And you honestly think they would trust male channelers to sit and wait like they were told? No way. Constant supervision would be the only way to handle them.

What with him being a little bitch and all, I am not overly concerned with his PoV at this point. And as far as that goes, who saw it? Nynaeve & Min who will back Rand up no matter what Cadsuane does and rather than being cowed by her theoretical dominance, are the sort who would take matters into their own hands and do something drastic about Cadsuane. The other sisters are troublesome and untrustworthy anyway, and would betray him to Cadsuane in a red hot minute. She is a higher-standing sister, which means in their eyes, she is a slight step above the Creator, and light-years beyond any man. So her spanking would not alter their loyalty or responsiveness to either party one iota. Darlin & the rest had no clue, aside from realizing that the Lord Dragon CAN be made to see that his minions are in the right no matter how mad he is at them. The idea that it might be THEIR carcass Rand is about to fry someday, but will be amenable to reason, cannot help but be heartening. And finally, Rand can avoid such embarrassments by not making an ass of himself in the first place.
So the thrust of your argument is “Child A is being spoiled and indulged and never reprimanded, and behaves horribly, with no consequences for such behavior. Child B is better behaved, more mature, better-natured, and IS punished or corrected as required. I hate the injustice of this situation and demand to know why Child B cannot be indulged like Child A!” Just because Egwene is not getting her comeuppance is no reason the rest of the world has to go on hold. Cadsuane is not responsible for Egwene’s lack of correction, and she is rightfully giving Rand the priority she should. And when she does meet Egwene and act impressed with her, bear in mind, she has no way of knowing what a little shit the wretch has been for 12+ books. It isn’t Cadsuane’s fault Rand, Nynaeve and Min are too gracious and classy to set Cadsuane straight or too ignorant to realize how bad Egwene is (I am thinking of Min, here).
But it’s not Cadsuane’s hypocrisy, and now you’re into literary criticism, not in-universe character discussion. You’re not complaining about how Cadsuane acts, you’re complaining about Jordan’s lack of balance.
Well, since we don’t know why she was going at the king and queen, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, since I tend to mistrust rulers on general principles (and yes, that IS all rulers – several months back I posted on MB the signs of burgeoning tyranny in Elayne’s newborn reign). And what does she do that is rude? At worst she is generally abrupt, and few people do NOT do what she wants, so your contentions are unsupported by evidence. The Sea Folk went after her. They were bothering her and insulting her over issues that were not even any of her concern. Or would you support her nicely acquiescing to the Sea Folk’s demands and giving them what was only Rand’s prerogative to give? Would you want her to start working to get them their terms of the Bargain, without Rand’s knowledge? And then, who could forget her bloody vengeance on Dobraine for his thwarting her will and snatching Darlin & Caraline from her captivity? I can see where you might be annoyed with her for that… except she did nothing to him! She never blackmailed the Sea Folk, she simply set the terms under which she would be granting them a favor. She did NOT need to take them with her to Far Madding, and considering how they acted towards her, over a problem they had with Rand, they are damn lucky she did as much for them as she did. If you want rude, how can you claim indignation when Harine started the rudeness?

It’s not as if Nynaeve is Emily Post herself. Nynaeve’s idea of polite is “Go away, we don’t want your help.”

I think so myself.

Examples please. A lot of what she did regarding Rand was an act to make him ask for her help. It looks to me like she understands that the behavior you ascribe to her, that is typical of all sisters, won’t work with him. As for butting in, how did she attempt to restrain Rand from going after Sammael, despite seeming to have guessed that he had something in mind. How did she attempt to keep him in his sickbed the way so many other women in his entourage would have? Or the way she insisted on taking him to Arilyn’s palace where he could be completely under her thumb? Min’s dire warnings notwithstanding, proper precautions would have kept Rand from running amok. I don’t see Cadsuane making the mistakes his prior captors did. And then there was the way she interfered with Rand’s handling of the rebellion in Cairhien, or the way she cut short his hunt for the renegades, or prevented him from cleansing saidin until she had a better handle on what he wanted to do… She interferes only in the sense of running interference. She complained about Rand asking for her advice after he did everything he wanted without checking first, and her complaint is legitimate for anyone being asked their opinion on a course of action much of which is unknown and the rest halfway begun. But she did NOT interfere with any of that, butt in, or try to get a handle on it. I cannot see Moiraine behaving nearly so well.

