Character from The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
The oldest and strongest Aes Sedai alive — a legend who has captured more male channelers than any sister in history and treats the Dragon Reborn like a willful boy who needs proper handling.
Cadsuane is what an Aes Sedai becomes after three hundred years of being right about everything. She has earned every ounce of her arrogance through a career that includes capturing male channelers, advising monarchs, and surviving political purges. She retired decades ago and came back because the Dragon Reborn was too important to leave to younger, less competent sisters. She decided that Rand needed to learn to laugh again — not because she's sentimental but because a Dragon Reborn consumed by darkness would destroy the world as surely as the Dark One would. She's abrasive, condescending, and maddening, and she's also correct about almost everything, which makes her worse. She doesn't play Tower politics because she's above them. She doesn't defer to the Amyrlin because she's older than most Amyrlins' grandmothers. She does what she thinks is right and explains herself to no one.
Iron-grey hair worn in a bun studded with ter'angreal ornaments — each one a functional tool she's collected over centuries. She's physically unremarkable but her presence fills rooms. She looks at Rand al'Thor the same way she'd look at a horse that needed breaking — with professional assessment and no fear whatsoever.
Also known as: Cadsuane, Cadsuane Sedai, Cadsuane Melaidhrin