Elayne is the least developed of the main female characters IMO. She had pretty much been " Spoiled Princess" since day one. She nearly always took the backseat to Egwene or Nynaeve, only developing into a lead when she had a "Quest" in front of her ... Despite that there is a quality to her that I find randomly endearing. Perhaps it's her insane bravery or her loyalty to her friends, people and duty (although ToM stained that a tad).

I wish RJ had given her more dimension throughout the series, perhaps just more POVs in the early books ... She always seemed to be an adjunct to Egwene and Nynaeve rather than a full blown character. So when she did get late series development it was jarring rather than natural. Compare her to Mat, who in the earliest books was just a pain in the ass whiner, but naturally developed into one of the most entertaining characters in the series. Elayne, IMO, just jumped from being the "Spoiled Princess" to "Super Queen" with little in between to help the readers follow along.

I think this is also why I like Egwene, we've seen the consistency in her and can see exactly why she does what she does. Her character is well defined and has many layers (love her or hate her, you know her). It why I also like Nynaeve, Rand and Mat and of all people Flinn. All of these characters have a sense of grounding to me.