She was a Mary Sue long before Sanderson took over. Other characters have always been bent to fit around the image of her supposed greatness, behaving so out of character that it was almost laughable. And throw in the fact that Sanderson himself said that RJ wrote Egwene in tGS (which was nothing but a Mary Sue story of, "I can take spankings and still stubbornly insist that I should rule the world and everyone here is too stupid and incompetent to actually put my in my place", then I hardly think it can be put on Brandon's head.

Now, admittedly, he has bought into RJ's mantra of "EGWENE IS GOD!! BOW DOWN!!" and repeated the typical equation that everyone is stupider in her presence and thinks that her farts smell like roses, but the man is working with what he was given. He couldn't very well go against RJ's wishes and have someone smack her down like she deserves when he has Harriett breathing down his neck and RJ's notes dictate how her story must proceed (also, doesn't it say something that RJ busted ass to get Egwene's sections down in tGS but didn't give a rat's ass about Rand and left if all for Brandon?).

I guess the funny part to me is that people were suddenly declaring what an obnoxious bitch she was in ToM, as though she were somehow behaving any differently than she had the entire series. Her fans, of course, think she's perfect and awesome and excuse every single bitch move she's made, but those who were sitting the fence were clearly twisting her past actions to excuse her as well since that's clearly what RJ wanted readers to do. Once Sanderson took over, however, it was easier for those on the fence to see what an atrocious character she really is...then blame it on Sanderson.

The thing is, though, she's the same in ToM as she has always been - she just now has the power she's always craved and is in the position to smite everyone in her path instead of just Nynaeve, Rand, and the morons who thought they could control her when they put her into power. Once a nasty, cold-hearted bitch who craps all over her friends, always a nasty, cold-hearted bitch who craps all over her friends.