Rand
Wow, time gets away. I just kind of blinked, and look how long it was since I did the other ones in this series. Just imagine how soon we’re all going to be dead. Anyway, I found doing Rand a little tricky, because of the importance of his character arc to the overall plot. In the other entries, I keep citing “The Dragon Reborn” as an important book of character development & establishment for the not-Rand main characters, and the funny thing is that Rand appears very little in that book, maybe the least of any book in the main series. Yet, he is still the title character, and the climatic action sequence is all him. And that’s sort of the point. You could even look at it as a kind of synechdouche for the whole series. All the stuff that everyone does in that book, the quests they undertake and accomplish to varying degrees, all hinge on Rand & his success, whether they know it or not. Without Rand drawing Callandor and defeating Ba’alzamon, everyone dies in Tear, and nothing they did in the whole book matters in the greater scheme of things. That’s the point with Rand.

So even if he didn’t have a lot to do, beyond a fairly obvious thing that lots of other men throughout history would have done if they could, it was still vitally important, BUT didn’t have much to do with Rand al’Thor, shepherd, farm boy, channeler, etc, son of Tam, neighbor of Nynaeve, friend of Mat & Perrin & Loial, student of Thom & Lan, protegee & beneficiary of Moiraine and don’t even get me started on “boyfriend”. The drawing of Callandor & Fall of the Stone has more to do with “what” Rand is, rather than “who” he is, and it’s the same thing with a lot of important things he does over the course of the series. As written by the eventual authorial party, even Tarmon Gaidon became that.

As a result, finding things that mattered because of Rand, rather than his role or office, was difficult to pick out, and I revised the list a lot as I worked through this whole process. The other characters have their little moments along the road to Tarmon Gaidon, where they will do their parts (and if they aren’t going to show up for Tarmon Gaidon, they are retroactively not at all important to the story, which is why the comparison of RJ to GRRM and other authors with the “guts” to kill major characters is so contemptible), but Rand’s overall arc is all about getting him to the mental/emotional/character place where he can win at Tarmon Gaidon, where he can make the right choices in his confrontation with Shai’tan. Learning to channel, or political skills, or war craft or hand to hand combat had nothing to do with that, and prove largely unimportant, and thus his feats of channeling or military victories or political successes or feats of arms are not going to be the personal accomplishments they would be for other characters. Mat winning a battle, or Perrin saving a group of people are stand-alone achievements. Rand doing the same thing, is just putting another piece into the puzzle. And even if you want to separate Rand’s actions from the meta-narrative and consider them in their mundane context, you have to deal with how ridiculously overpowered he is, and how the victories and so on aren’t all that impressive. Rand defeating the Shaido in battle is as important in the context of his story as Mat getting Melindra into bed is to his defeat of Couladin. It was a step along the way, and it informed his choices and behavior leading up to that point, but it really was sort of trivial in its own right.

Another aspect of Rand as a character, is that he is sort of the epitome of the concept of duty and the responsibility of power, thanks to the way power works with him and on him. Where Mat and Perrin garner assets and tools that make them more and more formidable, though paying various prices, those costs tend to be a one-time thing. Rand’s "powers" are all dangerous or harmful to have, not just to get. Nearly every tool, every weapon or every source of power that devolves upon him over the course of the story is not just a burden, which lots of stories do, but an actual threat and danger, and Rand’s unstated job at times seems to be as much withholding as making use of them. Recall the significance of the One Power and being able to touch and use it for channelers in the series. Their ability to touch the True Source is the first thing on their “did I survive that last thing intact” checklist. They literally die from not being able to use it, except in very rare circumstances, and even those who manage to cope successfully, such as Setalle Anan, would plainly rather not have had to. And when Rand wakes up after Tarmon Gaidon in Moridin’s body, he is relieved that he is unable to channel. None of the reasons why he feared his ability in the early books applies any longer, so there is no other cause for his reaction except that he is actually, singularly, glad he can’t channel anymore. Because it was a hideous burden and source of pain and hardship for him, which outweighed even the pleasures of touching the True Source.

And that’s how it is for every asset or power that comes to him in the series. Even something as relatively normal as Tam’s sword burns the heron marks (and their ongoing pain) into his hands before it’s destroyed. The sword which replaces it, which he seems to value more for who gave it to him than for its utility or worth, is a Bad Thing in the plot, without even getting into the sexual subtext of how it comes into his possession, first serving as a temptation for him to fight Couladin personally, and later as a potential anchor that might impede his escape from Far Madding.

The One Power, is, of course, tainted, and later causes Rand physical discomfort and sickness when he uses it. By the time he gets rid of the taint, he has to worry about Lews Therin taking over. Callandor has the flaws which, as he intuits early on, make it too dangerous to use. The action that he takes to represent the restoration of his better nature atop Dragonmount is to destroy the access key to the Choedan Kal and rid himself of its power, and one sign of his "bad" state before that, was his taking it up and carrying it constantly. The less said about the True Power he eventually is able to use, the better. Even more mundane abilities are harmful or dangerous. His rare displays of hand to hand capability are definitely mixed blessings, luring him into false sense of confidence in dangerous situations, such as the rebel camp or Far Madding, or thinking he he might take on Couladin, or bringing more suffering on him, such as when he kills Erian’s warders.