Actually, what she said was far more ambiguous. She said she considered making Alanna pass the bond until she realized how useless it was in controlling him. The obvious interpretation of that sentence is that she wanted the bond, but not once she realized that she could not control him with it. An alternative and EQUALLY VALID interpretation is that she was content to let Alanna keep the bond, once she realized that Alanna could not abuse it! The motivation of preventing anyone from controlling Rand fits in MUCH better with the woman who said that he can do whatever he likes as long as she gets a chance to teach him laughter and tears. The idea that she wants to control Rand is completely inconsistent with everything else she has said or done on the subject.
And yes, it WOULD have been simpler for her if he was from Far Madding. This is a simple statement of fact – since the same cultural background, and one so advantageous to the woman in question WOULD make things SIMPLER for her. Not a better situation, but simpler. That is not the same as wishing it were so. But of course, your sympathies are with the one who says that he would make everyone obey if he could. Her reason for wanting him to listen to her is every bit as valid and important as his reasons, and both are tied to the same thing.
As you yourself point out, she acknowledged the problem inherent in Rand behaving as a Far Madding man, and it is not for the reason you assert. While Far Madding men might be taught to be respectful and submissive to women in general, they would certainly have been made to be obedient to only one woman in particular. The problem you describe is NOT one that would arise with a Far Madding man. They would be subservient ONLY to the right woman, not ANY woman. The latter scenario is at odds with my own observations of the gender, and even if you want to dispute it in real life, it CERTAINLY fits with WoT women. Why else is it entirely up to the women in question if an Aiel man is going to have a second wife? Why else is speaking to another Aes Sedai’s warder without permission an egregious violation of etiquette? Why would only women in Egwene’s good graces dance with Rand back in the Two Rivers? Trust me. No Far Madding woman would put up with the notion that some other woman might misuse her pet male. They would not be any happier about their husband or son stepping and fetching for any woman who crooks a finger than Elayne would have been about any other female channeler bonding Rand. They are a territorial species and of the sort that would shit all over a carcass she could not carry away, just to keep others from enjoying it.


