Rand's strange behaviour early in the series.

[RAND AL THOR]

In Books 3 and 4, Rand seems half mad at times- laughing unnecessarily and all that. It really convinced me that he was going to go mad despite all the odds. But later in the series he does not display such weird behaviour. Any ideas how this could be? I wondered whether the appearance of LTT in his head stopped his 'mad-like' behaviour.

 

I have an uncanny feeling that this has already been discussed. ::)

[Jehaine]

'Not too sure myself, but adding to the discussion i'd have to say that he was pretty paranoid back when he first declared himself the Dragon Reborn. That lessened over time into him being able to trust people to follow orders, but Moiraine had to almost beg him to trust her advice.

 

I think having a circle of people he has (more or less) learned to trust lessened the pressure on him mentally.

[Avery]

I think those instances were part of the channeling sickness from channeling his first couple times.

 

But don't quote me.

[Rain]

It all depends really. At the time from other characters POV's it seemed to them he was going insane already. But when we get a POV from him, it generally makes since as to why he's laughing to himself sometimes. He finds things funny that others don't. I personally just think Rand has a weird sense of humor. The reason his friends worry he's going insane every time he acts a little weird is because they're looking for symptoms of his insanity.

[Guest Dreadlord]

I always thought Rand just seemed to get a grip of himself. I do remember thinking the same thing, he seemed on the verge of madness for quite a while early on, and it seemed to be phased out of him.

 

Heres a thought though. When we see these moments of questionable sanity, we normally see it through Rands eyes. RJs style of writing is one where you only see what the current character is seeing. Early on, Rand notices these things himself. Maybe as the madness progresses he doesnt realise he is laughing at those inapropriate moments. The perfect example here is the scene at the docks when Lanfear and Moiraine go through the doorframe angreal. In Rands POV Lanfear inflicted pain on him with the Power. Then it cuts to Moiraines POV, and she sees Rand laughing maniacally, tears running down his face as Lanfear assaults him with the Power. Another example is when Egwene is hiding from the Aes Sedai and Rand makes her invisible. We see it through Egwenes POV. It is obvious that Lews Therin suggested to Rand to make her invisible, because Rand is talking aloud to Lews Therin. "So you are there." etc. Rand doesnt realise he is talking aloud. And later in the books we dont see much of Rand unless its from his POV. Maybe thats why we didnt see it; because Rand doesnt realise its happening, and we have been looking through his eyes.

 

Heres another thought (i dont believe this, its just a random thought, so dont get your guns out). I wonder if the Warder bond contributes to Rand resisting the Taint at all.

[Darth_Andrea]

Rand was under alot of stress early on in books 2, and 3. Think about it, someone walks up to you says your the Messiah reborn, and oh by the way if you don't teach yourself to control your great powers you will kill yourself and either way you'll go mad. Personaly I think I would go a little bonkers for a while.

 

It's a moment in Rands life where he has but only one real honest reaction.

 

"Jesus Tap Dancing Christ!!"

 

 

 

[glow=green,1,500]Darth_Andrea[/glow]   

 

[nashdude]

I always thought Rand just seemed to get a grip of himself. I do remember thinking the same thing, he seemed on the verge of madness for quite a while early on, and it seemed to be phased out of him.

 

Personally, I think it was Rand's way of dealing with the realization that he was the Dragon Reborn. "Everybody knows that all male channelers go crazy!" I think he gave way under the stress of realizing that the fate of the universe hung upon his none-too-mature shoulders, and carried himself a little bit more insane than he actually was. Call it "the power of suggestion".

 

Following the realization that he really was hearing LTT in his head, and not just "hearing voices", he snapped to a bit, shoved back some of the impending madness, and got down to the business of being the Dragon Reborn.

[Guest Dreadlord]

Exactly. Over time he came to terms with his responsibility, pulled himself together, and grew some balls. The only time we see Rands insanity issues later  on are the more obvious effects of the Taint-the wildness of the mind, those times when he doesnt realise what hes doing.

[Lacey]

Langston Hughes wrote a book called Laughing to Keep from Crying.  This is also a saying (I am not sure which came first).  I feel Rand laughed at the "bend over" moments of his life because if he didn't he would emotionally break.  I have personally had bad days, moments, etc. when all I could do was give a little maniacal chuckle, put my head down, and trudge through it.  Personally, I think this stops/lessens later in the books because Rand is becoming numb to emotion (which Caddy hopes to remedy).

