About the DO... yes I think the Bore itself may be rather larger and the direct effects of the DO's touch more devasting than they were through the WOS.

I tend to trust Rand is right that a new Breaking is in order.

I understand for the most part Rand's logic to want to break the seals now... he wants to put the Shadow on the defensive doing this. Once he breaks the seals, the Shadow will expect he's ready to strike at SG (that's Rand's big secret that he isn't), and this would restrain Demandred and co. The Shadow will be less likely to spread itself out... expecting they might have to bring back everything on the Valley of Thankandar sooner than later. This could also result in Demandred and co. having a fair percentage of the forces they had planned to use now held in reserve to protect SG...

So in effect Rand's plan would greatly increase the DO's powers, but make the Shadow far more restrained and cautious with the all out war. Rand fears if they don't do this, the Shadow will wage a war of attrition that won't last very long, and when Rand has a plan for SG the Light will already be too weak to strike. He may be right, though probably not that he must break the seals immediately. He would probably be better waiting a little until he at least as the basics of a plan in place, but not too long... it's becoming urgent to strike.

It sounds to me Rand intends to keep it secret he doesn't have yet a plan. There's no way, IMO, he intends to reveal publicly what the plan-he-doesn't-yet-have would be anyway. If the next day's events show him he can trust Egwene, she might be one of the only ones who will know the truth.

Egwene seems to have a lot of good arguments to present to Rand.. but then so did Latra Posae to oppose LTT's plan... and Latra was in the end no more right than LTT, they both were wrong... but both their positions were intelligent and sound.

I get the feeling we will have a compromise between the two positions: Rand's reasoning will be accepted and reluctantly supported by Egwene: they must not wait long and Egwene will accept that when Rand demands the seals be broken, Egwene will break them. But Rand will agree to delay his plan a little longer, convinced by Egwene's findings and dream it may be too early.

The only way I could see Rand convince everyone is by lying about not knowing yet how to seal the DO, and I don't think Rand will go there. Depending on the outcome of the meeting, I think Rand may decide to share the secret with Egwene, so she could have the White Ajah join secretely in his effort to puzzle it out (it could result in simply sending Min to work with them. He should himself work with such a group as much as he can afford to. It's like the biggest issue for the Light right now, and LTT's knowledge is needed... but the extra brains would be welcome too). But these are matters the Shadow mustn't know about.. it has to be kept in the dark completely on the topic of whether Rand has or hasn't a plan.. and who is working on that for him, or what solutions they are considering. This has to stay some of the most top secret information in the series.

I must say I really like the new Rand, he's so close to how I debated I thought Rand should be. It's even put a few times in the exact words I was using years ago, about being inspirational and all that. I also love his new found humility.. and how he understands this has to be left mostly for the private Rand, the Dragon needs to show he knows what he's doing even when he doesn't. He's really a much better well-rounded leader now, and so is Egwene. I'm eager to see the two of them work together.

I'm also really happy to see how Rand respects the authority of others now. He provoked Egwene for a purpose in TOM, but now we see what he really thinks, and that he needs to convince her, respecting the fact she's the last in a millenia-old line of women whose responsability was to be Watcher of the Seals and guardian over the Shadow. It's clear he considers her in truth to be the leader of the AS, and he even seems to largely agree about the traditional role of the Amyrlin as global leader (which isn't surprising of a politician like LTT), in influence if not formally. It's the role Rand now means Egwene to play.. knowing Egwene he rathers challenged her and put a bee in her bonnet so she did step up at last and take that role from him... Rand wanted the rulers to see in Egwene a leader strong enough to stand up to Rand... then it's all about convincing Egwene and the others he's right, or being convinced by Egwene he's wrong. If he convinces the Amyrlin... a lot of other rulers will defer to her greater wisdom (not hers alone or even primarly hers of course - she's 19! - but the Amyrlin is the Tower as a whole). It doesn't matter for now, his way of handling things has probably made Egwene the most influential Amyrlin Seat in global politics in millenia, which is what he and the world needed at this juncture, as Rand doesn't intend to hold the rulers by the hand anymore and be King of Kings. That will likely crystalize the next day during the meeting.

I'm curious to see what Rand is planning for himself, since he doesn't intend to rule the rulers like LTT (that will be Egwene's job), nor lead the war like LTT (that's likely to fall on Perrin as the one overseing the strategists and generals of the Light for now, with Mat absent and all). This time he intends to focus on being the Champion and come up with the right solution, but that doesn't reveal much of his real intentions, practically speaking.