u/Lopsided-Skill

I know the wonder girls applies to mainly Egwene Nynaeve and Elayne with maybe Aviendha but I will here rank and give my opinion on the 8 young ladies who were the love interests/main characters. I will make an Aes Sedai one separately so we don’t have them here except for the mentioned 3.

8- Tuon
I honestly didn’t se many posts and comments about her so I do not know what the general consensus is on her. To me she is the weakest of the 8 characters. I am not sure if day 1 Tuon changed at all comparing to the end Tuon. She is a slaver, and a proud one at that. She immediately basically makes Min one of her servants (even if it is a high position) in the last book which shows she didn’t change much. We see no internal turmoil at all when Egwene confronts her about Suldam (and her) being able to channel and instead she is mad at her people for not letting her know Egwene was one of her former slaves. What I think is if RJ lived we would have more than 14 books and Seanchan would deal with all Suldam Damane situation but it got cut short in the end which means, to me she doesn’t have any redeeming qualities.

7- Aviendha
From here on, I like this characters. So while 7 might seem low, I don’t actually dislike Aviendha. I do find her a little bit boring, especiall early on. She actually gets better but a little bit too late. I like her visit to Rhuidean and the arc that comes with it. Wish it was earlier. Wish we could have seen her as a Wise earlier. At least I wish we could have seen what happened in the future with her visions.
Until the very end she was the side character to first Rand and Egwene and then Elayne. I feel like she didn’t become a character until Tower of Midnight.
I also dislike her defeat of Graendal. I like that they used unweaving. I just wished she would successfully use it to win. Or at least take herself out with the explosion. But the way it was perfectly timed with Rand winning so Graendal got distracted for a second and explosion for unknown reason caused her compulsion to attack herself was extremely random. Out of all “major wins” against a darkfriend, this one is by far my least favourite.

6- Elayne
Elayne would have rank much higher if it wasn’t for the bath. Joke aside, Camelyn politics were boring. It didn’t make sense to me at any point that so many of the lords and ladies would oppose Rand after being dead afraid of him.
I didn’t like her, “Ill be fine because Min saw that my children will be fine” arc where she got kidnapped every other day.
She was a pretty good character until she went back to Camelyn. I liked how she maintained her royal background while also fitting to everywhere she went better than Nynaeve. Sadly she got wasted.

5- Nynaeve
I started with a dislike to her in the beginning. And kept hearing that she gets better. She gets tamed, she doesn’t get much better. Actually after marrying Lan she kinda disappears. There is a big lack of Nynaeve POVs in the last few books. I might not like her character but she is an important one and while we see her through Rand or Cadsuane or Min we definitely don’t see a lot of her through her.
She hold power strong enough that it was felt in the entire world. We didn’t get a few sentences about it from her during that time. She did one of the coolest things but she wasn’t the main character talking during or even after about it. She seriously doesn’t even talk about it in her future POVs.
Again, we kept hearing how strong she is, yes we got 3 more stronger characters but she was the only one fighting and getting a POV in the last battle. The only thing she did was trying to heal Alanna with herbs because she can’t channel during the time and then fail to save her.
I get that her being with Rand was important but it is such a waste of an important character while Rand, Mat, Perrin and Egwene all had their badass moments in the final battle.

4- Faile
She went from 8 to 4 after she got captured. I do not like Perrin. He is boring. And I thought I disliked Faile but I was disliking how Perrin saw Faile. I think she is overall a fascinating character. It seems like she was just grabbing power through Perrin in the beginning with how much she rules instead of Perrin but when we got to her POVs we see that she didn’t want this and actually escaped from it but she knows her duties and performing them.
She is brave and caring, she is smart. She is younger than the majority of the cast. I really liked how she hold the hostages of Shaido together. I think she might be one of the best leaders we see in the series. She has so few bad moves.

3- Berelain
People might be weird that she is included or this high. But I loved Berelain and just wanted her to be happy. She was just playing the game of thrones. She was sassy and funny. She was loyal to Rand and to Perrin and she was extremely smart. Queen of the smallest nation with no power whatsoever ended up being really important for the light. I was happy for both her and Galad when that romance started and I hope they will live happily ever after.

2- Min
Honestly, pre Sanderson, she wouldn’t be this high. She basically was an accessory to rand during the middle of the series. With two superpowerful competitors for Rand, she was really in the background but I think in the end she spends the most time with him and ends up being the most help to him thanks to her research.
I didn’t like at the beginning how she was written as she is in love with Rand because she saw the vision and she will end up in love with Rand so she has to love Rand. During that time I disliked her.
Then started to like her better when she helped Siuan escape. She slowly started to get better and better. I liked how even though she is the one with the vision of all 3 are gonna end up together with Rand, she is the least ok with it while Aviendha and Elayne basically jumps in to lets become sisterwives train which is fine from Aviendha side since her culture but come on Elayne, you are a princess have some self respect.
I liked that she accepted her shortcomings and found a way to be helpful. She also managed to be the one who needed the least amount of saving from Rand out of the 3 despite not having any power and instead she keeps Rand sane as long as possible. She makes sure he listens to Cadsuane, Wises and Nynaeve but she also doesn’t let them steamroll him. Overall solid arc from her. Wish we saw how she got out of working for Tuon. 

