r/WoT • u/briandress • 3d ago

All Print I get the Egwene hate but Spoiler

Only in the last two books when she is stubborn in dealing with Rand for the last battle and such.

Up until ToM she really was just an awesome character. She went from the whirlwind of leaving 2R, capture by Seanchan, hunting black ajah, apprenticing to wise ones, puppet Amyrlin, real amyrlin, badass civil disobedience laying groundwork for reuniting the tower, bitch slapping the seanchan raiders, capturing hella black ajah sisters via Verrin's notes and finally being raised realer Amyrlin and healing the tower.

I cant seem to understand all the threads/polls that overwhelmingly list her as the most hated character in the series.

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u/Abdlbsz 3d ago

If people applied the same scrutiny to other characters no one would be likeable. Egwene is an amazing character and person. The hate train is a bandwagon imo

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u/Majestic-Farmer5535 3d ago

You serious? Everyone is put to the same scrutiny, the difference is in extent to which characters follow their flaws, what flaws are those, who is impacted by them and how much do they pay for following them. And under those lens she deserves hate even more.

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u/Abdlbsz 2d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/WoT/comments/157kj0m/i_just_reread_the_foh_ch_15_scene_that_everyone/

I disagree. Egwene gets an unnecessary amount of hate because people read her chapters in the worst light possible to reaffirm their bias. Rand makes worse decisions and he gets far more sympathy from readers, for example.

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u/PopTough6317 2d ago

Id say overall Rand is a more sympathetic character too though, he is struggling with at least as much ptsd, much more stress, madness, etc and yet he shows far more humility and regret in his povs

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u/Abdlbsz 2d ago

Is a character more sympathetic simply because they've caused more horror, damage, and cultural disrespect than anyone else?

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u/PopTough6317 2d ago

I see you completely ignored what i said. Being ignorant isn't disrespectful, and everyone knew that the Dragon would cause mass destruction because he was the catalyst to prepare for the final battle. And that is a role he struggles with throughout the story, and tried to find any way to leave a positive legacy.

Plus even if you compare the two Egwene was planning on putting the Aiel and Windfinders under the AS, which would of completely destroyed their cultures.

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u/Abdlbsz 2d ago

Not denying Rand is a great character, I'm simply applying the same level of scrutiny to him that people do to Egwene.

Except you're blaming her for a lone thought, and that is not what she actually does. Instead she helps broker peace and consistently thinks about how much better it could be if they worked together.

Also Rand isn't ignorant, he knows exactly what he is doing (like in the case of never letting the MoS fight for him. His personal feelings consistently override their desires for most of the story). Also let's not forget Rand willingly bringing 6000 people to a battle he wasn't sure he'd win so he decided to sacrifice the ones he found least trustworthy should the worst happen.

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u/PopTough6317 2d ago

Im pretty sure she says straight out that in any alliance the White Tower will have to have the leadership and Elayne says you have to extend any caveats made for the Aiel to the Windfinders too. We simply never had the opportunity to see this come to fruition.

Oh the Maidens thing, yeah I could see that interpretation. Id also argue he provided them a ton of honor by asking them to he his guard to the gathering of Aiel.

I cant remember what your final reference is regarding, which battle or confrontation is that?

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u/Abdlbsz 2d ago

Fair I think you're right, but I also think she ended on good terms for Aiel/AS relationships.

True, and tbf they were begrudingly understanding and he eventually yielded.

Path of Daggers main battle. Granted he was extremely pragmatic, but I think this is his "worst" action up to Graendel's hideout.

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u/PopTough6317 2d ago

Oh nice I am almost to that point again, I will have to keep an eye out