He was always going to be a wolfbrother, Taveren-ness had nothing to do with it.  When they used the portal-stone we were only able to see Rand's potential lives, but Perrin saw them too (off-screen), but he made a comment about not being able to escape it and had tried to scratch out his eyes.

 

And one last thing on the subject of Ishamael needing Rand, why else would he give Rand the hint about the Eye of the World? That's like giving away the location to the bank you are going to rob to the police. It doesn't make sense. They could have tried to make it a trap—with Balthamel and Aginor waiting—yet they say it was Mat's dagger that led them there, not any plan amongst the Forsaken. But letting this information slip allows Rand to not only kill two Forsaken, but also get the Dragon Banner, the Horn of Valere, and save the battle at Tarwin's Gap. Seems pretty stupid for someone of the Shadow to help the Light so much.

Why would he give up info on robbing the bank.  To get the bank owner to rush to the bank on the rumor, so you can go in, and rob it once the vault door is open.

The 'bank' or Eye of the World was only accessible by need, and once our heros were there, it was fixed in place and the bad guys could get in and rob it.  To bad Rand started to Channel and kill all the robbers.  It was a good plan if not for that.

There is a situation where Perrin, had trees flowering around him.  -- This was when he was in the Two rivers, shortly after finding out his entire family was dead and killed by 'trollocs', Perrin goes to visit their graves.  Read this section carefully, they were burried near fruit trees which flower in the spring.  The trees were flowering all around him.  This was a significant event for Perrin and led him to take action in the Two Rivers.  This is the viewing that Min had of Perrin.

what about:

Wet dog removes water,

Lantern rises high,

Roll the Tabac,

He cannot hear, "No" as in not yet, but very very soon he will.

I disagree with some of your conclusions.  First the why did they suddenly take Alvia with them, I think is correlated to Min's viewing.  I think that while in Camelyn, Min mentions to Rand the viewing of Alvia so He decides to take her with them, not Nynaeve, but Rand.  Later on we learn about her viewing as part of an argument.

Next, she lost her favored position when in Tear they saw how she reacted upon hearing the Seanchan accent - which said to the group, maybe she isn't as ready as she thinks she is.  After this she takes a much more minor role in the group. 

Lastly, since she wasn't part of the favored group anymore, she wasn't around to see the weaves to access Cadsuane's box, not to mention that the box's wards were inverted, only a few others knew that, so why would Alvia know that.  The darkfriend suspicion points highly to either Sorilea or Amys (as Bair cannot channel).

YAY! first post.

Why would Gawyn accidentally use those Ter'angreal? Seems to me he is headstrong enough to deliberately use them. Thought: what would be the effects of using them all simultaneously? a Bloodknife using one was bad enough, with 3 (is it 3, or 2, gotta check later) he'd be nigh unstoppable.

Love you from afar, Mashi... women who think are hot!

I think it was meant that wearing them around his neck means if injured, his own blood could accidentally get on it and activate them.

not repeating plot lines?

It happens all to often in this series.

Elayne does something stupid, puts her life in danger and kills other people in the process, only to be rescued. -- How many times was this not repeated?

My favorite character is Dark Rand. I'm not sure how to evaluate him now without a decent POV since Veins of Gold, but I just loved how willing he was to completely destroy his enemies, especially with what he did to Graendahl. It was so dark, and yet so effective.

next time, let's do a cage match of more obscure characters, like Sorilea, Boundless, etc...

These are some of the stupidest things I have seen. Not a single one was funny.

Looked through the gallery of Japanese covers, the later books really do seem to fit quite well...a lot of standing or sitting around and doing nothing.

My favorite of Lan & Moiraine is on the trip to Tear (after Rand runs off on his own). Specifically the banter between them both concerning the Bond being passed to Myrelle. It is a great sequence.