Re: Yes, absolutely. I remember saying this back when I first read the book. - Edit 1
Before modification by Fanatic-Templar at 22/02/2012 09:04:40 PM
The point is rather that Elayne hasn't granted herself the right, she was obviously within Andoran law to do that, or such a public act if it was shocking or unexpected would have had repercussions on Pelivar and co.'s support (she didn't even act as Queen, she was still High Seat).
Which Elayne's thoughts reveal is exactly what would have happened had she not managed to spin it so it didn't look so obviously like a power grab:
If Elayne were seen as seizing land and money for the throne, the other nobles would unite against her.
Choosing Enemies, Towers of Midnight.
She's not destroyed the checks and balance, there's still 18 Great Houses!
Suppose that after winning an election, the prime minister removes the citizenship of every member of an opposing party. Would it be fair to say that this prime minister has not destroyed the democratic system because he still needs to be elected by the people, every citizen still has one vote, and every vote is equal?
Let's keep in mind that she was in a position after the fiasco of that attack to push out of the game board two Great Houses that put their ambitions far ahead of the good of Andor. Elayne acted as a ruler should, that move was expected of her. Morgase was too lenient with the Great Houses that opposed the throne (though Elaida implies she was playing the game of houses with the High Seat massively, which probaly didn't help Andor's stability), and she paid for it (before even Gaebril, Andor was fairly divided, with the WC gaining influence).
Despite what you say, that passage in Choosing Enemies I keep bringing up indicates pretty clearly that this was not expected of her. And that, furthermore, this was something that few queens would ever attempt.. Again, I'm going to need a quote about this being expected.
You're very keen to point out how Egwene destroys checks and balances, but I would remind you that among the Rebels it's far more the Hall that has sought to undermine the system and grant itself powers it doesn't officially have or sapped procedures that are there for a reason.
You needn't remind me, I already know this. The whole point was about the hypocrisy of it. We already know that the Hall of the Tower was full of abusive power-hungry women and that Elaida's attempt to force an Oath of loyalty on all Sisters was wrong or that Colavaere's ascension to the Sun Throne was a despicable power grab. These are all treated as such. When the book becomes full of people telling us that Elaida is the greatest Amyrlin of all time, that the rebel Hall was going to usher in a new era of prosperity and that Colavaere is bloody brilliant in a triumphant resolution of her section of the book, I'll find it necessary to explain to people that they're actually power-hungry despots. But until then, I assume everybody already knows.
I disliked the whole storyline a lot, but to be honest I didn't recognize Elayne or her thinking in much of anything, and I blame Sanderson completely for this. Elayne in KOD was getting more and more clever politically (and a great deal of her political thinking was from Machiavel - not the "evil" myth but the real political thinker!). In TOM like most characters she lost many IQ points all of a sudden. I'm sure Jordan essentially meant her to make the moves she made, for Cairhien, with Perrin, with the Kin, with Mat and so on, but I thought Sanderson executed this poorly for the most part (he also butchered it with his absurb book structure and Elayne's time travels, but it's mostly Elayne's character and her motivations - very poorly presented and dumbed-down, which broke away from what Jordan was building that I mean here). I managed to keep my interest in the Andor storyline though I'd wish Jordan didn't have to split it in small chunks overlapping from book to book as he did, but much like the rushed and oversimplified Tower resolution in TGS, I found Elayne's storyline in TOM very disappointing, the second part anyway (not all her scenes are bad, but the political ones for the most part were).
Yes, precisely. I don't necessarily have a problem with the end results of those actions (though as far as personal fan-theories, I always wanted Galad to get the Sun Throne, because he's so hilariously un-Cairhienin) but the characters' portrayal in Towers of Midnight felt completely off, and reminded me of the scheming nobles and Aes Sedai the rest of the series trained us to scorn.