Galad and Gawyn seem the most likely. Both have 3 close blood relatives who are channellers (Elayne, Moiraine and Rand/Morgase respectively).

I don't like Setalle. The way she treated Nynaeve and Elayne was very annoying. And she sided with Tuon all the time when they travelled together.

 

Rand is the best written character in the series, but he's a jerk often and his type of sexism really grates.

 

I love Setalle for siding with Mat. She likes him and wants to "protect him" from their foolishness. One of my favorite WoT lines: "I doubt I’ve ever seen so much foolishness poured into just two dresses."

She certainly wasn't siding with Mat when she was travelling with him and Tuon was there. You'd think she would hate someone who leashes channellers and forced her into exile, but no.

 

Besides, the scene where she meets Elayne and Nynaeve really annoys me because it's so contrived. Setalle is 100% convinced they can't really be Aes Sedai, to the extend that she gives away the Kin's secret, just because Elayne looks 18. Since before her and Egwene have been cases of 22-23 years being made Aes Sedai, this is really silly. Who can differentiate between those ages with such precision and take such a big risk aaonly because of this? And she really didn't have to be so dismissive and mean towards Elayne and Nynaeve.

I don't like Setalle. The way she treated Nynaeve and Elayne was very annoying. And she sided with Tuon all the time when they travelled together.

 

Rand is the best written character in the series, but he's a jerk often and his type of sexism really grates.

What colour is Egwene's hair? I hope to Light it isn't black. For 5 books I've been imagining her with brown, slightly curly hair.

IIRC her hair is always described as "dark".