1.	Egwene  

The queen. I know all the negative about her but she is the strongest character in the list by far. She suffers the biggest amount of torture and trauma in the series along with Rand. She rises above it all. She has 2 Forsaken/Chosen One defeat under her belt which again is only shared by Rand (I am counting Taim of course). Both of the wins are impressive. She defeats one in a battle of wills. In the second she sacrifices herself while saving so many and defeating one of the strongest channelers who had one of the strongest sangreals.
I just love a character who knows what must be done and does it instead of complaining. I love how she puts herself in danger and doesn’t hide behind others but also not reckless about it like Elayne and takes calculated risks (except for one). People are also forgetting how young she is actually I feel like. She is 2-3 years younger than the boys. She has some childish moments but most of the time she feels like the only adult in the room among bunch of 100 year olds.
She should have survived. I know one of them dying to raise the stakes was necessary but why couldn’t it be one of the Rands trio or Perrin? My girl should have lead the White Tower to better days and she would have bring the age of peace. I honestly do not think peace would last with Cadsuane as Amirlyn and Aiel and Seanchan and SeaFolk all have their problems. I do not trust Cadsuane enough to deal correctly with the Kin and Elayne. Egwene was respected and accepted by the Tower, Aiel and the Seafolk. She was already making an agreement with Tuon. Her deals were good in that it gave women freedom to go wherever they want and live in the culture they want but still have the information exchange. I don’t understand how people see that as power grab as it was an equal agreement for all, otherwise why would SeaFolk agree when they are the toughest negotiators and why would Aiel talk about how much honor she has.

Now that Im done, Im thinking writing a review in different aspects of the series. Ill go in depth characters etc as well but first I think I gotta start in a macro level so lets start with the world. Please note that I might make mistakes with the names of some stuff as I didn’t read the books in English.

I think early books did a great job with the world building with how small the world of the main heroes felt and how big it felt comparing to that. But even then looking at the map I kept questioning how is it that they act Elmonds Field is in middle of nowhere. There are cities nearby and Ghealdan is just there. Like I can understand it is far away from Camelyn so Morgese forgets but it is a border with another country. How can you forget and not care about that? Is it because of the Taveren there?

Later on the world keeps expanding, we get the Aiel, we get the SeaFolk, we get the Seanchan. Even in just the Westlands we have several different cultures which are great. I think RJ might be the best writer that made the culture this unique. They are all humans yet they are distinct. In mist fantasy you have several race but the differences are more like I like white wine you like red wine.

I feel like if he lived, the series might still be going. Shara for sure wouldn’t appear for the first time in the middle of the last battle. To me that is the weirdest thing. We have a lot of things that are set up and a lot of irons in the fire and apperantly the strongest nation just sits out everything and then appear in the end to die (thanks to my girl) I feel like, without the writer change we would get their history a little bit, we would get some more change in Seanchan system. RJ set up the Suldam actually being channelers thing to make changes and Sanderson fully choose to ignore it. He even added the scene where Egwene comfronts Tuon and she is just like, I refuse to acknowledge this earth shattering info for our entire way of living. We also hyped up Sea Folk and introduced several and sidelined all of them later on. They kinda played an important role but entirely off screen.

Speaking of others, I feel like every new race/nation came in just to dunk on the previous one as the new strongest. First we see Aiel and they are better warriors because they keep fighting in between and live in a desert with extremely limited resources? I don’t see how that makes them better at everything. Constant battling makes them better at battling, sure but its not like there is no fight in Westlands. Also you would think their population would diminish with the conditions and constant war but somehow they are a huge population. And they have a lot of very capable channelers despite them not valuing it as much and not practicing too much.

Then we have seafolk who are also quite capable. Their channeler strength is at least better as they use it but it is limited to their area of expertise.

Then we get Seanchan who dunks on all mainly thanks to the Damane and their local animals. They wait to invade the Westlands just because until this moment. But their strength is also explained by the constant assassination attempts which again begs to question of how? They are not battling as much as the continent is completely theirs so who is the enemy for the soldiers? And how does surviving assassination makes you a better ruler?

Then we got Shara who is even stronger because they not only have female channelers battling but also male ones. We don’t know how did they deal with madness at all.

