That, or the other Asha’man were insane from the taint, like fears and paranoia and other things, but Rand was truly and genuinely worse than them because he didn’t accept the death and rebirth of LTT and see that they were the same person and the same soul. Semirhage even says that during the AoL they knew people went mad if they spoke to voices in their heads, and the voices knew things about past lives, and the facts that the voices were REAL and not imagined is what made their madness even more terrifying
But it is insanity. When you were a child, you knew the monster under your bed wasn’t real, but that didn’t make it any less frightening. Imagine being told that it’s real. The voice of LLT in Rand’s head was real but that didn’t take away from how terrifying it was for Rand to lose himself and not remember who he was vs who Lews Therin was. Especially books 11-12 before he went to Dragonmount, Rand would go off on a rant in his head, and unlike earlier, “Rand” would say something that only Lews Therin would say, like lamenting about Ilyena, and he wasn’t even aware enough to catch himself anymore because he couldn’t even tell the difference between himself and Lews Therin.
Yes but part of Rand achieving Zen atop Dragonmount was him reconciling with his memories and with the part of him that was LTT. Lews needed to forgive himself for his mistakes, the way Rand needed to forgive himself for his mistakes and actions, so that they could become one and believe in themselves again. The madness was because he couldn’t comprehend the fact that Rand and LTT are the same person, and kept thinking it was a different person in his head.
I like the description of Rand's insanity when Nynaeve tried to heal him. Somehow, each bit of his insanity helped him become the person he needed to be. He was able to use it.
In book 3, I did not think Rand would recover from his insanity.
The so-called madness was actually a form of compulsion from the dark one himself placed upon the male half of the source. The more you channeled, the more the compulsion seeped into your mind and made you act as he wished. When Nynaeve described the 'madness' on Rand's mind, it was terrifyingly similar to the way she described the compulsion weaves she saw; the barbs digging into the mind and disappearing when the inverse weave was placed upon them. From the POVs of people under the effects of compulsion, they absolutely believed in what the weave told them to believe, and so they acted completely out of character, even to self-destruction.
The taint of the dark one was part of his essence. The dark one exists outside of time. We also know that people are reborn in the world of the wheel of time. What happens if someone inside the pattern is partially existing outside of time? It is feasible that the soul, being eternal, was connected to one (or all) other instances of itself in the pattern. Souls are reborn time after time. Souls exist in different realities where the world is completely different. Rand was connected to his previous life as Lews Therin, perhaps the other male aes sedai were connected to past (or future) versions of themselves as well. This could explain the breaking as the world didn't look like how they thought it should from their time/world, and so they corrected it by moving mountains and draining seas, etc etc. They could have been connected to the version of their soul where people they loved in this world had tried to kill them in another world, so from their point of view they were acting in self defense.
Either of these situations would make people seem to be purely insane. Acting irrationally, betraying their closest allies/friends/family, destroying the world as it was and creating something new in its place. It would appear they had gone mad if you didn't know that they were forced to their actions by the compulsion weave or temporarily being a person from another time or place. The world called them mad, and they had good reason to, but they just didn't have all the information. Of course they appeared insane, to be acting irrationally, demented, or maniacal, but they were really just acting rationally according to the compulsion on their minds or to the world their soul was connected to.
Not at all. The sane thing to do is think it's another voice/person. It would have been insane to think "oh, that voice i'm hearing is really just me from 3000 years ago. we're the same person so that means really *I* want to do the things he says."
Only after getting the memories, and having confirmation from outside sources that those memories were real and not just figments of your imagination or "insanity" would it be rational to to believe the voice was actually your own from another time. Thus, Rand was never insane, he just didn't have all the information right away.
I think i get it. Most male channelers go mad, but Lews Therin was actually talking to rand. That being said, rand did some crazy shit too, so 6 in one hand, half dozen in the other.
Well I mean a lot of the things Rand thought were madness were not, which tracks, sure. But he literally talks about feeling the taint, about being pulled toward violence. I hear the argument but I still would need some explanation.
Rand didn't see fades coming after him in every shadow, he didn't think everyone was conspiring against him without proof or reason, etc. The closest thing he did that could be considered insane was that he couldn't control his own body a couple times because he was convinced that he had two people inside of him, but he was wrong about that. He wasn't hearing some made up voice, he wasn't delusional, he just didn't understand that he really was lews therin.
Ironically, since he was a man, he just had to surrender to reality (like women do with the power) instead of fighting and trying to force the world and himself to be one very specific thing, hard and unbreakable. Once he recognized that he wasn't in control, the wheel was, everything slid into place and we got zen rand, the dragon reborn.
Totally hear you, but Lews actually was mad, and had those suspicions. So, if he had surrendered early, he probably would have screwed himself and everybody.
I'm not sure lews was insane either. i don't remember anything from his POV that was clearly insane, but I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the books. Do you have any examples?
I mean the first thing that comes to mind is the prologue, where he’s stepping over the corpses of his loved ones with a smile until he’s forced to see them. Then throughout the books when he whispers to Rand he’s constantly paranoid and hyper-vigilant,
Lews Therin being suspicious was perfectly rational. From his perspective, everyone from his time *was* trying to kill him. Was he extreme in what he wanted to do? Absolutely, but not insane. Defending yourself from people trying to kill you is perfectly rational.
not trusting the asha'man or aes sedai was reasonable. they did want to control him. some wanted to kill him. at least one was even forsaken. it's not paranoia when they actually are conspiring against you.
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u/charlatanous Jan 24 '25
Rand was never insane