That always really bugged me, the random merchant woman is never on his list of women he's killed anywhere. It is as if he has forgotten it coz he really was quite mad in those parts of the book? The only other thing I could think of is is that somehow that was all actually in a dream and not real so Rand doesn't consider it as him killing a woman?? Or it was real but Rand was having so many haunting dreams and killing people that he can't tell the difference between reality and dreams at this time so the women isn't included in his list?? Either way it's all quite strange

Also, a learner can't touch the source until they are guided to it. That is a fact. Being able to achieve the oneness is not the same technique as embracing the source, even though they start the same. One final point, Galad embraced the oneness and gained apparently heightened senses on command. There is no way that someone could embrace the source on command their first time, and by Galad's thoughts this is familiar to him.

My view is if Galad is a learner he has been "Guided to it" as you put it. He was taught the flame and void technique and has learnt the ability to embrace the source the same way Rand uses this technique early on in the series. Now I know Rand is a sparker but surely Galad using the same technique would be almost the same as being taught say in the Black Tower to embrace the source. How does what hes been taught differ from how men are taught to embrace the source, in your view?

Also I don't think that this is the first time that Galad has embraced the source without knowing what hes doing by a long shot. I think it would be totally familiar to him.

Why are people so quick to disprove this thoery? I think it makes perfect sense for Galad's character to go down this road, might give him some interesting plot twists in the final book. Just go back and read that scene and just feel how it was written and the things RJ writes, trust me Galad is soooooooooo gonna be channeling in the next book.

Anyway even if Galad isn't a sparker (which i think he is) and he is a learner isn't it possible he has learnt to embrace the source through the flame and void training without ever actually channeling? Therefore he could be taught at anytime should someone try to teach him. I can't wait to see it happen because before reading about the Galad Vs Valda battle i thought Galad was a pretty pointless and annoying character. It's opened up so many doors for where his character can go. He always does what is right no matter the consequences so if he finds out he can channel will he hand himself over to the Red Ajah or something?? Or will it destroy him from the inside out? Oh the inner turmoil lol

This is true Taim did bring men of all ages to the black tower. And why do all men have to spark by around 18?? It just seemed to me that Galad was going through the same stages Rand went through when he was first embracing the source without knowing it. Could it not be possible he's just been embracing the source for years without knowing it? I mean look at Nyneave she was in her mid-twenties before she knew she had been touching the source for years, could it not be the same for Galad? I never meant he actually channeled at any point during the fight with Valda, i just meant he was embracing the source. As for the comment about there being no point for Galad to be channeling this late in the series i think it's a brilliant time. He could learn some techniques and be of some use in TG or he could at some point burn himself out and take any number of people with him. Think of the possibilities, half a white cloak army, a forsaken, a shed load of trollocs!! Okay im just thinking aloud now but i think it would be a great development to his character if he could learn to channel.

oh come on we all know by now how RJ writes and the passage i put forward is distinct of the way he writes about someone who is channeling. The way he is aware of everything, even the flies buzzing 10 feet away and he reaches this state of awareness by quote "feeding his rage into an imagined flame as his two teachers had taught him". This is exactly the way we know Rand was describing channeling before he knew what he was actually doing. And as was mentioned Galad certainly has the genes so i think it makes perfect sense. I really cant believe no-one else picked up on it first read!! It's the first thing i thought "OH MY GOD GALAD CAN CHANNEL!!!!!!!!"

I've been on loads of forum sites like this related too TWOT but no-one has ever mentioned one of the greatest scenes in the prologue to KOD where Galad fights Valda. In the paragraph just before they fight it reads "Galad was not distracted. Every creak of saddle leather was clear and distinct, every ringing stamp of hoof on paving stone. He could hear the flies buzzing ten feet away as though they were at his ear. He almost thought he could see the movements of their wings. He was one with the flies, with the courtyard, with the two men. They were all part of him, and he could not be distracted by himself" is it just me or is this not clear evidence that galad can channel? He also mentions seeking the flame and the void or the "oneness" like his masters taught him. Come on how awesome is that? Also it is still bugging me that Rand and Galad are half brothers and that hasn't been openly discussed between anyone. Your thoughts please people.