Rand is crazy, or to be more accurate, becoming psychotic. Psychotic people do and say illogical things. I personally think that this statement is simply an extreme example of the extent of Rand's paranoia and psychosis.
NaCl(if you are psychotic there don't have to be real reasons)H2O
' />
NaCl(if you are psychotic there don't have to be real reasons)H2O
' />Not real reasons you or me can understand, perhaps, but withing Rand's mind, at least, there has to be some kind of justification. From outside, Rand's actions do point to madness, but notice that from his PoV, there's a logical reason for all her does. His rant against Egwene flies on the face of that.
It is consistent with everything she has seen, always taking the side of the Salidar faction, refusing to give him information they want kept secret, attempting to manipulate him against Salidar's enemies while plainly respecting those enemy sisters more than him, and suggesting they are on his side when his own experience reveals absolutely nothing of the kind. The Tower's betrayal of him might have been a more egregious violation, but the Salidar embassy has more offenses to their credit. They immediately took a woman who had violated and assaulted him into their confidence, belligerantly and unjustifiably confronted him in defiance of any reasonable expectations of an embassy to a ruler, and then ignored his requirements for contacting him again, while attempting to assert their dominance at Dumai's Wells. Even after swearing fealty to him, they showed more sympathy and loyalty to his captive tormentors, and attempted to take charge of his affairs while obeying him only with the greatest reluctance. And these are the people Egwene is not only loyal to, but has chosen to lead (and the reputation affects the leader more than the group - will Elayne & Egwene think better of the Children of the Light for being under Galad or will they think worse of him for taking command of them? ), suborning his most trusted general to her purpose (no one thinks Tenobia will be happy about her uncle & top general serving the Dragon Reborn, so why should anyone expect Rand to be sanguine about Mat serving the Aes Sedai? ), and inducing the sister he trusts above all others to encourage him to go to Egwene.
From there he has sent Narishma & Merise with his offer of bonding the Asha'man, and Egwene never even received them, leaving them for her flunkies to handle. How would Egwene take it if she sent a personal embassy to Rand, asking after him, and he never saw them, but left them to be heard by Mazrim Taim & the Illian Council of Nine? And of course, Narishma has reported that a sister from Egwene's followers has perfected a means of detecting male channelers, which is indicative of a great deal of effort in the matter - plainly this is a high priority for the rebels. Rand's offer was met with a good deal of interest as Romanda and Lelaine's dialogue plainly indicates the offer dovetails with an item on the rebel agenda, which they discuss using terms like "control" and speaking of meeting their purposes. Egwene's followers plainly have some specific intentions towards the Asha'man or male channelers in general, and things like detecting saidin, and controlling the men in question are involved. They show no particular friendship or interest, and react with fear or revulsion to Narishma. Does this look like the acts of a friendly group? But what about the last time any of Rand's followers had direct contact with Egwene? What happened then? Why Logain was threatened with murder or gentling in a discussion Egwene initiated regarding Rand's amnesty. She asked Logain's opinion and intimated that the rebel sisters, despite that amnesty and all that Logain had done for their cause, might ignore it, gentle him or even execute or murder him. Do you think he would have let Rand's proposal for the Asha'man to be bonded by Ewgene's followers without mentioning his own experiences at their hands? Not to mention his own story of what happened when he was restored to the Power hardly reflects well on their attitude toward male channelers. And Rand is not all that unreasonable in tarring Egwene with the same brush as her followers. Did she not do the same thing with Mat and the Dragonsworn in LoC?
Given everything that has gone on, plus Rand always having his finger on the pulse of Egwene's ambitions, his comment about another notch on her belt is not out of the blue, and considering his final words to Egwene way back in Fal Dara included the expectation that she would probably want to gentle him when next they met, neither is this a totally new sentiment. Even now, he is probably exaggerating, but this is hardly a new extreme train of thought that blossommed out of nowhere in Rand. Right or wrong as his belief may be, it is not inconsistent or unsupported by his experiences and information. And if you don't know by now that people react to and act upon what they perceive to be reality and the truth, however mistakenly, you have made it through 11 books of WoT without ever realizing what it is about.
Cannoli
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
Your thoughts on TGS - Chapter 1
- 05/09/2009 05:23:47 PM
6349 Views
For all of those whining about it not sounding like RJ:
- 05/09/2009 05:47:07 PM
2191 Views
You're forgetting one thing.