Especially when it comes to the White Tower, the main arguement I see is that they are too content as the biggest power in the continent so they are falling backwards. Well, it is true for all these nations. Aiel don’t use channelers to battle, Seafolk is kinda ok. Seanchan, again who are the damanes fighting with? Who are the Shara people fighting we have no idea. And when it comes to staleness and change, Westlands and the tower are the ones who actually respect and change the most throughout the series. We see Cha Faile acting like Aiel and a lot of characters talking about Toh. We see some nations prefering the Seanchan and copying their system. But Aiel doesn’t adjust at all to the Westlands or trying to learn the culture. Only example in 14 books is Aviendha enjoying baths and clothes and being ashamed of it. Seanchan considers all below and some as non human worth talking to.

One final thing is, a lot of what I say I can see the comments coming “but because of the Taveren” which is true. Taveren I like and dislike as a concept. On the one hand unlike other major series when the main characters are in the middle of everything, here they have an excuse. On the other hand sometimes it feels like “I want the cool stuff to happen and not explain so it happened because of Taveren.” As if it is get out of jail card.

I think after this I will write about the 6 main girls and their journey. Until then looking forward to discussion.

Thinking back the entire series, everyone is drawn to the Taveren, have a hard time leaving their side, and finds themselves agreeing with them and giving them what they want.

For a long time it seems only 3 people are kinda above it but Moraine in the end kinda evolves into what Rand wants and Nynaeve pretty much has the same.

Egwene seems to be the only one that can avoid the effect. She somehow manages to give him up while he cant do that for her and break up the relationship.

Going together to Aiel might seem like she is affected but she can easily do her own thing without getting sucked in too much, especially when they return and then can easily leave when summoned by Aes Sedai, which is something Mat can’t.

Speaking of, she meets but don’t get sucked up to Mat and Perrin story at any point.

When Rand returns to the Tower, Aes Sedai are unable to speak because of Rands aura, she doesn’t even realize. She even manages to oppose him.

The only argument I can find against myself is that she gives the control of the armies to Mat. But that happens after all the generals are affected by Graendal so that is more of a global effect of Mats Taverenness than Egwene being affected by it.

So you think she is immune to the taveren pull?

I am doing an aCoC rewatch and I was wondering mainly with Saccharina. How much Emily knew the story before creating her?

Amethar having a marriage before was a plot twist. Her having a claim over Jet would be one as well even if she didn’t die.

When I watched it, it felt like non Amethar people just found about this. Which to me included the players as well not just their characters. Was Saccharina created without her backstory and was that decided more after Jet died? Or did Emily knew that secret already? In that scenario, how much of it they actually knew?

Took a long break after the last battle. Both because Egwene died and kinda felt I am not ready to be done with after the long journey.

I don’t know if it is the stop but the ending (after the last battle which was perfect) is kinda disappointing. Sealing the dark one again was anticlimactic. Aviendha defeating Graendal by pure chance because she herself made a mistake at the right time is anticlimactic. Perrin beating the Slayer was cool yet sudden. Fain randomly appears thinks he is cool and all that and just dies. Literally what was the point of him? What is the point of making Nynaeve and Perrin believing Rand died? Egwene doesn’t get a funeral and a few words and Aes Sedai who actually show growth moves on but backwards by making Cadsuane the next Amirlyn. Alivia killing Rand by dreasing him and giving him a pipe? Really? Rand realizes heaven is bad because Aviendha would like to play with other peoples Children instead of battling?

We know nothing moving forward, we don’t know about Aiel, we don’t know if Seanchan will stop and keep peace, we don’t know if the channeler alliance will continue after Egwene layed the foundations.

I would have ended with one Moraine chapter that summarises aftermath of the battle a little bit. She is the one who just accomplished her life goal of many years and lived to tell it. Just give me what she thinks, what is next for her and just show how everyone moves kn through her life even without getting into much detail.

I am considering writing more in depth reviews after this 5 month in real life for me journey but I don’t know if people would be interested.

Just finished the last battle, I cant continue, need to take a break.

Fuck you Gawyn. Stupid boy died and basically sealed the fate of Egwene. She is the most badass character in the series by far (Lan is a close second, Mat third) . Yes Rand is Jesus and he atill have things to do I guess but so far nobody achieved as much as she did.

She was a force before but after Gawyn died she is on another level. She already defeated one forsaken solo but her defeating Taim who had his own Sangreal is an unmatched achievement. Taim is way above of her in power scale but my girl just destroyed her (oh also an entire army)

How can anyone hate Egwene is such a mystery to me. Book is filled with people crying about doing what must be done yet Egwene is the only one actually doing atuff constantly. She could have still do and survive if stupid Gawyn didn’t get himself killed.

Ps. They are gonna make Nynaeve the new Amirlyn right? Siuan should have survived and regain her position as a smart leader who is there not because of her power but brain and doing what must be done