You can try and find reasons for the plot holes, but the clear fact is that Robert Jordan was still very much writing book to book when he started writing the dragon reborn, he was still finding his voice and the voice of his characters and was unsure how many books he would have to finish the story in. If you look across the first 3 books there are some big inconsistencies, many of these come from the fact he didn’t know how big a series he was writing and so didn’t know how to pace his characters development to have them reach the peak of powers by the end.

At the end of the day it is all conjecture but when I say controlling his powers of Taveran I mean something new and different, maybe the next step of evolution of the power. Although I will be honest this thought does change year to year and with no answer we can never really know so I am more then happy to read your reasons why this can’t be the case. The one thing I will say we don’t know that the pattern is fully done, RJ had follow up stories on planned who knows what part the 3 boys would play in them. What part Rand has on leading humanity into the next age, we know he will live a long long long life (assuming he isn’t killed).

People on here are upset it seems that Rand in season 2 is not as powerful with the power as Rand in books 2 and 3. They seem to want him to be super syan, killing trollocs with a thought, annihilating armies at tarwins gap and being all powerful. The thing is, Robert jordan made a mistake in books 1-3, a mistake he spent a long time rectifying in the following books. his mistake was not of his own doing, it was forced on him by the writing process. It is a mistake that many writers have discovered if they don't have a full story mapped out start to end. I call it the Matrix effect. When he started out he hoped he had a trilogy. A story to tell over a 3 act arc, so, at the end of book 1 his main character gets a major power boost, all on his own, he destroys an army, because at this point RJ didn't even know if he had a second book. Then he has books 2 and 3 greenlit and so he carries on his oddesy, Rands powers increase, exponentially, he deals with threats with a thought, he teaches himself powers without knowing how and he becomes more and more all powerful meaning he can now take out god level beings (forsaken) on his own. Then, the best and worst thing happens he is given the chance to turn this into a multi book odyssey, but, he has a problem, his main character is at this point so overpowered in relation to the world around him that he really doesn't need anyone. he has come on in his power far faster then he should have done. Especially in relation to the other main characters around him, and, how will he find himself against threats that are really dangerous when he is so powerful all on his own. So Robert Jordan removes Rands power, the immense powers he showed in books 1 and 2 are put down to the madness, LTT in his head, or just things he can't possibly remember to do again. He is sent to the 3 fold land where his, by now, stupidly good sword fighting skills are worthless and he needs to learn to fight a different way, at the same time Matt, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve are sent on there own arcs to power them up to meet rand as he comes back down, trying to reach a point where they are all fairly equal, in different ways. I call this the matrix problem because at the end of movie 1 there is a problem, Neo is all knowing, all powerful, he is unbeatable in the Matrix, can shape it to his very will. By the time of the second movie (at least the concept as I have heard it, to my mind films 2 and 3 of the matrix are in the same place as seasons 6,7 and 8 of GOT, a thought experiment that thankfully never happened lol), Neo needs to either be de powerd, or, a threat even greater needs to be created, something that he can't fight against, that is both Agent smith, and, a crazy unintelligable plotline about architecture and load bearing structures or something. but on a serious note it is a problem with storytelling in an episodic format where you don't map out and clearly define the plot across the whole and instead have some viague idea but fill in the details book to book. So how does this impact the TV show, well, Rafe and co can, and are, fix that glaring mistake of Robert Jordans, they can ensure that Rand develops his powers in a linear and not up and down, they can show him slowly coming to grips with things in a logical way. At the end of season 2 an unshielded rand, untrained, raw, deals with Ishy far easier then Egwene, Rafe shows in that scene how powerful he is, just a few scenes before Rand ganked a load of soldiers without a seconds thought, when the most we have seen Egwene do is have a very powerful fart (sorry schoolboy humour). So no Rand is not godlike in his powers, but, that is a good thing, that is good episodic writing, if, when writing the first line of EOTW RJ had known, I have 14 books minimum to finish this in and my editor does not want a copy of the Fellowship, I think we would have had a very very very different books 1,2 and 3. and a very different, much slower, Rand journey. It is why I say WOT starts with book 4, books 1 2 and 3 where just RJ practicing, and, it is why stating that Rafe and co "Don't know the books because they have done this and that" is, in my opinion, showing that you are looking at the individual books in isolation, when that is the mistake, you have to look at the whole and, you have to look at the reality behind the writing process and how it impacted character development in a bad way.

I found myself wondering, at the end of MOL Birgitte says she can feel herself being reborn into the world soon, Elayne is pregnant, so is there a chance she could be reborn as royalty in her new life?

I know we have never seen it so this is something to which there may never be an answer but could the oath rod have been used in a way to control a male chanaller before the taint was healed? We see that collared Aes Sedai are unable to be used as weapons, the oaths bond them and prevent them from killing meaning the Seanchan have to fund alternate uses for them. So could a Male be bonded to the oath rod in a way that prevented them from hurting anyone when they went mad? Or would the madness override the oaths?

