I think that a surface reading might give this impression, but I addressed this in my review. Some things just happened...and just the way we expected them to in a lot of ways...and while I agree that RJ would have probably written some things differently, I believe that this idea you've got about 'making everyone happy' is at least somewhat illusory at this point.

There were some places where I expected tragedy, and got happiness instead, but there are several things that make me suspicious. One of those happy plotlines has some unfulfilled prophecies still hanging, and I think the casual reader would probably not realize it.

That's part of what I mean when I say in my review that the wrapped up plotlines seem almost insignificant. The other part is the ending, particularly the epilogue and the epigram. And also chapter 49.


Rand is like he is because he finally overcame the darkness within him on Dragonmount. He's got the odds seriously stacked against him - we know from Nynaeve that Moridin is still firmly entrenched in his brain - but as Fel said, 'belief and order give strength'. Rand has accepted his duty since book 2 or 3, but his paranoia about Lews Therin and his link with Moridin made him unfit for that duty. So long as Rand fought against himself (Lews Therin), he was incapable of fighting against the Shadow's hooks in his brain. We have always assumed that the balefire incident was what caused the link with Moridin, but the revelation at the very end of chapter five suggests that the Shadow has had its hooks in Rand's brain since book 3 at the latest, and most likely since book one. Some things that didn't make sense at all - some things we always figured RJ just didn't have quite down yet in book one - are finally explained. The whole scene at the Eye of the World makes sense now, even the VOICE. In my opinion, anyway.

When Rand conquered the enemy within, he finally accepted his mountain - his duty - that he only thought he accepted back in book 2 or 3. He has changed as a person because he has finally accepted Lews Therin's memories as his own, so he is essentially four hundred years old now. Like he told Cadsuane, he is older than her, despite appearances. Before, those memories were suppressed, so they only bubbled up every now and then. Now they are his own memories. He's still Rand, but he's got a lot of experience under his belt now. His ta'veren effects have changed because he has accepted it finally. He has (mostly) cleansed the darkness within himself, so his Fisher King bond to the land now has positive effects instead of negative (as before, when he was spoiling the food).