Don’t doubt the nice cannoli.
Except she promised to put his interests over everything else, and specifically ahead of the White Tower’s. Rand’s benefit vs White Tower rights? Sucks for the White Tower.
Well, look at it from Rand’s point of view. Logain comes out of nowhere, accepting Rand’s amnesty, and immediately starts getting in his grill, with wild tales about Rand’s most productive minion. Rand has no reason to trust Logain’s accusations, no evidence whatsoever that Taim is a Darkfriend (we still wouldn’t have any if not for the Kisman’s thoughts right before Fain killed him), and can’t help but notice that Logain is positioned to step into Taim’s shoes if Taim falls. And he DOES act like a jealous douche. His comments to Rand following the battle with the Trollocs sounded exactly like Egwene’s bitter recriminations about not being able to Travel I LoC. What kind of egomaniacal jerk assumes that the only reason for Rand to be holding saidin is to show him up? Or his nasty assertions that Rand is playing favorites and withholding knowledge as Taim does? Nice way to convince Rand of Taim’s untoward behavior by the way – claim that Rand’s innocent behavior is acting exactly like Taim! And from Logain’s PoV, who the hell does he think he is? He accepts Rand’s amnesty, when anyone else in the world, including the people he did so much to help, would see him re-gentled or killed. And what do we see? Starting up factions in the Black Tower and going behind Taim’s back to tattle to Rand without any proof of wrongdoing.
Why should Rand NOT expect Logain to jump when he says? How is Logain any different or more special than Asmodean or Taim? He gets a pardon for his very real past crimes (compare how nicely Elayne treats Arymilla, or Egwene will treat Elaida – and both of them had better justification for claiming their titles than Logain did! If any false Dragon’s birthplace would have been known, it would have been Logain’s, since nobles just do not go off and have kids in secret or on mountainsides! ) in exchange for making himself useful and serving Rand, and here he is all but demanding leadership of the Black Tower be taken from the man who made it what it is and given to Logain. Why don’t you show me one word from Logain protesting Rand’s decision regarding the Asha’man warders? Not to mention, from Rand’s perspective, it is measure made necessary by Logain’s actions. And regarding THAT issue, who is concealing the full extent of the Aes Sedai crimes? It is Logain who destroyed the evidence that Elaida ordered them to wipe out all the men they found at the Black Tower! Logian is the one arguing against letting his precious pets get overworked! Logain is the one coddling his Aes Sedai would-be assassins (the other Asha’man have the excuse of ignorance at least – Logain KNOWS what they were planning), taking them riding with him, allowing them to come to secret meetings and pass messages to the White Tower, and is the most likely culprit for the lack of an order Toveine commented on back in Winter’s Heart. She is puzzled at the lack of any order from their captors to do nothing to harm the Black Tower. I cannot believe that among fifty men, that idea occurred to NONE of them, particularly when even a Red thinks it would be an obvious precaution. The only explanation is that someone prevented it, and who else could have done that but Logain?
So this is basically your own irrational reaction, which you admit above is turning out to be unfounded on the one issue that has been resolved. As far as the specifics you bring up, her blackmail was what the Asha’man deserved for running to the Aes Sedai with their tales between their legs because Rand had more important things to do than coddle them. She has never said she thinks all Asha’man should be bonded, and she advised the sister who was thinking about it to talk to a woman who had just lost her warder before leaping in. If her priority was bonding Asha’man she would have seized on the opportunity and encouraged Beldeine, and for that matter, bonded some herself, regardless of the effects of her imminent death – if she took them down with her, so much the better! That’s just a few less unbonded Asha’man for her sisters to worry about. She does hate seeing Aes Sedai “lose” but can you blame her? She is a sister after all. Even Nynaeve who will later encourage the Kin to stand up to Aes Sedai, has a knee-jerk negative reaction to seeing sisters under someone’s thumb. Unlike just about every other Aes Sedai, Cadsuane can see the other point of view and concede that it is fair, even if she dislikes it. She certainly doesn’t go around calling it an abomination and get horrified by it. As for those thoughts “that make it clear that Aes Sedai dignity and power is a priority for her,” why don’t you provide some specifics? I can’t think of any, except in the context of demanding that Aes Sedai behave with some dignity and avoid f***ing things up.

Again, not Cadsuane’s fault. There’s only one of her, and let’s face it. Egwene is nowhere near as important as Rand. Let her run roughshod over her little clique of obnoxious women. If someone has to be corrected, it’s the one with the fate of the world resting on his shoulders.

Oh, for crying out loud! Read the damn books already! Not only does Anath do this, to the frequent dismay of other Seanchan who would lose body parts for saying half what she does, Tuon expects it AND recalls an incident where an Emperor got his face slapped in public by his Truthspeaker! Why do I even bother arguing with you people, who are obviously basing your conclusions on the version of WoT that exists in your head, rather than on paper? As far as the publicly slapping on Cadsuane’s part, she did it in front of Alanna & Min. Neither one will think the less of Rand for it, or be more disposed to go to Cadsuane behind his back than they already were, and the balefire was a serious thing. Not to mention, if she had NOT done that, she would not have been in position to Heal him fast enough to slow Fain’s dagger wound, so his ta’veren effect is as likely a culprit as any standard procedure of hers. Even setting that aside, what else was she supposed to do? More words that he would not listen to? It caused him to take her seriously, and later on we see her slap had an effect as Moiraine’s words never did. It does not prevent him from using balefire for serious purposes, when he needs it, but it does make him think and might have caused him to do something else had balefire been overkill in his situation.

