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"Remember that even a blackthorn bush has flowers sometimes, beautiful and white among the thorns."
Birth: 953 NE Visually, Nynaeve is a darkly beautiful woman, short and slender. Everyone has their own images of the characters, but you can take a look at some artists interpretations here: Clara Ann Underwood (a link into TWotW), Nadia Hassan, Helena Zeegers (both links into WOTKarkinki), Crystal Vivian, Madeleine Gusdal, Gin May, Annie Swefiel. Nynaeve is my favourite character in the Wheel of Time series. A governing, often proud girl who came into authority too early and now believes she can boss everyone about. She incessantly whines when she doesn't get her way and tugs constantly on that god damn braid. She has the temper of a bull seeing red and she constantly contradicts herself - "What in the Light ever made you think of bullying them?" And that's about all the criticism I intend to give her. Brace yourselves, for from now on, I will be preaching about what a wonderful person she is. I remember reading one fan mentioning that Nynaeve has through the entire story without a stable mentor, like Thom/Birgitte to Elayne, Moiraine to Rand. I have to say the revelation shocked me a little. But it's true; she barely gets to know her parents (we hear only briefly of her father, who taught her to track as a girl), and she must still be very young when her guardian, Mistress Barran, passes away. To the reader's knowledge, no blood ties remain. She has friends... or perhaps affliates, of course, in the Women's Circle, however, as Egwene learns when she becomes Amyrlin, a position of authority renders you a little distant from others, whether they resent or misunderstand your position. Nynaeve kept a firm hand with the Emond's Fielders but she cared deeply for all of them. Her only reason for leaving the village was to see Rand, Mat, Perrin and Egwene home safely. Her concern has thus far lasted the entire series - we see evidence in her anxiety in the Amyrlin's interest in Rand (The Great Hunt), Mat's sickness (The Great Hunt), leaving Mat behind ("Mat's in the city. I have to go back for him.") and Rand being arrested (Winter's Heart - "Rand too, always Rand..."). But whereas characters like Elayne are a priority to Rand, Birgitte, Aviendha, Thom, Gawyn, Galad and even Mat for a time, Nynaeve is almost always an afterthought. When you think about it, Lan is the only person she can really trust to look out for her. There is no one else to worry about her. You'll notice that when Elayne and Egwene have completed their traumatic Accepted tests, they seek out Nynaeve for sympathy. Nynaeve had no such comfort. She did not share her troubles with a single soul. When you think about it in this respect, you can really drum up a lot of sympathy for her. Another great aspect of Nynaeve is that when it counts, she is utterly fearless. As we see when she faces Rahvin, having the odds against her means nothing to her, she presses on anyway. She fights the black sisters with all her strength, attacks Aginor after he knocks Lan unconcious. And yet, throughout it all, she believes herself to be a coward. She has very selfless reasons for becoming Aes Sedai. True, once she gains the title of Aes Sedai she certainly enjoys the authority! But she only agreed to learn more about the One Power to strengthen her skills in healing (what could be a more heroic profession?), to watch over the Emond's Fielders, and to be able to challenge Moiraine, who she believes ruined the lives of her fellow Emond's Fielders (especially Rand). A few quotes to support: "[Nynaeve] could seldom hear of anyone being hurt without wanting to Heal them; she wanted to Heal everything." - Elayne's POV, 2: Unweaving, The Path of Daggers "She had gone to the Tower still with the hope that she could somehow shelter them, and the added ambition of bringing down Moiraine for what she had done." "The main reason she was willing to keep trying to learn to use the Power... was the Talent called Healing. As Wisdom of Emond's Field it had been gratifying to bring the Women's Circle around to her way of thinking... The most satisfaction, though, had always come from finding the right combination of herbs to cure an illness. To Heal with the One Power... The joy of it was enough to bring tears. One day she meant to Heal Thom and watch him dance. One day she would even Heal that wound in Rand's side. Surely there was nothing that could not be Healed, not if the woman wielding the Power was determined enough." Who could possibly call her heartless?
; )
Finally, to talk of her abilities, Robert Jordan said at a signing that Nynaeve
has Forsaken strength ie. as strong as most female Forsaken. She is the strongest Aes Sedai known bar Alivia and Sharina. She also has what could be named as a Talent. She can sense a "storm" which she believes is the weather but is actually related to events.
Tidbits
For a more comprehensive biography on Nynaeve, visit her profile at the Wheel of Time Compendium. <---« return |