Rand's sanity

[Varg]

So we know that he embraced the wind. We heard it from rand himself that he will not hear the voice of the kin slayer again. We can see from other pov, including bonded, that his temperament has changed. It even seems like the sickness is gone.

But do you think that some great danger to his sanity still remains? I think this is possible but only because we did not get any pov from rand in tom, except from the dream in the end. Or is this because the books where split? If i recall, we hardly had any if at all, from elane in tgs.

Has brandon said anything about this?

[Terez]

Pretty sure he's still linked with Moridin. Neither of them is dead yet. He conquered the overwhelming influence for the most part, but I think Rand has no clue how deeply they are linked. They are literally merging.

[Feral]

Personally I'm a bit suspicious that this sudden calmness isn't just a different type of madness. But if not (and it's pretty unlikely it is) then I'd say he's safe from insanity, at least until after he's done his job.

[aclund3]

Gotta agree with you there, Feral. That was my initial thought/suspicion when i read ToM as well.

[MarkDiLillo]

I just really hope that the whole "powers of the light surrounding the taint barbs on his mind" thing is explained. Otherwise, the entire series is somewhat of a waste and the Creator just personally intervened to save the whole world as soon as he saw the DO winning.

[OptimusPrime]

I agree with Terez, the link to Moridin still isnt done yet. I wonder if one of them is ever going to figure out some cool tricks with that link, like influencing the other, or using it to spy on them. Or even just a staring match from across the continent...

 

Id say the biggest risk to Rands sanity is the Warder bonds. Of course Alanna is the expendable one, I think she will be a big target, and Moiraines role might just be to deal with Dark Rand returning if one of the bonds did snap... Insert Moridin PoV floating faces staring match where Moridin sees caverns of ice in Rands eyes.

[herid]

So we know that he embraced the wind. We heard it from rand himself that he will not hear the voice of the kin slayer again. We can see from other pov, including bonded, that his temperament has changed. It even seems like the sickness is gone.

But do you think that some great danger to his sanity still remains?

I'm sure it does. Nynaeve saw a lot of madness on his mind and even remarked that healing it might be the most important thing she could do for the world. I'm sure that's important and will come into play.

 

But I don't think what she saw was the link with Moridin. that's still there of course but it's not what Nynaeve saw.

[enak101]

Yeah Nyneave said she couldn't even begin on healing Rand just out in the streets after she healed someone's madness. I figure she could heal a fair bit if she sat down for a good few hours :). How about if she taught the madness healing to a few others? That could help.

[Byzantine279]

A full circle of 72 with Nyn. leading may be enough to clear the taint from Rand's mind, but anything short of that would probably fail and make the situation worse.

[Erunion]

A full circle of 72 with Nyn. leading may be enough to clear the taint from Rand's mind, but anything short of that would probably fail and make the situation worse.

Plus Sa'Angreal.

You have to be careful though, if the job stops half-way, you'll likely destroy Rand's mind.

[OptimusPrime]

A full circle of 72 with Nyn. leading may be enough to clear the taint from Rand's mind, but anything short of that would probably fail and make the situation worse.

Plus Sa'Angreal.

You have to be careful though, if the job stops half-way, you'll likely destroy Rand's mind.

 

Hello Mat and Perrin?

[mb]

Found out about Nynaeve's examination of the male channelers through Encyclopaedia's pages.

A circle of 72 might be excessive.

 

It might work best with just channelers that are "taint-free".

Naeff/Narishma/Flinn for saidin channelers. The saidar channelers probably being Nynaeve (leading), some channeling Wise Ones, a number of Yellows.

[Terez]

I believe that Rand unconsciously warded his own brain from the taint when he maxed out the power of the Choedan Kal on Dragonmount. That would explain why it more or less coincided with his epiphany.

[Byzantine279]

mb, the way she was barely able to lift a couple dozen of the "spikes" up, Rands entire mind is covered with thousands of them, and considering the consequences of failure are likely making Rand insane again (assuming he is sane now) or completely destroying his mind, its best to go overboard in terms of the power used, thus a circle of 72 seems to be a minimum safe requirement.

 

I think it might be something along the lines of separating Mat and the dagger, the power required is the knife edge between what will kill and what will save.

