A big complication. It is the one thing that prevents him from meeting with the borderlander leaders in safety. Rand knows that the actions of the borderlanders have been quite bizarre. He knows that they have 13 AS with them, and for all he knows those AS might have well ter'angreal allowing them to kill him with ease if he enters. For all he knows the 13 AS are Black Ajah and the borderlanders under compulsion.

He also knows about Moridin and the True Power and likely realises that the guardian does not block it, meaning that entering the city could be the same as giving himself willingly to the shadow.



True. This would have been a foolish move. No denying that. The point is that disabling the guardian and meeting safely with the actual leaders who are truly responsible would have been the smart thing to do.



Why should Rand give a damn about Far Madding? This is the place that imprisoned him and would have given him over to ELAIDA if Cadsuane&co and not tricked the leaders with their well ter'angreal and FORCED them to let Rand go.

They have for all intents and purposes openly declared themselves his enemies. And now they are giving shelter to the borderlanders and hoping to lure Rand back in.

Far Madding has also virtually no real influence in the world. Rand destroying the guardian would not cause him any problems at all with other nations. And FM would be helpless with the guardian gone so it would not be a problem at all.




And refusing to meet with them at all was any better? One could easily make the claim that he was afraid to enter the guardian to meet with the borderlanders which could be an equal sign of weakness.

Not to mention that with the guardian gone, Rand would not really need to care all that much what the borderlanders think. He would be at a significant advantage with channelers around him.

Rand knows he is vital to victory. To enter a place like FM where he could easily be assassinated is just plain stupid. And doing it for a second time to meet with people who might well have been subverted to the shadow would just be braindead. And thats ignoring the possibility of Moridin and TP.



If Rand blew up the guardian, he would not need to send messages at all. The borderlanders would essentially be at his mercy at that point. He would be in control and it would not matter what plans they, the Aes Sedai or the shadow have made. With the OP available to him and his allies, he would be well equipped to counter them.