The Ongoing Egwene Exploration

If I’m gonna kick the hive, I might as well cite the books and clarify my meaning.

I’m going to preface this with, while Egwene is not my personal favorite character that doesn’t make her a bad character, a bad person, etc. I do stand by my statement that I find her to be arrogant to the point of being dangerous, and her motivations at time are not as pure as she suggests from her own POV chapters, but ultimately she is who needed to be in the role she played, and she is a vital part of the series.

This is going to be a multiple parter, because I truly wish to be fair about my perceptions. The rest will probably be in September because I’m going to be away on a trip. But who knows I might get squirrelly.

Basically, I’m going to skim through the books and only review mentions of Egwene that give insight to her character/how she is perceived by those who personally know her or her own POV chapters.

As an aside, I would argue that unlikable female characters are important. More important than the Moiraine’s (who also had her fair share of arrogance), more important than the stern-yet-soft-hearted Nynaeve’s. They’re the most important in fiction because we so often don’t get to see them.

Female characters are forced to be likeable or be Amy Dunne. Even their grey areas are carefully negotiated so they aren’t written off as a bitch.

They don’t get to be heroes that you sincerely hope you never have to be stuck in an elevator with.

They don’t get the depth and variety because it makes people uncomfortable.

I find that annoying on a good day, on a bad day it makes me want to burn half my library. Modern writers have developed much more nuanced characters, and we’re beginning to see “new” types of female characters that really are just based on living, breathing, real people, but the backlash and fear of it is often there too.

It’s very easy for people to hate a female character. Just look at any popular series and go to reddit. If by some miracle there’s more than one female character in the main cast, chances are there are individuals complaining about her.

Hell, they’ll complain even if she’s the only female character.

(The phrase Mary Sue will appear often. If it does not make you want to boil with rage at the outright hypocrisy when compared with every mainstream male character I invite you to walk into the ocean.)

Lastly, before we begin, this is solely about Egwene. I can just as easily get into every single character in the series and how they also display negative characteristics but then we’re going to be here for ten years. I specifically said Egwene when I kicked the hive and I’m going to see how well my argument is supported by the source material.

So, Egwene.

Why does she get under my skin? How is she any more arrogant than the other characters in the series? What about her do I find troubling and ultimately dangerous? Am I biased because she was mean to my poor little meow meow trash son Gawyn?

Let us start with our first introduction to Egwene, through the eyes of a very, very smitten Rand. (To be fair, I would also be smitten. Just because I don’t particularly like her doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be half in love with her in ten minutes.) We know through later POV’s that Egwene has admitted that he is easy to manipulate so it is difficult not to allow that to color this transaction now, but let us try.

She begins by mimicking Nynaeve, a figure of authority, perhaps to see the effect it has. This is a trait she carries on throughout the series until she no longer needs to mimic and instead becomes the one who is mimicked.

But she soon shifts focus to staring at Rand, unsettling him because he has a crush the size of a solar system and it’s so obvious Perrin and Mat leave him to his fate. They flirt a little before Egwene reveals her now braided hair.

This is a very calculated move, and it feels planned, on her part. A test. But what is she testing?

Being a young, unmarried man in a small village that definitely pushes traditional values, Rand senses a trap here but it’s not what he’s expecting. I think this gives us a very key piece of information about Egwene early on. We think this is her Hint Hint moment, only for her to pull the rug out and mention not only does she want to become a Wisdom, a woman who seldom marries, but that she’ll likely have to travel to a different village in order to do so because Nynaeve isn’t going to retire any time soon. Egwene is telling us that she wants more.

Queue Belle song.

We also see some of her arrogance here. “She says I have a talent, that I can learn to listen to the wind. Nynaeve says not all Wisdoms can, even if they say they do.” When Rand fails to be suitably impressed, we get the very word used that I have mentioned already: dangerous.

Again, we’re seeing character traits I originally brought up: manipulative, arrogant, dangerous. She strikes me very much as the type of person who plans encounters in her head before they happen. That isn’t a bad thing - as the most socially anxious person ever I do this as well as a way to ease my anxiety and plan for everything I can think of - I am simply making an observation. This does not feel like a casual, unplanned conversation on Egwene’s part.

(Manipulative behavior in and of itself also isn’t inherently negative, most human interaction is based on it.)

Yet this moment isn’t Egwene gently letting Rand down either is it? Because Rand - puppy that he is - mentions he’d never see her again and she’s back to vaguely suggesting it’s not like he cares. Because we only see it from his perspective, it’s hard to know if she shuts down ultimately because the conversation didn’t go how she’d planned, or if her temper really did get the better of her.

Was she angry he didn’t demand they wed? That didn’t demand she not become a Wisdom? What was her ultimate goal here? Did she have one? Because of her age, I highly doubt Egwene is some crazy, master manipulator of Hannibal Lecter proportions. She’s not even on level 1 of that crazy train; I doubt she even knows where the station is. Not yet.

My perception here is she’s likely conflicted and confused about what she wants, and angry that Rand isn’t giving her anything to act on. He isn’t saying no, so she can’t dig her heels in. He isn’t offering to marry her so she can’t react to that either. He’s simply saying he’d never see her again, and what’s she to do with that? Egwene very much is a character who wants to act, and right now she has nothing to fuel her to action.

We do get the idea that Egwene is sensitive, perhaps overly so. Does she feel the limitations of the Two Rivers? How small their world is? Do their recent visitors make her feel equally small and therefore her fuse is shorter than normal?

I do want to mention here that I do not want to dismiss Egwene’s cleverness, or her own abilities when it comes to gleaning information from others. Yes, she’s eavesdropping in this moment, but even before she was reading Rand and the others like braille, which is a skill that should not be undervalued.

Overall, I think for our initial introduction to Egwene, she’s very much a baby version of the woman she will become, and the chapter meets my memory and expectation of what I was going to find. (I’ve re-read The Eye of the World more than any of the other books for a variety of reasons so it’s the one I remember the best.)

Not having reddit saved me from a shameless self promotion of my fic tonight

Been thinking about Mat Cauthon again, not an abnormal occurrence, but here’s an essay about him.