If she did keep her hands to herself, would she be in the position she is to do what you want? What do you want her to do? Mention when they are finally in private, however many hours later “By the way, that thing you did before was bad. You really should re-think that sort of behavior,”? Like it would have any meaning. Rand is never going to re-think screaming at people like a spoiled baby or arrogant noble unless he suffers immediate and adverse consequences. You see how open to reason he is (not) from Nynaeve and Cadsuane in the TfS. If he won’t hear any recommendation that he either sh!t or get off the pot with Semirhage, what makes you think he’d listen to a belated correction that he was not on his best form when he reamed Bera a new orifice over her news that some of his followers were taking initiative and returning to Tear from Illian, that he should not ever use that weapon he wielded several hours ago when they were tromping through the mists?

Wait and see. Trust Cannoli if you won’t trust her.

And keeping them from challenging and mouthing off at Rand, or degenerating into thuggish behavior of the kind that the bonded sisters are looking to capitalize on to break the Black Tower.

And did you recall his comment on them? They are not onerous, except for the fact that they exist! Rand says her rules are not a hardship – the hardship is having to answer to rules. With that mindset, you can see a new Aridhol lurking in the near future. The good guys NEED to have rules, otherwise it becomes a factional dispute between bad guys, and those readers who admire the Forsaken for their channeling ability suddenly have a much more reasonable position.

Can YOU not see that when you prove capable of lifting a certain weight or running a certain distance consistently, your physical therapist in charge of your rehab moves the bar farther out, or adds more weight? That IS what Cadsuane is doing, after all. She is trying to make him behave like a human being, to make the appearance change the reality. She starts with an insistence that he show her manners, and moves on to making him behave with other groups of people – such as the Asha’man, and then the nobles, and when he has to deal with enemy Aes Sedai or the new Seanchan Empress, she will be advising him to keep his temper and not go psycho (after all, she will be with him with her ter’angreal, so he does not need to be paranoid and watching out for any possible kidnapping attempts), and help him get the better of the situation and make a good impression on people.

For the record I agree about LTT.

As I point out above, that is ALSO the method if she is trying to change his behavior. They don’t tell you in AA to stay off of alcohol forever, they tell you to stay sober today. And do the same thing tomorrow and so on. You start with incremental steps. She’s trying to get him back in shape from an injury. You give them as much as they can handle to do, and when they can do that, give them more.

And you don’t do that by leaving the door open for them to run free if they want. Cadsuane is not forcing him or retraining him, she is establishing the conditions under which she is willing to help him, and he doesn’t realize that the conditions are the real help. It’s like hiding the medicine in candy, except as Sorilea pointed out, he wouldn’t trust candy. So she is simply using reverse psychology. She is making him think his behavior restrictions are the price for her aid, when in actuality they are her most important aid.

HOW?!?! Damn it, will SOMEONE please tell WHAT was so evil and mean and horrific about her first approach to him? She said not a rude word! All she did was come to see Rand (and one might argue that stopping by to see the ruler is a simple act of courtesy). It was Merana’s hysterics that set off the trouble. She was greeted with an awful lot of rudeness she had done nothing to earn, aside from have a long history of protecting the world. And some of it was just silly. Why was Narishma physically barring her way? Did he think she could only channel at short range, or that his arm would thwart flows of saidin? All he did was make his boss look like a big chicken who is afraid of a single sister approaching him. Rand’s hostile reaction was based largely on those of the other sisters – and she did not hold him at fault for it. One might even argue that her fixation on mundane things like proper hospitality would have been more reassuring than any words she could say. What Aes Sedai would stop to have tea with a man she came to harm? In any event, aside from Merana behaving like a ninny, the other greatest factor which contributed to Rand’s hostile perception of the event was his kidnapping and treatment at the hands of the sisters, which Cadsuane not only had no knowledge of, but had no way of finding out. When she DID find out, rather than vomit in horror at three of his captors and tormentors being stilled, she understands the ramifications, sympathizes and articulates a promise (with an Oath-bound sister, no less binding for going unheard) not to hurt him any more than would be necessary! When she is not trying to impress Rand so she can play hard to get, her reactions are far more human and head and shoulders above any other sister.

