I don't think that it makes Rand look like an idiot. So Rand came up with this Compulsion/Balefire verification idea. It was a good one. But we're also talking about him trying to kill one of the most brilliant minds of her time (The Age of Legends)...on her home turf. He's trying to outsmart someone who has a lifetime of experience in outsmarting someone else.

There is no shame in loosing to that.

As I've said time and time again, Graendal didn't have to anticipate her palace getting nuked in order to not get killed. All she had to do is realize that she has been located (which she knows by the fact that the guy showed up out of the blue on his own...no guards...no horse) and get out of dodge.

Think how awesome it would be to have a Rand who was so sure that he had her pegged, but was wrong. That he had this one thing under control...only to find out that he had been out-manuvered yet again. Talk about him quickly approaching the edge of panic. That no matter what his own plans and actions are...that the Shadow is one step ahead of him. That they very well may get the last laugh (as they did last time).

His will make his despirate charge up Hamburger Hill (Shaol Ghul) all the more despirate.

~Jeordam