I have to cut this up because of the word limit, so here’s part 1

Part 1: How To Traumatize Your Comedic Relief

So like, Mat’s paranoia and trust issues stem entirely from the events of the first book regarding the Shadar Logoth dagger. But like- I wanna talk meta about Mat’s story and the concepts of loss of innocence, the evils of man, and fear of being powerless and how that relates to his character arc and relationships in the story. So let’s put aside the lore explanation of “evil dagger doing evil dagger things”

So when we first meet not just Mat, but all three Ta’veren boys there’s this element of childlike innocence to them. Despite the fact that all three are eighteen at the start of the series, Emmonds Field is so isolated, safe and peaceful that the boys are actively noted as being exceptionally naive to the outside world. They’re practically toddlers being left alone in a grocery store when they get separated from the actual experienced adults. This is a feature not a bug mind you, when it comes to having protagonists to introduce a world to an audience with. Not to mention that sets up all of the Emmonds Fields kids(this is specifically barring Nynaeve) to have a “Loss of Innocence” character arc, and they all do, but what’s interesting is how each character handles this loss and how long it takes for them to accept this reality. Mat is actually the first of them to really experience the effects of this loss of innocence, due to previously mentioned dagger problems, but let’s ignore the curse and talk about what exactly happened in Shadar Logoth that shook Mat’s worldview so badly. Mat does not start the story as the cynical and sarcastic character we all know and love, he’s introduced to us as being genuinely kindhearted and trusting, like I know it’s easy to forget given EVERYTHING Mat does in the later books, but of the three Ta’veren boys he’s the one who trusts Morraine the most in the beginning. He doesn’t question her motives nor does he seem to have any innate hostility towards her being Aes Sedai like Rand does(though his hostility stems from a place of jealousy and protectiveness of Egwene rather than genuine prejudice). The same goes for Thom as well, Mat doesn’t know anything about this person but he trusts these seemingly well intentioned adults intrinsically. The only person Mat seems to even have the slightest hesitation about is Lan and that’s solely because he’s aloof and doesn’t show much emotion, something that Mat finds extremely off-putting as the type of person who always has Big Feelings, and takes a lot of self esteem in his ability to make others laugh. This makes sense, because at this point they’ve not encountered any darkfriends(that they knew of) so currently the only Evil they encountered has been literal shadowspawn monsters. The Emmonds Field kids have never met a person who had genuinely bad intentions, I’ll-tempered like Cenn Buie, or a bit disreputable like the Coplins and Congars but even these people were at their cores Good People. So why WOULD they distrust these people who say they have their best interests at heart. That’s when we get to Shadar Logoth, and Mat as the ADHD icon he is, immediately gets bored and wants to explore the abandoned city. Rand and Perrin, as the two more mature ones both rightfully call this a bad idea since they were told NOT to go exploring by themselves, but Mat only heard “Trolloks can’t come in here so it’s safe” and nothing else so he decides to go anyways. Rand and Perrin tag along mostly to make sure Mat doesn’t get hurt. And who do they meet except the most suspicious man ever who lures them into his white van- I mean treasure room with the promise of candy-I mean treasure. These boys have never heard of stranger danger in there lives and automatically trust this random man who lurks in alleyways. And wouldn’t you know it, but this guy was not trustworthy at all and tries to kill them resulting in the group getting separated.

Here’s the thing, this is the first time in Mat’s life that he’s ever experienced true man made evil. This wasn’t the dark ones doing, Mordreth was just a guy who had genuinely malicious intentions and took advantage of Mat and his friends. This alone is enough to make him cautious but then throughout their entire road trip to Camlyn they are constantly ambushed by dark friends, in fact after Whitebridge they don’t get any direct encounters with Shadowspawn, they see a few myrrdraal hunting them but they avoid them pretty easily, it’s the People that consistently hurt them; and they are EVERYWHERE. Darkfriends are practically popping up at every street corner and they could be literally anyone. Mat tells Rand at one point that he feels like everyone is out to get them and Rand assures him that not everyone is a darkfriend, but at the same time, I can SEE why Mat would come to that conclusion. I mean is it really paranoia if they actually are out to get you? It wasn’t even just darkfriends, which makes it’s objectively worse, throughout their road-trip May and Rand are constantly met with people who are selfish, greedy, rude and sometimes even outright cruel and a lot of them weren’t darkfriends. They interact with Whitecloaks who are supposed to be righteous and good but are just bullies in shiny armor and carrying around swords. They interact with merchants on the road who take active pleasure in nearly taking out Rand’s eye with whip because the two of them walked a little too close to a cart. An innkeeper who purposefully locked them in a small storage closet so that he could rob them in the middle of the night. Rand remains optimistic but by the time they reach Camlyn Mat had become completely pessimistic and despondent. He didn’t trust anyone, he believed wholeheartedly that everyone wanted to hurt him, everyone except of course Rand.

spoilers for ep7 below the cut, beware that I discuss power balances, abuse and assault with book spoilers. I mostly discuss siuan, moiraine, rand, lan and elaida.

sooo much discourse about siuan and it’s personally very disturbing that people think it’s alright for the show to radically deviate from her established characterisation* (1. which is specifically, purposefully IN CONTRAST to elaida in the books 2. violates its own canon about siuan trusting Dreams, foretellings and prophecies wrt to the dragon more fervently than moiraine herself) or that she was reaping the consequences of her actions when she was deposed in tsr, ignoring how siuan isn’t unique in keeping secrets as an aes sedai or how gawyn and galad are intentionally treated like spoiled, privileged children who think they’re cleverer than they really are when they act without considering the consequences of their actions or how the books frame the whole sequence as a tragedy of errors on all sides. I’m pretty sure @/amemoryofwot made the breakdown on the black ajah to non black ajah sisters in the hall and it was very revelatory about the exact significance of the stakes set up against siuan. I also think it’s important to not ignore the gender dimension involved in the way people approach rand and mat as opposed to moiraine or egwene or siuan - male characters are always better tolerated when they make morally questionable choices while women are systemically taken apart and derided for being foolish.

that said. it’s very telling that the show is solely interested in moiraine almost to a fault; we’ve had 5 different expositions with significant screentime about moiraine pushing people away from alanna, anvaere and verin - and at some point it just becomes very bad writing. viewers are not juvenile. they don’t need to be rapped over the head over a concept that the show catches and chooses to explore.

this analysis segues into another conversation that we should be having - I do understand that framing lan and siuan in context of their relationships to moiraine as the protagonist of the series is inevitable, smart writing. but after laying the foundation for their characters in s1 and establishing their motivations there was absolutely no need to continue to frame them in context of their relationship to moiraine almost to the exclusion of all other facets of their characterisations. liandrin was clearly afforded a lot more generous writing and screentime and it’s a Problem and also very bad writing when an antagonist is afforded more screentime than your ACTUAL PROTAGONISTS. some of these writing choices are really racist, period.

with regards to discussions about assault and abuse in this episode I will say this once, and only once:

moiraine transferring lan’s bond to myrelle in the books was an act of desperation undertaken only because lan’s life was at stake. moiraine ACTUALLY asking alanna to forcibly take lan’s bond is akin to threatening him with assault. it’s bad writing meant to make her seem a lot more colder to justify the intervention that we see later on. lan offering an apology to moiraine at the end of the episode without any apology in turn displays the writers’ sheer lack of sensitivity in handling the whole conversation.

the show using the oath rod flippantly is another angle that really boils my blood because it clearly would’ve enabled worser amyrlins to exercise power with impunity. ELAIDA was famously the amyrlin who wanted to extract oaths of allegiance from her sisters.

