Dark Rand was the best villain of the whole series. Dark Rand was all about getting stuff done and not caring what the collateral damage was. He wasn't going to cower and hide in the shadows, he wasn't going to lay endless slow developing plots, he was just going kill his enemies.

You KNEW Dark Rand was going to kill Cadsuane the next time he saw her. You even wished Cadsuane would show her face again just to see what would happen. You knew that not even her Deus Ex Machina Ter'Angreal collection was going to save her from Dark Rand. No listening to the bossy hag, just sending her to oblivion.

What he did to Graendal was pure awesomeness. He found out where she lived, delivered the best death blow ever, and left. Dark Rand even made sure Ramshalan knew he was next if he ever tried talking tough again. And Ramshalan KNEW he was next.

Dark Rand wasn't going to make it unnaturally cold so that it would be harder to grow enough food, he was going to rot ALL of the food NOW and starve the whole country.

Unfortunately, this villain was killed before the end of the same book in which he appeared. It was fun while it lasted. For a brief time we knew the anxiety of a villain that truly left us wondering what horror was next.

If Lanfear had truly gone on a murder rampage and killed Eggy, Aviendha, Lan, and Moiraine like she should have instead of inexplicably knocking them all unconscious at the height of her rage (she was so crazy she skinned a guy alive and made a balloon out of his skin, then for some reason she just knocked unconscious the people that actually attacked her and were capable of killing her) she would have come closest to a truly terrifying villain thereafter.

It is a sad fact that if you made a montage of the Forsaken dealings with the good guys, sped it up, and played "Yakety Sax" (blooper reel music) as the theme music it would fit quite well.