Having re read the entire series now since Brandon's "big reveal" about Lanfer not being dead I have made the decision that, given it is not specified in the story, is not obvious to the reader and makes no sense in terms of the narrative that as far as I am concerned Brandon is wrong. The concept of the Death of the Author has always fascinated me when it comes to storytelling, it primarily focuses on the idea that whatever the Author's own meaning in writing what they write does not matter when it comes to the reader. It is how the reader interprets that work with the Author simply becoming a scriptor who puts words on a page. Now generally in Fantasy/Sci Fi etc the story is clear and there is non ambiguity, or the author purposely leaves questions unanswered either to return to at a later date, or to drive through and consideration about the story. Therefore it is hard to impart the "Death of the Author" concept to the writing because explanation and meaning are there in the story. Instead such conversations revolve around the wider meaning of the story, was LOTR an allegory for WW1 etc. With the Lanfer ending however I feel that Brandon really has no place in which to state one way or another exactly what happened. He has presented a series of events and, for him, the meaning of those events is that Lanfer lives. However given that it is not clear in the story. We don't see Lanfer alive at the end, we only see it from Perrins POV, then I would argue that even though he wrote it Brandons's thoughts as to what he meant when he wrote this are not entirely valid. He may have, in his head, intended to open the possibility that Lanfer is alive, but, it is entirely up to the reader to decide what they believe happened and, whatever they believe, is correct. There is enough evidence, maybe more so, to defend the Perrin killed Lanfer idea then the Lanfer tricked Perrin.

So re reading a MOL several times I have started to pick out more things that just don't sit well with me in terms of the narrative storytelling around the last battle. One of these is that I find it frustrating that Mat never gets any real acceptance of his tactical brilliance from Demandred. It feels narriativley that there needs to be a moment, even if just before he dies, that it is revealed to Demandred that Rand is not and has never been at the last battle and his efforts to draw out the fight have led to his losing. I am happy that Lan got the killing blow, and did it with a technique he taught rand all the way at back at the start of book when the journey really started. But I was waiting for that other big reveal and it never came. Anyone else feel a bit flat at this, or where you happy with the whole Demandred Mat jousting across the battlefield and the fact Demandred never learnt who truly beat him?

So I have always assumed that as reincarnation happens in WOT and there is a defined pattern, that there must be a finite fixed number of total souls that exist. Each one being reincarnated at different points. However this can’t be true, new souls must be being created, otherwise the total number of souls would steadily deplete. Balefire is the first cause for this depletion. Not so much an issue now but we know the in the war of shadow it was being used to eradicate entire cities. Millions of souls removed from the pattern to never be reincarnated, The DO may be the other reason, he removes the souls of various of his tools now we do not know if these souls are then destroyed, or if they get spun back into the pattern once the original body has been destroyed. Over the course of turning to turning, if there is a finite resource of souls to start with, both of these things will steadily remove more and more souls. So last shadow war may not have exhausted it, but there will be another one and, balefire will be re learnt in one age and used to eradicate more souls. Over turn after turn the souls steadily trend down. So do you believe that new souls are created and not everyone is a reincarnation. In return is it possible that some souls do in fact pass on to whatever there is after, spinning out of the pattern? Or is the only way souls are removed the active intervention of other people?

Not sure if we ever saw this event but. If someone channeled Balefire to kill a person and then someone else channeled Balefire to kill that person. Is the first balefire undone, even if there is no pattern to recover?

The age of legends is presented as a truly peaceful egalitarian period, where people wanted for nothing, there was no crime, no war. But on re reading the series I find myself wondering if RJ is giving hints that this isn’t strictly true. I am seeing now a world with a 2 caste system, those who channel and those who don’t. It appears channelers occupy every important role in society. They make decisions, they lead, they run the schools universities medical facilities. Channelers have everything. This isn’t surprising, every channeler will live far longer and so over time would become more and more in control not needing to retire due to age, or illness. Then you have non channelers, from the books you only catch glimpses but it seems almost like they are a 2nd lesser form of humanity. They act as servants, looking after and supporting, they tend crops. If you think of humanity this makes perfect sense. People with powers slowly taking over and controlling those without. Giving the sense that “this way is better” because war and conflict has ended. There is no crime because us with powers have ended it. I wonder if the age of legends was more like a benign dictatorship. Those without always seen as something lesser. This idea of superiority then leads to the great mistake. If you feel you are better then most of humanity you will be less likely to stop and question. So thoughts, was the age of legends truly as fair as those in rand land try to believe?

