Back in WH, CoT & KoD, the warder bond was brought up all the time. Whenever Min felt a strong emotion, Rand noticed it. He wa always aware of how she felt, and we received updates on the feelings he noticed whenever something happened or changed or the topic of conversation was of interest to her. Likewise in the few PoVs we had of her after the bonding. Yet, it is hardly mentioned, and usually only as an afterthought in tGS. Even in places where the topic of attention is Rand's emotional state, she describes his actions or expressions of his feelings, but almost never what she feels through the bond. Look at chapter 37 for instance:
- She watches him dress and asks him if he wants to talk about his failure to make peace with the Seanchan, noting that his voice is "emotionless" & "taut." She tells him "It's all right to be frustrated..." & he denies his frustration. Any other book since the bonding, there would have been some mention one way or another whether he was telling the truth about being frustrated. She would have compared or contrasted his outward demeanor with what she felt through the bond. But nothing. This is not simply a writing choice either. The way the bond has been established in other books, it is like forgetting to mention another person in the same room, who is participating in the conversation!

- She wonders "When those eyes of his studied her, did they see only a liability?" Well, if anyone would know the answer to that, it would be MIN, no? If he has gone so hard and cold inside that the bond doesn't help in discerning his feelings, THAT should be mentioned, especially because it would extremely important in the characterization the author(s) attempt to demonstrate in this arc.

- When they head out after Graendal (or rather he heads out and brings his cheerleading section), she is worried about his self-composure, and how "he seemed like a thunderstorm, contained and wrapped up, somehow bound and channeled toward a single goal..." Maybe this assessment comes from the bond, but it is not written as such. It is simply an assessment that anyone who knows Rand could have made while observing him, and RJ was always explicit about what could be observed and what was picked up through the bond (since "who knows what" is important to the main theme of WoT). Now, it might be argued that Min is so dumb (an accusation I have never been shy about making) she needs the bond to tell her what other people only need their eyes for, but if there is one topic on which she is generally well-informed, it is Rand. She was quite capable of making such an observation before they had the bond, and often did.

- When Ramshalan reports Graendal's presence, "Rand's voice sounded so hard. Worse than Min had ever heard it before." NOBODY GIVES A DAMN WHAT HE SOUNDS LIKE, YOU VAPID LIGHTSKIRT BIMBO!!! What is he FEELING?!?! Not a word of the bond.

- She then mentions Cadsuane, and there is "an edge of anger to his tone..." when he replies. And she notes that Cadsuane's name is "one of the few things that could still get emotion out of him." Regardless of the unprofessional writing demonstrated in that phrase, this is one of his few demonstrations of emotion, when the reality of his feelings should certainly be relevant and a mention made of them to be compared or contrasted with his expression or tone.

- He goes on to discuss the problem with Callandor and his personal view that it was his emotions when using it that made things go wrong, and he claims he must kill dispassionately. He is TALKING ABOUT his emotions. Bond? Anything? Zip. Min, BTW, is anything but dispassionate at this point. She's freaking out about how scary he's getting. Rand is the entire focal point of her extreme concern. The bond should have been far more important to her than his unseen face. All the more so BECAUSE his face is unseen.
- She then describes his expression when using the balefire as ecstasy and that he holds the access key "...in victory. Or reverence." Well, which one, o holder of his bond? Then he "sounded exhausted." But was he physically exhausted, emotionally drained, what?

- Finally, during Nynaeve's sit-down with Cadsuane and the Wise Ones, Min bothers to note that "his emotions seemed very cold" through the bond. All this does is highlight her complete lack of other references to what she should be feeling through it. It is implied elsewhere that with the emotions of a bonded person being so much more noticable in close proximity, they should occupy the other bonded person more when they are together, rather than apart. This would explain why, until Sanderson started writing the series, Rand never once mentioned any knowledge or awareness of Elayne's or Aviendha's feelings through the bond.

- Speaking of Elayne, in chapter 1, Rand notes that she is relieved. THAT is what he picks up on? Her presumptive victory making her relieved? Never mind that back in her PoVs in the last two books, the most notable factors about her emotions where their state of constant flux and jerking back and forth between extremes. You would think he would have made some mention of how turbulent and changing they are if he was going to notice anything, considering that Far Madding is as close as he came to her since the bonding. Why should relief stick out of all the things she might have been feeling (even in that minute alone)?

- Another thing I have to wonder about, on the topic of Rand and Elayne's bond. She notes his movement in KoD since he lost his hand, as being in the northwest and southeast. Is she noting his movement in this book? Does her actual victory in KoD take place AFTER Rand goes back to Tear in tGS, but before the Borderlanders passed all the way through Andor to reach Far Madding? Is that "relief" Sanderson tosses out as a catch-the-readers-up device in Chapter 1 actually out of place or else misinterpreted by Rand? Maybe she was just relieved that one of those attacks had been beaten off (heh heh).

