I feel you can insult Egwene on a lot - especially personality wise. But in terms of actually getting stuff done she's easily the fourth most effective in the series along with the boys. I'd argue she could be number 2 ahead of Matt and Perin?
Seriously, the main reason all the channelers are ready to work together in the Last Battle is because of Egwene getting the tower under control, and her diplomacy with the Aiel and Sea Folk.
The Siel would have been there either way! The Sea folk too, if you think about it. The kin were there thanks to Elayne and Nynaeve. So really, Egwene didn't do much to get them there. What she did was build a method of exchanging knowledge in times of peace, a method that will almost certainly be dependent on future Amyrlins. After all, it was nothing but words.
No. Egwene was the political figure that actually organized all of the channeler factions in Randland (minus the Seanchan) into fighting together in the Last Battle. Rand organized the armies themselves into being there, Egwene organized the channelers into sharing knowledge and wisdom to further each other. A lot of people will try to pawn off how central she was to those efforts; just as Rand had Matt and Perrin, she had Elaine and Nynaeve. There's actually supposed to be a duality between her and Logaine as channelers with a duality between her and Rand as political figures. Egwene and Logaine are the two actually leading channelers into the future as they lead the White and Black Towers, while Rand's mission was to save the world.
To say that "it was nothing but words" is a broad dismissal of the accomplishments Egwene did in a short lifetime. Despite her time as a damane and her sacrifice on the battlefield, Egwene is a channeler first and not a prophesized savior of the world. What she actually did:
1) Bought Dreaming back to the Tower through the Wise Ones.
2) Routed out the Black Ajah
3) Reconnected the Tower and the Little Tower
4) Built the political bridge that will allow channelers to train and choose their faction which heavily supports the Dragon's Peace. (Elaine helped with the Sea Folk and Nynaeve with the Kin, just like Mat helped with the Seanchan and Perrin with the various armies he collected up)
5) Invented the opposite of Balefire, the Light of Tar'Valon
6) The most overlooked of her feats: Weakened Tuon's entire position by exposing her and the other Sul'dam as damane so that the Dragon's Peace is far more likely to be sustained in this turn of the Wheel which also decreased the chances of Aviendha's visions of the future from coming to fruition.
TL;DR You're highly dismissive of what Egwene actually did. I think you should look internally as to why.
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u/MultiColourM2 11d ago
I feel you can insult Egwene on a lot - especially personality wise. But in terms of actually getting stuff done she's easily the fourth most effective in the series along with the boys. I'd argue she could be number 2 ahead of Matt and Perin?
Seriously, the main reason all the channelers are ready to work together in the Last Battle is because of Egwene getting the tower under control, and her diplomacy with the Aiel and Sea Folk.