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Reading The Wheel of Time:The Gathering Storm (Part 9)
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Reading The Wheel of Time
Reading The Wheel of Time:The Gathering Storm (Part 9)
Egwene and Gawyn examine the division of the White Tower…
By Sylas K Barrett
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Published on November 25, 2025
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This week on Reading the Wheel of Time, we will visit Egwene in the White Tower and then Gawyn in Dorlan, as each learns a little more about the Aes Sedai and how the rest of the White Tower work. Egwene makes progress in her mission to save the Tower, and Gawyn learns a little about Egwene’s fate. It’s chapter 12 and 13 of The Gathering Storm!
In the White Tower, Egwene has been summoned for lessons by Bennae Nalsad. She is puzzled why Bennae would summon her a second time—sisters never ask to give her more than one lesson. Under the cover of testing Egwene’s ability to think like an Aes Sedai and manage difficult situations, Bennae basically admits that she has gotten in trouble for asking about the Thirteenth Depository, something she was not supposed to know about. Egwene deftly deduces why Bennae’s superiors might be alarmed that someone found out a secret she should not, and gives Beanne a clever and diplomatic way of handling the situation.
“I am always willing to help, Bennae,” Egwene said in a softer voice, turning back to her tea. “In, of course, hypothetical situations.” For a moment, Egwene worried that she’d gone too far in calling the Brown by her name. However, Bennae met her eyes, then actually went so far as to bow her head just slightly in thanks.
Leaving Bennae’s quarters, Egwene finds a novice waiting with a summons to Nagora, a White Sitter, in which she is presented with a very similar test about managing an aging Warder. Next, she is summoned to Suana Dragand, who tests her on healing weaves and remarks that the Yellows would very much like to have Egwene in their ranks.
Cautiously, Egwene asks Suana about the division between the Ajahs, and pushes her to start trying to do something about it with the other Sitters. Suana is reluctant to accept Egwene’s advice, but she doesn’t give Egwene punishment for calling Suana by her first name.
Finally, she meets with Meidani, who attempts to resist regarding Egwene as Amyrlin. Egwene’s stronger will quickly wins out, however, and she begins to question Meidani about why she remained in the Tower after the identity of the rebel spies was discovered, and why she takes dinner with Elaida so frequently. When Meidani’s answers are unsatisfactory, Egwene begins to suspect that the Three Oaths are somehow involved. Attempting to circumvent these, she asks if Meidani can show Egwene why she cannot leave the Tower. After some hesitation, Meidani decides she might be able to.
Since they cannot leave together without raising the suspicion of Egwene’s guards or members of the Red Ajah, she decides she must trust Meidani with the secret of Traveling. After Meidani assures her that she accepts Egwene’s leadership and promises not to share what Egwene reveals to her without Egwene’s permission, Egwene demonstrates the weave to make a gateway. Meidanai is strong enough to replicate the weave and open a gateway, and after expressing surprise at how easy it was to accept Egwene’s leadership, she takes Egwene through it.
Egwene is surprised when she emerges in a disused corridor deep in the Tower, and more surprised when Meidani warns her that what she encounters may be dangerous.
She knocks on a door and Warder answers, clearly surprised to see Egwene. Inside, Egwene finds four sitters, all of different Ajahs. They are shocked and upset that Meidani has managed to circumvent her oath, and begin to upbraid her, while Egwene is switched with air for speaking without leave. Egwene figures out that Meidani has been given a fourth oath, and is appalled.
As the discussion continues, Egwene persists in speaking as an authority and demanding answers from the others, forcing them to meet her and debate that subject. Realizing that Saerin is the leader of the group, she focuses on her, and Saerin proceeds to use logic to explain to Egwene why she cannot be Amyrlin. But Egwene refutes every point, ending with the fact that one of the Sitters who voted to dispose Elaida has turned out to be a member of the Black, therefore rendering her vote invalid. Since Siuan was deposed by the bare minimum of Sitters required, that makes the unseating stilling of Siuan, and the murder of her Warder, an unlawful act.
They are forced to concede her point, and Egwene presses the matter by pointing out that they are all serving the shadow as long as they remain divided. After making Meidani confirm in front of the others that she accepts Egwene as Amyrlin and will follow her orders, Egwene declares:
“I charge you, then, to continue your work with these women. They are not our enemies and they never were. Sending you back as a spy was a mistake, one I wish I’d been able to stop. Now that you are here, however, you can be of use. I regret that you must continue your performance before Elaida, but I commend you for your courage in that regard.”
