As Rand comments in the prologue, sadly: Whatever Egwene does, she does with her whole heart, and she's becoming Aes Sedai. So is Elayne. As the story progresses, Rand becomes colder, harsher, and harder to understand and reason with. At the end of chapter 47, about three-quarters of the way through, Rand is witnessing nobles bowing and swearing fealty to him:
He did not understand why those coming before him began to sweat and lick their lips as they knelt and stammered the words of fealty. But then, he could not see the cold light burning in his own eyes.

Back to top

---

Matrim (Mat) Cauthon, "Lord of Luck"

Mat is a trickster, and has two intrests: gambling and girls. He tends to be very lucky at dice and other random things, and the rogue is also very successful with young women. A cursed knife burned holes in his memory, and he has gained pieces of other men's memories in his own memories' place. Mat's character has become darker and colder since he first embarked on this strange journey, accompanying the Dragon Reborn. He and Rand grew up together, and Mat would always play practical jokes that Rand would go along with, so both got into trouble. The practical joker in Mat died when he first acquired the cursed dagger, and soon all laughter had burned itself out of him as the evilness of the dagger corroded his soul.
He has now regained some of the humor with which he once lived his life, but nothing can return him to his innocence of old--not herbs, potions, or Aes Sedai Healing, which has miraculous strength. He is ta'veren, along with Rand, meaning that he pulls the very fabric of the world to him, and coincidences become commonplace. He is drawn to do great things, even though he would just as soon give up his influence and turn to a quiet life of farming, dicing, and pretty women.

Back to top

---

Lanfear, Daughter of the Night

She is an extremely strong and extremely knowlegeable Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends, the Age before the present one in which the story takes place. Her true name is Mierin, but few know of it what she takes pains to keep hidden. She is incredibly and stunningly beautiful, and loved the Dragon, Lews Therin Telamon (also called Lews Therin Kinslayer). She is drawn to Rand, who, being the Dragon Reborn, is a reincarnation of Lews Therin. He tries several times, unsuccessfully, to convince Lanfear that he does not love her, will not love her, but only at very near the book's end does she allow herself to accept and retaliate for what she can finally see as the truth. "If you are not mine," she said coldly, "then you are dead." Eventually, she is thrown from this world in a last, suicidal charge by Moiraine, who is also ripped from the Pattern. There are speculations as to whether the Dark One, Rand's enemy and the Creator's antithesis, will resurrect her in a different form or leave her dead.

Back to top

---

Egwene al'Vere, an Accepted and a Dreamwalker

Egwene is said to be strong-willed, beautiful, and very hungry to learn. Egwene is rather sensitive, as she's close to both Elayne and Aviendha, although she hasn't really met Min. She loves Gawyn, Elayne's older brother, but both he and Galad, Elayne's older half-brother, are in love with her. She is attracted physically to Galad, because he is supposedly so handsome he even makes Nynaeve's heart stop. She has the strength of will to control Nynaeve, as an older sibling controls a younger, naughty child. Egwene is a Dreamwalker, and can walk Tel'aran'rhiod quite easily. The World of Dreams is identical to ours--except temporary things don't show up well there. Letters may disappear in the hand as you are reading, pens may melt away before you can pick them up, a box you leave open may close. In this World of Dreams, any injury sustained is real and death is permanent, unlike in the shallow dreams of normal people. Egwene has learned just enough to control this land and stop it from killing her, stop it from drowning her in its strange rules...

Back to top

---

Elmindreda (Min) Farshaw

Min hates her name, because she was named after a lady of old who "spent all her time sighing after men". Elmindreda, therefore, was shortened to Min. She's been a tomboy since her childhood, and refuses to wear dresses. She never wanted to fall in love, and still isn't sure she ever wanted to meet Rand. She's a funny character and easy to get along with, and can always make Rand laugh. She is the oldest of the group--older even than Nynaeve, who is by roughly five years Egwene's elder and by four Rand, Perrin, and Mat's. Her viewings are of auras: she sees things around people, such as the fact that this woman is pregnant with triplets or that this couple will die before they are married. Her viewings always happen when she knows what they mean; unfortunately, most times she's as lost about the meanings of her viewings as anyone else.

Back to top

---

Daughter-Heir of Andor Elayne Trakand, an Accepted

Elayne is beautiful, knows it, and quite a flirt. She somehow manages to give the overall impression that she is younger that Aviendha & Egwene, though they are all the same age. Her insignia is a golden lily, and she can be calm and commanding when she needs to-- she just isn't, normally. She likes Rand, and is the first to meet him of the trio, but also the one who gets to see him least. She tends to look up to Egwene, more as an older sister than anything else, and Egwene cares for her in the same manner. Elayne is a sort of rough-and-tumble girl, as she climbs trees etc, but is also very aware that she is a woman and very proud of the fact and tends to use her beauty as a last resort to get what she wants. She doesn't mind wearing dresses with really low necklines or oval cutouts, and so far has balked only at going topless like the Atha'an Miere (Sea Folk) women do on ship. She develops a sharp tongue from being around Nynaeve, and it doesn't seem to go away with time.

