I think RJ went out of his way to say he's not Gaidal (apart from Birgittes comment that Gaidal is out there now, too young, and Olvers fascination with her, making the wrong conclusion as inevitable as Taimandred) is that he's like the squire T.H. White heavily implies to be Mallory at the end of The Once and Future King. It's the same reason Rand makes time between his epiphany and Tarmon Gaidon to have a conversation with a freakin' apple farmer: Most people aren't heroes, but epic global struggles affect them as much as everyone else--they just usually have less influence on the outcome. Olver lost everything but his Snakes and Foxes game between the two waves of Aiel, but there's probably no honored place as a Hero of the Horn waiting for him. He'll do his part like a good soldier, avenge his family as best he can, then live his entire life after watching them brutally slaughtered before other boys were learning to shave. Then he'll die and be mourned by those loved ones he subsequently found and the Wheel will keep on a-turnin'....

We need characters like that in great stories, I think, as more than just a brief aside or a microplotline scattered over two or three widely separated chapters yet resolved in one volume (e.g. the cart driver who worked for Ronde Macura et al. who makes a few reflections then decides to disappear to Lugard; that's the last we see of an Everyman so memorable his name escapes me). Most folks want to identify with epic heroes, but few live suitably epic lives. Characters like Olver right in the thick of events with no ta'veren powers to cover their butts are a lot more relatable to the average reader than the prophecied Blademaster reincarnation of the most powerful channeler in history. It's only when Rand is tortured by the awareness of his human limitations that we can really empathize with him, but I think that kind of identification with a character in the midst of things much larger than himself is Olvers whole purpose. He's not the Hornsounder, the Dragon Reborn, a Queen with magical powers or anything like that: He's just a kid during wartime doing the best he can, but that ought to be enough.