Egwene asks if they have the oath rod with them now, and is disappointed that they don’t. Still, she charges them to obtain it as soon as possible and to remove the fourth oath of obedience from Meidani. Saerin only answers that they will consider it, prompting Egwene to tell them that the Hall will eventually be told what they did, and that she would like to tell the Hall that they were not seeking Power.
With a parting shot about them being able to summon her if they want to talk and a mention of her ability to Travel, Egwene leaves, followed by Meidani, who expresses astonishment over Egwene’s success when she should have been “strung up by [her] heels and howling.”
“They are too wise for that,” Egwene said. “They’re the only ones in this blasted Tower—besides maybe Silviana—who have anything resembling heads sitting atop their shoulders.” “Silviana?” Meidani asked with surprise. “Doesn’t she beat you every day?”“Several times a day,” Egwene said absently. “She’s very dutiful, not to mention thoughtful. If we had more like her, the Tower wouldn’t have gotten to this state in the first place.”
As they head back, Meidani remarks that Egwene really is the Amyrlin.
In Dorlan, Gawyn is sparring against two Warders, Sleete and Marlesh. Sleete is a very skilled swordsman while Marlesh is a serviceable one, but Gawyn beats them in the fight, as he has the previous two times they have sparred. Sleete extends him quiet respect, while Marlesh suggests that they find Gawyn a sword with a Heron mark on it. Gawyn insists that he is not a Blademaster. Marlesh countered by reminding him that he killed Hammar, and that he should have taken that Blademaster’s sword when Hammar fell.
“It wasn’t respectful,” Gawyn said. “Besides, I didn’t have time to claim prizes.” Marlesh laughed, as if at a joke, though Gawyn hadn’t intended one. He glanced over at Sleete, who was watching him with curious eyes.
Once Marlesh has gone off with his Aes Sedai, Sleete takes Gawyn aside and tells him about how, despite being a Green, his Aes Sedai, Hattori, only has one Warder. Sleete tells Gawyn that Hattori asked Sleete to be the one to look for men worthy enough to join them, and Sleete has finally found a man he would like to add to the team—Gawyn himself.
Gawyn is flattered but reminds Sleete that his loyalty is to Andor. Sleete counters that Gawyn has served the White Tower and fought with the Warders, and that he is one of them now. He also suggests that, to have Gawyn, Hattori would move to Caemlyn.
Gawyn agrees to think over the offer, then sets one of the Younglings to keep watch for anyone coming by and proceeds to cautiously ask Sleete what he thinks of what happened in the Tower. Sleete replies that it is bad, that Aes Sedai should never fight Aes Sedai and Warder should never fight Warder. When Gawyn presses him, Sleete tells Gawyn that there are wise heads in the Tower, who will eventually do the right thing and end the division—with fighting if necessary, hopefully another way. He tells Gawyn that nothing is worth this division.
He also admits that Hattori doesn’t have much influence in among the Aes Sedai, but that she didn’t like the feel of the White Tower and so volunteered for the mission to al’Thor, not knowing what it was really about. She just didn’t want to be in the Tower.
He also tells Gawyn that Hammar would have understood why Gawyn made the choices that he made, and that they were both doing their duty and that there were no good decisions to make that day.
Gawyn is left pondering this, and is even tempted to agree to be bonded by Hattori, but he knows that he could never be happy as a Warder, except if he was Warder to Egwene. And Gawyn doesn’t trust Aes Sedai, even if he has supported him.
After briefly trying to get into a meeting of the high-ranking Aes Sedai and being refused, Gawyn finishes inspecting his men, thinking about how he only supported Elaida because of the way Siuan treated Egwene and Elayne. But he has to ask himself if Elaida would treat them any better.
Gawyn is shocked when he runs into Katerine Alruddin, who left the camp for the White Tower a week ago. He overhears part of her conversation with some other sisters about the wilder Accepted that the rebels made a fake Amyrlin, and how the girl had been captured and “made to howl every day.” And then he hears the name “al’Vere.”
He stops Katerine, asking with as much respect as his stunned mind can manage for her to tell him about the rebel Amyrlin. Katerine confirms the name, and Gawyn also learns that Traveling has been rediscovered—this is how Katerine returned to Dorlan without anyone knowing, and is presumably how Gareth Bryne’s army is supplying itself.
