Elayviendha

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I wanted to check before I reinvent the wheel (haha) that someone else hasn't already done this work.

I'm a bi/queer woman, and I have always shipped Elayne and Aviendha based on textual evidence. However, I'm starting to get really sick of the endless "gals being pals" arguments I keep hearing about this ship and I wondered if anyone has compiled an exhaustive, thorough list of every example from the books where Elayne and Aviendha are behaving/feeling/acting/sounding in a way that would obviously be Romance And Love if it they were a man and a woman.

If not, I guess I have *two* projects for my next re-read (I also want to compile how everyone's clothes are described, to see if there are patterns [beyond Ajah of course]).
 

Jaryd Kosari

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The fact that it's canon that Aiel women share their husband and their beds, and that Elayne is 100% okay with being Aviendha's sister-wife, and that "pillow-friends" are a known, accepted thing in the Westlands, are really the only facts I need to know they're a canon ship. :p
 

Nadezhda al'Lanahrin

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I mean same but I really just want to throw the book(s) at homophobes lol
Fun fact: I once threw an actual book at one my bullies in middle school. After that, I just carried a tote bag with a Dowager Countess quote on the side, which held the Harry Potter series in hardback. This allowed me to defend myself more readily lol :laugh:
 

Merena Orithana

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oooOOOOooohhhh....interesting.

I love how RJ's writing style lets you infer a variety of things into each event or exchange between characters. So many different ways to read it. :waggle

Though some are probably more obvious than others (and I'm probably still missing alot of them!). :giggle

I don't think Aviendlayne is treated any differently than Mosiuan, now that I think about it.
 
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Fun fact: I once threw an actual book at one my bullies in middle school. After that, I just carried a tote bag with a Dowager Countess quote on the side, which held the Harry Potter series in hardback. This allowed me to defend myself more readily lol :laugh:
HA! Wish I could have seen that. Was it a WoT book? That could have taken someone OUT.
 

Nadezhda al'Lanahrin

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Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum

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It took me a long time for this ship to click for me, but once it did, i adored it. :love
 

Jocasta Braithe

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It took me a long time for this ship to click for me, but once it did, i adored it. :love

I didn't read it that way the first time either, but I have a LOT of childhood crap to unlearn. I think I argued against it when they described changes to Rand's ladies in the early show planning phase. I'm coming around the idea (much like I've come around to the idea of Frodo and Sam as a romantic relationship) and I'm waiting to see how the show handles it. And to see if I get a stronger romantic vibe from them in rereads. Which I am not ready to do yet, having only just finished my first read! :giggle
 

Morgana Arakos

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Ooh, I hadn't thought about this in my previous rereads, but I'm really curious about it now. I just got to the part in my current reread where we meet Aviendha, I'll definitely keep an eye out for quotes as I go on.

Only kind of relevant, but one thing that stood out to me in The Dragon Reborn after reading this post was how Egwene and Elayne reacted to learning about first-sister customs. They blush, but neither of them seem particularly offended by the idea!

Relevant quote (spoilers):
"But I have gone far from the trail of my explanation," Bain went on. "The Maidens do not dance the spears with one another even when our clans do, but the Shaarad Aiel and the Goshien Aiel have held blood feud between them over four hundred years, so Chiad and I felt our wedding pledge was not enough. We went to speak the words before the Wise Ones of our clans – she risking her life in my hold, and I in hers – to bond us as first-sisters. As is proper for first-sisters who are Maidens, we guard each other's backs, and neither will let a man come to her without the other. I would not say we do not care for men." Chiad nodded, with just the hint of a smile. "Have I made the truth clear to you, Egwene?"

"Yes," Egwene said faintly. She glanced at Elayne and saw the bewilderment in her blue eyes she knew must be in her own. Not Red Ajah, Green, maybe. A cross between Warders and Green Ajah, and I do not understand another thing out of that. "The truth is quite clear to me, now, Bain. Thank you."

"If the two of you feel you are first-sisters," Chiad said, "you should go to your Wise Ones and speak the words. But you are Wise Ones, though young. I do not know how it would be done in that case."

Egwene did not know whether to laugh or blush. She kept having an image of her and Elayne sharing the same man. No, that is only for first-sisters who are Maidens of the Spear. Isn't it? Elayne did have spots of color in her cheeks, and Egwene was sure she was thinking of Rand. But we do not share him, Elayne. We can neither of us have him.
 
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