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2.5.7: Is Aviendha Pregnant?

Possibly. The WOs have a plot to make Rand "know (the Aiel's) blood for (his) own." Aviendha has "been more successful than [the WOs] know," according to Amys [TFoH: 54, To Caemlyn, 643]. On the other hand, the WOs' plot may be to tie Rand to the Aiel via love and marriage, not fatherhood, and Amys was congratulating her on 'getting into Rand's pants,' as Sean Hillyard so eloquently puts it. Evidence for the latter: Rand has asked Aviendha many times now to marry him, and that at one point a Wise One comments [TSR: 50, Traps, 570] "I will make you know our blood for yours if I have to lay the..." Aiel women propose marriage by laying a wreath of flowers at a man's feet; this implies that their goal is marriage and Aviendha has been quite successful-- all she has to do now is accept. Surely if the WOs knew that Avi was pregnant with Rand's kid, they'd be more insistent that she stay with them, under their influence, toh to Elayne notwithstanding.

Some people have suggested that Aviendha's barfing on the boat in [ACOS 13, The Bowl of the Winds, 268] is an indication of morning sickness. However, there is no indication of her being ill on any other day, and RJ gives us an explanation for her queasiness on the one in question--the idea of being in an open boat, surrounded by water, is too much for her.

If Avi were pregnant, she would surely be showing some symptoms by now. For sure she would know it, or at least have suspicions, having missed a few periods. By the beginning of TPOD, it's been about four months since Rand and Avi did the "Far Snows Dance." In particular, There were exactly 130 days from the Far Snows Dance to the Seanchan attack on Ebou Dar. That's 18 (seven-day) weeks and 4 days. However, by the time of the last scene in TPOD in which Aviendha is involved (end of chapter 28), another 30 days have passed. So almost 23 weeks have gone by.

I'm sure that this would give her more toh towards Elayne, and yet she doesn't say she's pregnant with Rand's child when she confesses to El. She only says she is in love with him, and has lain with him [LOC: 40, Unexpected Laughter, 523]. In her POV section in [TPOD: 1, To Keep the Bargain, 45-66], there is no indication that she thinks she might be with child, even in the bit where she is thinking about a child (Olver). Thus, if Avi is pregnant, she has no suspicion of it.

While that seems unlikely, it is not impossible. It's been suggested that her ignorance of her condition could be explained by: 1) She may have irregular periods, so missing a few wouldn't sound any warning bells; 2) Avi's lifestyle is pretty active, and often, a first pregnancy doesn't "show" until later, especially for a woman in very good shape; 3) Avi herself has admitted that she doesn't know much about men and family stuff, so she could be clueless about any signs of pregnancy which she may be experiencing.

The Nynaeve Evidence

Dave Rothgery points out: "What I find hard to believe is not Avi not noticing, or even Avi not showing yet. But that Nynaeve, a medical expert who's dealt with every pregnant woman in Emond's Field for a dozen years, wouldn't notice is beyond reason." Indeed, as the village Wisdom (and thus healer and midwife), Nynaeve should have plenty of experience with pregnancy, and knowing the signs of it. If Avi is pregnant, Nynaeve should at least be suspicious that something is up. As a counterargument, it has been suggested that if Ny did know, she could be respecting Avi's privacy and the consequences that would follow from her pregnancy being known, consequences such as people trying to get to Rand through Avi and the unborn kid. This doesn't really hold up, because Ny has shown a distinct lack of clue with respect to the Elayne-Aviendha-Rand situation. Furthermore, one might buy that Ny wouldn't tell other people about any suspicions, but she would surely inform Aviendha of her possible condition, and that brings us back to the problem of Aviendha's complete ignorance.

There is the remark Ny makes to Avi: "I'll fix you a tea when I have a chance. I know several that will soothe your stomach. Or any woman's troubles." [TPOD: 1, To Keep the Bargain, 55] These "woman's troubles" are unlikely to be pregnancy, because of the argument above-- if Ny thought Avi might be pregnant, she would have talked to her about it, and Avi wouldn't be unaware of her situation. It is more likely that Ny is referring to cramps and other PMS stuff, especially since Aviendha was acting cranky right before Ny offered the tea. Furthermore, as Rich Boye' points out: "'woman troubles' is a very sexist way to characterize pregnancy and I can't see Uber-Woman Nynaeve dismissing female reproduction that way."

People have suggested that Nynaeve, experience notwithstanding, would not necessarily notice that Avi was pregnant, if she didn't show it much. This would especially be the case since she is so preoccupied with Lan right now. However, if Avi were pregnant, Nynaeve would know, without a doubt (you'll see why in a minute). If Nynaeve knew, she would regard it as her Wisdomly duty to to make sure Avi knew about it so that she could take care of herself, with several invectives about no-good men thrown in for good measure. Because of this, it is almost certain that Avi is not pregnant. Here's why:

In [TPOD: 6, Threads, 144-151], Aviendha and Birgitte stay with Elayne as she works to unweave the Gateway that the Kin, Seafolk, AS, etc took to Andor from the Farm. As Elayne unweaves, Birgitte and Aviendha fight the Seanchan who are trying to come through the gate. During this fight, Birgitte takes an arrow in the thigh and Aviendha takes one in her arm. While she is wounded, Aviendha channels fireballs at the Seanchan. RJ makes clear that this takes a lot of effort. The three of them finally ride away from the gate, over a crest. One of the damane comes through the gateway and shields Elayne, causing the gateway to detonate in a spectacular fashion. The explosion turns the Seanchan who were at ground zero into fine black ash, kills two of the three horses the women have, and cause severe injuries to all three women, all over their bodies. Elayne's description is that they've been "thrashed within an inch of their lives."

Got it? Aviendha has lots of injuries, all over her body.

Nynaeve and Lan show up, and Nynaeve Heals all three of them [TPOD: 20, Into Andor, 390].

Now, we know that Healing involves "scanning" the patient with the Power, to find out the nature and extent of the injuries. Since Aviendha was injured all over, Nynaeve would have had to scan her all over. If Aviendha was more than four months pregnant, Nynaeve would have detected it-- that's a big physiological change, even if the woman isn't showing it externally.

You'll have to go really far out on a limb to claim that Ny STILL could not know about it, after having given Avi a full-body, inside-to-out scan.

So, we are left with the only way for Avi to be pregnant is for Nynaeve to know about it, but NOT telling Avi, and not making any effort to make sure that Avi takes good care of herself and her unborn child. It would be VERY out of character for Aviendha to not tell Elayne if she knew she was pregnant by Rand, especially after the degree of closeness the two show for each other in the aftermath of the explosion.

It would be even more out of character for Nynaeve to know Avi is carrying a child, and not talk to her about it or try to take care of her. Over the course of 8 books and one novella, RJ has been very consistent in his characterization. This is not a slip he would make. If he wanted to conceal Avi's pregnancy, he would have done it via plot manipulation, not character manipulation (e.g. have Aviendha not be shot, and have her land on the side of her horse away from the explosion, and thus miraculously avoid injury).

I guess it is possible that Ny just Healed the three women without checking them for non-obvious injuries, but that would be sloppier work than Ny has shown herself capable of in the past.

Fortunately, this is one question RJ can't keep us in the dark about much longer; another month or so of book time, and it will be obvious if she is or isn't pregnant.

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