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Throughout the Wheel of Time series, many unusual circumstances happen to Rand, Perrin, and Mat - supposedly because they are ta'veren. However, throughout the series we also see such unusual circumstances happening to Elayne, Nynaeve, and Egwene... even when they are alone and nowhere near the three boys.

Is there any evidence within the WoT series, or in statements given by the authors, that indicates that Elayne, Nynaeve, or Egwene are also ta'veren, albeit lesser ones?

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  • They're presumably essential parts of ta'maral'ailen, Min's vision of sparks and shadow may reflect it, so their fate is manipulated seriously. Out of universe: bad writing...
    – Mithoron
    Commented Jun 27, 2019 at 19:58
  • @Mithoron - my guess is that they come as close as possible to being ta'veren without actually crossing that line (whatever it is). Like a rock in a web, a ta'veren pulls the pattern to it... so maybe the girls are just rocks that don't weigh quite as much. They definitely influence events & chance to a much larger extent than usual, even more than kings/queens and even some of The Forsaken.
    – Omegacron
    Commented Jun 27, 2019 at 20:13

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Robert Jordan explains that none of the women are ta'veren:

ROBERT JORDAN - For ben, of course women can be ta'veren. None of the major female characters in the books is ta'veren, though. The Wheel doesn't cast ta'veren around indiscriminately. There has to be a specific reason or need. (I tossed in the "major" just to leave you something to argue about.)

Egwene is not ta'veren as explained by Brandon Sanderson on Theoryland

BRANDON SANDERSON - I've often gotten questions from people asking if Egwene was ta'veren. Obviously not, as Siuan would have seen the glow of it.

He goes on to mention his own assumption as to why none of the girls are ta'veren:

BRANDON SANDERSON - People seem to wonder why all three boys, and not a single one of the girls, are ta'veren. I've assumed this was to confuse the Shadow.

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    It really makes Egwene that much more impressive in my opinion. She rose to basically as much power as the ta'veren, and did as many important things to the pattern. Perhaps a symptom of being so close to 3 so often; but still, impressive.
    – JMac
    Commented Aug 21, 2017 at 16:49
  • It's telling that even Brandon Sanderson was unable to think of a better reason for all three main male characters and none of the main female characters being ta'veren than "Dunno, I guess it was to confuse the baddies."
    – Adamant
    Commented Jun 3, 2023 at 22:56
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Robert Jordan was once asked if any of the women were ta'veren, and he said no

For ben, of course women can be ta'veren. None of the major female characters in the books is ta'veren, though. The Wheel doesn't cast ta'veren around indiscriminately. There has to be a specific reason or need. (I tossed in the "major" just to leave you something to argue about.)

In-world, Suian Sanche has a Talent for noticing ta'veren (at least while she has access to the One Power) and doesn't remark on seeing any of the women being such.

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I figured Suian could only see male ta’veren. To me it’s obvious the three girls are also the female equivalent of ta’veren (if that exists). I figured no male with an equivalent talent to Suian’s ever existed/came into contact with the girls. I don’t have any evidence for this, and I guess it isn’t true if Jordan claimed they aren’t. Not sure if there’s specific evidence that someone has seen both male and female ta’veren in their lifetime.

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    Hi, welcome to SF&F. Do note that the question was specifically asking for evidence, not theories. Your theory also contradicts the quote from Sanderson in the accepted answer, so you'd need to find evidence for it either from the works directly or from Jordan himself.
    – DavidW
    Commented Jun 3, 2023 at 21:39
  • A remark: This contrast has always been interesting to me. The women leads experience improbably abrupt rediscovery of several Talents and ascent in political status. These affect them personally, though, and don't directly affect the behavior of others like the boys' symptoms of being ta'veren do. I've always interpreted this to mean that the good guys were in an incredibly bad spot for this Turning of the Wheel. Both the women and men had to be "gifted" Traveling and several other Talents just to stand a chance.
    – user146823
    Commented Jun 4, 2023 at 3:03
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    You are forgetting Logain also has the Talent of seeing ta’veren. He can definitely see male ta’veren (Rand), which sort of disproves the idea that “you can only see the opposite gender”. He’s also had significant interactions with Nynaeve and Egwene, and like Siuan has never given any indication he’s ever seen the glow around the girls.
    – David H
    Commented Jun 4, 2023 at 4:02
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It's funny that the tv series made Egwene Ta'vern as well. She really should have been anyways, she became Amyrlin Seat at probably the youngest age ever, and definitely the least trained ever. She rediscovered magic lost for thousands of years..... for someone not Ta'Vern she sure made a humongous impact on the pattern. I'm not surprised the series made her Ta'vern.

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    The question was asking if there's evidence of Elayne, Nynaeve, or Egwene being being ta'veren. You haven't mentioned any such evidence here, hence this doesn't really function as an answer. Note that the 'Your Answer' field is only meant for posting answers, not comments. In order to post comments the right way, you need to increase your reputation to 50 or more to unlock the comment everywhere privilege. Please take the tour and visit the help center to learn more.
    – LogicDictates
    Commented May 12, 2022 at 23:38

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