ELAIDA was also famously the amyrlin who gave orders to have rand transported to the tower so that she could use him as a weapon and deny him any agency. the tower *has* no rules for dealing with the dragon in the books and the show chose to manufacture it to no real benefit except awkward, badly executed conflict. siuan and moiraine may have often attempted to control rand in the books - and they were at least partly right sometimes because they had more worldly knowledge and experience than he did - but it’s important to the story that they choose not to deny him his agency and give him plenty of leeway and that elaida specifically thinks of him only as a tool. rand also being physically restrained by the shielding weave and possibly sleeping in that position uncomfortably reminds me of the box sequence in lord of chaos.

siuan compelling moiraine to follow her orders, as a partner she’s been intimate with, is akin to assault. rosamund pike made very specific acting choices that are jarring and difficult to ignore. moiraine gave that oath to siuan in 1x06 implicitly trusting her with her bodily and psychological wellbeing and siuan specifically chooses to violate it. it’s a step away from using the weave for compulsion (which is explicitly also stated as being forbidden btw!)

rand’s scenes when he’s shielded by siuan being juxtaposed against egwene’s scenes with renna was a very bad choice and the editing was so fucking awkward. if the choice was intentionally meant to generate conversations about autonomy it was a very bad one to make.

you know what the kicker is? lan’s exposition to nynaeve about the damane deserving to be free in WH (or was it CoT or KoD? I don’t remember very well) because it was every human’s right despite the harm that they might be capable of causing explicitly positions ELAIDA as a bad person. what does it say about siuan after this episode? any person able to wilfully participate in taking away another person’s autonomy is not a good person, full stop.

theories about siuan being under compulsion (by liandrin) are. fine. it doesn’t explain the showrunners basically speaking from moiraine’s perspective of the tragic turn that the romance took or ignorantly comparing it to the kind of assault ishamael performed on moiraine without any selfawareness or the disconnect in liandrin apparently trying to get rand back in the tower because lanfear and ishamael clearly want him in falme but whatever (unless speculation that another forsaken is free is true). I won’t dismiss it right now, but I don’t think they’re correct. there’s enough clues in the show to make it a plausible theory, but not necessarily a probable one - and it doesn’t explain siuan’s faith in her judgement about treating rand like weapon earlier in the episode.

I’m just…. lol. exasperated. I’m indifferent to her but there’s a very obvious sense of people condemning tuon for being a horrible person in the fandom - and like yeah she IS a horrible person but that���s still textually acknowledged. what is also textually acknowledged is the difficult process involved in deprograming people. when your show can’t understand the textbook definition of assault I’m a lot more unlikely to trust the showrunners actually!

*characters like ishamael, lanfear and min obviously needed overhauling because they were very badly done but their fundamental, core characterisations and motives still remain intact so they work. siuan and lan aren’t even afforded the grace of well-considered changes to their characterisations.

I've seen so many comments re Rand "he didn't do anything the entire season, He was just dragged around by other people the entire season, he's not even a character in the show, he's a plot device, he was just an observer in his own story" and I feel like I watched an entire different show than those people. Like even with the being dragged around by other people argument he's still actively making his own decisions this season whether that's getting information from Logain and learning some things from him, the cat and mouse game he has going on with Lanfear, etc.

i've seen a bunch of comments like that too and am equally baffled! just because he isn't yet a Channeling Master doesn't mean he did nothing all season and is a plot device rather than a character? lmao, i'd argue that if the show had focused on making him blow stuff up with the power or win swordfights against blademasters despite no training rather than on exploring who he is as a person and how the specifics of his personality affect him and the other characters and the story, THAT would be making him a plot device rather than a character!

rand's entire storyline this season centered around who he is as a person: someone who will do anything to protect the people he loves. moiraine had to seek him out because of this specific aspect of his character. lanfear and ishamael used this specific aspect of his character to manipulate him. he went to falme and got publicly declared TDR because of this specific aspect of his character. so many plot points would not have happened if not for this specific aspect of rand's character. that means he is a fleshed-out character who drives the story and makes things happen, regardless of how often he gets trapped or tricked or shielded or how often he needs help to get out of situations.

and like, yes, he IS largely being bossed around by other characters at this early stage...............which is the point! he is the most powerful and dangerous figure in the world, and he doesn't yet know how to use that power, but everyone around him sure does have plenty of ideas of how THEY want to use his power! moiraine's trying to drag him in one direction, lanfear in another, ishamael in a third, the tower in a fourth, etc etc. that's The Point of this early stage of rand's arc and something that is thematically huge for him throughout the series, and book readers should know this. i can give show-onlys who don't yet know the full trajectory of his arc more leeway, but even then it's pretty obvious that all our young heroes are in the process of growing into their roles and figuring out how to be independent and that they're still EARLY in that process, and that as the story goes on we will see them take charge of their own destinies more and more.

and like you say, rand absolutely IS making his own decisions this season! he's getting dragged around by people and factions who are as of right now stronger than him, but that doesn't make him a cardboard cutout who doesn't affect the story. half the stuff in this season was caused by HIS decision to wander off alone and let everyone think he was dead! he got a whole-ass job and worked his way up the ranks all on his own, all because he was motivated to get to logain to ask for channeling help! he's trying to take control of the lanfear situation, and sure she's usually out-manipulating him seeing as she has 3000 years of experience at her disposal compared to his 21, but he's also very aware of the leverage HE has over HER and has been taking advantage of it! HE was the reason they all went to falme, it wasn't moiraine forcing him to go, HE wanted to go on his own to help egwene! even if lanfear pulled strings by making him aware of egwene's situation in the first place, it was still HIS decision!

Could Wheel of Time characters survive Castle Dracula? (I saw the could your fave survive Castle Dracula vlog and submitted Mat then decided wait I want to do this myself). Also we're ignoring the ability to just portal yourself away for the purpose of this.

Rand: I mean yeah 100%, if it's late game he has sheer overwhelming firepower on top of having diagetic plot armor. Early game his plot armor and farm boy earnestness would probably carry him through (would take the crucifix, doesn't need to shave apparently, would explore, would survive the girlies if only by having Dracula show up at the right time, would choose to stay rather than face the wolves, could survive the climb down (see Shadar Logoth, the Caemlyn Palace, general ta'averen stuff). This is basically a matter of how far has he progressed in becoming a war machine as to whether Dracula gets incinerated or not.