While mundane skills are sort of a benchmark for other channelers, indicating their lack of estrangement from normal people, for Rand, just about anything that lets him act has almost certain blowback, often upon Rand himself, in balance for the certainty of danger to others. After all, the Dragon Reborn changes and ends lives just by choosing to go from one place to another. There are serious consequences for someone, somewhere for each action or choice of his, so there is a consequence danger to himself.

Similar things are at play in his political power. For instance, he stays in Andor to try to secure Elayne’s succession, but as much as he prevents another claimant seizing the throne in her absence, he also inspires other resistance against her. In every place where Rand involves himself extensively in the governance or administration, he gets mixed results, such as in Andor, the escalating dangers from the High Lords as he lingers in Tear, or the plots against him by his followers in Illian and on the Far Madding campaign, and the mess of Arad Domon.

Where other genre heroes get power as a reward and as a field to prove their commitment to discharging it responsibly, for Rand, power is a threat and a curse and a danger, as well as a potential trap, and he almost always does better cutting loose of it and operating in a minimalist capacity. He actually explicitly states as much after coming to the rescue of Maradon in ToM. At that point, he has purged himself of most of the bad stuff that dragged him down to Dark Rand, so it’s not like it’s all his baggage and negative attitudes turning his actions to bad ends, it is the fundamental balance of the Pattern and his ta’veren nature.

This aspect to his character and performance is yet another reason why Rand’s achievements can't really be measured by the same standards as the other characters.

5 Enduring his captivity by the Aes Sedai
This one might not have made it on the list, because it’s rather dubious, like a lot of stuff that Rand goes through in RJ’s lifetime. Because he’s the ultimate hero, all his conflicts are just pieces to set up or shape the bigger conflict of his growth into the guy who might beat the Dark One, and thus, many events that for most people, would rate a high five for surviving, let alone winning, have to be considered for Rand in light of the effect on him for that ultimate development. And Rand’s captivity is one of the big moments leading to Dark Rand, along with learning what he is, the deaths of Moiraine & Aviendha, and his bonding by Alanna. A lot of the bad stuff that came from the captivity was actually done by Rand himself as a defense mechanism, and it became a learned behavior that he kept going back to in subsequent times of crisis and suffering.

But at some point, you have to give Rand a break. Part of the deconstructive aspect of WoT, is examining what it might really mean to be a prophesied hero and savior, and actually having the weight of the world on one’s shoulders. At the end of it all, Rand is just a kid getting a lot of crap dumped on his head, and while he might have been given a lot of tools with which to shovel it, as mentioned above, those tools aren’t much of a benefit in the long term. And here, he really was utterly without resources. Due to his political power, extra precautions were taken to isolate him. Because he could channel, he was subjected to greater scrutiny & restraints, and even his physical combat skills provided only additional motivation for his captors to torment him. He exhausted all reasonable alternatives, and he still found a way to survive, to retain his own personal sense of self, and despite his abuse, come through sufficiently intact at the end to give orders to save people and to not actually do the worst things he could reasonable and justifiably get away with once he came out on top. A couple of books later, Min, whose headspace at the time is concerned with diverting Rand from temptations to lash out, lest he do himself more emotional harm, because she can’t see how to stop him from actually giving vent to understandable rage, wishes that he never come into contact again with the ringleaders of his captivity, notably several of the sisters who deceived him in the embassy and Erian, his worst tormentor not actually sworn to the Shadow. Sorilea plainly brought them there to test Rand’s ability to show mercy and not retaliate (being Aiel, his killing them would not have concerned her except as it related to him), and with Min’s viewing giving him an out, he is still able to take it.

So he survives in spite of his mantra of distrust and deliberate hardening himself to withstand the pain his captors inflict, rather than the sort of mental judo Aiel commonly use (and thanks oh, so much, for never actually mentioning that once, Aviendha, world’s worst ever culture-guide), or going along with the Aes Sedai in hopes of getting a chance down the road. WoT makes it very clear that “going along” is a really horrible idea, resulting inevitably in one’s own compromise or change of affiliation. Rand was denied one easier path, and managed to resist the other, even at the cost of doing rather serious emotional damage to himself, and if he lost something in that chest, he managed to preserve enough to eventually recover on Dragonmount.

