He had an Hier and would have been a King in his own right if he passed on Morgase offer. Also it is well known that SHE neede HIM to solidify her claim to the Andoran throne ... Se was the weaker party for a decade, so, why if he was still the Hier to Laman, would he become a Trakand?
He never became a Trakand. Marrying into another House doesn't change your name apparently, just decides what names your children will have.
A man like Taringail would have moved back to Cairhien and set himself up a power base as the Hier as soon as Tigrain "widowed" him ... Unless there was some legal/published reason for him not to. Also, we have not once heard him refers to as Taringail Trakand ... Always Damodred, just like Galad. It seems far more likely that the opposite of what you suggest is what happened. Morgase needed Taringail to solidify the Throne and thus allowed him and his son to revert to Damodred upon their marriage.
She allowed him to become a Damodred, only to marry into Trakand? Read again Dobraine's quote. He feels Morghase should have married into Damodred, and that she needed Taringail enough that he could have forced her to do it.
What likely happened is this:
Laman was still interested in preserving the peace with Andor, and wanted Taringail married to the next Queen of Andor. We also know, from the guide, that Laman wanted his favored nephew to be co-ruler of Andor, and eventually sole ruler. That last was likely why Taringail married into Trakand. He saw that Morghase was weak, and he thought that by marrying into the Royal House, he could eventually gain enough support to kill her and assume the throne himself.
Here's the quote on Laman wanting Taringail to be co-ruler:
A pebble slipping on a mountaintop can begin an avalanche, even when it was right and necessary that the pebble slip. Morgase’s failure to soothe Taringail’s ego was such a pebble. In Cairhien, Laman’s desire to see his nephew not merely co-ruler, but sole ruler, of Andor was well known; such things are difficult to hide in Cairhien, where children play the Game of Houses with their dolls and toy soldiers. That Taringail was in no way Morgase’s equal in rule quickly became public knowledge in Cairhien, and among those who play the Game of Houses as Cairhienin do, such a small, possibly even temporary, failure is seen as a weakness. Plots were born to unseat Laman, and he hatched his own schemes to counter them. As a minor part of one of his schemes, Laman cut down Avendoraldera to make a throne which could never be duplicated, it was thought. The tree was cut down, and the avalanche began.
There's a good explanation for why he married into Trakand. He never married into Mantear because there was no chance of him taking over from Tigraine, whose political position was far more secure. Of course, Laman and Taringail plotted without accounting for one Thomadril Merillin and Morghase's own great leadership skills.
I assume political machinations stripped them both of the Sun Throne, even if they had the best claim.
This is true for Galad, not Taringail. The Law of Cairhein prevented him from becoming King.
aMoL UK cover and Blurb (SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!)
- 21/05/2012 06:44:26 PM
3042 Views
Thoughts...
- 21/05/2012 06:46:41 PM
1501 Views
Re: Thoughts...
- 21/05/2012 08:45:41 PM
1399 Views
Re: Thoughts...
- 21/05/2012 09:04:09 PM
1520 Views
Re: Thoughts...
- 21/05/2012 09:35:29 PM
1435 Views
Mat and the madness...
- 21/05/2012 10:30:09 PM
1391 Views
Nynaeve's revelation may make the AS even more worried of Rand being mad
- 21/05/2012 10:58:37 PM
1394 Views
Not Egwene though...
- 21/05/2012 11:02:41 PM
1200 Views
Maybe, maybe not ... Nynaeve just gave everyone proof of the extent of his possible madness
- 21/05/2012 11:26:41 PM
1188 Views
Re: Maybe, maybe not ... Nynaeve just gave everyone proof of the extent of his possible madness
- 22/05/2012 01:14:05 AM
1273 Views
Re: Mat and the madness...
- 22/05/2012 02:29:31 AM
1349 Views
Rand's dreams...
- 22/05/2012 02:42:36 AM
1215 Views
She assumes he's mad just like most people assume a 19 year old boy is horney
- 22/05/2012 03:47:49 AM
1375 Views
Everything Egwene's little pea-brain does not grasp has always been a sign of madness to her.
- 21/05/2012 11:05:44 PM
1371 Views
Oh read the books will you?
- 21/05/2012 11:12:06 PM
1367 Views
I'd rather not. For different reasons, it's kind of painful to read those by either author.
- 22/05/2012 04:46:20 AM
1376 Views
What caught my eye there was "Trollocs seize Caemlyn."
- 22/05/2012 02:12:25 PM
1267 Views
As much as I would love Moiraine to go with him to Ebou Dar
- 22/05/2012 07:20:40 PM
1410 Views
At this stage, all roads lead to Rand.
- 22/05/2012 09:08:42 PM
1210 Views
Re: At this stage, all roads lead to Rand.
- 23/05/2012 08:07:56 PM
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Well, like I say, there is no reason they could not ALL meet up with Tuon.
- 23/05/2012 08:53:53 PM
1193 Views
Re: Well, like I say, there is no reason they could not ALL meet up with Tuon.
