Yeah, anybody who wants to match up Cadsuane's accomplishments to Elayne's, even just handling Rand, good luck. 

I'll give Elayne this much: she always does the smart thing. After she's tried everything else. 

Well, the 'rating' issue doesn't bother me. We all know lots of people, and some we regard more highly than others, whether it be for their honesty, charity, integrity, etc. If everyone we knew got turned, it would be obviously apparent that the people we held in the highest regards were now the worst of the lot. I don't think you have to quantify it. If the most honest person became a congenital liar, and the most compassionate became a sadist, while on the other hand the guy that cheats a little on his taxes just starts stealing from his employer, the pattern would be pretty clear.

I think this one is outstanding. It upgraded two of my least favorite covers to  perhaps my new favorite (The original was wonky and weird [do you even lift Sammael?] and the ebook made Lan look like something that lived in Lake Hogwart).  I think this is the best of the new lot, all of which are excellent.

I got it- If Aviendha had been in the Pit of Doom, she certainly would have tried to do something stupid like stab the Dark One with a spear, which surely would have ended the world. Moraine's presence prevented one of Rand's girlfriends from being there and getting him killed. They were able to be off getting other people killed because of Moraine.

Sorilea as a Darkfriend is unlikely

She is? I've found her to be one of the most likely candidates for darkfriend. Its a pretty popular theory, and fits the evidence cited above much more smoothly. Perfectly, in fact.

William of Orange became the ruling sovereign based on his marriage to Mary, Phillip II of Spain ruled jointed with Mary I. Both required a lot of negotiations with parliament and certain restrictions.

True, but Min saw the crown on Darlin's head, and she mentions it that way twice:

"I saw the crown on his head, a thing with a sword on the front of it"

"To her eyes a crown suddenly appeared on Darlin's head"

On the other hand, in TEOTW she mentioned the laurel crown as one of the images around Rand, not describing it on his head. But it was in a laundry list of images the first time they met, so its hard to say if she was being literal or just talking in passing. They werent diagnosis her visions as she later would in conversations.

Certainly not definitive, just a thought.

We should note that Min didn't see Perrin wearing the Broken Crown, only the crown itself. It could be argued that the Crown is something that would be important in his life, which it is since he marries into the family.

"She felt almost certain that what she had experienced was not simply one of many possibilities. What she had seen would occur."

Ok this is pretty definitive, unless we want accept the idea that Aviendha is quite simply entirely wrong... and that this epic scene will be nullified simply by reacting to its own existence. Its a poor memory that only remembers the past... well its a poor prophecy of doom that essentially negates itself by its own existence.

I think we almost have to accept that this is THE future (short of the DO winning of course). I think the question of whether it can be changed is going to be a much, much more difficult one than simply stepping aside and doing things differently (ie- "The Future changes as we stand here, else we are the game pieces of the gods, not their heirs, as we have been promised."- Raistlin Majere). I think this solution will be a centerpiece of the final book, and it will be something significantly deeper and more earthshattering required, something we haven't thought of yet. Probably related to breaking the wheel, which one could argue would break the ties of determinism.