Originally Posted by
Anteros
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Fair enough, but no one ever uses the term that way, so you can see why I'd be confused. It's basically a synonym with tyrant for most people. Especially given the second half of your comment about him not giving anyone any reason to follow him.
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By anyone I'm meaning "established local leadership." He shows up, demands conformity and then declares the Aiel the state police/assassins.
He isn't a tyrant in the sense of "butcher the populace" but he is a despot in the "god king who centralizes all authority." He even deals with the classic issue of divine kings everywhen; his ministers tend to become corrupt in his absence because no one can gainsay them. The worst is Taim of course, but he has to backtrack to execute or strip his appointed ministers several times when they overstep his desires in his absence.
His dispute with Elayne is essentially that he is going to make her minister of several of his provinces , and she wants to be an actual Queen. He throws several fits over this in the book, because centralized power is his go to reflex. One of the big moments of the books is when he realizes he has to actually work with other factions instead of just conquering the world.