 

That seems to be a plausible explanation Terez, perhaps it was done by a combination of him and Lews Therin as the two became one (regardless of if he was real or a construct).

[mb]

Lord of Chaos Glossary tells that a man must lead in a circle of 72 (also in mixed circles of less than 13).

For Nynaeve to lead, the circle would need to be 71 or less.

[MarkDiLillo]

A full circle of 72 with Nyn. leading may be enough to clear the taint from Rand's mind, but anything short of that would probably fail and make the situation worse.

 

I dont think pure strength in the OP was the problem with removing the taint from Rand. It seemed like it was just too in depth and too malignant of a disease for her skill level (or anyone elses is how I read it) to remove.

[Kal11]

If they do in fact ended up removing the darkness from Rand's mind it would probably be best served to have multiple skilled healers work independently than in a circle with only one person able to weave saidar. IIRC the darkness "evaporated" of it's own accord as soon as Nyn removed the last spike of it from the Asha'man's brain. It would seem as if once it loses all of it's anchor points the taint loses stability. Having several or more channellers divide it off into sections and and unanchor the spikes simultaneously it could clear itself.

 

Nyn had to essentially perform a surgery using the OP instead of the normal one size fits all means of healing. There was no indication that they had to be removed in a certain order or that it all had to be a single cohesive weave that removes the spikes. Basically breaking the larger issue down to a bunch of subtasks makes sense to me if the problem isn't how to do it but rather complexity for a single person. Like several people doing parts of a larger math equation and bringing their work together.

[AutomatedTeller]

I just really hope that the whole "powers of the light surrounding the taint barbs on his mind" thing is explained. Otherwise, the entire series is somewhat of a waste and the Creator just personally intervened to save the whole world as soon as he saw the DO winning.

 

I believe that those came because of his choice in his epiphany. the Creator didn't intervene, per se - Rand made a choice that allowed the powers of light to dead with the madness.

[Mordaunt]

Nynaeve had to hold back each separate thorn as it was trying to burrow back into the brain, once they were all held back simultaneously she had to weave a replica of the dark mass in reverse and lay it across the mass for it to disappear. A monumental effort, to say the least.

[FarShainMael]

I agree with Terez, the link to Moridin still isnt done yet. I wonder if one of them is ever going to figure out some cool tricks with that link, like influencing the other, or using it to spy on them. Or even just a staring match from across the continent...

 

The link with Moridin is certainly still active (though it's anyone's guess what effect VoG had on that) but I don't quite see what it has to do with taint-induced madness?

[MarkDiLillo]

I just really hope that the whole "powers of the light surrounding the taint barbs on his mind" thing is explained. Otherwise, the entire series is somewhat of a waste and the Creator just personally intervened to save the whole world as soon as he saw the DO winning.

 

I believe that those came because of his choice in his epiphany. the Creator didn't intervene, per se - Rand made a choice that allowed the powers of light to dead with the madness.

 

So anyone can just make a choice and be cured of madness? That sounds silly. Like I said, this needs to be explained or else a very crucial plot element is just left in the hands of being viewed as a "miracle".

[Guns of Brixton]

If Alanna is killed it might be the thing that reverts Rand's new Nirvana

[OptimusPrime]

I agree with Terez, the link to Moridin still isnt done yet. I wonder if one of them is ever going to figure out some cool tricks with that link, like influencing the other, or using it to spy on them. Or even just a staring match from across the continent...

 

The link with Moridin is certainly still active (though it's anyone's guess what effect VoG had on that) but I don't quite see what it has to do with taint-induced madness?

 

Ah, I didnt mean to give the impression that I thought that. No, nothing to do with taint-madness.

[Massive]

Pretty sure he's still linked with Moridin. Neither of them is dead yet. He conquered the overwhelming influence for the most part, but I think Rand has no clue how deeply they are linked. They are literally merging.

 

I don't remember any evidence they are merging much in this last book ?

[Terez]

Not surprising, considering. There are several small clues (mainly in his attitude), but the two big ones:

 

1. Min's viewing says the link will end with the death of one of them. She doesn't know which, but neither of them is dead yet.

 

2. That dream in the epilogue.