[Serenla]

I think that some of it is that he's hysterical from all the pressure that you all have mentioned.  And as Lacey pointed out he has become numb to emotion so in later books he can't work up enough emotion to become hysterical. 

I also think that there's a possibility that since Rand and Lews Therin are in fact one and the same.  Rand is pushing the emotions over to Lews Therin instead of processing them himself. 

[RAND AL THOR]

I agree that Rand was under a lot of stress in Books 2/3 but has that stress really lessened at all? I don't really think so. His 'mountain' is larger than ever with TG staring him in the face.

 

But he has become more responsible so perhaps that is how he is coping with his stress.

[MatrixM]

It all depends really. At the time from other characters POV's it seemed to them he was going insane already. But when we get a POV from him, it generally makes since as to why he's laughing to himself sometimes. He finds things funny that others don't. I personally just think Rand has a weird sense of humor. The reason his friends worry he's going insane every time he acts a little weird is because they're looking for symptoms of his insanity.

Probably. All the scary shit he's seen has given him a new perspective on what's happening and he sees the humour in crazy situations. Like with Lanfear at the docks. He was going to die because he wanted to live by the code of not hurting any women. Pretty damn ironic. Later he hardened himself more than anyone should and he was thinking in book 11 that it just seemed like there wasn't much to laugh at anymore. Or maybe that it was hard to laugh...Can't remember.

[Lille]

You should also remember that Ishamael and Lanfear manipulated his dreams, dreams where he kills his friends and his friends tries to kill him. Thats why the first thing he wanted to learn from Asmo was to shield his dreams. When Rand is on his way to Tear he is afraid to sleep just because he can't stand seeing his friends trying to kill him in his dreams.

I'd say that would drive anyone nuts.

[Singin Hobo]

Well, I hate to be too crass about it all... but it's possible he just needed to... *ahem*... "clear his head" to get back to thinking straight :)

[Safia al-Maaz]

I always just thought he was thinking outloud, so whenever anyone heard little tidbits of what he was saying they wouldn't understand the irony and why he was laughing, so they automatically assumed he was going crazy cause he could channel.

[MatrixM]

I always just thought he was thinking outloud, so whenever anyone heard little tidbits of what he was saying they wouldn't understand the irony and why he was laughing, so they automatically assumed he was going crazy cause he could channel.

Yeah, with Rand, people assume the worst because they fear the worst.

[RAND AL THOR]

I agree with all this, especially with the point that people didn't understand what he was laughing about and so assumed him insane. However, there are a few bits here and there where I myself wondered about his sanity. When I come across those points again, I'll post the quotes here for discussion. Yet another point though: While Rand laughs a lot early in the books, and most of the other characters fail to understand WHY he is laughing, he is quite grim and different later on. I don't recognize him laughing at secret jokes in, say, the last 4 books or so. Perhaps because by then he has so much stuff on his mind?

[MatrixM]

During book 9 he made him self harder than steel, Min called it iron. He doesn't laugh because he believes that being human may be his undoing and so he has to be hard and trust little.

[Quisalas Selene]

When Min had her viewing of Rand and another man joining together and she couldn't tell which one "won" was the point where Rand was finally able to relax about the existance of Lews Therin in his head.  It relieved a HUGE pressure on him, the worry that he was already so mad he was hearing voices.  He was able to accept Lews Therin as real.  Once that pressure had been relieved, he was able to get a grip on things a little better, because he knew that if nothing else, his decisions were probably as sound as they could be because he didn't have to question whether he was already so mad he shouldn't trust himself.  I'd say the most stressful part was when he was trying to get used to the idea of being the Dragon and having to channel.  Once he was competent at channeling, he had more offensive options (making him less scared), more freedom because he could channel (making him feel less trapped), and he had a focus, a goal, of learning all the prophecies and then working to make them come true.  By setting each prophecy, or whatever specific Forsaken he was to tackle next, as a goal, his job then was "become car'a'carn" rather than "Save the World."

 

What other people have said about seeing him through others' eyes is perfectly valid as well.  When you see someone sudden chuckle, but you have no idea why, it's unsettling.  Especially if you suspect he may be going mad and attribute anything you don't understand or don't expect to it. 

[MatrixM]

He's going to receive quite the shock when he finds out that it's Moridin/Ishmael.