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
3002 Views
Thoughts...
- 21/05/2012 06:46:41 PM
1463 Views
Re: Thoughts...
- 21/05/2012 08:45:41 PM
1349 Views
Re: Thoughts...
- 21/05/2012 09:04:09 PM
1476 Views
Re: Thoughts...
- 21/05/2012 09:35:29 PM
1395 Views
Mat and the madness...
- 21/05/2012 10:30:09 PM
1339 Views
Nynaeve's revelation may make the AS even more worried of Rand being mad
- 21/05/2012 10:58:37 PM
1352 Views
Not Egwene though...
- 21/05/2012 11:02:41 PM
1158 Views
Maybe, maybe not ... Nynaeve just gave everyone proof of the extent of his possible madness
- 21/05/2012 11:26:41 PM
1136 Views
Re: Maybe, maybe not ... Nynaeve just gave everyone proof of the extent of his possible madness
- 22/05/2012 01:14:05 AM
1236 Views
Re: Mat and the madness...
- 22/05/2012 02:29:31 AM
1311 Views
Rand's dreams...
- 22/05/2012 02:42:36 AM
1177 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
1338 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
1327 Views
Oh read the books will you?
- 21/05/2012 11:12:06 PM
1314 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
1339 Views
What caught my eye there was "Trollocs seize Caemlyn."
- 22/05/2012 02:12:25 PM
1219 Views
As much as I would love Moiraine to go with him to Ebou Dar
- 22/05/2012 07:20:40 PM
1388 Views
At this stage, all roads lead to Rand.
- 22/05/2012 09:08:42 PM
1164 Views
Re: At this stage, all roads lead to Rand.
- 23/05/2012 08:07:56 PM
1245 Views
Well, like I say, there is no reason they could not ALL meet up with Tuon.
- 23/05/2012 08:53:53 PM
1157 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
1308 Views
It all depends on whether the actual Crystal Throne is, as many suspect, a ter'angreal.
- 23/05/2012 09:22:47 PM
1242 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
1124 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
1284 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
1306 Views
Aviendha's visions from Rhuidean indicate he will kneel...
- 24/05/2012 07:04:02 PM
1569 Views
Re: Aviendha's visions from Rhuidean indicate he will kneel...
- 26/05/2012 09:42:20 PM
1801 Views
Agreed...
- 26/05/2012 09:57:06 PM
1254 Views
I think you are extrapolating some of his actions into more than he intends
- 26/05/2012 10:37:44 PM
1106 Views
Re: Agreed...
- 27/05/2012 04:26:15 AM
1196 Views
I think you're both wrong...
- 27/05/2012 08:41:50 AM
1196 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
1129 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
1209 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
1168 Views
That makes no sense
- 28/05/2012 05:50:16 PM
1202 Views
Taringail was Laman's heir...
- 28/05/2012 07:20:07 PM
1213 Views
You are answering the wrong question
- 29/05/2012 02:19:48 PM
1121 Views
No. I've answered the exact question. You seem to have missed it.
- 29/05/2012 04:40:17 PM
1152 Views
Yet not one of these things actually happened
- 29/05/2012 10:13:35 PM
1174 Views
You're being absurd...
- 30/05/2012 01:04:36 AM
1135 Views
Explain why Taringail didn't become King after Laman's death then
- 30/05/2012 05:48:48 AM
1161 Views
- 30/05/2012 06:11:02 AM
1075 Views
- 30/05/2012 06:11:02 AM
1075 Views
Why then would Taringail, an ambitious man, renounce a Throne?
- 30/05/2012 06:22:08 AM
1238 Views
We don't fully know...
- 30/05/2012 06:43:30 AM
1008 Views
You just flipped your last statement
- 30/05/2012 06:55:36 AM
1254 Views
You seem extremely confused...
- 30/05/2012 09:56:30 AM
1181 Views
Not confused, simply not satisfied with the information we have
- 30/05/2012 12:15:59 PM
1149 Views
Re: Not confused, simply not satisfied with the information we have
- 30/05/2012 03:34:06 PM
1314 Views
I am not contesting the information we have
- 30/05/2012 04:48:08 PM
1331 Views
You're impossible...
- 30/05/2012 10:02:59 PM
1145 Views
Re: Explain why Taringail didn't become King after Laman's death then
- 30/05/2012 02:22:21 PM
1341 Views
See this maps back to my original stance ... Thanks for pointing out that Fionwe invented that
- 30/05/2012 05:09:14 PM
1078 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
1111 Views
Re: That makes no sense
- 29/05/2012 04:39:45 PM
1293 Views
Only one other thing...
- 29/05/2012 04:53:29 PM
1004 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
692 Views
Bryne was Captain General not First Prince and Taringail was Prince Consort not FP
- 30/05/2012 06:07:48 AM
1159 Views
Bryne was First Prince Regent.
- 30/05/2012 06:19:33 AM
1066 Views
No Forsaken will go near that Ter'angreal
- 26/05/2012 10:33:20 PM
1021 Views
Re: No Forsaken will go near that Ter'angreal
- 27/05/2012 03:23:12 AM
1097 Views
Aviendha reprogrammed the ter'angreal
- 27/05/2012 01:50:19 PM
1074 Views
Re: Aviendha reprogrammed the ter'angreal
- 27/05/2012 06:44:41 PM
1272 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
1188 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
1337 Views
I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one *NM*
- 28/05/2012 05:18:40 PM
596 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
1448 Views

*NM*