For example, if Mats Aiel paramour had tried to seduce him to the Shadow instead of just immediately trying to kill him when Rand announced his attack plans. Killing her instead was definitely hard for Mat, but the only "choice" was do or die, and she, he and Jordan take it equally for granted that Mat would not even have been momentarily tempted to turn if she asked. The whole series would have been FAR more interesting with more extended PoVs of peoples gradual descent into Shadow for what were initially well-intended motives (e.g. Ingtar.) It should also be noted that Mat only escaped Ebou Dar by assaulting and binding his NEXT girlfriend (definitely a hard choice for those raised on Two Rivers chauvinism,) and spends the rest of the series self-flagellating over whether it got her killed.

The problem was not so much that characters were never forced to make hard choices to prove their mettle, or even that they were always spared the consequences of those choices. The problem was that the with rare exception the consequences were never all that bad, and frequently quite positive in the end, despite all the complaining about them at the time. We seldom see "the road more traveled," though one might argue those taking it make poor epic protagonists. We occasionally see it with other Two Rivers residents of the protagonists age viewing their return with jealousy and resentment, then awe; those who made the hard choice to leave with Moiraine (however much she influenced that choice) return with far greater abilities, experience and stature than their erstwhile peer group.

The main characters make many hard choices, but, with the notable exception of Rand (who frequently has NO good choices,) they always choose the "right" one, with almost uniformly beneficial consequences. Ironically, the character Jordan presents the most developmental dilemmas is not Rand, but Perrin; unfortunately, Perrins response is so miserable it robs most of the pleasure we could have had from witnessing it. He is so broody and angry he acts like HE is the one fated to go mad, break the world and die saving it. Mat responds far better, transforming from a shiftless simple lech to a sophisticated responsible husband and general. He still complains incessantly, but with Mat there is seldom any real heat to it; empty casual complaining about events largely of his own making is just how he passes the time.