Mat: Early game (pre-dagger healing) absolutely not, he's too paranoid, Dracula would eat him day 1. Post dagger healing, and especially post Rhuidean, yeah he survives. He'll take the crucifix (bitchily), play Scheherezade (bitchily), survive the girlies (bitchily) if only because of luck, would continue to play to his outs and choose not to face the wolves, and I do not believe a cliff would kill him.

Perrin: oh this one's funny. Perrin survives, but that's because he's a wolf and Dracula just goes 'sweet, free minion' and mind controls him.

Nynaeve: One way or another, yes. Her whole thing is pulling bullshit out of her ass whenever she's in a situation that should be all rights get her killed. She's arguably more ta'averen then the ta'averen when it comes to surviving near death experiences. She tugs her braid at Dracula when the crying baby shows up, gets furious, and evaporates them with her mind. Or Lan shows up for no reason. Or if it's late game Nynaeve she decides to learn to fix vampirism and just does it.

Egwene: at no point in the series would Egwene survive Castle Dracula except possibly through overwhelming firepower. Her go to method of surviving imprisonment is to out stubborn them, which works because the people who capture her want her alive. Dracula does not care. She would not give him what he wants reaction wise so she dies.

Moraine: 50/50, but if she survives it's through killing Dracula. She's too competent, even if she tries to play along and appease it'd be too obviously practiced and Dracula would go for the throat. It depends how much she knows about what she's walking into and whether her standard precautions see her through long enough to figure it out.

Lan: Lan dies. He's a badass but he's still human and his points are optimized for combat not social combat.

Thom Merrilin: This is actually the toughest call I have. He's specifically a spy/actor/assassin so I guess it depends on how good he is at dissembling. However, he also is very good at mysteriously surviving off screen events so. Jury is out

Elayne: Dies. She's not making it out of this one. She's not even got the same level of brute force Egwene gets to save herself.

Aviendha: probably dies, but I think she has a chance to fight her way free either through Dracula and the girlies or through the wolves.

Bonus Min: gets vampirized and is now Dracula's personal seer.

If there is something that sits badly with me in regards to WOT s2 so far it's how they've cut out Siuan's presence. I would like to believe it was a choice forced by Sophie Okonedo's other commitments, but it's a problem that could have been solved by making her a series regular instead of a guest star. (maybe they tried and it wasn't viable, I guess we'll never know).

Because if they've reassigned Siuan-centric book scenes as a conscious choice that is... troubling to say the least. Firstly because a pivotal character interpreted by a POC actress is (again) sidelined/reduced in importance to prop up other (white) characters, and secondly because it guts into the narrative arcs that'll come into play later on in the adaption.

Siuan sending the girls to hunt the Black Ajah? How do you get to that point when she has shared maybe 2 minutes of screen time all told with them? The coup? Not as dramatic when the Amyrlin has barely been introduced. Siuan's role in Salidar as Egwene's mentor and her struggle to adapt to being stilled? Would they spend any time on that when they're already exploring the same struggle with Moiraine?

And even just thinking in s2 terms: what the heck is Siuan doing away from the Tower? Why would she leave Leane behind? My guess is that they're trying to somewhat mirror Siuan's visit to the Borderlands at the start of TGH but she's going to go to Cairhien. Why though? Because of the Horn? Because Moiraine sent her a note about Rand being there? (at least from trailers this seems a plausible explanation.) The show is doing a really bad job explaining any of it, though, and while I understand them wanting to preserve mystery, I also wonder if show only fans feel maybe a little lost?

TGH and TDR were the books that cemented Siuan not just as "the Aes Sedai boss" but a MAJOR player in the story. And with a lot (most?) of her scenes being given to other characters I am afraid her impact on the whole narrative will be greatly reduced.

while it’s important that rj understood how prolonged exposure to trauma would mess with you psychologically on various axes - mental, emotional, spiritual, physical - it’s also very significant that he put in the work to question and explore how people could go about healing and recovering from their experiences with a realistic attitude.

sometimes they don’t heal - they don’t understand that they need healing, dismiss their instincts, or manage to bury all the complicated emotions they’re feeling. it’s seen when mat suffers from a severe case of survivor’s guilt whenever he survives a battle, and this is observed more obviously when he escapes from ebou dar without managing to save all the windfinders; he also doesn’t have the vocabulary to express why the abuse he suffers at tylin’s hands feels wrong, and his cultural background and his tendency to lie to himself prevents him from examining why this is the case. rand is simply incapable of dealing with the sheer physical, mental and emotional stress he’s subjected to without a support system to back him up - support that he’s specifically unwilling to ask for because he doesn’t want to be put in a position of vulnerability just like mat and has a very unique relationship with the level of autonomy he’s afforded and the abuse he may be subjected to as a result of his madness - and resorts to unhealthy coping mechanisms and internalises traits that also serve as an allegory for ideologies that toxic masculinity directly feeds off of; he reacts to aes sedai very badly although he eventually unlearns that instinct; he’s extremely suicidal, and lews therin works as an indirect metaphor for depression. egwene feels the need to be in a position of power whenever approaching a certain relationship (be it romantic, platonic or otherwise) after her time as a damane, and is often uncomfortable with setting down her guard unless she trusts the people she’s working with; rj has a very complicated track with his depiction of corporal punishment but he also touches on how it enables people in power to take advantage of it to abuse the people under their control through egwene’s arc. rand specifically laments how the sort of stigma and alienation that male channelers face will never really go away because of the fear ingrained into popular belief, and that’s also a very accurate depiction of how certain mental illnesses are received by society.

but rj puts in the extra work to explore how people who have access to support systems and are on the receiving end of patience and compassion are able to get on the path to recovery. he has nynaeve & co deal with the problem of deprogramming egeanin, the sul’dam and damane who’re thoroughly brainwashed by the seanchan. juilin is able to help amathera recover by being very sympathetic to her situation and protecting her from difficult situations that could trigger her ptsd. rj specifically spends a significant amount of time letting joline, teslyn and edesina slowly encourage the seanchan channelers to entertain the idea of their ability not being a curse and to even train to control it at the white tower. the maidens are able to get a read on rand’s discomfort with the dark and small spaces post dumai’s wells and are kind enough to always leave a light on in the dark for him; they also push rand to take his meals and care for himself. the asha’man are explicitly recognised as a group which needs to unlearn some of the toxic ideas encoded in the founding principles that rand introduced. rand himself is recognised to be in dire need of help again in the latter half of the series, although we never got to see the culmination of that arc, unfortunately* - but I have a theory that his arc as a hero is tied very closely to his ability to recover from the various traumas he’s subjected to.

wheel of time takes a very realistic stance on mental health and ptsd. more significantly, it recognises that trauma might not necessarily bring about a positive transformation in a person. and that’s okay.

