Nynaeve HAD a job. Egwene did NOT have a destiny. She didn't need to be, either. Rand & co never wanted the power and its trappings, and were lured into them by responsibility. Nynaeve was drawn in the same way. Egwene left Emond's Field for self-gratifying reasons - she wanted an "adventure" and she expressed it in the most immature way possible. Like a little child who sees her brother getting a toy, she wants one of her own, and she says that she's not going to let them go off and have an adventure without her. Nynaeve left because she thought Rand & co were in danger, and they left because they were told they bring danger to their village. Rand took his first leadership role because Hurin was depending on him to get them home safely, Mat blew the Horn because it was the onyl way to save their lives, and Rand accepted the need to proclaim himself because it was all but irrefutably proven who he was. Mat too command of the Band because he saw they were in danger and tried to warn them, and was asked to put his money where his mouth was. He was in that position because he had been in Tear and was known to the nobles, and was only in Tear because he heard of a threat against his acquaintances, most of whom he did not even like, but perceived a duty towards anyway. Perrin is only Lord of the Two Rivers, because he tried to help them. Mat, Perrin and Rand all vehemently denied their nobility or claims of authority and especially the trappings of respect adn courtesies due a lord or king, while Egwene threatened to enforce those same coutesies for her equally spurious claim to the Amyrlin Seat by birching the two most respected and experienced legislators who were selected by her people.

And it had nothing to do with her warnings, and those same warnings were diluted by her self-interest and her allegiance to Salidar, which Rand saw. Rand doesn't trust Egwene because she has destroyed her own credibility. She herself concedes in her stream of consciousness that his assessment of her was accurrate: given that she was trying to manipulate him for the benefit of Salidar, why should he take her warnings to heart any more than he should have meekly submitted to Elaida's embassy, many of whom, Verin's interrogation reveals, believed they were kidnapping him for his own good!

And Egwene is so tolerant of that? She is always mad about being treated the same as she used to be. She gets annoyed at Rand and Mat recalling childhood stuff or presuming familiarity due to long acquaintance, she punishes Two Rivers girls for treating her the same as they used to (and trying to take down the swelling of her head), and despite her claim that she wants Nynaeve and Elayne to treat her the same, she is quick to threaten punishment for them when they try to reason with her about the Oath Rod, and presumes on their relationship in planning to exceed her authority to punish Nynaeve for going off with Rand.

Because she has no grounds or cause, and she speaks as the Amyrlin now. Just as Rand could not speak as a private citizen in expressing a preference for Trakand's continued succession in Andor without it being perceived as the Dragon Reborn dictating terms to a conquered country, so Egwene has to step back into her role and keep her mouth shut or earn her right to talk as a friend by acting as a friend. Either she has to let Rand know privately that she has to put up a tough front as a public figure or she should butt out of what she has very little knowledge of. Nynaeve earned the right by being there with him and for him. Egwene avoided Rand when they were together unless she wanted something from him or it concerned his public actions.

He did no such thing. Even if he had for the Seanchan, turnabout is fair play. They are the ones who approve of slavery after all. He did nothing like that for the Borderlands - he did threaten to destroy them, because they constituted a hostile army in a threatening position. You don't want to get blasted? Don't be any army, dumbasses! Armies are legitimate targets, especially outside their borders. There is absolutely no indication whatsoever that Rand want's anything from the Tower other than to be left alone and not interfered with or manipulated.

And why is the independence of the White Tower so important? Elayne coupled her declarations of independence with assertions of de facto dependence. Every other ruler or group involved with Rand has acquiesced to the need to submit themselves to the greater good. What makes the Tower so special? How are they different from the Sea Folk whom everyone castigates for making a bargain out of their exclusive ability to fix the drought? As I noted in a prior post, it is not like the Tower even has that sort of exclusive ability. The Asha'man and the unbound Wise Ones will be far more useful in the fighting to come, and they far outnumber the Tower. As for the guidance and respect issues, Egwene herself once upon a time acknowledged the superiority of the Wise Ones in building character and practicality and so forth. What does the Tower have that makes them so special, aside from a position of respect and prestige in a society that has largely collapsed and is entirely under the thumb of Rand, his allies or the Tower's enemies, and thus no longer requires their influence to follow Rand.



The essential man for the salvation of the world has to adjust to an upstart who owes much of her formidability as well as her very position to his existence? Is WoT set in Opposite Land?