QED. She’s right. It’s not her fault if he gets angry at things he should not. How else do you stop him from acting on unjustified anger? Would it have been appropriate for Weiramon to go “Well, get bent! I was TRYING to HELP, since you left me to rot with nothing to do in Cairhien! At least I didn’t go running to swear loyalty to strange Aes Sedai like your pet Asha’man.” Would it have been better if Bera lashed back at him for his unjust reaction to her giving him news? Or if she had taken it in silence and everyone there decided to never tell him bad news if that was how he was going to react?

The opinions and impressions of idiots do not concern me. Nynaeve DID have a point, even if she expressed it incongruously. You can only stop violence with violence. If Rand is in a full temper, lashing out at people who had little or nothing to do with the real source of his anger and shortness of patience, over things that are not their fault, or not appropriate to the level of wrath he is dropping on their heads, nothing else is going to get his attention. Small comfort to his followers if Cadsuane discusses it with him in private at some other time, with no emotional connections.

YOUR assertions are the obnoxious and hypocritical ones. Are you aware that the people tasked with preventing violence in society carry GUNS?! Real nice!! You draw a knife on someone, and they pull guns on you! How hypocritical to react that way to your little knife?! Where do they get off telling someone they cannot pull a knife, when they are pulling guns?” That is what I meant by establishing her moral authority. It is not a case of who is charge, it is an issue of right and wrong.

Could that be because she slapped him before, and now he takes her seriously? One good slap is worth a dozen lectures. He does not want to get slapped again, because it is embarrassing and uncomfortable, so he calms down when she signals that he is crossing the line. He behaves BECAUSE she established the consequences for misbehaving earlier. The kids you see screaming and demanding and carrying on in the stores while their mother tries patiently to reason or negotiate with them are not afraid. The kids who quiet down when their mother raises her voice do so not because of her superior will or threatening expression, but because they have learned to fear the adverse consequences of misbehaving.

Well, you have that luxury. Cadsuane could simply remove herself from Rand’s presence because he will NEVER change without some motivation, but Rand needs her even if he does not know it, and would not even understand the need if it was explained to him.

It’s not so much about fearing her slap as knowing they are in the wrong. There are more than a few cases in WoT where men grin through the slaps delivered for their untoward comments or touches. It is not an issue of humiliation or dominance so much as both sides playing the part that is expected of them. They know the woman cannot tolerate that kind of adverse attention in public and maintain her reputation, so they don’t take it personally. It’s one of those unwritten social things. Everyone knows what is going on and they play their parts. The man gets a handful of ass or boob, and the woman gets to keep her good reputation.

You think?

Or maybe it was how he managed to fall over on a Healer, when there is almost zero time to Heal such a wound and Min was not being cooperative anyway. Maybe if she hadn’t slapped him, he’d have shot at Fain, the balefire gone through him, and hit someone else, like Caraline, giving him another name for his list, and with her resemblance to Moiraine, probably worse than many. Or maybe she’d have ended up trying to talk him off a ledge, because Min took the balefire or dagger wound instead.

