i'm sorry i don't have my books to hand, but......

IIRC she thought to herself that she could only marry a man who knew to be lead, but who knew how to be a 'lion on a hillside'?

she'd only know him as the Toy before hand, but when she saw him as the lion , how much he inspired respect of his army did she realise just how dangerous he was. and she realised the he was in charge fully of the Hand.

that's how she knew he was the one to marry.

please don't disappoint me- i can't be one of the few who thought it was a position used by middle aged swingers!

we've never really seen in this series how actions taken with good intentions can have far reaching dire consequences. as we know the road to hell is supposedly paved with them.

rand was supposed to heal saidin (the healing the cuttings of hope), which in turn led to the mass suicide, due to their prophecy. he was trying to do what was right , but it led to the death of an entire race. jeez, i hope he doesn't find out! he'll be murder to live with after that.

but hopefully it will lead to the re-instigation of the sea folk into the world as a whole.

i don't think that RJ just thew that in there off the cuff. we've known about the amayar for a good few books now - and we knew that they must have some role to play due to a POV. POV's are never that random. the fact that other Randlanders knew nothing about them just goes to show how much the sea folk did cut themselves off.

i'm expecting alot of changed attitudes in the next book. there'll be lots of brushing each other hair to make up for past attitudes (or whatever girlie things the sea folk do that they can drop into conversation every 5 minutes.) and elayne will take it in her stride in her regal and slightly self righteous manner, and find a way to take advantage of them.

i believe that the whole mass suicide thing is intended to burst the sea folk bubble.

before this they've always been an aloof race, and arrogant in their dealings with others. you only need to read of their dealings with anyone other than their coramoor to see this. add to this what the BWB tells us of their relationship with the amayar (sp?)

having an entire race of people , who they lived with, kill themselves without the sea folk knowing anything about it should humble them somewhat, and make them realise that they need to take more of an interest in other peoples.

this event should be the catalyst that makes them less insular and finally ready to help rand save the world - a conclusion that i couldn't see us getting to before the LB any other way!