Rand isn't much better at the bond, so we can't really write Min's reticence off as some sort of stupidity or unobservant behavior on her part, or a reluctance to confront the reality of his feelings.

- When Rand moves into the manor house in Bander Eban, he notes that "she looked troubled." He then wonders what it is about and if she is upset with him over the Semirhage incident and his choking her. Once again, he should not have to wonder!

When the Semirhage incident takes place, that should have been a treasure trove of bond-stuff. But no.

- Usually, when Rand or Min came together in the last three books after being apart, the PoV character would make mention of what he or she felt through the bond. Not here, of course. Also no mention of the bond, even when he is thinking about her while out with the generals.

- When Min cites Cadsuane, Rand turns paranoid and starts wondering if she's plotting with her (bit late to be having THAT thought), and he is wondering what is up with her, and mentally remonstrates himself for being suspicious. A perfect place to mention what she is feeling, for him to mentally check the bond to see if there is any hint of calculation or to reassure himself that she is just being concerned and he should be ashamed of himself.

- When he starts torturing her, there should be SOME indication that he is aware of her pain! Some mention of what emotions she is experiencing! The whole point of this chapter is showing how horrible this is for Rand, and either way, feeling those emotions would only accentuate and enhance that portrayal! If she is feeling hurt or betrayed or afraid of him, that should cut him to the bone, because her view of him has always been the keystone of his feelings for her - he appreciated that she did NOT see him as a figure of power or terror or danger. In a moment of self-pity in an earlier book he notes that Min would want nothing to do with him now, that she would run as far as she could "to get away from the Dragon Reborn." Later evidence to the contrary could arguably be said to be the thing for which he most loves her. A change in that view of him on her part WOULD have been the worst thing he could learn about her, right up there with her not caring about him any more. Or else, if she still felt trust and worry for him, while he was being used to torture & kill her, that would have hurt him badly, by exacerbating what he felt while zapping her with the Power or strangling her. Sanderson appears to be aware of this aspect of the character, since Rand describes Min's eyes and her appearance as he does it, but why no mention of the bond? Why merely offer evidence, when the truth is readily available? If someone had read this chapter without reading the material between tPoD & The Last that Could be Done, he would have no inkling that Min & Rand were bonded. You could not say that about hardly any chapter in either's PoV written by RJ since the bonding took place.

Finally, there is the matter of Cadsuane. She had no qualms about making use of Min's bond with Rand in the past, in both Winter's Heart and Knife of Dreams, and is the same way with Alanna in Path of Daggers. She always wants to be kept up to the minute if possible on him when she is not able to observe him herself. Yet, after Nynaeve and Min go over to her in this book, she never references the bond, when it would have become her only reliable source of information, and now readily available since Min has come to her voluntarily.

It is similar with Aviendha, though less obvious, since this is the only instance of her PoV since bonding Rand. It could be argued that she simply does not make that big a deal about it. But she is still oblivious to his feelings when he is present and there is no indication that he is even aware of her presence through the bond, as would have been expected from the way it is used in prior books. Actually, there might have been as many references by Aviendha of her bond with Rand as there were for Rand's & Min's by both of them together. She makes no mention of the fact that she is theoretically guiding Rhuarc & the Wise Ones to Rand's manor house in chapter 3, despite the bond being the whole point. When the cover scene happens, she cites the bond to mention that he's inside the house, but doesn't know he is there until she hears his voice, and she has more of the same indentifying his emotions by his face, rather than their bond that Min does. Only when he is gone does she note that he has reverted to his calm. She later mentions that she had been aware of what Semirhage had done to him, but in spite of her asserted concern over his hardness-strength issues, gives absolutely no indication that she has noticed the changes in him.

One explanation for this could have to do with Rand's indifference to the bond as he goes further to the Dark Side, or Min ignoring it as she becomes less and less enamored of what she feels through it, but if so, the omission is even more damning, because of the complete lack of anything at all suggesting this. There is no allusion or hint suggesting as much, which there should be if the omission of bond references was deliberate or intentional. It is similar, IMO, to everyone suddenly calling Rand "the Dragon" when before it was always "Lord Dragon" or "Dragon Reborn." Rand was only refered to as "the Dragon" when discussing his role as a figure of prophecy or something like that. When talking about Rand al'Thor, it has ALWAYS been "the Dragon Reborn." In both cases, it COULD have been a deliberate change from what was done before, intended to emphasize either Rand's estrangement from his girlfriends or else how he is becoming increasingly consumed by the role or office of the Dragon Reborn, or that he is losing himself to LTT and the distinction of the Dragon Reborn is becoming moot. If such was B-Sand's intent, however, he bungled it by the abrupt change and no gradual moving that way. While RJ might have got away with such an abrupt change, Sanderson or his handlers should have known that the confusion over the noticably different styles would obscure such a change. With RJ, we'd have known what to expect and noted an abrupt departure from how he usually wrote, and clued in that something was going on. Sanderson simply does not write close enough to RJ's style (for good or for ill) to be able to do something like this without some sort of indication of what he is getting at.