*cadsuane’s arrival is the only one I can’t get a clear read on, and feels so obviously doomed to disaster from the very beginning given how her personality clashes with rand’s and with her introduction with the intent of controlling rand and never respecting his opinions or autonomy - but given how she’s criticised by the narrative, I’m inclined to believe that min’s reading might have potentially been fulfilled in a bittersweet way as her readings often are. if rand learned how to embrace his humanity again, I can’t imagine that she would have ever had a part to play in it that involved compassion or understanding.

Season 2, Episode 4 Liveblog

Teaser:

Selene is so sanguine about her entire livelihood going up in smoke! It’s almost like this has happened before

Werewolf Perrin rumors have been crushed!

The problem with the Forsaken Ski Chalet is that there’s a Myrdraal infestation in the basement

It is a personal insult that the subtitles just say [chanting] when Ishy is clearly dialing up Lanfear (also if anyone can overwrite the audio for this scene with the dial-up modem sound I want to see the clip)

DARK PROPHECY IS A GO

Awww she’s an amateur artist

Dollars to donuts that ‘older sister’ is an Aes Sedai

It has to be so painful coming back home

Selene is so sanguine about her entire livelihood going up in smoke! It’s almost like this has happened before

How long, Selene? Exactly how long has it been?

I’m gonna need fanart/fanfic of the Forsaken Ski Chalet up near Kinslayer’s Dagger

Awwwwwwwwwww

The Accepted sleeves look AWESOME I know I keep saying that but it’s true! They’re little embroidered ombre flames

Alanna is like ‘I don’t do therapy, I only do sex advice’

Hmmmmm, that doesn’t sound like stilling aftermath, another point in favor of ‘shielded’

It’s good that they are namedropping Cads this early; she came out of nowhere in the books.

DARK, Alanna. Also I bet I know what that change in Moiraine was; the timeframe is right for it to be when Gitara died & she got her quest.

Moiraine is on the case!

Ooooooooooooh this is going to be FUN

DAMN so that’s why she wanted that specific red wine. This feels very on par with the books- Moiraine a step behind but trying desperately to stay in the loop and get Rand what she thinks he needs

Moiraine, damn

Yeah, no point letting him destroy himself until all value has been extracted from him :/

Elayne like ‘she’s been promoted’ lmao she would think it was just that

Oh Egwene, you have not even begun to feel like shit

Ooooh someone gave Liandrin her marching orders

FORESHADOWING

Awww it’s Hopper! Hi Hopper

Werewolf Perrin rumors have been crushed! It’s ok he is a werewolf in my heart, the way Rand is a ghost in my heart and Mat is a vampire in my heart. And by ‘in my heart’ I mean ‘in the subtext’

Huh, interesting thing with the visions

Perrin like ‘excuse me, why did I not get an instruction manual and personal tutoring, this is a shitty apprenticeship so far’

None of the Tower’s fucking business honestly (this is also why info about the Power doesn’t get shared but whatever)

Lmao Selene you lie about more than that

Her face when Rand says ‘you’d be surprised’ lmao, that’s a Lanfear Face (TM)

Oh honey you haven’t even broken the world yet

“[dice rattling]” IT’S MY BOY!!!

Is Min gonna have Mat kidnapped by the Seanchan and taken to Falme? I am INTRIGUED

I’m glad the show explores the rift in families created by the long lives of Aes Sedai

Liandrin says ‘Rescue mission! You love a rescue mission!’

Alanna does not like Dark Prophecies written in blood, I guess?

Ooooh there’s that Damodred spirit (political maneuvering)

“This is my room.” - Elayne

“didn’t ask, don’t care” - Nyneave

Egwene no no no you already have enough trauma you don’t need to go to Falme

Uh oh, always a bad sign when Ishy shows up in your dreams (I love that the non-ta’veren are getting Ishy dreams!) also at this point it should be obv to everyone that Liandrin is bad news bears, even if you missed the lying

Oooooh interesting, what IS In Cairhein?

The problem with the Forsaken Ski Chalet is that there’s a Myrdraal infestation in the basement

Lmao like she didn’t know

Selene doesn’t know anything about being seen as a monster, nope

Oh ok that bit about her soul is great

Rand is vanilla

What the hell

Wow that is the most awkward thing I can imagine happening between Rand and Moiraine, you’re gonna give him a complex about… killing… women… I see

I cannot wait to see Lanfear do some horror movie shit

YEAH

AVI NEXT EP!!!

The Ongoing Egwene Exploration part 2

I pulled the time to do this out of a hat because I was enjoying the adventure and also wanted to read the whole book in one sitting and it was ruining my week.

Part 1 can be found here.

Let’s do this!

While this chapter picks up directly where the last ended, it felt like enough of an “end scene” sort of moment to separate this encounter into an individual observation post. We’ve officially been introduced to Thom, and with this introduction we get to see a bit more about Egwene and how she reacts to others.

She starts off excited - they all are! It’s been a hard winter and a gleeman is sort of the indie-band-entertainment-of-the-year in their village. I like that we have this pocket of a moment, which ends all too quickly, because it shows despite everything else that Egwene is still young. She’s excited about Bel Tine, about the fireworks and dancing around the maypole. Oh Egwene.

But she isn’t excited for long, not once Thom gets going. He immediately jumps into a tirade, inadvertently insulting Egwene’s father,  the neighboring villages that might one day be her people if she becomes a Wisdom, and, worst of all, Nynaeve. Because yes, Thom The Silverest Tongue To Ever Silver is guilty of foot-in-mouth syndrome on occasion.

I’m not sure if I find that encouraging or not, given my own penchant for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Honestly, I very much would have been more than a touch annoyed with him myself. Egwene’s feelings are absolutely justified. Given that she at least knows Fain, that’s more or less the last straw - she’s many things, but cowardly has never been one of them. She’s not going to stand there and listen to Thom disparage anyone else without making it clear she’s not a receptive audience. (In addition to being brave, she’s also very loyal when she can afford to be.)

Good for her.

This next bit feels a bit fumbled. Thom is obviously trying to smooth any ruffled feathers, the boys snicker a bit, but it’s not really clear why. Are they waiting for Egwene to lay into Thom? Or do they think that his flattery is absurd? It remains a bit murky, though I gather we’re supposed to understand that the boys are laughing at the idea of Egwene being pretty and she’s mad about that.

Whatever the case, Egwene is offended and politely accepts the offer.

The conversation moves on but we get another flash of insight - unlike the boys, Egwene is not superstitious. Perhaps because of her mentor, Nynaeve, but perhaps she was always a bit skeptical? It makes me wonder what sort of little adventures she’s gone on, given what the boys have admitted to. Has she tested the strength of her own resolve just yet? Or is she building up to it?

It does embarrass her though, either because she was suppose to mind her tongue about whatever Nynaeve told her or because she knows her dismissiveness would be frowned on in their village. Censure is a powerful tool.

