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In Wheel of time, CoT, we see Egwene is almost continuously plagued by headaches. From the text we can safely assume that the headaches were caused by

Halima, who was in fact Aran'gar.

Since the headaches were caused by Saidin, they were undetectable but their timing can easily help conclude the culprit.

However, what was the reason for causing the headaches? The only effects I can surmise are

  • Egwene seems cranky and snaps at her advisors. Which keeps Salidar Aes Sedai divided
  • Egwene trusts the culprit and relies on her sometimes disbelieving rumors about them
  • The most important but I don't know why it is so important for Darkfriends that Egwene can't remember her dreams, except the feeling they were about something "dark".
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    Aran'gar's assignment is to keep tabs on/keep egwene's group of Aes Sedai from rejoining with the white tower. The headache's are so that Aran'gar can stay close to Egwene and listen to private meetings, and end up sleeping in the same room as egwene.
    – Himarm
    Commented Sep 28, 2016 at 12:09
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    Halima needed an excuse to stay near Egwene, so "she" gave her the headaches in order to "fix" them. And the healers couldn't figure it out because Halima was using saidin to create them.
    – Omegacron
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 18:34

3 Answers 3

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The WOT Companion says:

Halima was with the rebels to promote chaos and disorder, and to control/guide/influence one of the major power centers...She wanted to maintain the division in the White Tower, she wanted to increase tensions between the rebels and Rand, and she did not want any alliance, temporary or otherwise, between the rebel sisters and the Black Tower

It also says that Halima was causing Egwene's headaches, and that she killed Egwene's maids Meri and Selame because they were spies for Lelaine and Romanda. Chesa survived because she wasn't a spy.

I've always thought that she caused the headaches so that she could massage Egwene's temples to "fix" them, and that she was doing something at that time to mess up Egwene's dreaming, either by preventing it from working, or planting suggestions of some kind, but the Companion doesn't say anything about that. Maybe they were just a way to make Halima indispensable, and give her a way to get lots of time with Egwene.

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In chapter 18 of Crossroads of Twilight (yep, that book) Halima is in Egwene's tent and says to her

You wouldn't get so many headaches if you talked over your worries more. At least you know you can talk to me.

So it seems that Halima was indeed causing the headaches in order to gather information during their therapy sessions.

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Yes, Halima's mission was to foment discord with the rebels, but the headaches were actually the results of a failed attempt to control Egwene from within The World of Dreams by influencing her dreams. Apparently since she is a Dreamer and apparently only Moghedien and Lanfear have any natural talent in this area, the headaches were the best she could do. Note that Moghedien once tried to trap Egwene in a nightmare and she immediately left the dream without realizing anyone was behind it.

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    Can you provide some background from the books to support this?
    – Adamant
    Commented Nov 23, 2016 at 4:44
  • I don't remember which chapter but I know that Arangar was made fun during one her meetings with the others (Book 9? Book 10?) because she was only able to give headaches.
    – Harlemme
    Commented Dec 9, 2016 at 4:05

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