He seems a. fine with them, and b. rather too free of them, IMO. I can't really see the point of wanting to be with any of them, though they range from second favorite to second least favorite of the female characters, but if that's what floats Rand's boat, he should act like it, and follow up on his end(s) of the deal. Aside from deciding which one of them he sleeps with at any given time, I really don't see what you consider so arduous or oppressive in their approach to the relationship (aside from insisting on it in the first place, but that's not really going against his will, that's blowing off bullshit excuses he makes to weasel out of paying for the cow after the fact).


Their non-reaction was because they knew he was still alive. At various times in the series they've all evinced strong emotional reactions to the mere notion of him dying. If he had died for real, they'd have been showing it for sure, even if some of them might have restrained themselves in public. We see nothing of their private reactions, just the public consumption. My long-standing contention on emotional behavior (in real life as well) is that feelings are like bowel movements. Just because everybody has them, is no excuse for publicly expressing them. Also, some of them who are not Min were fairly busy with the whole "running the world" gig.

There was a WAR on, like five seconds ago. They've lost whole fucktons of loved ones, but their love interests are still alive, and that thing where one of them thought her babies were going to be cut out of her stomach and offered up to the Dark One didn't happen. In a situation like that, I think you're just sitting back relieved about who DIDN'T die, rather than weeping for that one really crummy friend who spent most of her time asserting that they couldn't be real friends anyway. Also, when you're crippled, that might be a bit more weighing on the brain than the two-faced liar who forced you to do your punishment runs really slowly before making your love life a living hell and then running off to the White Tower, and only having one other significant conversation where she tried to pry into your personal and professional secrets.

Seriously, I can't believe that you, of all people, are mad about people's failure to mourn Egwene.



Brother and sister-in-law dead, but boyfriend and kids survive, when by all rights, all five should be dead? Not to mention 2/3 of (formally or not) adopted (and thus ones she chose out of preference, rather than getting stuck with them by birth) sisters, surviving and the exception having an even happier ending than surviving. I'd call that a win, and that is assuming the maybe five total minutes of face time we saw with Elayne completely and totally encapsulated her attitudes and the totality of her emotional experiences. Hey, we didn't see any of them laugh in that portion of the book either! Does this mean they are stricken without joy for the rest of their lives? Oh, and we never saw them eat! Have they somehow gained the ability to live without food? Are they all some sort of superhuman, post-mortal being, since they no longer need food or sleep? I mean, your premise IS that if they did not do it in those post-TG scenes, they obviously have not done it off camera, nor ever will again!

Hell, Elayne lost her Warder. We KNOW that will have effects, regardless of the feelings of the individual involved, but we don't see her wracked with the grief that comes of breaking an even closer than normal bond.

2' /> You know, all other reasons aside, you are among my favorite wotmaniacs because you make me feel SOOOO so so sane.

Come on! Egwene is DEAD! She died arguably ignominiously! Her death's big purpose was not trading her life for Rand's or some other way I was afraid if she did die (actually I never seriously considered that she might die), but rather, her death was the one to put the whole issue of death in perspective for him! It took Egwene's death to remind Rand that losing loved ones is not all that big of a deal! Even at the very end, the writers gave us this last gift of Egwene's contributions undermining her character. We should be REJOICING, not nitpicking that in the haste to wrap up 14 books over three different decades, the authors never took time to show people grieving over her! We should be taking delight in the fact that even in death, her megalomania and/or predilection for unearned honors manifests, as Egwene has to have a bigger, fancier funeral than Rand!