- 23/05/2012 09:01:10 PM
1351 Views
It all depends on whether the actual Crystal Throne is, as many suspect, a ter'angreal.
- 23/05/2012 09:22:47 PM
1281 Views
Re: It all depends on whether the actual Crystal Throne is, as many suspect, a ter'angreal.
- 24/05/2012 07:34:40 AM
1174 Views
Re: It all depends on whether the actual Crystal Throne is, as many suspect, a ter'angreal.
- 25/05/2012 01:23:21 AM
1325 Views
Re: Well, like I say, there is no reason they could not ALL meet up with Tuon.
- 24/05/2012 02:41:55 PM
1363 Views
Aviendha's visions from Rhuidean indicate he will kneel...
- 24/05/2012 07:04:02 PM
1613 Views
Re: Aviendha's visions from Rhuidean indicate he will kneel...
- 26/05/2012 09:42:20 PM
1883 Views
Agreed...
- 26/05/2012 09:57:06 PM
1284 Views
I think you are extrapolating some of his actions into more than he intends
- 26/05/2012 10:37:44 PM
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Re: Agreed...
- 27/05/2012 04:26:15 AM
1242 Views
I think you're both wrong...
- 27/05/2012 08:41:50 AM
1238 Views
I'm sure that is part of it, but I very much doubt he is thinking in terms of succession
- 27/05/2012 01:41:37 PM
1182 Views
I can't believe Galad will be accepted as a ruler since he is the Lord Captain Commander
- 28/05/2012 02:48:26 AM
1245 Views
Re: I can't believe Galad will be accepted as a ruler since he is the Lord Captain Commander
- 28/05/2012 04:54:46 PM
1220 Views
That makes no sense
- 28/05/2012 05:50:16 PM
1262 Views
Taringail was Laman's heir...
- 28/05/2012 07:20:07 PM
1269 Views
You are answering the wrong question
- 29/05/2012 02:19:48 PM
1164 Views
No. I've answered the exact question. You seem to have missed it.
- 29/05/2012 04:40:17 PM
1204 Views
Yet not one of these things actually happened
- 29/05/2012 10:13:35 PM
1225 Views
You're being absurd...
- 30/05/2012 01:04:36 AM
1179 Views
Explain why Taringail didn't become King after Laman's death then
- 30/05/2012 05:48:48 AM
1236 Views
- 30/05/2012 06:11:02 AM
1119 Views
- 30/05/2012 06:11:02 AM
1119 Views
Why then would Taringail, an ambitious man, renounce a Throne?
- 30/05/2012 06:22:08 AM
1269 Views
We don't fully know...
- 30/05/2012 06:43:30 AM
1054 Views
You just flipped your last statement
- 30/05/2012 06:55:36 AM
1294 Views
You seem extremely confused...
- 30/05/2012 09:56:30 AM
1227 Views
Not confused, simply not satisfied with the information we have
- 30/05/2012 12:15:59 PM
1182 Views
Re: Not confused, simply not satisfied with the information we have
- 30/05/2012 03:34:06 PM
1350 Views
I am not contesting the information we have
- 30/05/2012 04:48:08 PM
1376 Views
You're impossible...
- 30/05/2012 10:02:59 PM
1197 Views
Re: Explain why Taringail didn't become King after Laman's death then
- 30/05/2012 02:22:21 PM
1382 Views
See this maps back to my original stance ... Thanks for pointing out that Fionwe invented that
- 30/05/2012 05:09:14 PM
1129 Views
Good, now you have one last thing (a few inches long) to remember so everything becomes clear....
- 30/05/2012 10:50:33 PM
1149 Views
Re: That makes no sense
- 29/05/2012 04:39:45 PM
1337 Views
Only one other thing...
- 29/05/2012 04:53:29 PM
1056 Views
No. If that was the case Taringail would have been King of Cairhien and not have married Morgase *NM*
- 30/05/2012 05:52:18 AM
709 Views
Bryne was Captain General not First Prince and Taringail was Prince Consort not FP
- 30/05/2012 06:07:48 AM
1203 Views
Bryne was First Prince Regent.
- 30/05/2012 06:19:33 AM
1107 Views
No Forsaken will go near that Ter'angreal
- 26/05/2012 10:33:20 PM
1061 Views
Re: No Forsaken will go near that Ter'angreal
- 27/05/2012 03:23:12 AM
1139 Views
Aviendha reprogrammed the ter'angreal
- 27/05/2012 01:50:19 PM
1108 Views
Re: Aviendha reprogrammed the ter'angreal
- 27/05/2012 06:44:41 PM
1345 Views
I'd have to re-read to be 100% certain, but the way I read the passage
- 28/05/2012 02:10:14 AM
1230 Views
Re: I'd have to re-read to be 100% certain, but the way I read the passage
- 28/05/2012 03:33:18 PM
1384 Views
I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one *NM*
- 28/05/2012 05:18:40 PM
614 Views
He might not literally kneel before the ter'angreal, but almost certainly must meet with Tuon soon.
- 25/05/2012 03:40:54 AM
1487 Views

*NM*