It was not the middle of a battle. They had no idea there were any hostile people out there, and no way of knowing Fain was anywhere nearby. Why didn’t RAND warn someone that Fain might be lurking around looking to kill him if everyone was supposed to maintain battle-awareness? Say he knows him from Andor (he’s already revealed familiarity with Hanlon & the White Lions), the guy has a grudge and likes to poison his knife. Rand can be as bad as an Aes Sedai with the secret-keeping.

You cannot be THAT clueless as to completely miss that this is how things are in the real world, too. Women get the doors held, and chairs held, and hats removed in their presence, and places of honor and dibs on mass transport seats. This sort of thing is MORE exaggerated in warrior-type cultures (see also, Shienar in tGH), and the lack of any such element from contemporary society has more to do with such practices dying out than any feminist movement.

There is a greater age gap between Cadsuane and Rand than there is between Rand and his children. By a factor of seventy.

Actually, he tacitly accepted her right to do so as a condition of their relationship. He agreed to her conditions and gave her the right to punish violations.

Which was only possible because the smacks made him take her seriously. They might have developed a code word, like in the horrendous sequel to “Meet the Parents,” but such fooling around is not Cadsuane’s style, and why would Rand even listen to such warnings?

And you think Darlin & company would NOT notice that? Which would be more humiliating? To have EVERYONE see him knuckle under to such things from Cadsuane or only a few irrelevant women notice? Besides the fact that such actions are more palatable to you is due to their being of much lesser severity and less noteworthy. As a result, they would be much less effective.

All this blather does not change the fact that the same principles apply to getting a grown man to change his behavior – he has to want to change and you need to take similar measures to make him trust you enough to allow your reform efforts to sink in. You ironically keep comparing him to a mindless beast, who is incapable of understanding a change of circumstances, or distinguishing between tormentor and protector, but you expect Cadsuane to deal with him as a perfectly rational objective individual! You don’t fix a vicious beast by telling him several hours later that he was wrong to have bitten that nice mailman, you take action when he growls. You don’t punish him outside after he soils the rug, you rub his nose in it.

Your problem is, you cannot see any medium between “rational conversation with a perfectly mentally healthy young man of great personal insight and clear self-perception,” or “vicious slavering rabid animal for whom the only treatment is breaking him to a leash.”

So kind of you to concede my position, which is actually developing evidence in the latest material, might have a point.

What are those? Like it or not, she promised that whatever she did would be for his own good. It is not to his own good to sit idly by and spare his ego as he drives away followers and mistreats people, and reinforces a pattern of abusive behavior. She is not beating him to cause pain, she is stinging him like the proverbial gadfly, to get him moving in the right direction for his own good.

Yeah, and I guess THAT’s what’s causing the dead to rise, and food to rot, and dogs and cats to live together. When you have some evidence of her saying frog, then it might be a cause for concern. As you yourself have pointed out, she has had plenty of reasons to say it.

In any event, Rand’s thought-comment is just more drama-queen behavior. Why does he expect her to demand that he pour tea? Or knock, for that matter. No one ever knocks on Elayne’s door either. Rulers are public figures and people at a certain level have to have access to them. Personal privacy is no longer an issue. Whatever place Rand happens to be in is his office, for all intents and purposes, and they had business to report.

Don’t be ridiculous. She came in, Merana freaked out, and she did nothing! She simply presented herself to the Dragon Reborn and everything blew up. She did NOT insult him, attack him or debase him in any way, aside from let him know she saw right through the posturing he and Berelain engaged in to impress her. He doesn’t want to be treated like someone who broke the world, so why should Cadsuane be treated like someone who kidnapped and tortured him? Where does he get off demanding her C.V. just because Merana is acting like a chicken with her head cut off? The appropriate thing for Rand to do would have been to ask Merana why she was so upset. What if Morgase had demanded that Rand answer for the charges Elaida laid at his feet with her Foretelling and tell her whether or not it was true, and explain why Elaida was seeing these things about him? That would have been as rude as what Rand did!

