That knowledge should have let Moiraine know that he was the soldier who found the prophacy baby on the mountain.

 

Only, there was no soldier in the prophecy. The prophecy was essentially that the Dragon would be born on Dragonmount to a maiden. No mention of an Aiel, no mention of a soldier.

You're right there was no soldier mentioned in the prophacies, BUT Moiraine later explained to Rand that stories of a soldier who found a baby on the mountain led her to the TR. That soldier obviously being Tam. I just thought of this, but just knowing that Tam had been 'out and about' when the other boy's father's hadn't should have been enough to alert Moiraine to the One.

It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that 'Gee Tam al'Thor was in the army fighting the aiel, and when he finally came home he had a son with him, and when the son was grown up he looked just like a flaming aiel!'

Nobody else in the village seemed to really know what Tam was doing, certainly not in any great detail. Sure, he fought in the war (which was pretty large by all accounts), but did they know where he fought? A lot of people fought in the Aiel War, though not from the Two Rivers.

 

And besides, neither Rand, nor Mat or Perrin, realise he looks like an Aiel. Remember all the awkward moments with Maesma? Nobody could figure it out until it was explained to them. Given that the boys had travelled further than most people in the TR, why on earth would they know that Rand looked like an Aiel? Answer... they wouldn't.

 

I didn't mean that the other villagers would know he was Aiel, I meant that Moiraine should have known, and Lan would have known for sure seeing as he fought them before being bonded by Moiraine. And even if nobody else knew exactly where he was from, they all knew he wasn't born inside the TR because Tam came home with his wife and a baby Rand, and to add to that he looks nothing at all like them, something that was constantly remarked upon.

 

It also was common knowledge that Tam was having adventures outside of the TR during his youth, the time of which coincided with the prophacy and the Aiel war. That knowledge should have let Moiraine know that he was the soldier who found the prophacy baby on the mountain. I mean if she had narrowed it down to those three boys, it really should not have been difficult to know which was the One. The only things I can think of that would have made things more difficult for her, is if Mat and or Perrin's parents were outside the TR during that time frame or it was the Ta'verren(sp?)-ness at work.

From NS we know that Moiraine heard the Fortelling about Rand, and she has a very in-depth knowledge of the Prophacies, so how come when she got to the Two Rivers she wasn't able to pick out Rand as the Dragon Reborn? I mean if she was able to narrow it down to him, Mat, and Perrin just based on their birth dates, should she not have been able to narrow things down further? If people were willing to talk about the boys' birthdays you would think it wouldn't be that much extra effort on Moiraine's part to ask if perchance one of them were born outside of the Two Rivers. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that 'Gee Tam al'Thor was in the army fighting the aiel, and when he finally came home he had a son with him, and when the son was grown up he looked just like a flaming aiel!'

So you've got a boy born within the proper timeframe, born outside of the Two Rivers, and he looks like an Aiel, how much more obvious could it have been? Part of the Prophacies are fullfilled right there. I don't know if there were some other factors at work that prevented Moiraine from seeing the obvious, but to me it seems like she came close to dropping the ball.

Hmm. Then I'm not sure why Rand was embaressed to be seen only in his breeches when Berelain entered his room in Book 4.

 

Breeches are rather tight, aren't they? I imagine that combined with him being topless could have created some awkwardness...

 

I think the awkwardness would come from having nothing but tight pants on and standing in front of a beautiful woman....in the bedroom  ;)