4 The Cleansing
This one is kind of obvious, for the enormity of the achievement, in the scope of the action, in the effect on the world and harm averted and in the way that Rand was able to figure it out and get it done. As noted by characters, it was something no one was able to figure out in the Age of Legends (ironically said in the presence of someone who had already done something the Age of Legends never figured out, by that someone’s husband, speaking on her behalf). And it’s not that the Age of Legends could not have done it, since Shadar Logoth didn’t exist. From references by both Aginor & Demandred, the AoLAS understood whatever was at work in Shadar Logoth. Aginor recognized and claimed to have tracked the group to the Green Man’s Place by the taint on the dagger, and Demandred knew enough about Shadar Logoth to understand what Rand was doing. Neither would seem to have had the opportunity or inclination to do research on Mashadar following their release, so their knowledge must have originated in the AoL or War of the Shadow. If the Trolloc Wars was sufficient to create the conditions for Shadar Logoth’s corruption, the prior conflict would be even more so.

And while Rand got a hint from the Aelfinn, it was plainly not specific, but based on Herid Fel’s commentary, rather suggested the concept, or the equation into which he had to find the variables to plug in and get the desired solution. Rand had to figure out how to make the answer work for him. From a reader’s point of view, “Choedan Kal” is something of a panacea to a lot of the plot challenges, Sane Rand wants nothing to do with them if he can get away with it. Until Cadsuane warns him of the flaw in Callandor, he actually intends to try the Cleansing with that. And he was already afraid of Callandor from his scant experience using it, which fear Cadsuane confirmed. So not only does he have to gamble the future of channeling on hoping he’s guessed a riddle correctly, he has to do it using something that terrifies him, whose dangers he gets at such a visceral level that RJ seems to have failed to convey it to a lot of readers.

The Cleansing should have, in many meta-textual understandings, opened up a lot more freedom to act, especially to use the One Power freely, without fear of consequences. Removing the taint would be, in the minds of most readers, license to do go wild with saidin, but for Rand, getting more power or better access to or fewer constraints on his power is really just an opportunity to get into more trouble and bring more pain upon himself. And Rand is aware of this on some level, because he spend much of the time between the Cleansing and the tail end of his plummet into Dark Rand, not actually doing anything until he absolutely has to, actually avoiding confrontations, even if he isn't doing that consciously. But the Trolloc attack, the frustrations in Tear and then Semirhage's ambush, push him into taking a more direct hand, and then we get Dark Rand.

So in the case of the Cleansing, although, to the frustration of the readers, it only comes after considerable waiting (promised in the prologue, only delivered at the very end of the book with digressions into a romantic subplot and an interlude in a setting that is distasteful, to characters and readers, on multiple levels, and deliberately so), it is unique this late in the series for being an Act by Rand that has such completely benevolent consequences (and a reason why Rand intended to kill the renegades before the Cleansing; he did not, under any circumstances, want to get into a fight while using the Choedan Kal; they are bad enough doing something positive, who knows what harm he would do if he actually turned them to an act of destruction). That nothing directly went wrong as a result, in light of the plots and themes of the series, is a clear indicator of just how good Rand did, and from the external perspective, it was clearly RJ giving Rand and the readers a last treat before the fall.

3 Journey to Tear
As mentioned above, Rand does better by going off apart from the power structure and support systems. Also mentioned frequently by me is the importance of this period in the series as a maturation process for the main characters. Generally, the focus in tDR is on the arcs of the PoV characters, rather than Rand, because Rand had his similar arc in the prior book, tGH. But this time period is kind of a transformative ordeal for him. Because a counter-point to his success in going it alone, is that his mission to save the world is clearly intended to be a team effort, and Rand really does better when he has people he can lean on or turn to for help.

One impediment to reader discussions about the characters’ relative achievements is how few of the big obvious wins by Rand are his work alone. He had help, however minor, defeating nearly every Forsaken, for example, from Moiraine, through Nynaeve, to Liah and even Lanfear & Graendal, or tools like Callandor or the Eye of the World, with which anyone could have won. And more than that, he depends on companions for support in other ways. Even on his other solo sojourns, he had companions, such as Mat, or Hurin & Loial, or Min, with Nynaeve & Lan and others joining them later. The next time he goes off truly alone is his closest point to defeating himself before Tarmon Gaidon. So Rand is actually in a pretty bad way, and for readers who have lived in his head for most of the series, and taken his perception of his weaknesses and inadequacies to heart, it is almost as surprising as it is to Moiraine to see the indications of his successful progress.

However, in the glimpses we do get of his journey, he is clearly not having a good time. Even the incidents that are not attacks or dangers, must have seemed pretty surreal, such as mass weddings in one village, without anyone to explain the significance in terms of ta’veren stuff. But most telling of his ordeal is his reactions to encountering the dreamwalking Egwene and Perrin, where, clearly conditioned by his experiences on the journey to that point, he attacks both of them, assuming them to be enemies in disguise. Somehow, Ba’alzamon or Bel’al is drawing him into Tel’Aran’Rhiod during his sleeping hours, and using a technique similar to how Moghedian almost traps Egwene in Emond’s Field, drawing on favorable or familiar images and desires from the subject’s mind, except turned to assassination attempts. The clear objective is to isolate him and make him suffer, since the attacks alluded to don’t appear intended to succeed, and neither Forsaken wants him dead at that point just yet. Ba’alzamon wants to turn him, and Bel’al wants him to draw Callandor.