Again, Egwene displays an innate ability to read people and to understand their motivations - she knows Thom is being a dick, but she also feels guilty about calling it out because clearly the three boys haven’t clocked it yet.

More flashes of delight, the mood shifts so quickly. I sort of forgot that. They are all just so bloody young :( Now I’m sad again. She might be playing at being a Wisdom for now, at being an adult with a braid and everything, but Egwene still has her favorite stories, and Rand knows these aren’t those kinds of stories. Another subtle manipulation tactic, perhaps? Rand does think she’s done it intentionally to rattle him, perhaps in retribution for not agreeing she was the prettiest girl in the village. We can’t really say.

We’ve learned she favors comedies though, and, rather on the nose for Egwene “stories about women outwitting people who were supposed to be smarter than everyone else” - can you see my surprised face?

We end this encounter with Egwene on an interesting note - torn between Rand and Nynaeve, who represents a different path, a different future. That something more that Egwene wants in her life.

Egwene follows Nynaeve.

Some thoughts:

The Wheel of Time is a piece of literature and it’s okay for people to interpret things in different ways or have the text resonant differently for you than another fan. And that even if you find some interpretations/ships/character arcs that people are interested in distasteful, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are right and the other person is wrong, and vice versa.

Sure, some opinions might be based more in canon than others, but RJ was an author that was deliberate in leaving room for ambiguity, misunderstanding, and critique in his characters, relationships, plots, and cultures. He also was creating a framework of the world in WoT that might have not completely reflected his own beliefs but rather an attempt to create an interesting world and power system. Canon should of course be the stable foundation of any fandom and it’s important to remember what is canon and what is not. But is also important to remember that canon can be interpreted or critiqued in many different ways.

If someone is not actively taking a bad faith approach to the text (ex: blatantly misogynistic takes on Egwene, Elayne), I feel like we have to allow multiple interpretations of the text because two contradictory views can be true at once, especially in a work as complex as the WoT.

Some examples:

- RJ’s tendency to pair women characters up with a heterosexual partner by the end of the series can be critiqued for being misogynistic. However you could argue that he was trying to fit the theme of balance between genders. You can also find a particular ship out of these pairings interesting and want to explore it more through analysis or fic. ALL three of these things can be true. You can also not agree with some or any or all of these points without completely invalidating that other fans see it this way.

- Some fans find polyamory representation they relate to in Rand having three girlfriends/wives. Other fans critique it as a misogynistic trope. Both interpretations can be valid.

- Similarly, in different wot fandom spheres Elayne and her relationships are seen different ways. Some fans insist she’s straight, some that she’s bisexual, and others that she is a lesbian who experienced compulsory heterosexuality in her relationship with Rand. These fans all have their own reasons (namely, in order: her only canon relationship is with Rand; her first sister bond and relationship with Aviendha can be interpreted as romantic in addition to her relationship with Rand; and some find the difference in chapters/care/detail that RJ gave Elayne and Avi’s relationship compared to hers with Rand to be a compelling argument for comphet). The text and a healthy fandom allows for all of these interpretations, even if you may personally disagree with some of them.

In short, consensus in fandom is great, but allowing for differing opinions and healthy dissent is better, especially with a text as rich as the Wheel of Time.

Finished book 5! I’m starting to understand that these aren’t really books about magic, but more books about a literal fight against evil. Which is totally fine, I just have to adjust my expectations! We don’t see Rand learning to channel because it doesn’t actually matter *how* he channels, just what he can do with it - and primarily how he can fight with it. All three male main characters are born to be battle experts in one way or another, and there is no male main character so far who shows value in a way that isn’t physical fighting - Thom Merrilin is the closest if he counts as a main character, and even he fights. (There is certainly no man in this book (at least so far) to present an alternative version of masculinity like we get from the hobbits in LOTR.) I hope the show continues to explore the magic side that I find really interesting, and to give us greater interiority of male characters - so far they’ve done this with a great job building out Lan, imo.

This book was definitely my favorite so far. I loved getting to see emotional growth from Egwene and Nynaeve, and overall I’ve gotten used to the somewhat dramatic character turns all the main characters took between book 3 and book 4 so can just enjoy them as these versions of themselves as we move forward. I’m going to miss Moiraine, but the Merlin character always has to go away so the hero can come into his own, so I’ll survive without her.

But I still am really struggling with the prevalence of the gendered issues. How women are supposedly the ones in power in this world, yet everyone hates the ~scary, evil, cold, mistrustful~ women who can channel. How women are portrayed as sexual objects for men who are constantly thinking about how to turn men on with their clothes and can be sexually humiliated through immodesty - we couldn’t dare subvert *that* reality. In Jordan’s eyes women as objects of desire for men seems as “inherent” to human nature as men *always* being stronger than women just by nature of being male - which I also hate 😭 And Rand having to make himself “hard” to deal with the deaths of women (any woman!) but not men is a bit depressing. Men are people too?! And women aren’t a monolith, so I don’t like the idea that every woman is a stand-in for Ilyena? Idk.

Ep7 Siuan Changes

I'm going to preface this by mentioning this is going to be full book spoilers. Also, while this may read as a defense, it's less of that and more of an exploration of the changes made and what avenues that they open up going forward in a way to internalize what happened in the show and to look for silver linings. I'm not really SOLD on the big change here. But so far the show has shown that they're usually thinking ahead on these changes so I'll just have to wait and see. Book spoilers here on.

Part The First - This episode was bigly about making the hard choices you think are right. Anvaere does it with Barthanes, talks about how that's Moiraine operates. And nothing Siuan says is incorrect. Moiraine absolutely failed in her part. And instead of changing tack (sailing metaphor), or at least telling Siuan so they can come up with someone else to take her place, she hid that knowledge and tried to go it alone. Part Deux - Character Involvement. The books in general, and this show especially, is being driven by our attachment to the characters. Later on in the series, when Siuan is helping Egwene become the Amyrlin, she mentions her failings. How she just ran roughshod over people. By doing things the way they did in the show, it's a lot more direct. When (if) she says something like that in the show, we're going to remember that scene specifically because of how much it impacts Moiraine and Siuan as people. Number Three - In the books, the tower coup comes as a surprise. That seemed a very extreme reaction. In the show, it'll be easier to show exactly how it goes down. She even spells it out. "Tower law says we cage the Dragon Reborn". Well, she failed. Now the Coup is going to be a direct result of stuff we saw on screen. Gone Too Far Four - To me, the tower split was very much set up as a good guy/bad guy split. The deposing of Siuan happened under circumstances that went against tower rules in the vote to remove her, and so everyone who stayed is already compromised. Weather out of fear, or a feeling that a whole tower is more important in these times, every Aes Sedai who stayed compromised themselves. How they all deal with those feelings and whatever self deceptions they use, happens a lot in their heads. Which is harder to do on a TV show. This way, it's clear. Now when the split happens, they can do it along the lines of "While Siuan was deposed legally, we really don't think a Red should be Amyrlin just right now, she is definitely going to fuck this up". Which is a lot easier to explain on screen and paint a group with a wide brush. 4.5 - Very similar to 4 but in a legally distinct manner, once the tower is healed, in the books, a big part of bringing them together is Egwene making the rebels apologize for rebelling. Which always seemed like a weird cop out to me. In the books, as I mentioned, the split seemed very much a goodguy/badguy split. And this solution is just some posturing that seemed very centrist in a "Doesn't acknowledge the actual problem but makes a bunch of people feel better" kind of way. By making it an idealogical split, the rebels actually would be rebels. So this scene would play off better.