And again, this was not Rand’s private residence or bedroom! It was a room where he had his throne, where he was holding an audience! He is a public figure and he was conducting public business. If he does not like it, then maybe he should not have taken the crown off of Colavaere’s head. Otherwise, he could be justified in claiming privacy and visitors would be required to barge in on her, as the top authority. It doesn’t matter that he would prefer to herd a flock of sheep than sit on the throne – he undertook the duty of his own free will, so he has to put with all that comes with it, and that includes behaving like a public figure no matter how personally reprehensible or frightening the people he has to deal with. He knows all this too, as he has expressed his disgust with having to speak politely with jerks who are plotting against him. Why can’t he remember how he threw everyone off with his little game when he first arrived at the Sun Palace after the battle of Cairhien? Had he kept his temper and remembered his manners when Cadsuane walked in, she could not have done much to upset him. What was he afraid of? He had an oathsworn sister and Asha’man followers and is stronger in the Power than any single living sister. Why’d he have to freak out just because he had bad experience once? That was a kind of cowardly reaction, when you get right down to it.

As I said above, part of the reason you would not have a problem with those measures is that they ARE less serious, less noteworthy, and by extension, less effective at getting his attention and thwarting him. How much notice did he really take of the foot stomping on the Sea Folk ship? How much notice did he take of Min’s attempts to oh-so-gently talk him around about Semirhage in TfS? He didn’t even let her finish the sentence. Because he knows he can push Min around and ignore her with no consequences.

She said it would be simpler. Remind me never to say that word to you. I’ll end up getting charged with attempted rape or something! She never said it would be GOOD or that he should, and never even brought it up with him. The context of her thought in that direction was in response to learning about Elaida’s proclamation. Given that circumstance, it is understandable that she could think of that for Egwene, even while knowing that it would never happen. In other words, friendship might provide Rand with reasons, because it would simplify things (note she never said for whom – it would certainly simplify her problems caused by Rand, since if he was seen to be under the Tower’s authority, she could openly associate (have sex ) with him without everyone worrying about him dominating Andor through her. It would simplify things in the Tower struggle, as we see when Bryne tells Egwene & co the rumor that he has already knelt to Elaida. It might even simplify things for Rand, as he would have that Aes Sedai authority behind him, that more than one of his followers tells him he needs, and Aes Sedai support. That is all a FACT, not an opinion or preference of Elayne’s. Yet there is not the slightest sign that she is supportive of that. Nynaeve mentions at one point in her head during their sojourn that Elayne thinks Egwene knows Rand better than anyone, so while she DOES trust Egwene a little too much where he is concerned, she does not even consider the point worth bringing up, she sabotages her own chance of advancement to tell off the Aes Sedai who are too afraid to support him, lies to them to get them to support Rand in hopes of getting his help with the Bowl of the Winds, searches T’A’R blind in order to find something that will help tie the rebels to Rand, tells Egwene & the Wise Ones that the best hope for the rebels is to back Rand all the way, and agrees with Nynaeve’s choice to ignore their duty to the Tower and send the male a’dam out to sea. More than any other sister, including Nynaeve, Elayne has earned the benefit of the doubt.

So? It still boils down to not facing reality. He is inventing a fiction to avoid facing the truth – he is not all-powerful and cannot have his way about everything – and that is similar to what he is doing with making himself hard. He cannot deal with the emotional pain and exhaustion of his calling, and so he hardens himself to avoid feeling the pain. In both cases, the answer is the same – suck it up and learn to deal. Accept the pain and handle it, whether it is the angst of your burden or your inability to prevent bad things from happening. Emotional judo is the answer, not bracing yourself and thinking you can take any punch. Or does anyone really believe that he can harden himself enough that the Dark One can’t crack his shell? Someone has to break that shell before it gets so hard that only the Dark One can break it, and Cadsuane is the only one who both recognizes the need and has the access to do something about it. His girlfriends or Nynaeve might, but they can’t perceive the problem, while Sorilea recognizes it, but can’t do anything about it, because her people’s meat-headedness helped forge that shell.