And while the Rand we first meet in Tear in tSR has clearly changed from the one who rode into Falme beside the Heroes of the Horn, he’s still very much human, concerned with his friends, and capable of drawing on them for support, and even protective of them, as we see in his reaction to the judgement-distorting flaw in Callandor – he tries to bring a dead child back to life, and his first question for Moiraine in the aftermath of the attack is of the fate of his friends. Aware he needs them, nonetheless, he tries to give them as much freedom as possible from his ta’veren entrapment, and despite his pleasure in their company, is glad to see them safely away from him. That attitude, of course has its own pitfalls, but the point is, his heart is still in the right place, and the efforts of his enemies in the previous book failed to estrange him from them. So as with the sufferings of his captivity by the Tower Aes Sedai, though emotional instead of physical in this instance, Rand emerged unbroken.

Unlike the later captivity, this was something Rand chose, not something done to him. Rand went off on his own, in part to protect his friends from the danger of his channeling (emphasized in the injury to the visiting Tinker from his accidental earthquake, his failure to differentiate the approaching Shadowspawn from his own tainted Power and Lan’s refusal to let him help Moiraine), but also to assert himself against Moiraine, who is blindly determined to dictate his course of action, despite, in hindsight, not having any real idea of what to do herself.

While as mentioned above, with Rand, there is danger in any action or choice, and he spends a lot of time waiting for the right moment to act, inaction is its own danger. Rand was brought into existence to prevent the victory of the Shadow, so his inaction is inevitably going to result in that end. Rand has to continue to live up to the choice he made at the end of tGH, to accept his destiny as the Dragon Reborn, this time by taking on himself the responsibility of the role.

The conflict between his desire to act and Moiraine’s refusal is incited by his need to help and protect his followers. The Aes Sedai and the professional soldier are the voices of conventional wisdom why this is such a bad idea, but conventional wisdom is what brought the world to the straits it is in. There was no single bad decision or disastrous choice or even a series of mistakes that got this way. It’s the nature of the Shadow to corrupt and ruin everything, and in WoT, that means curtailing choices. The Dark One is a weight on the Pattern that tilts all choices in his favor, which is why they need a ta’veren like the Dragon to shake things up.

And we see in Moiraine’s reaction to the word that the Tinker woman brings, no matter what they hear, “conventional wisdom” will never find a suitable time for Rand to act. Perrin points out what seems to be a refutation of Moiraine’s prediction of the danger of Rand joining the Dragonsworn who emerged after his proclamation (honestly, in hindsight, those poor bastards really got screwed, didn’t they? Still keeping the faith as of CoT, Ituralde deliberately played on their natures to feed them into the meat grinder and cover his own ass, only for the man to whom they swore their loyalty, to show up and bail HIM out). In response, Moiraine has more excuses why Rand still can’t do what he wants. She cites the threat of Shadow assassins, because Rand is totally safe in the mountain camp, with only a single inexperienced Aes Sedai and an undersized platoon of soldiers to protect him from the Shadow’s resources. And of course, an attack happens that very night, which for Rand, is the last straw.

So Rand heads off on his own, fights his way through particularly, personally, disturbing conditions, and manages to get to Tear, get into the Stone, and do what he has to do. And at the end of it, Moiraine, his would-be mentor, is still fuming as if this whole episode was a colossal blunder, when it has clearly taught Rand the value of following his instincts. He does similar things in Tear, going off from his base of support, sending aid to people in need, evading the snares of leadership and fulfilling more of Prophecies, despite his clear unreadiness to do so, according to Moiraine, who took over 19 years to find the Dragon Reborn and actually had to seek out a more intelligent friend to figure out for her that the Black Ajah meant him ill.</sarcasm>

Rand won so hard that Moiraine is a book and a half behind in figuring that out.

2 Capturing Asmodean in Rhuidean
This is one of those cases where as a result of the outcome, the opposing Forsaken gets a bad rap. But Asmodean actually pulled off something impressive here, playing along with Lanfear, but assessing her astutely and bailing on her plan when it was plain how susceptible she was to her poor impulse control and obsessions. He was able to pick out the access key to the Choedan Kal from Mat’s description of the artifacts stored in Rhuidean. If Lanfear hadn’t shown up at just the wrong moment to bitch to Rand about messing up her plans, Asmodean might have got away clean with the access key. And few acts by the Forsaken caused as many problems for Team Rand as his marking Couladin with fake dragons, which gave him enough credibility to splinter off the Shaido and the dissidents from the other clans, who continued to be a nuisance up until shortly before the Last Battle.

So Rand was actually up against one of the Forsaken who had proved rather insightful and adaptable, the latter of which is probably to be expected, as he is the only one whose known prior history includes a creative occupation. Rand is forced to adapt and improvise himself, and then beat him to the access key, with Asmodean having a head start, and Rand’s only edge the possibility of better remembering the location from his visit. In the fight to take control of the access key, Asmodean’s superior knowledge seems to be giving him an edge, until Rand figures out how to cut him off from the Dark One. And then he succeeds at the always tricky task of having a conversation with Lanfear without triggering her lunacy or delusions in a wrong direction.