Five - A part of Siuan's later story is her coming to grips with her failure. And while, yes it is true the captain of a ship that mutinies is 100% responsible for that mutiny, we never really see the lead up to it in the books. Now, we're there with her as she does it. Should she have trusted Moiraine like she had almost her whole life? Should she have remembered how to embrace Saidar and realized she can't force the water? (In this part i'm pretty sure it's no accident that she compares Rand to the Water that Turns the Wheel). These are things we'll be seeing her wrestle with in the future. Maybe.

wot rewatch 1x3: a place of safety

Onto episode three, where we get to have some new dynamics and some relationship building for the future.

spoilers for the first season and the new s2 teaser scene that we got and for book spoilers... through The Dragon Reborn due to an identity reveal, I guess.

Nynaeve! I think it was a really good idea for the show to make sure to show us that Nynaeve was still alive at the end of episode two rather than trying to draw it out any further.

We do get some useful info here. We see the Trolloc's willingness to kill their own. We get to see Nynaeve being both brave and clever in how she dispatches the Trolloc. And then she tracks down Lan & Moiraine afterwards. We get shown on screen how impressive Nynaeve is.

Lan is also very impressed by Nynaeve, even so that he's very honest with her here. And he also needs her help, of course.

I'm going to be watching for our mirrors and parallels between Rand and Egwene while they're separated.

Rand is still calling out for Egwene and Perrin, and Mat is the one thinking clearly - he reassures Rand that they'll find the others but that they need to keep themselves alive first.

Mat wants to go home, but Rand is now picking up the responsibility baton, both to protect their home and because he knows Egwene will want to continue to the White Tower. I love Rand and Mat's banter in this episode a lot.

Perrin and Egwene are being followed (by wolves) and make a fire - Perrin tries with a flint but Egwene succeeds with the Power. Perrin takes her using the Power pretty well -- I do wonder if he jumps on board the "Egwene is the Dragon Reborn" train here.

Now they get to have their parallel discussion about what to do next. Rand knew Egwene would continue to the White Tower but Egwene thinks that Rand will go home. Perrin says that they won't, and he's right. Rand wants to go home -- Egwene's correct there -- but both responsibility and wanting to reunite with Egwene and Perrin prevents him from turning back even though Mat was on the side of "let's go home".

But that gap between Egwene and Rand loving each vs maybe not always knowing each other is something that continues from the first episode. They know parts of each other but they both also have gaps of knowledge - Rand makes assumptions about Egwene in episode 1 because he doesn't know about her offer from Nynaeve and Egwene makes assumptions here because she doesn't know that Rand has reason to believe that he's the Dragon Reborn. Rand accepting being the Dragon Reborn means accepting that he "can't go home", which is a big thing that he struggles with over the season but deflects onto first Egwene and then Mat once it starts looking like Mat might be the Dragon (exhibiting the 'signs' that Thom told him about).

Lan is developing a big crush and Nynaeve has no clue. <3 also I like Nynaeve's little healer's kit. We get some hints about the Warder bond here but we'll be getting much more next episode.

The set-up of the give-and-take between the three pairs being explored in this episode is a lot of fun.

Perrin's dream... Ishy trying to suss out if Perrin is The One, I assume. I wonder if he was trying to trigger Perrin into a memory of "his" past life and guilt over his dead wife. Which isn't going to work because it isn't his past life, of course. But it does make me wonder if he thought Perrin was TDR. We know from the finale that he appeared to be genuinely surprised it was Rand until they got a bit of quality time alone.

So Perrin and Egwene start out having a rougher and scarier journey -- howling wind, howling wolves, and being chased. While Mat and Rand appear to have found a touch of luck by running across a town. But the town is not a genuine "place of safety" while the wolves are actually doing their best to help out and lead Perrin to people who can help him.

Thom's coat does have colorful patches on the inside. I do understand why they toned Thom down, for sure. I wonder who wrote this song - given the subject matter. But we know why Thom would feel so sympathetic to Lews Therin.

Dana was such a great introduction to Darkfriends. It really feels like the show put a lot of thought into why someone would decide to become a Darkfriend and are putting it into practice early on. Lots of thought into all the various world philosophies that we've seen so far.

Go to a slighter large village than the one you grew up in, immediately get pickpocketed. No safety here for Rand and Mat. And poor Rand is so grossed out by how Dana just dumps all the leftovers back into the stewpot.

Mat Tries To Set Up A Porn, take one: offering to work for their stay.

Mat Tries To Set Up A Porn, take two: threesome edition.

On a more serious note, lol, this is also where Mat and Rand first get into a genuine bit of conflict, when Mat blames Rand for them being here and tells him that Egwene and Perrin are likely dead and, even if they aren't, that Egwene wouldn't go through any of this effort for Rand's sake and so he shouldn't do it for her. Basically, taking all that emotional sensitivity that Mat has shown previously and using as a weapon against Rand to try to get Rand to do what Mat wants to do (go home).

He successfully hurts Rand's feelings, clearly regrets it, but instead of apologizing, he goes with Mat Tries To Set Up A Porn, take three, which ends in him serving drinks.

Dana is pretty honest with Mat and Rand. Except for the big thing she's lying about, of course.

Honestly, I'm finding Perrin's guilt and grief over Laila to be pretty touching in this rewatch.

Rand trying to talk himself out of a room for the night, lol. Rand burns Mat so hard and he's not even there to hear it. Dana, of course, already knows about Egwene so it feels like her trying to "help" Rand and Mat's, uh, relationship woes was her angling to get some kind of in with Rand (which worked). From what we see in S1, Ishamael does have a fair amount of knowledge about their current lives (likely from Fain) but just doesn't know how that tracks into them potentially being the Dragon Reborn.

Mat is starting to get pretty twitchy and quick to draw his fancy new dagger. But he's still willing to calm down and realize Thom isn't a threat. We also get some tiny bits of Aiel lore.