But all Gawyn can think about is how Egwene has been captured, and is being tortured and probably stilled. How she will soon be executed. He realizes he has to go to her, and he can’t let any of the Younglings knows what he is doing—they will remain loyal to the Aes Sedai over him, if forced to choose.
He uses going on a routine inspection of the outer camp as cover for his departure, and his own lieutenants believe him, although the protest his going alone. But Sleete appears as Gawyn is saddling his horse, and makes it clear that he knows what Gawyn is really doing.
Gawyn knows that Sleete could stop him if he wanted to—Gawyn might best him in a fight, but even if he killed Sleete, the fighting would draw the attention of others. He asks why Sleete isn’t trying to stop him.
“Perhaps I just like to see men care,” Sleete said. “Perhaps I hope you’ll find a way to help end this. Perhaps I am feeling lazy and sore with a bruised spirit from so many defeats. May you find what you seek, young Trakand.” And with a rustle of the cloak, Sleete withdrew, fading into the darkness of oncoming night.Gawyn slung himself into his saddle. There was only one place he could think to go for help in rescuing Egwene.
Okay but where is that?
Rude little cliffhanger there, Sanderson.
The only thing I can think of is… is Gawyn going to the rebel camp? Since he has learned that they made Egwene their Amyrlin, even if he thinks that they are using her and treating her badly, they would still ostensibly want her back, and I can’t think of any other allies Gawyn would have access to. He doesn’t know that Elayne has taken the throne, and she’s too far away anyway, and the only other person who might theoretically want to fight the White Tower to save Egwene is Rand. And I can’t see Gawyn believing that Rand would protect Egwene—he clearly believes that Egwene doesn’t understand that Rand has changed, and is only sticking to his promise out of loyalty to her, not because he thinks there is a chance she might be right that Rand isn’t the villain he appears to be, and actually didn’t kill Morgase.
Gosh, it sure would be useful if Morgase revealed herself again. I don’t know what it would take for her to feel safe doing that. She might want to wait until she with someone she knows—even if Perrin and Faile seem like good, trustworthy people, revealing her identity is still something of a risk, and after everything she has been through, she will probably only feels safe when she is back in Caemlyn and Elayne’s rule is solid and secure.
In any case, I’ve been reflecting this week on how, even though we didn’t really learn anything in chapter 13 about Gawyn that we didn’t already know, this was the first chapter that really made me feel like I understood, and could empathize with, his perspective and struggles.
I think this is because of the way the tight POV often gives us an unreliable narrator. For me, at least, it’s easy to forget how little information Gawyn has, even post Dumai’s Wells, about the division in the White Tower and the current politics. With the exception of how obvious it is that Elaida is trying to kill off the Younglings, he has no context to understand why Siuan made the choices she did, or why she was deposed, or how the Aes Sedai are viewing this civil war within the Tower.
As a reader, I find it easy to get frustrated when characters don’t have access to the information we have, and that has been especially true of Gawyn, since both his hatred of Suian and his belief that Rand killed his mother are completely reasonable from his point of view, but so unreasonable with just a little bit of context that he doesn’t have access to.
This theme of access to information (and lack thereof) is a huge one in The Wheel of Time. And when it comes to the division in the White Tower, it’s easy (for me, anyway) to forget how little even most Aes Sedai know about what happened. It really helped me have a nuanced perspective when Egwene pointed out the dangers of conducting important business like the removal of an Amyrlin in secret. For me, this really threw into relief how confusing the whole experience would have been for anyone not involved in the secret meeting of the Sitters to decide Suian’s deposal. It isn’t just that Aes Sedai who were out of the Tower don’t know the context Siuan’s removal or why half the Tower reacted violently against it—most of the sisters in the Tower during the fighting wouldn’t have understood what happened, and would have been required to make a very quick decision, in some cases after the fighting had already broken out, about who to trust and who to support, which is part of the reason that some of the split ran along Aah lines—no Red was going to question if Elaida was raised legally, and no Blue was going to believe that Siuan’s deposal was justified or fair.
We saw a bit of what that experience would have been like during the chapter in which it happened, because much of it was seen through Min’s eyes. But Min isn’t Aes Sedai, so I think it was still easy to discount how bewildering the situation was for most of the sisters themselves, and even moreso for their Warders and for the other members of the Tower, like the Guards and the Younglings.
