You say that Rand needs to cause more destruction. I agree and think there needs to be a huge sacrifice.
Lets assume this sacrifice HAS to be payed, there's no way to sidestep it. (a theme strongly implied in the prophesies)
My opinion is this. The earlier 'dark' Rand would have no problems sacrificing as many as he needed to (although it would probably make him go more down the path of darkness and insanity). But the new 'enlightened' Rand may have a hard time. Imagine a situation where the 'good' Rand HAS to sacrifice people or give up the fight. Since we have assumed this should happen, this WILL happen eventually. At this point Rand is going to have a much much harder time deciding. The two possible logical results would be that Rand either sacrifices ad reverts back to some semblance of the 'dark' Rand, or he doesn't do anything and fatally compromises the battle at TG. In this case the hard decisions are still in the future and Rand was brought to this position so that he will be 'weak' at that point.
But I have the dirty feeling that RJ is going to 'cheat' and provide a way out of this sacrifice.....So ya, if RJ does cheat, then it seems like its been way too easy for Rand.
Lets assume this sacrifice HAS to be payed, there's no way to sidestep it. (a theme strongly implied in the prophesies)
My opinion is this. The earlier 'dark' Rand would have no problems sacrificing as many as he needed to (although it would probably make him go more down the path of darkness and insanity). But the new 'enlightened' Rand may have a hard time. Imagine a situation where the 'good' Rand HAS to sacrifice people or give up the fight. Since we have assumed this should happen, this WILL happen eventually. At this point Rand is going to have a much much harder time deciding. The two possible logical results would be that Rand either sacrifices ad reverts back to some semblance of the 'dark' Rand, or he doesn't do anything and fatally compromises the battle at TG. In this case the hard decisions are still in the future and Rand was brought to this position so that he will be 'weak' at that point.
But I have the dirty feeling that RJ is going to 'cheat' and provide a way out of this sacrifice.....So ya, if RJ does cheat, then it seems like its been way too easy for Rand.
I agree with the more interesting potenial conflict inherent in such a sacrifice with his new outlook, and with the worry that RJ/B-Sand will evade it. Though I would argue that such a sacrifice arising would be an excellent opportunity to show that good does not have to mean weak, and that you can do the hard thing without going dark. That was the problem with Rand, after all. It was the fact that he was UNNECESSARILY going dark. He was driven to it by his hardships and the betrayals he endured, but he did not HAVE to go that route - he took a path of lesser resistance, and his self-imposed hardening was actually a way of avoiding the pain, rather than dealing with it. By going dark he was trying to have his cake and eat it too, to avoid dealing with the personal pain, while not actually evading his duty. Of course, eventually it all caught up to him and his character fault did interfere with his duty, but hopefully he's over that now, and capable of dealing with and accepting the pain and making the tough calls without getting messed up over it.
Cannoli
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
Did the characters come too easily to power?
- 16/03/2010 11:37:31 PM
2067 Views
Yes, and for Rand at least IMO, playing nice has cost dearly
- 17/03/2010 04:59:32 AM
1110 Views
Not necessarily
- 18/03/2010 03:17:10 PM
1036 Views
Good post.
- 27/03/2010 01:43:24 PM
877 Views
Unfortunately, no.
- 31/03/2010 10:23:58 AM
991 Views
Re: Unfortunately, no.
- 02/04/2010 07:54:10 AM
807 Views
All the way through, up to ripping her self-delusional assessments of her "achievements" in KoD
- 02/04/2010 09:27:54 PM
889 Views
TLDR *NM*
- 17/03/2010 05:43:01 AM
648 Views
Cmon ppl pls reply to this, Cannoli has spent such a long time writing it.... I couldn't be bothered *NM*
- 17/03/2010 10:31:38 AM
434 Views
*NM*
Rand is at the perfect position after TGS for his downfall...
- 17/03/2010 02:49:55 PM
965 Views
Re: Rand is at the perfect position after TGS for his downfall...
- 17/03/2010 06:15:18 PM
917 Views
I agree
- 18/03/2010 03:35:05 PM
1061 Views
I usually read Cannoli's epic-length posts...
- 17/03/2010 04:08:33 PM
974 Views
Ha! Imagine if I didn't double-space the paragraphs. That is a fairly new practice on my part. 
*NM*
- 18/03/2010 03:36:13 PM
456 Views
*NM*
- 18/03/2010 03:36:13 PM
456 Views
I'd suggest you had more paragraphs......with a lot of spacing.....
*NM*
- 19/03/2010 04:42:05 AM
488 Views
*NM*
- 19/03/2010 04:42:05 AM
488 Views
Sheesh, you people are babies. I read it. Some good points.
- 17/03/2010 05:35:08 PM
909 Views
Re: Sheesh, you people are babies. I read it. Some good points.
- 17/03/2010 10:08:34 PM
1079 Views
Oh and I forgot to add
- 18/03/2010 01:41:28 AM
957 Views
I would say those cases are both examples of aknowledging their own limitations and priorities
- 18/03/2010 04:02:13 PM
1023 Views
Re: Did the characters come too easily to power?
- 17/03/2010 06:10:22 PM
959 Views
I was more focussed on the cost of GETTING power, not the prices of discharging it responsibly
- 18/03/2010 04:27:18 PM
1097 Views
While most of this is true...
- 19/03/2010 06:47:19 AM
879 Views
Siuan's failure to properly help Rand should motivate Egwene to overthrow...oh, right. Egwene. 
- 19/03/2010 11:52:10 PM
903 Views
- 19/03/2010 11:52:10 PM
903 Views
Re: The To'Raken
- 06/04/2010 06:00:07 AM
933 Views