#i actually think the greatest example of my argument is how the seanchan are handled

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

Hi I was wondering if it might be slightly incorrect to state that the characters who want to enact greater change are the ones who’re punished because over the course of the series we see characters advocating for change receiving plenty of positive treatment: rand enacting laws that punish rich and poor alike and egwene pushing for tower reform and encouraging debates about the future moving forward for saidar channelers after the discovery of the kin are the more popular examples. besides, egwene’s fate was picked by harriet, and jordan intended to still write the outriggers meaning that mat’s arc couldn’t end on the note of a happily ever after that a few characters managed.

You're reading is totally valid of course! Though I was more wading into the murky water of saying that perhaps some limitations of the 90s influenced how the story played out for Egwene and Mat.

RJ's writing is strong in how he builds worlds, histories, systems, structures, and characters. He was very good with complexity and empathy. However, it feels to me that radical social and political changes, while present, were only allowed to go so far.

Egwene is a revolutionary by the end of her arc and she's given the heroes treatment, but her legacy is taken up by an Aes Sedai who embodies what she wanted to change about The White Tower. Cadsuane appearing to be brought in as a buffer against the continued disruption of the way The White Tower operated. Change but not too much. The story not dealing with the future trajectory of what Egwene hoped to achieve, but instead implementing a status quo and treating Egwene's tenure as Amyrlin as expedient.

Meanwhile, Rand's mere presence disrupts many systems he finds himself involved in. His views and his vision for the world, however, can often harken back to an idealised past. Part of that is Lews Therin's influence, but part of it is Rand being a history nerd homebody who wants to live a pastoral fantasy. Story-wise I don't know if Rand breaks the world so much as puts it back to rights. He's definitely an agent of positive change, but part of me can't help think he escaped death because he accepted the heavy mantle of his fate using a set of values that are prized by a conservative mindset. Hard work and no play making Rand into a martyr that doesn't actually die. But, ultimately, what Rand represents in the story is not his politics, it's his trauma. His striving to be good and do good despite *gestures at everything*. Rand subverts The Chosen One narrative and I think him alive and sliding away into obscurity also plays into that.

Mat, by contrast, does not have values prized by a conservative mindset. His internal code of honour is strict and stubborn but buried under irreverence, addiction, avoidance, and promiscuity. He would tell you he's a selfish layabout with a smile on his face. Is he though? As a narrative device Mat reminds the reader of the human cost to war. Somewhere underneath his paranoid anxiety and genuine desire to run away, he is frustrated by his friends willingness to bend and break for the rules unquestioningly. He wants the reader to remember they are people, not the figureheads for The Pattern, or Aes Sedai, or anyone. He wants the reader to acknowledge people are not to be played with, nor should they be beholden to the whims of the powerful. He wants you to remember their humanity. Rand as Rand. Perrin as Perrin. Egwene as Egwene. Elayne as the thorn in his side (but with a pretty dimple). He'll speaks to peasants the same as he speaks to an Empress, to soldiers the same as he speaks to The Amyrlin. Furthermore, he'll anxiously worry about all of them while he tells himself he doesn't care for any of them. He'll shove money into the hands of refugees while telling you how self-serving he is. He'll offer Egwene a public display of obeisance despite telling you he doesn't care. He'll climb a impenetrable fortress because he saw Rand putting himself in danger. He'll give his eye to save Moiraine without hesitation. He'll sit quietly with a distressed Rand for hours despite convincing himself they're no longer friends. He'll kidnap his prophesied wife and try to connect to her humanity rather than run away like he said he would.

And he's punished because at some point the story begins to believe the lie of him. He stops being that voice, that character. Instead, the promiscuous shiftless layabout is broken with sexual violation, work he cannot shirk from, and a fate he was apparently wrong to question.

#mat cauthon #wheel of time #matrim cauthon #rand al'thor #wheel of time spoilers #wot book spoilers #egwene al'vere #the end got a bit heated there sorry #i'm not angry anon! #just passionate #i actually think the greatest example of my argument is how the seanchan are handled #tuon's world needs to start coming apart substantially #(within the wot series and not another potential series) #but it just #doesn't