It's a huge condemnation when your only accomplishment is to still be alive. "Is she a good lawyer?" "Well, she isn't dead yet." Hmm.. of all the Forsaken he had the means to truly destroy Rand at any stage of the series, but now Rand is truly more powerful than all of them.

I still maintain that Demandred is a huge coward, despite his rants about being a risk taker. He will never face Rand unless his odds of winning are overwhelming - even his closest ally said so. His preference for proxies is a strong indicator of cowardice and self-preservation, and even at the Cleansing he was very upset that he had to be there to channel personally. It's so ridiculous because only a chapter or two before he was excited to get to kill Rand, but when the time came he moaned about it. He does that often too - he says that the Chosen know not to challenge him but Graendal mocks him and he just stands there. I think Sammael saw through Demandred, and a great many readers do. I think he's arguably the most intelligent and skilled man walking the planet, but he'll never challenge a reasonable enemy. He shares a trait with Moghedien like that.