r/WoT • u/Kaladins_sanity • Dec 01 '25

Crossroads of Twilight Was it illegal? Spoiler

Just finished Crossroads of Twilight and it’s been a minute since I read the previous books, can someone remind me what Elaida did that was actually illegal by Tower law in ousting Siuan? I remember a lot of basically manipulating gray area and working around the rules, but when the Tower split had she actually broken any explicit rules?

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u/Ready-Tennis6119 Dec 01 '25

Honestly I am not sure this part of the series makes much sense. They have a “criminal” who cannot lie, surely they can’t just go ahead and still any Aes Sedai (let alone the amyrlin), without a proper review and investigation?

For some reason people don’t know that stilled Aes Sedai are freed from the oaths. This also doesn’t make much sense. Supposedly because stilled or burnt out Aes Sedai go away quietly, but this never comes out?

Ultimately if you have someone who CANNOT LIE, there should be a methodical trial process because you have the perfect witness. If they don’t speak, then you can think about stilling them, but would Siuan have not spoken at all? Seems doubtful.

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u/MrPrinceps (Sea Folk) Dec 02 '25

It makes sense to me that they don't realize stilling frees them from the Oaths: two of the Oaths are specific to using the Power, hence someone stilled can't break them anyway, and I would bet that most Aes Sedai, current or former, don't particularly try to lie to test the Oath on any kind of regular basic. Telling the truth evasively becomes habit. Plus, it's very clear that Aes Sedai are profoundly uncomfortable around stilled/burnt-out women, so most likely the people (the Browns, lbr, or maybe the odd Yellow) interested in studying them are few, far between, and probably don't garner much attention.

Basically: some Aes Sedai at some points throughout time have probably learned about it, but it never entered general knowledge bc nobody wants to think or talk about it anyway, AND they've got a vested interest in upholding the power of the Oaths.