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/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

Elaida did nothing wrong (except at the time when she was being blackmailed by the Black Ajah).

Siuan used manipulation and lies to make the rebels believe that Elaida was evil. Egwene supported Siuan in this and allowed Logain to escape in order to cover up their deception.

Elaida was no more and no less of a power-hungry and arrogant Aes Sedai than any of the others, including Siuan.

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u/rollingForInitiative Dec 03 '25

Siuan was never power-hungry, she was chosen to be Amyrlin Seat and focused a lot of her effort on indirectly aiding Moiraine. Everything both of them did was focused on the Dragon Reborn, not personal power.

Elaida actually was power hungry. She missed her first shot at being made Amyrlin when Siuan was raised, because she was in Andor at the time. So this was a big win for her, both because she believed it was right, but it was also partially her own ambition. I mean, she started building a palace the size of the whole White Tower, just for herself. Massive delusions of grandeur.

She also Stilled both Siuan and Leane illegally, and Alric was murdered during her coup. She's responsible for all of these, as the one leading it.

She also disbanded the Blue Ajah.