Nynaeve al'Meara
Nynaeve al'Meara (now
Nynaeve ti al'Meara Mandragoran) is one of the main characters of
The Wheel of Time fantasy series by
Robert Jordan.
Nynaeve's father thought of her as the son he never had and taught her to track, hunt and fish. Unlike fellow tomboy
Min, however, Nynaeve later integrated femininity in her adulthood. Older than the rest of the
Emond's Fielders who left after Winternight, Nynaeve was the village Wisdom, or healer, by the time
Moiraine Sedai and her warder
Lan Mandragoran arrived. She had been the youngest Wisdom the Two Rivers had ever had, partially due to her forceful personality.
When Moiraine absconded with several Two Rivers youthsnot only was Moiraine consistently riding rough-shod over Nynaeve, but she'd managed to ensnare Lan as well, whom Nynaeve was, quite against her will, starting to fall in love with, an attraction that was strongly returned. Even worse, Moiraine identified Nynaeve as a
wilder -- someone who had independently learned to wield the
One Power without training. Egwene was also identified as having ability to channel (although she had not channeled yet), but Moiraine wished to take her to
Tar Valon for training and safety; not all who must learn to channel on their own survive the experience. For Nynaeve, it was too late; she'd already learned how to integrate the ability into her skill as a healer, but due to her fears, she developed a mental block against the concept. Nynaeve was totally unable to channel unless extremely angry, something which later caused her no end of trouble.
At the
Eye of the World, Rand discovered he could channel, and Moiraine claimed he was in fact the
Dragon Reborn; perhaps because of this, and to avenge herself of the perceived injustices wrought on her by Moirane, Nynaeve eventually agreed to go to the Tower. Once there, she was immediately promoted from Novice to Accepted, by virtue of her sheer strength in the Power; she is one of the strongest female channelers alive. Like Egwene and
Elayne Trakand, she was tricked into going to Falme, ostensibly to help Rand, but really as part of a trap by
Ishamael and the
Seanchan; Later, she, Egwene, and Elayne were assigned the task of hunting down the
Black Ajah, a journey which took her far from the White Tower and her ostensible training as a future
Yellow Ajah Aes Sedai. It also took her farther and farther away from Lan, who she had started to develop frustrating feelings for, feelings he tried not to reciprocate due to his loyal service to Moiraine.
After Rand drew
Callandor from the Heart of the Stone, in fulfillment of prophecy, Nynaeve and Elayne continued the quest for the Black Ajah along with
Juilin Sandar and
Thom Merrilin. The clues the Black Ajah left in the Stone of Tear all pointed to the city of Tanchico; Nynaeve and Elayne went, hoping that, if it was a trap, they'd have enough warning to escape it. Egwene had instead decided to learn about Dreaming from the
Aiel. While hunting for the Black sisters, Nynaeve happened upon
Moghedien, one of the dreaded
Forsaken. The two dueled, Nynaeve expecting unstoppable death at any moment... until she realized that Moghedien was just as scared. The two were equally matched in terms of strength. Nynaeve managed to shield and bind Moghedien eventually, but a Black Sister soon intervened and Moghedien disappeared in the intervening time. The enmity between the two was to later bear bitter fruit.
With chaos reigning in Tanchico, Nynaeve and Elayne set out for the White Tower -- only to receive news that it had broken, that
Elaida Sedai, a
Red sister (and former advisor to Elayne's mother Queen
Morgase Trakand), had deposed and replaced the
Amyrlin Seat, a former
Blue named
Siuan Sanche. With the Tower split over this turn of events, the group changed course and joined with the rebel Aes Sedai in
Salidar, near
Amador. When Egwene was made Amyrlin for the rebels, she immediately decreed that Nynaeve and Elayne be similarly promoted. Nynaeve joined the Yellow Ajah as expected, and learned as much as she could of Healing with the One Power. She studied Siuan Sanche, who had been stilled as part of the deposition, as well as her former
Keeper of the Chronicles,
Leane Sharif. Stilling had been previously considered impossible to heal, but Nynaeve managed it, much to her own surprise, while experimenting on the
False Dragon Logain Ablar. The technique worked for the two women as well, though they did not regain their full strength, for reasons as yet unknown to the characters (Jordan has confirmed that severing can be healed fully only by a healer of opposite gender to the patient). Nynaeve has also developed a form of Healing which uses all five elements, instead of just Spirit, Air, and Water, as is usual for Aes Sedai-style Healing.
When Rand dispatched Mat to return Egwene and Elayne to him, Egwene instead assigned him as an escort to Nynaeve, Elayne and Aviendha, and sent them to Ebou Dar for the
Bowl of the Winds, a
ter'angreal that could change the weather and possibly break the unnatural summer the
Dark One had imposed on the world. While in Ebou Dar, Moghedien struck at Nynaeve's boat with balefire, nearly succeeding in drowning her; Nynaeve's fear and desperation as she sank into the river forced her to surrender to
saidar completely, and when Lan suddenly appeared to help her out of the water, her block was gone. He told her that he was unable to be Bonded to become her
Warder since his Bond had been passed onto another. Nynaeve predictably vowed to make sure that the Bond would be passed onto her from the Aes Sedai who holds it (a
Green named Myrelle). It was the first time Nynaeve and Lan had been in each other's company since before Moiraine's death; Nynaeve had no intention of wasting time. They were married later that day.
After forming a coalition of
Aes Sedai,
Sea Folk Windfinders and Tower expulsees (a previously unknown group called
the Kin), Nynaeve and Elayne led an expedition into the Rahad, a dangerous 'downtown' area of Ebou Dar, to retrieve the Bowl of the Winds. They succeeded, capturing a member of the Black Ajah, and recovered the cache of
ter'angreal, including the Bowl of the Winds. The 13 most powerful women in the group then used the Bowl to break the
Dark One's unnatural summer. The coalition then fled to Andor to avoid a
Seanchan invasion.
At the Royal Palace in Caemlyn, Rand approached Nynaeve for help with a major project: he had discovered a way to cleanse the male half of the True Source. To do it, he would need the strongest female channeler he knew ofand likewise the strongest male--himself. They succeeded, though both required some time to recover from the intense experience of channeling huge amounts of Power for hours on end.
Nynaeve is typically described as having dark colorings and a long braid, which she would yank at in times of exasperation. The el' in "el'Nynaeve" is a Malkieri honorific given to the Queens of
Malkier. As wife to al'Lan Mandragoran, the exiled last King of Malkier, Nynaeve is entitled to the honorific. She is still one of the most powerful channelers alive, male or female, and
the most powerful among the Aes Sedai, although recently at least one or two female channelers have been discovered with even greater strength.
She also has deposited her husband near the Blight so he may fulfill his vow to fight the Shadow along its borders, but has visited towns asking the men there to fight with Lan, that Malkier's last King is preparing for the Last Battle.
*http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/
*http://www.dragonmount.com/
*http://home.wanadoo.nl/nynaeve/nynaeve.html
