ROFL

I'm sorry but if you think Rand was in any threat going against any of the other Forsaken earlier in the series when he was at his weakest and least effective, than I don't know what to tell you.

He *almost* got sliced by Asmo's hair thin trap, but *luckily* he didn't
He *almost* was blown up by Asmo's exposive wards while chasing him, but *luckily* he conveniently threw up a superhard bubble of Air
He *almost* got his foot sliced off by his own closing Gateway while chasing Asmo, but *luckily* it only took off a bit of his heel
He *almost* died when Rahvin's trap triggered, but *luckily* it killed everyone around him but him
He *almost* got balefired himself, but *luckily* he wove it in the microsecond before it hit him and both canceled each other out
He *almost* got killed alongside Aviendha and Egwene while fighting the Shaido but *luckily* he didn't (and used a cushion of Air to save them all which we have never seen duplicated nor mentioned again in the series despite it's usefulness)

I'm sorry, but I have to do a ROFL ESPECIALLY when you say "How do you surprise someone who can't be surprised" when we have seen Graendal surprised by Sammael into remaining in their partnership and then bated into anger and almost standing and fighting Lanfear (BTW she would have been quite "surprised" if Sammael had done whatever he was going to do rather be interrupted).

I mean, I'm sorry, but the series is just not set up to really accept that he had no choices. So, as I said before, I understand that you are trying to defend his status of a mass murderer by implying that he had no choice, but he's actually been on quite a roll in the last few books wiping the floor with anyone who directly attacks him.

My point IS that a debate about whether Rand had a choice is meaningless because using Tel'Aran'Rhiod or his Talent for Travelling could have conceivably been used as a convenient plot point to drop him right on Graendal's head.

But that was not your question: Your question was "Did Rand become a psycho?" And my answer is, and remains, yes. Did he mass murder people and consider it a couple more times in the books? Yes. Did he have a choice as to how he confronted Graendal? Yes; but he didn't - because it wouldn't have fit the plot.

I mean, at this point in the story, he could have forced his t'a'veren powers to make Graendal have a stroke or Travel right to him, and it might have happened.