This is not about what we as readers know. It's about what the characters know. Also, I highly doubt that Rand will not already be holding the Power during the battle.


Perhaps. But we are talking about the guy who was going to use the Choedan Kal to cleanse saidin with nothing but a Warder for backup. A damn good Warder, sure...but he didn't trust anyone else but Nynaeve. His reason for going to Far Madding was to get rid of the ones that had tried to kill him so they couldn't sneak up on him while he was doing it (as if the Forsaken just didn't exist or something). Nynaeve talked him into letting her bring Alivia. Cadsuane used Alanna to find him, and brought other channelers with her. If not for that, he wouldn't have stood a chance.


Gawyn can't check the truth, without Morgase. Rand knows about Morgase, but until Rand shows up, that knowledge won't be available to Gawyn. If Gawyn wouldn't believe Egwene when she said that Rand didn't kill his mother, why would he believe Elayne? He trusts both of them, but he knows that they weren't there when Morgase disappeared. Morgase took great care to go undercover when she left, so there is no one who knows that secret. Galad and Perrin know, and they have Morgase, but they won't get there in time. And Gawyn sure as hell isn't going to take Rand's word for it.

A prelude to this is Rand's duel with Toram Riatin in the rebel camp outside of Cairhien, blademaster to blademaster, but with practice swords. Perhaps there will be a bubble of evil involved for this one too; these events are pretty impossible to predict. But anyway, everyone with Rand told him he was stupid to duel with Toram, but he did it anyway, partly just because he wanted to prove his superiority with the sword.

In any case, Rand's unhealable wound came from two distinct Mordred parallel situations:

1. Ishamael at Falme, where they both mortally wounded each other at the same time, just like Arthur and Mordred at Camlann, though both of them managed to survive. That battle was, coincidentally, preceded by a duel between Rand and another blademaster: Turak. Rand wins.

2. Fain at the rebel camp, where Rand did not manage to mortally wound Fain or wound him in any way at all, but Rand got another unhealing wound which should have killed him to go right on top of the other one. This was, coincidentally, preceded by a duel between Rand and a blademaster: Toram Riatin. Toram wins, because Rand is distracted by a bubble of evil and Fain.

3. Rand met Fain again in Far Madding, where there was another blademaster vs blademaster duel: Lan vs. Toram Riatin. Lan wins.

4. The link with Moridin might actually contribute in some way to Rand losing against Gawyn.

Another prelude to this is Mat's duel with Gawyn and Galad at the same time, at the Tower. The moral of that fable was that Jearom, the greatest blademaster of all time, was only beaten once, by a farmer with a quarterstaff. It's sort of similar to Rand being killed by a blademaster who can't channel, because we all expect that it will require bigger baddies to take out the Dragon Reborn. Also, I imagine that Galad will contribute in some way not only to keeping Morgase away from Caemlyn, but also to setting off the Battle of Caemlyn (parallel to the knight who starts the battle by drawing his sword to kill a snake). A nice contrast to Mat's ta'verenness working for him, and Rand's working against him (because he has to die).


That all depends. Elayne is Aviendha's first-sister and Rand's baby's momma, so she has some level of importance to the Maidens, I think. Rand need not be over-guarded for this.


She wasn't always with Rand in TGS, and she need not be right by his side for this. Nynaeve might even be away, checking on Lan, for all we know. These details are impossible to predict.


You're making the mistake of assuming that just because the situation could go in a way that would prevent Rand vs. Gawyn, that it necessarily should. It's not a very logical way of approaching the situation. There are thousands of possibilities as to how this could play out, and even a situation that seems a little out there could easily be written, and believably.


There is a prophecy that says it will happen ('into the heart, he thrusts his sword' ), and also a very clear Arthurian parallel: Arthur and Mordred killed each other simultaneously. Of course, Arthur supposedly was going to come back and lead his armies against the enemy.


Balefire is direct.