Those people dying are just one more wound he is trying to prevent. My scenario still holds.

The void is getting rid of everything, not picking and choosing as you suggest. Some of that stuff the void would get rid of is something he needs. His PROBLEM is the void. He is trying to shove everything out, and it is not a problem of “get rid of all distractions so you can concentrate on the important task at hand,” because some of those things he thinks of as distractions are going to be crucial to his being able to successfully confront the Dark One. RJ has all but outright said that it will not be a feat of channeling. He has said that the amount of balefire necessary to destroy the Dark One would wreck the world or Pattern or something. If such an inimical weave cannot be powerful enough to stop the Dark One, what channeling trick can? There will be more to it than that, and it will require Rand’s humanity, which he is trying to feed into the Flame so he can maintain his Void.

The hell with that! This is not about HIM, it is about the world! The army did not fight because they thought they had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, they fought to allow their people time to get to safety and hope that their allies could come in time to save the people. They held out for days against odds that should have overwhelmed them in the first hour. That is not a situation where there is hope. The people of Manetheren who went to the side of their king did NOT have hope. RtDB! They knew they were walking dead! Their hope was that their sacrifice would buy time for the others to escape. You have no business trying to prescribe anything for Rand if you cannot even understand that! This was NEVER about Rand’s victory or triumph, it was about saving and sparing the world! I guess you think LTT lost, because he went mad? Never mind that he saved the entire world from being conquered by the Dark One! This is not about Rand adding the Dark One as a notch on his score of slain foes, it is about saving the world. Oh, but he’s allowed to be a little bitch about it, because why should he care about a world he isn’t going to survive to live in? Getting to Tarmon Gaidon is not an end or a goal. What is the point of getting there if he’s just going to screw it all up? He might as well go live in the waste and at least spare the world his scourging or savaging his people to no purpose if he’s just going to turnover the ball on the last play, like Tony Romo or something.

He’s playing like a coach who’s afraid to lose, and won’t take a risk and watches the clock run out, as the enemy’s lead grows insurmountable.

You are continuously confusing his physical stuff (which is only in there as a sop from RJ to the more unobservant readers so they have some sort of visual touchstone to grasp what he is going through on the inside) with his real problems. As Rand himself notes, he didn’t lose all that much with his hand – he has no business going for his sword in response to danger. Do you think Tarmon Gaidon is really going to come down to his skill with a sword, or his ability to channel? Please. No, the real issues are his emotional problems which will cripple him in his confrontation with the Dark One as surely as his physical injuries would have hampered him in a physical fight. But instead of dealing with these

Because it was part of his stupid ass answer in the ter’angreal. He has to come back somehow. He’s working to get what the Aelfinn told him he needed, while neglecting the whole of his question which involved living. And what kind of lame-ass gutless messianic hero can’t get up for the fight if he doesn’t have a bright shining chance at happily ever after?

And with that pathetic bullsh!t attitude what’s the point of him being a hero? Half a hero is useless, and that’s what Rand is. Or what he is as you describe him. No one ever remembers who comes in second, and second place is just another word for losing. Who gives a crap if he did all that could reasonably be expected of him? To save the world from a threat like the Dark One? That will, and should, take Every. Single. Drop. He. Has To Give. He HAS to give his all, or it’s all meaningless. And if that means sucking it up, and accepting his pain, rather trying to hold it at arm’s length, so be it. Otherwise, they might as well just hope the Dark One will be a nice ruler, when we all know he’s going to cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings and call off Christmas. Rand is supposed use his emotions for more than acquiring girlfriends. On that front, since reading your reply, I have this image of him going up to Min and saying “You. My room. 10:30,” turning to Aviendha and saying “You. 10:45. And bring Elayne.” Why do you suppose that is? Could it be my superior movie knowledge, to go along with my superior understanding of gender relations and heroism?