Hence the value of Elayne. For ego reasons if nothing else, she cannot let the Prince-Consort of Andor and father of the Daughter-heir be subjected to a foreign authority. And with all these conveniently located Asha'man who are specifically trained in One Power combat, and tend to look for excuses to prove their equality or superiority to Aes Sedai, and who probably crave acceptance in society on the level Aes Sedai enjoy...well, any overt action on Egwene's part against Rand would be to the cause of the nations freeing themselves from White Tower hegemony as the expedition to seize the powder at Lexington and Concord was to the American cause of independence. I think that is the purpose of Egwene - however she might agree with the idea, she will prevent the Tower from doing this sort of thing, and preserve it from overreaching. And she'll get the credit from her fans here for her moral stance, when in truth it is simply recognition that she can't get away with it.

That's what my pastor used to say.


Except Rand is not a terminal patient on a hospital bed, he is the only one who can bring the plane in for a safe landing, and he is becoming hooked on morphine, and has moved on to seeking stronger drugs which will distort his reflexes, perceptions and bodily functions, and cause him to do something stupid, crazy or indifferent to collateral damage. Like maybe cause a loss of cabin pressure, because he's so high he misses the warning lights, and as a result, safely lands a plane full of bodies.

Except she's crossing her legs as tightly as she can, rather than taking up arms to defend herself, and incidentally the next victim of the gang. Rand isn't offering a noble sacrifice, he's looking for an easy way out. He has to confront that Dark One to prevent him from destroying the world, and he has shown more interest in getting it over with than actually protecting the world. His whole attitude that everyone can go f*** themselves once he's dead is completely against the spirit of what he has to do. Aridhol might have turned themselves into a rabid beast to fight the Shadow, but Rand is simply going to let the Shadow kill him for the same reason - neither can stand the price that is needed to keep up the fight. Do you think the men of Manetheren marched to the bank of the Tarendrelle thinking "Thank the Light! We can finally get killed and give up all of this marching and fighting and eating crappy food and taking injuries and losing friends and doing strenuous physical labor and living in squallor to protect people who mock us for going out of our way to do what is right instead of what is most advantageous for us!"

You cite the problem - Rand's life is a burden. Giving up a burden is not a sacrifice, and he cannot sacrifice what he does not value. You can't buy the salvation of the world with a bad check. Cadsuane & Sorilea want to put something into his account before it bounces.