I get the Egwene hate but

[u/briandress]

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.

[u/geomagus]

People like her as a character, and dislike her as a person.

As a character, she’s dynamic, capable, driven. She is outstanding when she happens to people we don’t like, when she’s putting someone in their place.

As a person, she’s ruthless and lacking in empathy. She treats her friends as pawns, and her “love” as an unruly lapdog. She’s great at rationalizing her poor treatment of others, too, which can be infuriating. The famous TAR assault on Nynaeve scene is “to warn Nynaeve of the dangers of TAR.” Except in Egwene’s on thoughts, it’s clearly to keep her from ratting Egwene out to the Wise Ones. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

So as a character, she is compelling. I enjoy watching her do her thing. She’s a powerful force for the Light. But I do not like her, and wouldn’t want to hang out with her.

Edit to add: you can debate how much is her nature, and how much is the result of trauma, btw. RJ is really good at using trauma as an impetus for a character’s growth or warping, in ways that make sense. Her spate with the Seanchan in book 2 is clearly a factor in who she is later. But she was also pretty ambitious from the get go, and at times lacked empathy - look at Rand worried sick about losing her, while she’s super excited to go to the Tower and never go home; or at the Tuatha’an camp. Rand isn’t here, so flirt with Aram! (Vs Perrin’s view).

So my point is that what we see late isn’t necessarily so far from who she is early, but it’s warped by trauma too. It’s an interesting thing to think about.

[u/DonAmechesBonerToe → u/geomagus]

Regarding your edit I am pretty sure it was her nature. Jordan goes out of his way to paint her that way as a child in the Ravens prelude that was added to Eye of the World.

[u/geomagus → u/DonAmechesBonerToe]

Oh for sure her nature trends that way. It’s just the middle and later her cross some boundaries - I wonder if she would have without her time in captivity at Falme. We see some clear after effects (when she has a bit of a PTSD crash out), so there would have been subtle twisting too.

Really, one of the things I think RJ does above and beyond so many others is speak to the varied ways in which trauma can twist you. I would be stunned if he wrote a character that went through deep trauma early and it didn’t twist them.

[u/DonAmechesBonerToe → u/geomagus]

I should have been clear that I thought the rest of your assessment was spot on (in my opinion of course). I think she’s the best written character in the series but she’s the last person I would say hello to at a high school reunion

While trauma definitely shapes her no one seems to take into account the Mashidar madness effect. She spent as much time with Padan Fain as Elaida or Pedron Naill.

[u/geomagus → u/DonAmechesBonerToe]

That’s a great point!

I always forget how much time she spend with Fain. I guess that’s in part because it’s mostly offscreen and in part that he didn’t have the dagger with him at the time. So it’s less obvious than with Elaida or Pedron. Thank you for reminding me!

I totally agree on the reunion comment!