Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan is an antagonist in the Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan.
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The youngest daughter of a minor House in the north of Murandy, Elaida was the first novice to be raised to Accepted in only three years. She was raised to the shawl after Siuan Sanche and Moiraine Damodred's second year as novices and chose the Red Ajah. From the time Siuan and Moiraine came to the Tower, Elaida made life miserable for them, pressing them so hard that other sisters often had to intervene. Her abusive and unwarranted 'help' as an already raised Aes Sedai were eventually put to an end after the then Mistress of Novices, Merean Redhill, having been informed by other concerned Accepted, threatened her with a penance as well as humiliation. Elaida bitterly resented this intervention, though, and grew to hate Siuan and Moiraine because of it. She has a strong aptitude with the One Power, but is frequently depicted as proud and foolish. She dreams of defeating the Salidar Rebels and having them kneel at her feet, and plans to build a grand palace for herself despite the ongoing crisis in Tar Valon. In The Fires of Heaven, Siuan speculates that Elaida was insanely jealous that the former was raised Amyrlin over her. This was probably one of Elaida's most motivating factors in deciding to mutiny against Siuan. In the novel Lord of Chaos, Padan Fain speculates that now that he has "brushed" Elaida with some of the taint of Shadar Logoth, she "might" trust her own mother, but never Rand al'Thor. This infection from Fain might also be a source of her growing and irrational paranoia.
Elaida became the Amyrlin Seat in the White Tower after Siuan Sanche was deposed. A former Sitter for the Red (a position she was able to attain with the help of the Black Ajah via Highest Red and Supreme Council-member of the Black, Galina Casban), Elaida served as advisor to Morgase Trakand prior to being raised to Amyrlin. She took over from the stilled Siuan after leading the coup which deposed her, and had the Blue Ajah removed from representation in the Tower, though most members of the Blue, along with many Aes Sedai from all Ajahs except Red, made good their escape anyway. Indeed, Elaida has shown unprecedented cruelty and extreme miscarriage of justice where Siuan is concerned. While Siuan is unconscious, Elaida and her supporters try and convict Siuan, and promptly still her; it is widely thought that Elaida would have had Siuan executed had the latter not escaped custody and fled Tar Valon.
Breaking a long held tradition, Elaida appointed Alviarin as her Keeper of the Chronicles. Traditionally, the Keeper is of the same Ajah from which the Amyrlin was raised, but Alviarin was of the White Ajah, and also the highest ranking of the secret Black Ajah.
As Amyrlin, Elaida rules with an iron fist, severely punishing Aes Sedai under her authority for failures, or for real or imagined slightings. Despite her cruelty - or perhaps because of it - Elaida is a relatively weak Amyrlin. Quite apart from the rebel Salidar faction, Elaida's harshness has alienated many even in the Tower faction, and her attempts to play the Ajahs off against one another have bred unprecedented levels of suspicion and mistrust between Tower Aes Sedai, while completely failing to engender any loyalty to Elaida herself. The Tower's misadventures in trying to capture Rand al'Thor and investigate the Black Tower further undermined her position; Alviarin, using her knowledge of Elaida's role in these debacles, effectively blackmailed Elaida into compliance, to such an extent that for a time Alviarin was the de facto ruler of the Tower. Elaida was eventually able to force Alviarin to resign, replacing her with Tarna Feir, of the Red Ajah.
In a desperate ploy to reveal Alviarin's treachery, Elaida set certain Aes Sedai to finding evidence that Alvairin contacted the Dragon Reborn. However, these detective Aes Sedai, misunderstanding Elaida's obliquely worded instructions, have instead started rooting out the Black Ajah from the White Tower. Elaida is unaware of this.
Elaida also has the rare Talent of Foretelling. This Talent of randomly spewing forth prophecy is what drove Elaida to become advisor to Morgase Trakand, having foretold that the royal line of Andor was critical to the Last Battle. She also had a Foretelling about the Black Tower and the Aes Sedai. However, she often misinterprets these foretellings. For example, the royal line of Andor when she made her prediction included Tigraine Mantear (the mother of Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn), and was replaced by House Trakand before Elaida began advising the Queen.
Elaida held the rebel Amyrlin, Egwene al'Vere, in the White Tower, and reduced her to the status of a novice, an action rarely taken by the Amyrlin unless called for by desperate measures. Beonin, a spy sent to Salidar under Elaida's direction, also returned recently and told Elaida of the plans of the rebel Aes Sedai, as well as showing Elaida the weaves for Skimming, Traveling, and a new form of Healing.
In The Gathering Storm, Elaida descends to new levels of cruelty and idiocy. She requests Egwene al'Vere to serve a dinner with many Sitters in attendance, manipulating Egwene to embarrass Elaida and accuse her of miscarriage of power as Amyrilin. Elaida attacks Egwene with the One Power and has her thrown in the dungeons, but the episode with the Sitters prompts the Hall to censure Elaida. Elaida only narrowly retains the stole after attempting to push blame for the incident onto Silviana, the Mistress of Novices.
After ignoring Egwene's Foretellings of an imminent Seanchan raid on the White Tower, Elaida is captured by the sul'dam and given a new name. She is last seen in their captivity as the surviving Seanchan flee Tar Valon. The Hall briefly consider sending a rescue party, but conclude they have neither the time nor the resources to achieve it; the unspoken implication is that they consider Elaida's predicament to be a product of her own mistakes and that they are quite content to leave her to her own devices for the time being.
It is revealed in Towers of Midnight, that Elaida is forced to show Tuon, and others, the weaves for Traveling, thus giving the Seanchan equal footing in the skirmishes.
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