You're right. But I'm very angry with the writers for portraying Egwene in such a way. - Edit 1
Before modification by Shannow at 13/11/2009 07:19:56 PM
I have always had a problem with the idea that Rand winning the battle is meaningless if he wins it by being ruthless or "hard", for want of a better word.
Even if only 1% of the world population survives the Last Battle, that is STILL better than the alternative.
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.
No one can influence how the authors write the story and portray the characgers. But it irritates me tremendously that Egwene was portrayed in a more heroic fashion than Rand.
Rand is the Alpha and the Omega, in this world. If he slipped, fell and broke his neck, the world would end. You would think that he might be portrayed as a bit more special than some upjumped innkeep's daughter, who is as ordinary as they come.
It's the author's prerogative, as I said. But I would have written the story differently.
Else you might as well have had all the prophecies about Egwene rather than the most important human ever to be born on the planet.