Honestly, this was something that irked me and was one of the first things I ranted about on this forum. Jordon poses a really big question IMO in terms of why we struggle to live the way we do (or in Rand's case, "What is Rand fighting for?"). Ishamael's reason for going over to the dark one was a logical one. Given the trend in the pattern, eventually the dark one will break free, or in terms we can identify with, we will all eventually cease to exist leaving behind nothing, so why bother with anything? It's all vanity in the end. I was hoping for some profound and insightful answer to this question, but instead the answer that Rand finds is in all the memories of him banging hot chicks throughout time. I mean, I get that Jordon was saying it's all about love or whatnot, but then even Jordon seemed to think that just one love wouldn't be enough for Rand to endure all the crap he endures. So Jordon/The Creator was like, "Alright buddy, you do this thing for me and I'll get you 3 smoking hot chicks of unique or high status, the powers of a god and to hell with Egwene cause we stopped caring about her after Caemlyn in EoTW."

This topic makes me uncomfortable... That said, I have fantasized about owning 3 dogs and naming them Rand, Perrin, and Mat.

Possibly, but then Rand got super sick afterwards which is indicative of first time channeling. I've actually brushed this idea once of twice before. Right now it's only a vague snippet of one or two ideas tied to a bigger point/understand, but I can't remember enough of it right now to succinctly describe it.

Good point, but I've always felt his previous gambling was just in his nature. He was a skilled gambler, knew how to play the odds and just loved games. He naturally would develop a good intuition for when he has a streak going. Then he notices post healing that his luck is abnormally in his favor. Right, of the 3 Ta'veren both were dutiful, but Perrin got into puzzles and hanging with wolves while Rand's shtick as a doomed doom-bringer, doomed to doom for the sake of postponing more doom wasn't really carved out and shaped until his world got flipped turned upside and had to move in with his Auntie (Moraine) and Uncle (Lan) in Fal Moran. So Mat definitely served some much needed comic relief and offered some interesting juxtaposition as a Ta'varen who refuses to accept his role and keeps trying to run from it. I think Mat's memories of his past lives play a role here. In almost all of those lives Mat remembers enjoying gambling and fighting. Maybe Mat's intuition and character are products of his current life through the lens of his subconscious access to memories of past lives. Maybe all of our intuitions and personalities are shaped by memories of past lives we're consciously unaware of. Whatever it is for Mat it gets taken a few levelers higher by the snake/fox peoples. And as for the origins of the "luck" factor, I think a sense of luck is just a common thing for people have. I personally I think I have above average luck. I also have frequent "gut feeling's" about stuff that I feel confident about (though if there were some rigorously arrived at measurements I wouldn't be surprised if I was just right 50/50). Of all the inherent character qualities to have of the 3 Ta'veren I feel like this is one many would realistically identify with. And read the spoiler for one of my favorite Mat moments.

I wasn't let down by Demandred not realizing he was fighting Mat all along. I really liked that part where Demandred is convinced he is fighting Rand because of the tactical brilliance being demonstrated. He says something along the lines of, "Now, I'm certain that I'm fighting Lews Therin, because only someone who had lived as long has he could be fighting this well." Also, I feel like Demandred's arc was really about Demandred's internal conflict and not his external conflict with Lews Therin. Besides, Demandred kind of came out of no where to begin with. There were hints here and there, but he didn't really come onto the scene until the last couple of books from what I remember; though it has admittedly been a while. I also REAAALLLY liked I picked up on the hints (ie: people questioning why Mat had given the instructions he had regarding the position outside of the actually battlegrounds by the river) but I didn't put it together, so it was a real treat to see how that played out. What I really love about this series are the moments and scenes. Over all I think there are a lot of issues in the story, but some of these scenes are just so good. Like when Lan is fighting Demandred and Demandred is like, "... bruh... who TF ARE you?!?!" because he can't believe Lan's skill. Another example of a scene I love is when

Yea, Mat's character really did a 180 from that point on and personally I loved it. Mat's character just kept getting better and better until he was finally my favorite character by the end. I feel like much of Mat's character could be explained by the dagger's influence up to that point. The entire time Mat had the dagger he was more of a source of conflict. Also I feel like the entire idea of Ta'veren kind of meta or 4th wall breaking. It's almost like the characters' word for "plot armor". I think a read somewhere that RJ wrote Eye of the World as a fun project to reexplore the ideas of LOTR. That he didn't think it would be as big of a series as it wound up being.

You know everything that Jordon wrote about in terms of the dream world really reminded me of lucid dreaming practices. I wonder if Jordan was a lucid dreamer himself.

but Rand DID bend the knee before Suon and it was an awesome fulfillment of prophecy.

Here is this sweet, innocent, small village girl promised to a tall, handsome, noble young man. Suddenly they're swooped away on some adventure leading to 3 gorgeous young women who immediately start sizing him up and portioning him out claiming, "oh the pattern, the pattern!" Mean while they pull the bait and switch on her. They flash Galad in front of her to make her head swim and bombard her psychologically considering the culture shock she must be through through. Plus... trollocs y'all... That's some scary stuff. And she ultimately ends up with Gawayn; who, it could be argued, was a significant handicap for her in the end. And then sacrificing herself to help save the world. Also she's enslaved, tortured, burdened with some of the most significant problems facing their world and who knows what else I'm forgetting. Egwene deserved so much better... ?