- 06/09/2009 12:13:03 AM
2218 Views
And if he were to off Egwene? What would your opinion be? *NM*
- 07/09/2009 05:38:36 AM
1209 Views
He dislikes Sanderson's prose. Plot content is irrelevant here. *NM*
- 08/09/2009 06:44:42 PM
1165 Views
Pretty good.
- 05/09/2009 07:35:41 PM
45595 Views
Re: Pretty good.
- 05/09/2009 09:13:44 PM
2161 Views
I found it well-written, but rather uninteresting story-wise *NM*
- 05/09/2009 08:04:15 PM
1278 Views
because there should totaly be massive plot development in the first chapter
- 05/09/2009 08:29:18 PM
1910 Views
- 05/09/2009 08:29:18 PM
1910 Views
I'm tired of passive story telling.
- 05/09/2009 08:57:13 PM
1891 Views
I'm tired of mindless readers
- 06/09/2009 01:54:14 AM
1978 Views
Re: I'm tired of mindless readers
- 06/09/2009 04:01:56 AM
2136 Views
I was over critical.
- 06/09/2009 04:56:48 AM
1792 Views
A real analyst or literary critic would laugh his ass off to see this...
- 06/09/2009 06:51:57 AM
1950 Views
Re: because there should totaly be massive plot development in the first chapter
- 06/09/2009 01:22:09 AM
1888 Views
- 06/09/2009 01:22:09 AM
1888 Views
A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 05/09/2009 09:34:44 PM
2113 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 05/09/2009 10:03:59 PM
2021 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 06/09/2009 03:18:41 AM
1863 Views
I think Lews Therin's comments to Rand were the most hugely significant part of the chapter.
- 06/09/2009 01:15:05 AM
1814 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 06/09/2009 02:52:47 AM
2523 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 06/09/2009 07:08:08 AM
1769 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 06/09/2009 10:31:20 AM
2339 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 07/09/2009 05:09:38 AM
1824 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 08/09/2009 10:19:13 PM
1803 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 10/09/2009 06:20:56 AM
2105 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 08/09/2009 11:46:44 PM
1902 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 07/09/2009 04:41:47 AM
1878 Views
Re: A few things that drew my attention... (this is long and rambling...spoilers)
- 09/09/2009 03:48:53 PM
1826 Views
Good post, but I have an alternative explanation for the saidin barrier
- 28/09/2009 12:53:41 AM
1604 Views
Robert Jordon vs Brandon Sanderson
- 06/09/2009 12:02:13 AM
1850 Views
Re: Robert Jordon vs Brandon Sanderson
- 06/09/2009 05:12:25 PM
1665 Views
Re: Robert Jordon vs Brandon Sanderson
- 06/09/2009 07:20:45 PM
1669 Views
I found it...interesting --spoilers--
- 06/09/2009 01:33:11 AM
2003 Views
I liked it
- 06/09/2009 07:58:09 AM
1801 Views
Some questions...
- 06/09/2009 08:04:30 AM
1785 Views
Theory: Rand and Egwene. What is up?
- 06/09/2009 07:59:58 AM
2699 Views
A simpler answer
- 06/09/2009 03:04:04 PM
1885 Views
Really?
- 06/09/2009 03:38:59 PM
1714 Views
Look at what he has seen...
- 06/09/2009 11:45:44 PM
1700 Views
And all this happeened in the few days between the end of KoD and the beginning of tGS?
- 07/09/2009 12:35:29 AM
1813 Views
Why not? How often did he think of Egwene in A Plain Wooden Box? It might have been there already
- 07/09/2009 05:29:27 AM
1907 Views
She treated him like a pawn when she "passed" him over to Elayne way back. NM *NM*
- 07/09/2009 02:49:18 PM
1068 Views
are we already at the location of the book cover?
- 06/09/2009 11:49:06 AM
1766 Views
Two Things
- 07/09/2009 12:25:31 AM
1797 Views
My thoughts are that the main page is being crowded by too many duplicate threads
- 07/09/2009 10:23:41 PM
1789 Views
I know why Rand is mad at Egwene...read inside to find out
- 11/09/2009 03:15:00 AM
1842 Views
Ummm... the embassy's proposal was accepted, and (presumably) communicated to Egwene at the earliest *NM*
- 11/09/2009 04:16:31 AM
1211 Views
Semirhage isn't scaring anyone
- 28/09/2009 02:32:34 PM
2073 Views
Indeed...
- 28/09/2009 03:36:55 PM
1666 Views
Will the Chosen pass that edict down or just not act themselves?
- 28/09/2009 10:29:53 PM
1635 Views