I am re reading the entire series again, and having reached LOC have either never realised, or forgotten, how much page space is wasted on RJ reminding us of everything that has happened to each character as you come to them. Generally through them remembering. For instance I have just gone through the scene of Mat dancing in the inn, which is a nice little scene, made far to long as he recalls the scar round his neck, the holes in his memory etc. This seems to be the case for each major character so far, and seems more pronounced in LOC then any of the prior books. Trying to remember if RJ keeps this up in future books, and wondering how many pages would be saved if he assumed that the reader started at book 1 and was capable of remembering the key story points. It all just feels like needless prose.

I have found myself recently wondering if the wheel chose not to create 1 dragon reborn, but instead create 3 aspects of the last dragon in order to win the final battle? It is clear that at the final battle, the way it plays out, the 3 boys have equally important roles. Yes Rand fights the battle with the dark lord, but, without Mat leading the battle on the physical plane and Perrin leading the fight in the Tel'aran'rhiod the battle would probably have been lost altogether. Therefore I wonder did the pattern effectively create 3 aspects of the dragon reborn. Rand the main splinter, consisting of the memories of Lewis, his spirit, of course his ability to channel. He is the Dragon reborn of the prophesy. But throughout the series he is never the general Lewis was, you could argue he does not have the natural leadership of Perrin and, he doesn’t have the same abilities in Tel'aran'rhiod as Perrin (although we don’t know what Lewis Theron’s abilities where there). Mat the general, at points even the forsaken mistake him for Lewis Therin in terms of how he uses his armies. He represents the martial experience of the original dragon but he doesn’t have the natural leadership of the 3rd aspect. Perrin, as well as being the force in Tel'aran'rhiod Perrin is the most natural leader. Where Rand rules with an iron fist through fear, power or because of prophecy he doesn’t inspire. Mat leads through experience and because he is a great general, but he would struggle to lead a city in peacetime, getting bored and not really inspiring the people. Perrin however represents that aspect of Lewis Therin that the people loved, the would die for him not because of what he was or could do but because of him. this is what many of the Forsaken hated him for, jealous not just of his power but his nature and ability to lead. Perrin leads because he inspires, those that follow him do so because they love him. Even Berlain could be considered Perins Lanfer maybe, the spurned women who then works against him. That may be a stretch though. I do think it Interesting that Lanfer attempts to seduce all 3 of them, almost as if she is drawn to the other 2 despite knowing Rand is Lewis reborn. So thoughts, did the pattern split Lewis into 3 in some way knowing that on his own he could not be in all 3 aspects he would need to be at the last battle, did Rand become weaker in some aspects because those sides of Lewis Therins personality where spin out to Mat and Perrin?

The concept of Free Will is an interesting one, if I am destined to do a thing, but make my own choices in getting there then have I set on a fixed path or did I haver free will to get there. Wanting to avoid a wide ranging debate about free will in our own world is there such a thing as true free will in the WOT, or, does everyone exist on a thread as pre determined on a pattern? Alternatively, do some honestly have free will while others, those more intrinsically linked to the wheel like Rand, Mat, Perrin, the Forsaken, Aes sedai etc, have a more fixed pattern. Personally I am torn, on the one hand the events leading to Rand just being born as the Dragon indicate that there is a distinct lack of free will for some. Events where set in place many aeons before to make sure Tigraine would become a Maiden and then die on Dragonmount. Alternatively the finn tell Matt he can make a choice, but, if he chooses the wrong path he will die. This indicates an element of free will in the world, but, by making the choices the pattern does not want you to make the result will be you are removed from the pattern. Min also suggests that people have a choice, her visions sometimes changing or weakening/strengthening based on what people do. Although, the visions themselves may be a way of prompting a person on a particular path. Additionally the very existence of Taveren by definition removes free will, how many people are forced to make choices they usually wouldn't just by being in close proximity to Rand? So did RJ or BS ever discuss this concept? What do other people think, does true free will exist in the WOT?

I was talking to a friend recently who lamented that ASOIAF was still unfinished, she had invested time in reading all the available books and questioned if she would get to read to the end. Her words to me "At least with WOT you knew it had ended". I had to explain to her that when I started reading WOT only 6 books had been released and throughout the following 18/19 years I had many moments of wondering if I would get to see the end. It is for this very reason that I never started reading George RR Martins work, and why, with the exception of the black libraries Horus Heresy series, I won't start any series that has not yet been finished. Even with a trilogy I find myself now waiting until the 3rd book has been released before I will start them. So for other WOT readers who where there at the start experiencing the waiting and wondering if it would finally, did that experience make you tentative to start a series before it has been completed?

A Stedding cuts someone from the one power, effectively working as a null field for them. However does this effect include any weaves that have already been set on a person, for instance Compulsion? Would someone under the effect of that power then become immune to it in a Stedding, either temporarily while inside it, or maybe even permanently?