Rand actually has a pretty good track record in that regard, compared to other allies of hers we see in action. Mostly, that’s by his absolutely refusing to go along with her or do anything she wants, which gets anyone else who counts on her in trouble. Rahvin & Asmodean are smart enough to punch out early from their schemes with her, but even their limited involvement is sufficient to dump them in the path of the Rand-train. All Rand is trying to do is keep her from a murder spree, and make her go away. (Why are the hot ones always crazy, amiright, brah? )

And beyond the personal success, is the reader gratification. Rand’s still a little different from the guy in the first two books, everyone’s treating him a lot more strangely, and he comes across as kind of out of it, especially in Mat’s perspective, and his first PoV chapter was the very surreal bubble of evil. So his non sequitur comments on the journey through the Waste can seem to support Mat’s perceptions…up until he monologues at Lanfear at the end, and we realize that he knew exactly what he was doing and was totally on top of it, his weird remarks were totally on point, and that he actually managed to scam two of the Forsaken, and grab a much bigger pot than anyone expected. Moiraine was aiming at the beginning of the book for him to conquer Illian and combine its strength to Tear, while eliminating Sammael. Instead, rather than challenge the master of defense on his chosen ground (as we learn later), using flawed (as we learn later) Callandor as a his crutch, and ending up with whatever is left of the power of Tear and Illian, after fighting each other to the death of the one’s leader. Instead, he gains the support of the Aiel, which is much more impressive, and takes a Forsaken off the board while adding a One Power tutor. As we see in his encounter with Egwene & Elayne, he badly needs such a teacher and can’t get a viable substitute, however well-intentioned (for certain values of well-intentioned: Elayne's indignation at his suspicion of their motives is an amusing piece of hypocrisy, worthy of the politician she will later prove, considering he is exactly on target in guessing that their offer to help is a cover with ulterior motive of manipulating him into a course of their choosing).

Of course, even at this point, in the midst of Rand's most successful streak in the books, he’s still not super-competent, so we learn that his gambit with Lanfear & Asmodean was more of a gamble. He guessed the identities of the Forsaken wrongly, and so his knowing comments to Kadere and reactions to Isendre aren’t nearly as clever as he thinks he’s being, and he very nearly lets Asmodean slip away thanks to his taking “Natael” at face value, and of course, there was the near miss of letting him get to the access key. But Rand still pulled it off, and manages to put up a better front to Lanfear & Asmodean, the two people who actually got a look behind the curtain of his whole plan.

ji-able Mention Alcair Dal
This one might not seem like much of an accomplishment, especially because for readers, it would be immediately overshadowed by the pursuit of and fight with Asmodean, but it’s sort of unique in how Rand conducts business. For all his concern for the common or regular people, and his efforts to prevent the aristocracy from abusing their authority or his conviction that Aes Sedai are too estranged from mundane realities & intention that the Asha’man not become so, and for all that he seems to inadvertently win over the non-nobility with whom he interacts, Rand has never been much of a populist, grass-roots or democratic leader. He is in this solely for the outcome, and he’ll do what he thinks achieves his end most efficiently, which means working through established power structures. He’ll advocate for justice along the way, and when he is thrust into a rulership position, will discharge the duties in as just and moral a fashion as he knows, but he’s not about winning the love of the commons, or the support of the people, and in some places, like Andor, epically fails at it, forcing Elayne to head off a potential grass roots movement to depose him and any artifacts of his regime, like a possible puppet ruler.

So at Alcair Dal, when it comes time to reveal himself to the assembled Aiel, he demonstrates considerably more political sophistication than his Aiel mentor/henchman Rhuarc. The Aiel chiefs are not exactly unsophisticated, they are simply unused to playing power politics among themselves, since there are preternatural qualifications for their job, along with a quasi-religious ritual to their ascension to the rank, and usurpations and false claims seem laughable in their case. So Rand actually has to bulldoze a lot of Rhuarc’s this-is-how-it’s-done mentality when he realizes that Couladin isn’t playing their game.

Once in Alcair Dal, all he has to do is go apart with the chiefs, tell them the truth, and he’s in good with them, and whatever Couladin is offering, whatever their issues with a wetlander, the Aiel are likely to come around, once it is clear that Rand has all the official signs of approval. Or maybe not. There is also the possibility that Couladin’s demagoguery might just overthrow the whole social order, since it is plain there is no plan to deal with something like him, and the Aiel are not tremendously imaginative in that regard. Sevanna is clearly the brains of the operation, and her future PoV & MO indicate that she is very capable of thinking outside the Aiel box, and has that streak of audacity which is a hallmark of successful historical revolutionaries.