It gives me a lot more empathy for the undecided sisters, those who were out of the Tower when the devision occurred and who are now trying to wait out the conflict without taking sides. We have seen Elayne and Nynaeve get frustrated, asking themselves how any of them could still be considering siding with Elaida, and while I think there is a point at which the undecided sisters do have a moral obligation to learn as much as they can so they can make a choice and help restore the White Tower, I can understand much better the difficulty of their position now than I could when I was in Nynaeve or Elyane’s perspective. Or when I am in the perspective of any of the other rebel Aes Sedai, for that matter.
Sleete’s conversation with Gawyn is actually the first time we’ve gotten a clear idea of how the Warders felt about what happened, and it was very poignant how closely his sentiments echoed those Egwene expressed to the Black Ajah hunters. The Warders know even less about why the conflict erupted than the average Aes Sedai—most sisters don’t discuss Tower business with their Warders, and while I think most Warders are very loyal to the White Tower and all Aes Sedai, their first and primary loyalty and focus is to their personal sister—they follow her lead above all, even to the point of fighting against other Warders.
We don’t get to see how painful that must have been for the Warders in question. As Gawyn is reflecting on Steele’s journey returning to his Aes Sedai after being injured at Dumai’s Wells, he thinks about how very few people ever know about the work Warders do, and that few of them are remembered, except by other Warders. “You [don’t] forget your own.”
These Warders were called on to cut their brothers down, and while Gawyn’s guilt and grief is very real, it must have been so much worse for men who have lived in the White Tower side by side for years and years. Gawyn is a newcomer to the Tower, after all, and although he respected his teachers like Hammar, they weren’t his family.
Sleete sees the fighting and division of the Tower as one of the worst things that could happen, but he doesn’t seem to hold any grudges. His desire is the same as Egwene’s—to see the White Tower reunited and the two factions made friends and partners again. If that takes violence, then it must be done with violence, but the goal is not to punish the losing side for their transgressions. It is to make the White Tower truly whole, again.
And perhaps that is the biggest argument for Elaida being removed from the Amyrlin Seat. Egwene’s argument that her raising was unlawful because at least one member of the Black Ajah was involved in her raising is a great weapon because of how important Tower law is to the Aes Sedai, but the best moral augment is that Elaida wants to continue dividing the Aes Sedai. No sister should be okay with an entire Ajah being dissolved. No sister should accept an Amyrlin demoting a full Aes Sedai back to being an apprentice. If Egwene offers a true reunification, than for the good of the White Tower and the world, it feels like the duty of every Aes Sedai to choose her path over Elaida’s, whether or not Elaida was raised legally or not.
Honestly, given the state of the White Tower, I’d argue that there is more than enough grounds to depose Elaida legally, if that was an option the current Sitters in the Tower wanted to pursue.
In any case, I was very moved by the way that Steele expressed a confidence in the Aes Sedai’s ability to do the right thing and to get through this trial, a faith in the White Tower to heal itself. And when it comes to Gawyn, I’ve been sympathetic to his struggle to come to terms with his actions during the fighting, especially his guilt over killing the Warders, but his sections have overall felt a little silly to me, because it feels so obvious to me, the readers that Elaida is terrible and that she is trying to get rid of the Younglings. His sections always felt a bit whiney to me, but I think I’ve been too hard on the guy. He was thrust into a dangerous and confusing position and made the best guess he could and he’s had to live with those consequences ever since.
I really appreciated Steele taking the time to absolve him for Hammar’s death—Steele himself probably killed Warders that day, and he understands that neither he, nor any of the other Warders, nor Gawyn and his Younglings were responsible for what happened that day. Hopefully, letting go of that guilt will allow Gawyn to see a little more clearly, and he won’t feel like he has to stay on the path he has chosen because abandoning it would mean that he was wrong to fight Hammar.
Gawyn reflects that he could never be a Warder except to Egwene, but I don’t know how he could be Warder to an Aes Sedai and first prince of the sword, unless he was Warder to Elayne. Steele makes the point that Hattori would go to Andor if it meant bonding Gawyn, but there would still be a conflict of interest, and I can’t see how Gawyn could manage two dueling loyalties that way.
