But no one wants that alternative. No one is saying Dark Rand's victory is worse than the Dark Ones.

But that implies that the ruthless hard Rand would actually win against the Dark One. When, in fact, he nearly ended up destroying creation.

Its like Nynaeve said. When you lose all hope, why would you care about the outcome of your battles? What is your motivation? What will give you the strength the resist the great power of the DO, especially if he offers to return people you lost?

But most importantly, by just hiding his anger instead of dealing with it, Rand was always going to be close to the edge of a breakdown. What if he had had a breakdown at Shayol Ghul instead of Tear?

You're confusing laughter and tears with being soft hearted and unpragmatic. Cadsune, the very woman who wants Rand to learn laughter and tears, is the soul of pragmatism. She never approved of his foolish softness in ordering no torture for Semirhage.

What Rand must do is become more like Egwene. Tough enough to make difficult decisions (kill the Aes Sedai captives so Travelling doesn't reach the Seanchan), but also a person with hope, who can see the need for mercy (don't allow the Reds to be disbanded, despite all they have done to you). Egwene was as "cool" as Rand in this book. But she was emotionally stable. Which counts for a lot in combat situations.