Amaresu

Amaresu
Biographical Information
Nationality	Unknown nationality
Current status	Bound to the Wheel
Physical description
Gender	Female
Chronological and political information
First appeared	TGH 47
Last appeared	TGH 47
Last mentioned	AMOL 39
Affiliation	Horn of Valere
Rank	Hero of the Horn

Amaresu is one of the Heroes of the Horn. She is the female champion of the Light and a counterpart to the Dragon.

Appearance

She fights with the Sword of the Sun, which glows in her hands.

Activities

She is mentioned as being present when Matrim Cauthon blows the Horn of Valere at Falme. Later, Mat remembers her when he recognizes Birgitte Silverbow. When Egwene al'Vere is captured by the White Tower, Nicola Treehill and Areina Nermasiv compare Egwene to Amaresu and Birgitte.

When Olver blows the Horn of Valere, Amaresu is called forth with the other heroes. She chastises Mat Cauthon for having constant doubts about Rand's sanity, and that he owed Lews Therin his life twice over.

Parallels

Amaterasu from 1857 CE print by Utagawa Toyokuni III.

Amaresu is a parallel of Amaterasu, who is the Japanese Sun goddess and an important Shinto deity. She is the ruler of Takamagahara, the abode of the heavenly gods, and is one of the three most important children of the creator god Izanagi. She is the mythological ancestor of the Imperial House of Japan, with the legendary first emperor Jimmu supposedly being the great-great-great-grandson of Amaterasu. The Ise Grand Shrine where Amaterasu is worshipped is one of Shinto's holiest sites, and the priest or priestess of the site must come from the imperial house of Japan.

Her name is also reminiscent of the literary term Mary Sue, a character archetype, usually female, who is "inexplicably competent across all domains, gifted with unique talents or powers, liked or respected by most other characters, unrealistically free of weaknesses, extremely attractive, innately virtuous, and/or generally lacking meaningful character flaws." Someone who is ta'veren and/or destined by the Pattern to be victorious might be called "A Mary Sue". Egwene, compared to Ameresu by Nicola Treehill, is often (possibly unfairly) accused of being a Mary Sue in the Wheel of Time fandom.