Speaking of Hattori, she is another example of a sister with less power who is overlooked due to the Aes Sedai hierarchy system, and I am kind of in love with her and Steele. Their circumstances are different, but there is something that reminds me of Moiraine and Lan, and I’d happily read a whole book just about Hattori and Steele having adventures.
Also the point that Hattori felt the dark influences in Tower and wanted to get away from them is fascinating.
Egwene’s journey in Chapter 12 was also fascinating. We got to see her display her skills in leadership and diplomacy, which we have seen before but have always felt a bit secondary, in my eyes, to her strength of will and strength in the Power. We see her able to use logic as well as any White Sister, offer political and social guidance to women much older and more experienced than her, and deftly suss out the truth about Meidani and the secret cabal of Black Ajah hunters. I have so much empathy for Meidani and all the Salidar spies, caught by the hunt for Black Ajah members and forced to be bound by an oath of obedience. Obviously there is a difference of degree, but it’s impossible not to think of Galina’s despair as she was held by Therava. Especially in Meidani’s case, since she is being forced to be in proximity to Elaida, who is not unlike Therava when it comes to sadistic tendencies.
I am really hopeful that Egwene’s involvement will help ease things for Meidani. She will still have to interact with Elaida, but if she feels like those sending her on such a dangerous mission actually have her back, that danger will feel very different, and she will perhaps be strengthened by Egwene’s faith in her and acknowledgement of her service.
Egwene points out to Seaine, Doesine, Yukiri, and Saerin that “loyalty is better earned than forced,” and boy does that ever sum up the reason she is going to beat Elaida in the end. Beyond the fact that Egwene has a better idea of what needs to be done to deal with Rand and to prepare the White Tower for the Last Battle, beyond Elaida’s need for personal glory, beyond even her inability to see how those left in the Tower are being divided against each other to the point where the entire White Tower is about to fall apart for good, Elaida can only envisage commanding loyalty through punishment and decrees, up to the point that she is considering putting an oath to the Amyrlin in with the Three Oaths that sisters swear when they are raised. Elaida punishes and hounds and frightens and chases, Egwene leads.
The Amyrlin is called Mother after all. She is not a monarch, or a general, or a dictator. She is the highest in the hierarchy of power, but she is meant to care for her daughters, to teach and guide them. And from everything we have seen, especially since she has been captured, Egwene is prepared to do just that.
This, I think, is what Meidani is speaking about when she exclaims at the end of the chapter that Egwene really is the Amyrlin. Egwene is confused because Meidanai has already formally acknowledged this fact and agreed to obey her as the Amuyrlin, but that was because Meidani had little choice, and because she was maneuvered into accepting the logic and lawfulness of Egwene’s position. Egwene’s ability and desire to care for her people, however, is a completely different and higher aspect of being Amyrlin, as is her ability to understand what truely makes the White Tower.
Egwene’s readiness to praise Silviana for doing here duty, even though it comes at a personal cost to Egwene, shows how she can rise above petty feelings of injury and vengeance and put the good of the Tower before all, and that is what Meidani is awed by.
Looks like the secret about Traveling is finally out of the bag, though. Katerine is teaching it to the sisters in Dorlan to help deal with Bryne and the rebel army, and it’s not going to take very long for everyone else to learn it, I think. Elaida’s followers knowing how to Travel isn’t great for Egwene and the rebels, but I can’t help thinking about how the Seanchan have captured Aes Sedai who know about Traveling, which means that they almost certainly have it or will have it shortly.
Since we know that Egwene’s dreams are always true, this means that the Seanchan are going to attack the White Tower, and I’m sure they will do so using Traveling. The Tower Aes Sedai knowing Traveling can’t stop the Seanchan from having that advantage, but perhaps they will be able to better maneuver if they have the weave as well.
Gosh, I really am worried about that attack. I don’t want to see even one more woman collared by the Seanchan, and I know that they will be. I’m still really upset about the Wise Ones Tylee carried off.
Speaking of Wise Ones, it looks like Cadusane is going to be calling in Sorelia to help in the interrogation of Semirhage in chapter 14, and I think that is going to be really, really interesting to read. And then we’ll be checking in with Rand again in chapter 15.
I hope everyone has a great week, and I’ll see you next time![end-mark]
The post Reading The Wheel of Time:<i>The Gathering Storm</i> (Part 9) appeared first on Reactor.
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