But what Rand chooses to do, rather than appeal to the chiefs, even after his first general comments on his experience in Rhuidean establish his bona fides, is tell all the Aiel assembled their real history. It can’t be popular, it’s obvious the Aiel won’t be thrilled to hear it, but for the first time in 3,000 years, a leader has come out of Rhuidean to tell the Aiel the truth. Yeah, it breaks them, and causes entirely too many full grown adults to sulk or throw temper tantrums, or embrace behavior for which there is no excuse, but Rand lives with the consequences, and for the entirety of the series, gets zero credit or approbation for it. Instead, from the Aiel, he has to put up with a lot of nonsense, and demands for special treatment, and overall, a surprising amount of incompetence in practice, as opposed to their presentation as smart & capable people. In the later books, there is considerable idiocy suggesting he is mistreating or dishonoring them, but aside from his using them as an implicit threat to intimidate wetlander leadership, they don’t accomplish much beyond fighting the Shaido, which is really only rectifying a mistake their own adherence to convention allowed to bloom into a raging cancer of world-wide atrocities.

Basically, there are two ways to look at Alcair Dal, depending on what might have happened. Maybe Rand blundered in his dealings with the Aiel, created a lot of controversy, and gave Couladin an opening to pander to his peoples’ worst impulses (and the headlong dive of the Shaido into depravity is suggestive of people shedding institutional universal constraints to a standard of behavior, akin to what little we are told about the Collapse following the opening of the Dark One’s prison in the AoL), but he did so by telling the truth. To continue the parallel with the Dark One’s prison, it wouldn’t be enough to reinforce the human-made & fallible seals, the rubble must be cleared before anything can be built anew. I kind of lean toward the expectation that a hush-hush meeting with the chiefs, where he gives all the details, and they accept him, and Timolan & the others appreciate his tact and respect for their traditions and he leads 12 clans, less a rump faction of Couladin loyalists over the Dragonwall to carry out his original intentions, the truth of the history would have come out some way or his discretion would have backfired in some fashion, with the clans and societies dividing while in the midst of executing Rand’s crusade to unify the wetlands, with worse fallout and leaving much less time to sort stuff out before Tarmon Gaidon. And that’s the best case scenario.

The other way to look at Alcair Dal is that Couladin stood a very real chance of bull-rushing the conference, that the chiefs & Wise Ones could have spent the whole time flailing about ineffectually trying to handle things through acceptable channels, only for Couladin to keep stealing a march on them, because he just is not playing their game, but is gambling for stakes they can’t imagine. Then maybe it’s Couladin’s word that spreads, of the chiefs conspiring to put a wetlander over the Aiel, that the Wise Ones are plotting with the Aes Sedai to bring the Aiel under their thumb, that Laman’s Sin was the initial gambit in an ancient plot, and Couladin had come in this time to save the Aiel from wetlander domination and lead them to victory over their oppressors.

Rand’s story might have troubled and upset the Aiel as it spread, and drove some to the Shaido, but the shock of the news absorbed most people’s attention, and they tacitly accepted the credibility of the source. By being troubled by Rand’s revelation, they were in effect, accepting that he did, in fact, know what he was talking about, and was the actual Car’a’carn, Who had truly Come With the Dawn, in accordance with WoT concepts of knowledge & understanding (it’s rather like what Elayne tells Aviendha about her manor visits; what’s important is that she’s getting people to talk about her, and that gets people to persuade themselves of her claim).

Either way, Rand did the right thing, followed his instincts, and saved what could be saved, from a danger that was 3,000 years in the making, and which would have emerged had he done nothing. From what Couladin says on the slopes of Chaendar, he and Muradin already had something specific in mind, and Sevanna was the driving force behind them both, according to her, with which Faile’s analysis independently concurs. She might not have managed a substitute Car’a’carn, but a jihad by even a single clan, crossing the Dragonwall along with algai’d’siswai joining their societies among the Shaido for adventure or loot, could find remarkable success, especially if they came to conquer and rule, and turning the wetlands into a disaster, and leaving only a remnant of a remnant willing to accept Rand in the first place.

1 Falme
From the confrontation with High Lord Turak to his second duel with Ba’alzamon, Rand makes a lot of decisive choices concerning his destiny and his arc in both tGH and the series as a whole. His immediate story is about learning to be a leader, and to do his duty because people expect it of him, which is also the whole issue with coming to terms with being the Dragon Reborn. At this still-grounded stage of his development, a formal duel with the enemy leader is something Rand would never choose( ahem, Cairhien-era Rand), when it is forced on him, he accepts the duel, because their mission, and Mat’s survival, depend on fighting their way out. His fear of the Power has him reluctant to assume the Void, which impedes his concentration, so he nearly loses, before he goes to it in desperation, and manages to hold off the Power while fighting and killing Turak (probably due to Turak being surprised by his spike in competence). This is significant, because it is the first sign of Rand managing any sort of control in regard to the Power, whereby he is the one making the decisions, rather than being carried along by saidin.

