This, I think ties in with a general disappointment I have at the promised doom and danger not coming to pass. I'm not saying Rand should have been characterized as a dark anti-hero, I just think that there should have been a more clear vision of what was going on here. In the beginning of the series, as I said, there were hints of the Dragon Reborn being an object of hate and fear, due to his actually being a bringer of chaos and destruction. As Rand grew into the role by the middle books, that hate and fear seemed to mostly fall by the wayside, leaving him mostly facing ambition, greed and envy. The chaos and destruction, and the hate and fear directed at Rand, were pretty much incidental and in the background, and largely undeserved, as his actions did little to bring that stuff about, except in reaction to worse already done (i.e. the war with Couladin). And that foreboding is all basically dropped by the end, with no real attempts to tie it in to one of the relevant themes for the series, such as misunderstandings and evolution of perceptions through removal in time and distance from the events. Everyone was all buddies at the end as well. IMO, Gawyn's attitude, however misguided and particularly moronic, should have been, if not the majority opinion, a significant sentiment on the part of the wetlanders. There should have been a lot more guys fighting for the Light with that whole "It has to be done, but I really hate that asshole who left my family to die when he abandoned Arad Domon," only with more actions like Rand's (unfortunately) temporary abandonment of the Domani. Rand should have had to do a lot more cutting of losses, and consigning people to horrible fates out of necessity. People should have had to come to him, because the horror of their experiences made it clear that there was no acceptable choice but unity in the face the Shadow, not out of gratitude for yet another last minute rescue. Being offered the crown of Illian should have been the last public moment of appreciation or recognition Rand received prior to his funeral. And maybe there SHOULD have been the death of one of his love interests. Min or Elayne would probably work the best - Elayne, because it would have poisoned the well of his relationships with the other two; or Min, because she was the closest to his "normal" human side, and to a lesser degree might have had a similar negative effect on his other relationships, Elayne, over losing Min and Aviendha being closer at the time and more put off by the circumstances of her death (I'm thinking that her dying at his hand under Semirhage's control would have probably been the best way to work that into the story as it was). The post-Dragonmount sea change in his attitude might have been better too, with a touch of appropriate mourning and loss in there, instead of the uber-Rand who didn't really seem like he could lose, no matter what he might say to try to preserve the dramatic stakes over the final two books.