Origin
The daughter of the innkeeper and mayor of Emond’s Field, Egwene was born and raised in the Two Rivers. The youngest of five girls, she was brought up alongside Rand al’Thor, Mat Cauthon and Perrin Aybara. She and Rand were particularly close, and many (including them) believed that they would one day marry. She was taken on by Nynaeve al’Meara as apprentice Wisdom as a young adult.
Creation
Egwene was created by Robert Jordan for his book series The Wheel of Time, making her first appearance in the first book of the series, The Eye of the World. She made her first appearance in comics in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time: Dragonmount #0, written by Jordan and Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Chase Conley.
Major Story Arcs
The Eye of the World
After Emond’s Field is attacked by Trollocs, she finds Rand, Mat and Perrin preparing to flee the town in the dead of night in the company of the mysterious Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred and her warder al’Lan Mandragoran. She insists on being allowed to come along, and Moiraine finally relents, recognizing in Egwene the capacity for channeling. The group is pursued in their flight, and they seek refuge in the corrupted city of Shadar Logoth. There, the group become separated, with Perrin and Egwene becoming lost in the woods for some time. They eventually encounter a man named Elyas Machera, who leads them to a group of the Tuatha’an, travelling people who take them in. They leave the company of the Tuatha’an, and soon fall afoul of a group of Children of the Light who take them prisoner. During their initial encounter Perrin kills two of the Whitecloaks in a rage, causing him to be sentenced to death. She and Perrin are rescued from the camp by Moiraine, Lan and Nynaeve, with whom they travel to Caemlyn and reunite with the remainder of the group.
Powers and Abilities
Egwene is a very gifted channeler, one of the more powerful female channelers of the Age. She has special facility for the Power of Earth, which is fairly rare among female channelers. She independently rediscovered the weaves for Gateways and the formation of cuendillar, at which she is particularly skilled. She is a Dreamer, meaning she is capable of entering Tel’aran’rhiod, the Land of Dreams, unaided, and is able to act in and manipulate the Dreamworld with particular skill that is generally unmatched by most others capable of entering the Dreamworld. She possesses a sort of Foretelling that is based in dreams; when she has predictive dreams the events predicted invariably come true. She is a gifted leader and skilled manipulator. She also has some knowledge of herbs.
Other Media
Literature
The Wheel of Time
Egwene was originally created for the Wheel of Time series of books. She has appeared in fourteen books in the series.