Would you rather:
A: Your close friend & coworker marry your favorite brother...only for their marriage to directly result in both of their deaths a few days later?
B: The woman you believe you caught sleeping with the love of your life before you ever got a chance to make a move on him, marry your less beloved brother, whom you have no real excuse to exclude from family events, and as a result, your children will be calling this woman you hate "Aunt"?
Lucky Elayne doesn't have/get to pick.
Not sure if B is made better or worse by the fact that she is also said love of your life's sister-in-law.
While A is a former coworker turned boss actually, and to be fair... It didn't. Said brother's inability to choose to live did.
A lot of WoT's narrative, most certainly coming from RJ's own life experiences, is people, particularly young people, going through the the darkness of war, and dealing with the places that takes them, but just as importantly it is about their journey BACK from those places.
And just as Aram's role was of a man consumed by that darkness, Gawyn's was that of a man who HAD a choice. The books even going so far as to flat out SAY "This is not being decided by the Wheel. This choice is his to make, and his alone" by why of Min's vision. Gawyn is the man who can all his life ahead of him, but... Just couldn't make himself choose it.
He and Galad had every opportunity to be smarter about going after Demandred. Running headfirst into a situation pitting yourself against a vastly superior force without any real plan except to expect the guy to follow your current social rules and accept a duel is a rather stupid way to approach one of the Forsaken, not exactly known for their sense of fairness! I'll admit that Galad and Gawyn had little way to know what a potent swordsman Demandred would be, but they should have realized he wouldn't let himself die in a duel. Thankfully Lan is older and wiser than those boys.
