I've been monitoring this topic but it seems to be repeating itself.

Yes, that usually happens.

 

Hes created his own Wheel of Time!

 

The Wheel of Forums turns, and posts come and past, leaving discussions that become arguments. Arguments fade to bickering, and even bickering is constantly repeated when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, and Age long past, a wind rose above the forums of Dragonmount. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Forums. But it was abeginning.

Mr. sheihk chilli, sir, you completely ignored my main point.

Rand's behavior is an intentional part of the story. You can tell by reading the book that RJ himself thinks Rand is going about it the wrong way. He's dedicated an entire storyline to Cadsuane and Sorilea trying to make him remember "laughter and tears." Your argument that he's a bad character is foolish then, considering the circumstances.

You can't look at someone like Gollum and say he's a bad character because he's insane and wretched...those are traits intentionally written in to make him unique and compelling. Same goes for Rand. As Mr Ares said, being a hero doesn't depend on popularity (I in fact prefer protagonists who aren't appreciated by the characters in the story. It makes things more interesting).

Rand's hardness is reaching such extreme grounds for the purpose of upping the ante on his character arc. In a book so big, we can hardly expect the central character to be cheerful to the very end, can we? I must say again that'd be pretty dumb.

And given the fact that other characters acknowledge his behavior, from Cadsuane wanting him to be strong, not hard, to Perrin upset with him over using his friends, we can assume that Rand's nature will serve a major plot point in the upcoming books.

Rand's character doesn't suck...he's one of the better protagonists out there. The fact that you think he's a jerk is irrelevant. My favorite character in anything, books or movies, is a tremendous dick (like attempting to murder a 7-year-old) but I appreciate the way he's written.

There's no way you can read his POVs and say he feels no empathy and compassion. Remember a couple of starving boys in Tear at all?

He spends just about all of his waking hours fretting and worrying about how to win the last battle, how to keep everything he has from falling apart, and a hundred other problems.

So you have to forget him for thinking of who he can use to win.

More importantly, and read carefully now, is that it makes a more compelling story.

The character you describe, who invites his friends to sit down for a warm cup of coco and talk of simpler times is a pretty dumb hero. Someone who goes through everything Rand's been through, but still considers everyone's feelings over his responsibility is a ridiculous and unbelievable character.

Rand's increasing hardness is all serving a greater purpose in the story. We haven't seen the end yet, but it exists for a reason. It's creating a bigger sense of urgency, and portraying just how heavy a toll all of this is taking on Rand.

Sure, if Rand were more friendly he would be easier to identify with, but it wouldn't be better. The people who matter understand his situation and don't hold any animosity towards him. Everyone else is in it for themselves. Do you think a person like Colavaere would have been less likely to plot against Rand if he had been nicer to her? Really? No, everyone like her would only be more encouraged to betray him if they didn't fear him.

Rand recognizes this, and uses it, because he has to. It disgusts him (see him turning Selande away and inviting Colavaere to dinner), but he needs to do it to win.

Not to mention the narrative aspect of it. I must emphasis again...a cheeky, happy-go-lucky Rand at this point would be pretty darn stupid.

His arrogance is driven from a frustration that people just don't do what he says. I know that sounds bad, but how fast would the world unite under him if his allies would just listen and stop plotting against him and each other?

After a couple years of recognizing how much easier this would be if people like Weiramon did what he said or the Aes Sedai would stop their plotting for just a minute and actually help him out, it's given him a bit of a temper.

What was it Nynaeve and Egwene said...if he knows he's wrong he admits it and apologizes, but if he's convinced he's right he'll fight you on it. We don't see Rand bluster over his mistakes often, so it's hardly just ego that's driving him to this.

Plus there's already an army of about ten women who make it their life's work of deflating his ego.

It seems like a lot of the arguments against the Aiel are based around our history...such as "if the cavalry is information with pikes" and "if the archers are well protected."

But read the books...most cases they aren't.

Most cases the wetland armies are a bunch of farmers in bits of shoddy armor who barely know one end of a sword from the other. They're led by nobles who have little to no sense of military strategy, who often compete with men on their own side due to petty rivalries.

That's why they lose.

If you go on saying that Aiel shouldn't be able to stand up to a good cavalry or a formation of pikes...you're absolutely right.

Which is why Mat was able to beat them. He use the horse and foot exactly how they should have been used, and the Aiel couldn't stand up to it.

It's all in the leadership and organization. If the wetland armies all got organized like the Band, the Aiel wouldn't seem so invincible. Their individual abilities would be countered by the wetlander army's ability to work as a unit.

But that's all a lot of "if."

Lan gave a strategy that the Sheinarans, the only really heavy cavalry in the series, use frequently when fighting Aiel, which basically involved immediately sending out parties to squish the flanking groups that Aiel constantly send out.

Rhuarc even remarks that it works fairly well against them.

Basically, the reason "the charge" doesn't work so well against the Aiel is because they don't all stay in the same place. If all of the clans were clumped together then maybe a massive charge would do some good. But look at the battle in Fires of Heaven...it describes a series of skirmishes, with groups of maybe 3000 Aiel roaming around.

Their scouts are better, so the odds of catching them off-guard are slim. And the first thing they'll do when they find you is flank. So when the cavalry goes in for it's great charge, there's suddenly a whole lot of Aeil on either side of them. So that strung out line of horsemen suddenly finds enemies exactly where they don't want them to be.

It's not that they're remarkably better at warefare, it's just that the wetlanders expect their enemies to stay neatly in one place and meet them head-on. Wetlanders like the Cairhenien.

So if you poo-poo the Coalition's efforts, just remember that the great generals wouldn't have even been active in the war until around Tar Valon. There's no Pedron Nialls or Basheres in Carhien, no one to really say "hey, this isn't working."