Back to top

---

Aviendha of the Bitter Water Sept of the Tardaad Aiel

Aviendha is of the warrior-like Aiel, fierce and proud in their beliefs. She lives by ji'e'toh, the Aiel system of retribution to regain honor and pay debt. It is a strange system to the "wetlanders", as the Aiel call all who do not live in the desert of the Aiel Waste. She is a "near-sister" to Egwene, and in the beginning only puts up with Rand because Egwene persuades her to. She absolutely hates him, for reasons he cannot understand, or maybe for no reason at all. The Wise Ones do not care that she detests him and force her to stay near him and report on his words and actions. Wise Ones tend to be as manipulative as Aes Sedai when great things, such as the world, are at stake. Aviendha eventually comes to love Rand, although it takes a very long time for her to do so. She is a strong, proud warrior, stubborn as anyone and as prickly as a thornbush. But like a thornbush, too, she is beautiful, and has attributes to set off her faults. She is loyal, friendly to Egwene, and very caring, though she does not allow herself to show it most of the time. She is as strong in the Power as Egwene or Elayne, and they are the strongest that the White Tower has seen for some two thousand years. She accepts responsibility for her actions and will always pay whatever price necessary for them.

Back to top

---

Nynaeve al'Meara

Nynaeve is so short-tempered that even even-tempered Elayne picks up some of her flare after being around her too long. She has a tongue that's as sharp as a file and a mean streak three times as wide as the Grand Canyon. She also happens to be the best healer that the White Tower has seen in about a century, and is also the strongest girl in two thousand years to come to the White Tower. She and Egwene get along horribly after they meet some others and leave Emond's Field, and that's probably in part because she used to control Egwene, and now Egwene is in control of her. Nynaeve is stubborn, mule-headed, and unteachable, yet she is also as modest as Egwene when it comes to clothes... unless Lan is around. Then, everything goes out the window to impress him, with no regard to her own personal preferences. She also thinks men are the scum of the earth, except Lan, naturally, and treats them as if they are such idiots that they would forget to breathe if not reminded.

Back to top

---

Moiraine Sedai (Moiraine Demandred)

Moiraine guides Rand, when he lets her, which is not very often. As the story progresses, he becomes more trusting of her because of a promise that she made:
"It's hard to trust you, Moiraine. You have handled me like a puppet, made me dance the way you wanted, from the day we met. The only times I've been free of you were either when you were far away or when I ignored you. And you make even that hard."
Her laugh was silvery as the moon above, but bitterness tinged it. "It has been more like wrestling with a bear than pulling strings on a puppet. Do you want an oath not to try manipulating you? I give it." Her voice hardened to crystal. "I even swear to obey you like one of the Maidens--like one of the gai'shain, if you require--but you must--" Taking a deep breath, she began again, more softly. "I ask you, humbly, to allow me to help you."

Back to top

---

al'Lan Mandragoran

Lan is cold, strong, and a hard enemy to have. He is the ruler of a now-nonexistant kingdom, and he lives only to serve Moiraine as her Warder. If Moiraine were to die, and their Warder/Aes Sedai bond to break, he would live only because of Nynaeve and because his bond would pass to another sister. Exactly that happens near the end of the book, and Lan seems to be in shock for a long time. He loves Nynaeve, but refuses to admit it to her or even to himself, saying that he is a warrior and that he can only bring pain and heartbreak to the woman he loves. Nynaeve is often angry that she nmust 'share' him with Moiraine, but often Lan himself is a source of irritation with his dark moods and constant refusal to her every tactic. He is a legend among the Aiel as a man who continues to fight a war for a country long gone; in doing so, they believe he gains much honor.

Back to top

---

Birgitte Trahelion (Birgitte Silverbow)

Birgitte is the heroine of many legends, a fabled character with silver bow and arrows that never miss. She, like everyone else of this world, is reborn again and again, but is each time linked with Gaidal Cain, whom she marries, loves, or both. One story with her as its heroine has become famous, and almost all the characters of the modern world are familiar with it. She lives in Tel'aran'rhiod between lives, and it is there she meets Nynaeve and agrees to help her in her search for the Forsaken. Moghedien manages to rip Birgitte from the Pattern, though, and it is unsure as to what will happen if she dies right now.

Back to top

---

Siuan Sanche (former Amyrlin)

Siuan is an amazingly strong woman, and her apparently innocent, young lady's face is simply misleading. Once the Amyrlin Seat (the leader of Aes Sedai) and the most powerful person in the world, she has been stilled (cut off from the Power). She can still sense it, and she hungers for it to fill her once again, but she can no longer reach it. She is much older than she looks--a side effect of stilling is losing several years from face and form. She now runs the Blue Ajah's (Ajahs are societies among the Aes Sedai) eyes-and-ears network, assumed to be the most extensive out of all the Ajahs. She arrives in Salidar, where the 'rebel' Aes Sedai are, and helps to manipulate the other Aes Sedai into doing what she wants.

Back to top