Afterwards, Rands’ insistence on placing loyalty to a, for lack of a better word, friend, over an alleged greater good inspires Ingtar to repent of his self-delusion concerning his own redemption and accept both the reality that his intended salvation is an excuse for his ambition, and that there is no getting away scot-free. And Ingtar returns the favor by convincing Rand of the latter, and setting the example of necessary sacrifice, and of paying the price for mistakes. Rand, in turn, accepts the lesson, and extends comfort and forgiveness to Ingtar, and assumes the burden of command for the mission for good, by firmly letting Hurin know what he needs to. He doesn’t tattle on Ingtar or explain away the decision to make himself feel better, he just sets it out in terms of the mission and necessity, taking responsibility in doing so, by keeping the unpleasant truth to himself, and implicitly demanding Hurin’s trust that he’s making the right call.

Next, there is his encounter with the Heroes of the Horn, and his acceptance of his place as the Dragon Reborn, without which the Heroes cannot go forward and attack. Which you’d think someone would remembered was a critical detail that necessitated Rand’s self-proclamation (though Moiraine makes him say it to all their faces afterwards, the Prophecies as quoted by Vandene indicate that he is already proclaimed in his appearance above Falme. So, in effect, by his acceptance of the Heroes’ conditions, even if it’s Perrin and Mat who verbalize it, Rand is tacitly proclaiming himself. As with so many other important steps he takes, it is out of concern for people he loves, and the certainty that they need his help.

Finally, Rand fights his duel with Ba’alzamon. That his belief that Ishamael is the Dark One is mistaken, makes his more choice to confront him in a more conscious fashion than when using the Eye of the World, no less courageous and his denials of the Shadow’s temptations no less significant. What’s more, he manages to figure out a number of details about his opponent & situation, specifically the link between his duel and the more terrestrial battle, and the limitations of Ba’alzamon’s knowledge, which gives him the confidence that he can actually win this thing, for certain values of winning. It also makes his sacrificial end game more of an informed choice rather than a desperation move against a hopelessly powerful foe, particularly in light of the reiterations through this book of the probable effect of the sword form he uses, and the concept of Sheathing the Sword.

In tGH, the Aiel mantra is also reiterated, after being introduced by Loial in Caemlyn, specifically in relation to Rand, and his apparently pulling it out of his genetic memory when he encounters the Choedan Kal in Cairhien, much as Mat did the Old Tongue. It is particularly relevant for Rand, especially with the formal response we, and he, don’t learn until after two books later, which includes the line “…my life will be a dagger, for (the Dark One)’s heart.” In light of his final choice at Tarmon Gaidon, Rand’s killing stroke is as close as any human being will possibly come to living those words, literally. Just as Nynaeve preemptively disproves those critics (albeit unknown to them) who don’t believe she can uphold the Tower’s reputation with her Malkieri recruitment drive, so does Rand, had they only known, utterly devastate the arguments made against his worthiness to lead, or even call himself, Aiel, by living up to their words.

Although there is a long road ahead of him, it is at Falme that Rand not only makes his ultimate choice to accept responsibility and leadership and his nature as the Dragon Reborn, but also proves that he has the stuff to do the job.

Worst moment Post-Cadsuane sulk
Cadsuane’s introduction, whether or not RJ had intended it from the beginning, seems to be part of a kind of course correction for the series, where in the prior trilogy, the “stars” went from success to success, racking up unparalleled accomplishments and status. They were arguably on top of the world from the point of view of the readers, and while there was some turbulence in LoC, at the end of the book, the Aes Sedai had bent the knee to Rand, the Black Tower was established, successful and awesome, Egwene was raised to the Faux-myrlin Seat, Perrin was back in the game and Nynaeve and Elayne were full sisters. It’s in “A Crown of Swords” that Rand and the others start to feel the jab of the blades hidden in the laurels of their figurative crowns, and RJ does that by introducing new characters to challenge the heroes, like all the women of Nynaeve/Elayne strength who come popping out of the woodwork, the Sea Folk negotiators and all the indications that future political opponents are not going to roll over for them to the extent that the High Lords or Cairhienin or Tylin have so far. Cadsuane is one of those things, coming right as Rand has seemingly put the Aes Sedai in their place for good.

The Watsonian problem with Cadsuane is, well, non-existent. That there is a conflict and problem with her is indicative of something wrong with Rand. Many readers decry her conduct in her introductory incident, but Cadsuane didn’t actually do anything wrong, except refuse to be disrespected for the wrongs done by others. The whole meeting would have gone much more amicably and Rand would have kept more of an upper hand with her if he had held onto the manners that served him well in, for instance, his introduction to Lian, at Cold Rocks Hold. Instead, he let Merana’s overreaction inform his behavior, and accomplished Cadsuane’s objectives for her. Those objectives were to shock Rand into revelatory behavior so she could take his measure, and to catch his attention and intrigue him so she could have a hook to use if he needed correction or attitude adjustment. If he had simply kept his cool, and treated her like a visitor from the Women’s Circle, or a retired dignitary and not let her very mild provocations get under his skin, she would not have done either. As it was, the more he spun out of control and the more he let her spin him, the more impressive and masterful she appeared, and the more of his weaknesses and issues he exposed.

