My biggest complaint is that the plot slowed down after A Crown of Swords. It isn't to say nothing happened, but in comparison to the first half of the series there was very little forward movement. The primary reason for that is Rand generally slowing down and becoming more crazy and paranoid, doing much less poking of the world with a stick. I wouldn't mind so much, but we saw so much less of Rand as he went crazy; I'm guessing that Jordan felt uncomfortable in Rand's head, and so didn't write so much of him.

As this poll has Min, objections that X is not on the list are not valid objections, since the self-evident correct answer is available.

I mentioned it on the first page, but I think it bears repeating: the changes in Rand's manner occurred before VOG. While his perspective changed after VOG, his manner remained the same. Rand's style of speaking has not changed from the time the Domination Band was placed on him; it was trending towards more formal from Path of Daggers or so onward. Rand post-VOG is the Rand of KOD/TGS in manner, but the Rand of TEOTW in viewpoint.

Or, as he puts it in TOM: "I feel more myself now than I have in months. I feel more like myself than I ever did as Lews Therin, if that makes any kind of sense. It's because of Tam, because of the people around me. You, Perrin, Nynaeve, Mat, Aviendha, Elayne, Moiraine." Rand is the full knowledge of Lews Therin combined with the earnest nobility of Rand al'Thor.

I think that ZenRand is completely intentional. You can actually see the flip side of ZenRand in The Gathering Storm. Consider any of Rand's conversations in The Gathering Storm, and to a lesser extent Rand's actions in Knife of Dreams. Look at Rand's conversation with Cadsuane in the chapter A Warp In The Air, or with Nynaeve in A Conversation With The Dragon. Rand spoke in the same way. Even when Rand returns, that's one of the things that Nynaeve mentions to Egwene - “He's the same person – he even talks the same way as before. Quietly, without anger. Before it was like the quiet of a knife being drawn, and now it's like the quiet of a breeze.”

ZenRand is Rand coming full circle. He has the wisdom he's gained over the past two years, while his personality in a lot of ways is a calmer, more confident version of where he was two years ago. He's lost the fear that he had in the early books, he's in control of his anger in a way that he wasn't in the later books. His sense of humour, which showed up more and more rarely as the series progressed, is fully back.

The end result is what we see in Towers of Midnight. It's not that he's had a sudden departure. Quite the opposite, the series has been building towards this. The Prince of the Dawn has left behind the young hero role, the Lord of the Morning has returned in a mentor role. The Dragon rides again on the winds of time.

I think he didn't add her on purpose. He obviously doesn't trust her and really has no reason to.

 

He proved his distrust when it becomes clear that he manipulated her into gathering a resistance against him.

He obviously knew that she would go against him and would refuse to work with him.

I don't really see that as mistrust so much as awareness. For example, I think that Rand trusts Elayne, but is also aware that when it comes down to it, Elayne will put Andor ahead of him. He's fine with that, and he respects her for it. He's similar to that himself in a lot of ways. Along those lines, he's aware that Egwene will put the White Tower ahead of him, and he's aware (and somewhat bemused I think) by an awareness that she'll naturally oppose him, like saidin and saidar.

The ter'angreal, angreal and sa'angreal of Tear and Rhuidean: did they actually make it to Tar Valon? Do we have any confirmation of that?

Most of the characters in the series have flaws. Perrin is too introspective. Egwene isn't introspective enough. Mat naturally irritates everyone around him (this is the most fun flaw in the books to read about). Nynaeve has a terrible temper. Rand's flaws are legion; thinking about it, I've decided that Rand actually possesses all of the flaws of the other Emond's Fields characters. He has Perrin's tendency towards putting too much thought into what he's doing and why (and the conclusions that he draws, that he needs to be harder, are the wrong conclusions), he has Egwene's tendency towards lack of additional thought beyond his initial hypothesis (for example, how long he thought that the Salidar Aes Sedai were a frightened band of women who were small in numbers), he has Mat's tendency to irritate everyone around him (without it being nearly so funny and good-hearted as when Mat does it) and his temper is far, far worse and more deadly than Nynaeve's.

At the end of the day, Faile only really has one flaw. She's paranoid at the thought of Perrin cheating on her, physically or emotionally. She's a terribly jealous woman. Perhaps she had a bad childhood experience, perhaps it's a cultural thing, perhaps she was just born that way. Who knows. Whatever the case, really, that's her only flaw. She's brave, but knows when to pick her battles. She's compassionate, but she knows that there's a time and place for ruthlessness. She's honest, except for those times when a lie is better for the well being of everyone involved. She is essentially a character of tempered virtues, aware of both the little picture and the big picture and how they relate.

Except when it comes to Perrin. As soon as Perrin enters into things, Faile's jealousy rears up and she goes from being an intelligent, poised, confident woman to being a silly, unbalanced and paranoid girl. Beyond that detail - and since most of what we see of Faile is essentially from Perrin's perspective, it's one we unfortunately see too often - she's one of the strongest and best balanced female characters in the story. It's unfortunate that the melodrama and comedy of errors surrounding the Perrin/Faile/Berelain triangle eat up so much space on the page, because there are few characters in the series better at making the right choices based on the information available to them.

Er, well, whenever someone is lagging out in Starcraft II, just before they drop, I type "I have won again, Lews Therin."

Does that count?

It was pretty crazy how he focused on the deaths of women.

...by which I mean, Rand absolutely was crazy in a literal sense, and that was one of the outward signs of his insanity. It was something he held on to as a way of holding onto his humanity. It was irrational. But, Rand was irrational, and became increasingly irrational as the series went on.