"Mat says a lot of things" yeah, so true. But both of these scenes -- the Mat & Thom one and the Rand & Dana one -- are so good.

At this point, Thom was willing to give some advice and then walk out, because the two boys might need a life lesson but there's no indication they're in trouble they can't get out of. And then he hears that a Fade is after them, and everything changes for him.

"All five of you... but only one matters, only one of you can be it." Ishamael hasn't ruled Nynaeve out yet, because he doesn't know the exact wording of the prophecy.

I love how passionate and sincere they had Dana be here. And now that we've seen the teaser, we get a look at how Ishamael acts around prospective marks so I feel like Dana probably got started with the 'soft sell' just like the little girl did.

And now Lan leads his group to a hopeful place of safety. And we get to explore Aes Sedai politics in the next episode. <3

Logain! Talk about you soon. <3 <3

The thing I like about the show so much is that it gives me actual people in my character tags now. I love all the fanart and incorrect quotes and memes, but it hits different seeing an actual person be those characters. Dónal miming Liandrin in the cell was Mat. Zoë drinking dirt was Nynaeve. Ceara being Elle Woods on her first day at the Tower was Elayne. Marcus being apprehensive about Elyas and the wolves was Perrin. Maddeline doing the Tower chores so seriously was Egwene. And Josha panicking that he channeled in front of "Selene" was Rand.

Yes. The show has some problems. But, I don't even consider it being Rafe's fault or the writers' faults, so much as I fault Amazon for not giving them 10 episodes. Two episodes (hours) would help them cover so much more where they could give more time to explore what they want to explore. But I think they're doing well enough with what they're given by Amazon while trying to cover such a massive world.

Idk, the show takes me into Randland in such a way that I get that home feeling, and I can't thank the cast enough for being so good at what they do.

thinking ahead to s3, i hope they'll change elayne and nynaeve's black-ajah-hunting destination from tanchico to whatever city the waste gang will end up in after the waste (probably either tear so they can do the stone and callandor then since they couldn't fit it in pre-waste, or cairhien as in the books and callandor gets saved for even later since it WILL still be a while before it's needed story-wise). putting a read more because i kept thinking further and further into the story and seeing more domino effects!

as far as i can remember, it's not important for the location of this plotline to be tanchico specifically, except perhaps that it's not far from the site of the seanchan invasion which allows them to run into egeanin, but they could easily pick egeanin up in falme and then she travels with them to the east (or ta'veren makes her travel there alone so that she can run into elayne and nynaeve).

and there would be several benefits! on a production level, it cuts down on the number of sets, filming locations, extras, costumes, etc they need. on an engaging-casual-viewers level, it cuts down on the number of different locations that viewers need to keep track of by moving this plotline to a major city that will be important throughout the series. yes, it's important to establish the vast size and scope of the world, but that can still be done while selecting a smaller number of key locations to focus on in detail.

and on a story level, it allows elayne and nynaeve to reunite with the waste gang in s4 (or at the end of s3 depending on pacing) and spend more time with them. this could be the perfect place to strengthen elayne's relationships with rand and aviendha since she likely won't have time for more than a few interactions with them in s2/beginning of s3. it gives nynaeve more time with lan and could potentially even allow her to be present when moiraine goes through the doorway and their bond snaps - nynaeve being with lan in that immediate aftermath could be very interesting to explore. and just more time for Full Friend Group Time overall, which is something that was sorely lacking in the books but that the show really committed to the importance of in the first season.

then thinking even beyond that, elayne and nynaeve mostly tread water in salidar, so maybe they could leave with mat and aviendha directly from tear/cairhien for ebou dar and the bowl, and egwene could go to salidar by herself. and if they hold off on these departures until after rand's kidnapping, and perrin still comes east to rand as in the books, then my long-held dream of dumai's wells being a full cast event could be realized! the big issue here though would be how to work in nynaeve's discovery of healing stilling and gentling since that's the only crucial thing that happens while she and elayne are in salidar. but it's not outside the realm of possibility that siuan & co could pass through tear/cairhien on their way to salidar, thus joining up with the main gang and allowing this plot point to still happen (and giving siuan and moiraine time together, as well as all 4 of rand/elayne/aviendha/min).

the other tricky thing is where to place caemlyn? rand going crazy over mat's and aviendha's deaths, balefiring a forsaken, and undoing their deaths is extremely important to me and i'm not willing to let go of it lmao and it's also plot-important since it leads to rand learning that balefire is the only way to permanently kill a forsaken, which leads to him being trigger-happy with it. this could be moved to a different location, but SOMETHING needs to happen in caemlyn to cause the throne to go from morgase to elayne, so i don't see a reason to move these events elsewhere. the issue i'm seeing is that if elayne hasn't rejoined rand's group yet, then rand would leave for caemlyn before she reaches tear/cairhien and we'd miss out on randlayne bonding time because he'd be busy sorting out caemlyn, starting the black tower, etc. whereas if she HAS rejoined the group, then there's no way she wouldn't come with him to retake caemlyn...........

..........which actually could totally work? elayne could participate in retaking caemlyn and then just stay there to kick off her succession arc early and skip out on the ebou dar trip. the most important thing to come from that trip is mat being left behind in seanchan territory, so elayne herself isn't strictly needed. so, okay, here's what i'm thinking overall:

elayne & nynaeve join the waste gang in tear/cairhien, and they all go together to retake caemlyn

siuan & co meet up with them either in tear/cairhien (ideal since it would give siuan time with moiraine before she "dies" and potentially allow her to be present to witness the "death") or in caemlyn later, and nynaeve heals stilling and gentling

elayne begins her succession arc, with rand Traveling back and forth between caemlyn and his other domain(s) in disguise so as not to interfere with her work in caemlyn

perrin arrives in caemlyn due to ta'veren pull - now the ENTIRE crew is together

rand is kidnapped (either he flees to cairhien with the entire crew as in the books, or he's kidnapped directly from caemlyn to save time) and the entire crew goes to dumai's wells to save him. big full cast tentpole event!

afterwards, egwene and siuan leave for salidar (though this may need to happen before rand's kidnapping in order to sow mistrust & distance between rand and egwene by keeping egwene unaware of this event for a long time; alternately, egwene could participate in dumai's wells but argue with rand afterwards about his treatment of the salidar aes sedai who tried to help him, thus accomplishing the same thing)

perrin leaves to find masema

nynaeve, mat, and lan leave for ebou dar

elayne, aviendha, and min return to caemlyn so that elayne can continue the succession, min can provide viewings and advice to her, aviendha can train with the wise ones, and all 3 of them can get closer because min spending half the series plastered to rand's side with no storyline of her own and no relationship with the other members of her polycule absolutely must change

rand is on his own for fain's attack in cairhien, defeat of sammael (if he makes the show), and the campaign against the seanchan