I'm not arguing that - Moiraine offered another way to fulfill the Oath and Lan took it, I'm simply referring to the story points surrounding Lan's refusal to raise the Golden Crane again as presented in New Spring/EOTW. What Nyaneve did made who Lan is, and the sword of the Malkieri King, and the oath taken for him in his craddle, fully relevant again. The Seven Towers in ruins could even be interpreted as referring to the scattered remnants of the Malkieri/Malkieri descendants now joining Lan's army.



This is mostly true for the world building which Jordan developped further with each book as needed, while early on most nations were still only names on a map. He had only Andor and Shienar developped to write EOTW, developped Cairhien for TGH, fleshed out Tear for TDR etc. RJ always said he had the great events of the story and the character developments turning points fully mapped out before he set to write EOTW and that he knew from the onset how he wanted the series to end, and that it has all barely changed along the way (what has changed is the order in which the various events happened, and all the details of those events). Brandon confessed himself amazed at how much of the finale is foreshadowed in TEOTW and TGH. Whatever his intent when he wrote the viewings, what's important is that he very clearly never forgot those (some of them have even been "staples" in the plot through the series, like the little lights vs. the Shadow (which is perhaps the most important of them all as it seems to be a continuously updating forecast of the LB based on how things stand for the group in the present), like the fact later revealed that Min was one of the three women etc.)

From what I can tell, the viewings from EOTW all concern big story points (it's not before a few more books Jordan could introduce far more "mundane" viewings. At first, he had to make do with the really big stuff or more "short term" stuff, ie: stuff he would resolve in the book or the next) and most have been fulfilled already (some were in EOTW itself, or TGH) or it's very foreseeable that they will be fulfilled... Rand's three women over his funeral bier for instance, and some have been recently fulfilled, like Mat losing his eye. Some of the others are more vague (likely on purpose) and we'll have to wait for AMOL to have a clearer opinion on whether they've been fulfilled by previous events in the series or refer to something more specific happening in AMOL. That't the case with Lan's, with Perrin's Broken Crown (but also with the flowering trees... that could refer to the Green Man's garden, to the Ogier, to his meeting with Leafers... or more specific things yet to happen), Mat's Red Eagle or the Laughing Face (Balthamel's mask, or Tuon's face have been suggested, but we'll see). For the rest, the EOTW viewings were all fairly clear by now.

- Thom's connection to the White Tower, Thom juggling fire.
- Mat's eye on the balance scale, the ruby dagger, the laughing face, the horn
- the wolf, the broken crown, the flowering trees
- Egwene and Rand can't be a couple, and Egwene would become Aes Sedai.
- Callandor, the Laurel Crown, the bloody hand and white-hot iron, the beggar staff (a story point also referred to by "Rand as a blind beggar" seen in a Wolf Dream - both versions of the prediction were fulfilled in TGS while Rand was clothed by the TInkers in Ebou Dar, confirmed by Brandon when I got someone to ask him at a signing), blacks rocks wet with blood.

The TGH viewings added the Flame for Egwene, and Elayne becoming Queen, and Lan's golden ring for Nynaeve, which Min said meant "troubles" but in the distant future (that came in the same book where Lan told Nynaeve that with the ring she could get any Borderman to come to her help, we know now how Nynaeve ended up using that, and the dangers in which Lan is placed now. This second viewing is likely connected with Lan's from TEOTW. RJ knew all along Lan would raise the GC for TG, and seemingly has determined as far back as TGH if not EOTW Nynaeve's role in making it happen). It also added the viewing that Galad would always do what is right, something that also plays out a lot in the "resolution" with Perrin in TOM.

As you can see, Jordan wasn't lying when he said he planned the ending before even starting to write the series. When he wrote EOTW, he included a viewing about Moiraine's rescue from the Finns by Mat, and he had nailed down things like the imagery surrounding Rand like the beggar-fisher one, which some might construe as "details" though I would say it's pretty fundamental... Rand went to Dragonmount "blind", in a desperate move that turned itself into a pilgrimage to spiritual enlightment. Jordan seems to have had a fair idea it was going in that direction for his main character from the start. He had created the story point about Nynaeve using Lan's ring to call people to his help. Etc.

I'd say the contention that Jordan didn't intend to fulfill those viewings sounds unsubstantiated. If he got to continue the series past EOTW (the sales would have had to be abysmal to prevent it, Doherty had signed him for six WOT books and options for more from the start), he intended to. No doubt later Jordan placed "irrelevant" viewings (ie: viewings that won't get realized on screen or in the timeframe of the series... I'm thinking about AS founding schools and the like) in the series on purpose, for "realism", but the earliest viewings all concern very big points for the main cast...