Even the comments that struck most closely to home (judging from the specific damage Min observes in the room), about hearing voices, while worrisome, are not to be unexpected. But the bad news about Herid Fel, his failure to spare Colaevere, and his melodramatic reaction to his subsequent hookup with Min were what drove him into his fit of self-loathing that lasted until the Maidens finally sent Min in to deal with him. And really, what it was all about was self-pity, that he was NOT quite the hotshot in control of everything that a superficial recounting of recent events might suggest, that he DIDN’T have every single Aes Sedai cowed or under his thumb, that he COULDN’T alter fate or change reality according to his sentiments. And his perception of his conduct in regards to Min is pretty contemptible. Either he behaved in a way he felt was wrong and kept going anyway, or else he was trying to rationalize his inability to shit or get off the pot when it came to his feelings towards the various women in whom he was interested. There was already some of that with his silly disguise games on his visit to Caemlyn earlier (if he really wanted to avoid notice, why not the disguise he would later use – it was more likely a way to get himself caught by them instead of taking responsibility for the choice to end or pursue his relationships. Regardless of the degree of consent in his sexual encounter with Min, he owed her more than hiding in his room. The whole thing was childish behavior for contemptible, arrogant and presumptuous reasons.

Things that didn't make the cut
Why not… Tarmon Gaidon?
Because Sanderson. There’s just not enough to pick out as pertains to Rand in particular. Sanderson already shows elsewhere that his characterizations are not necessarily continuing established arcs, or even that he understands the arcs going on, so I can’t say for sure how Rand’s choices in his confrontation with the Dark One are informed by his growth and experiences in the prior books.
Why not…Aginor & Ba’alzamon?
That wasn’t so much Rand, as a Thing That Had to Happen, and he rolled with it. It was more important for what it revealed about and to Rand, than what came of his actions.
Why not…Dumai’s Wells?
Similarly, a milestone, but again, not really something Rand did. This was more of a course correction. He might have previously founded the Black Tower, but it was a result of other peoples’ loyalty and a bunch of various people’s chickens coming home to roost that brought about the outcome. It’s more of an illustration of how and why Rand is important beyond what he himself does, as his presence is the catalyst for what takes place.
Why not…Drawing Callendor?
In this case, though drawing Callandor gets the headlines, Rand’s real achievement was the choices that got him to this moment, which is why those immediately prior choices, and the ordeal he endured as a result, are on the list. The actual Touching the Sword that Can’t Be, is more of an exclamation point on that sentence.
Why not…Dragonmount?
His conversion on Dragonmount is an achievement in the same way that good piloting involves pulling the rip cord on a parachute – it’s a way to save yourself after you’ve already screwed up the ostensible task at which you were engaged. A real achievement would have been pulling himself back from the brink before he ever came to this pass.
Why not…Rahvin?
On the one hand, it was merely rectifying what he saw as his own sin of omission, on the other, he was so driven by his rage and guilt that the real accomplishment of this confrontation is that he didn’t do even worse damage or cause more harm.
Why not…The Battle of Cairhien?
The important thing that happened here, IMO, was Rand binding the Aiel to him, which wasn’t something he really set out to do, but earned through his example, and probably the Aiel reaction to learning of his conduct during the fight, and the lightning bolts, and some uncharacteristic self-examination regarding their own motivations and values, after fighting a brutal, large scale battle against their own kindred, to save the city of the Treekillers. It’s not a coincidence that it’s during this battle that Aviendha articulates what she sees as their need for Rand, or that the siswai aman come out afterwards. It’s more of a characterization thing, than a plot achievement. He certainly didn’t settle the Shaido for good, and according to the meta rules I’m going by, conquering Cairhien was more of a trap that he evaded by ditching its rule for other concerns.
Why not…Illian/Shadar Logoth?
See above, re: Cairhien, except this time he did let himself get snared in the power trap. Also, he spent the better part of two books on an elaborate plan to hit Sammael by surprise, and he had to improvise a whole bunch of it, and as it turns out, the most important part of the deception proved unnecessary once Fain wounded him. That’s not to say he did anything actually wrong, and the swift and almost anti-climatic nature of the assault probably owes as much to his planning and preparations as the skill of his troops or the ineffectiveness of Sammael’s resistance. But it was not that big of a thing, and really, taking countries away from the Forsaken is kind of punching down for him.
Why not…Altaran campaign?
Because the really important thing for Rand was the negative lessons he learned, leading to his decision to cut loose from the power trap. It might have been, concealed under the fog of war, one of the most impressive military campaigns in the whole series, and the reading of it is a high point for me as a military fiction enthusiast, but the whole escapade is so fraught with tension and foreshadowing that it is hard to see it as any sort of positive good, regardless of the effect it had on the Seanchan, and its role in driving them to negotiate with him.