While that reads badly this is still a truly great series of books and I have really enjoyed reading them.

Gawyn definitely didn’t know what he was doing, sure, but even when striking out blindly in ways that admittedly were more harmful than he could have had reason to guess, he was so damn arrogant about it. Like being so fucking sure about Rand killing Morgase, no matter who told him otherwise and despite the fact that people like Egwene and Elayne had reason to know much, much more about it than him. I’m sure you’re right about Gawyn mooning over Egwene all along, but I was more put-off by her falling for him; I don’t see what lovable traits he has.

I meant to elaborate on Rand’s love interests again at some point, but you’re definitely right that Elayne falling for him stretched credibility. Really, I might argue that all three of the women falling for him was each a stretch, but at least Aviendha and Min were around him more before doing so. But I give a bit of a pass to all that, mostly because I like to imagine Rand’s ta’veren pull causing a lot of the love square. Being ta’veren might not be able to make someone fall in love (though maybe it could? Rand does think his influence on the pattern is strong enough to kill someone simply by willing it), but if the mere possibility of Elayne falling for Rand so quickly existed at all, then his ta’veren pull could have altered the probabilities to bring it to fruition. Likewise, that pull could have nudged the other two, and helped all three accept the unlikely-but-possible scenario of sharing him. I know none of this is actually stated or even implied in the books that I recall, but it makes sense to me as a fan theory. The pattern warps around Rand, sometimes randomly but sometimes in ways that help him along his quest toward defeating the Dark One (making the pattern’s warping around him a sort of self-preservation). It’s logical that his ta’veren pull would warp the probabilities for these women to fall for him, because their doing so both strengthened his alliances for the Last Battle and strengthened himself through their affections.

I think that Moridin conversation moves him past Lanfear for my favorite of the Forsaken, with Demandred right behind those two. I’m very curious what role they’ll all play in the Last Battle.

The Seanchan part also had me thrown for a loop as well, on top of the Dark Battle, he was going to have to deal with them after. I don’t remember the resolution to that issue honestly, but I’m sure I was happy with it.

What are your thoughts on Cadsuane? You haven’t mentioned her much, personally, I really didn’t like her character, and was kind of glad Rand banished her to show her a little humility, she hasn’t proved herself to me at any point in the book, or Rand at this point, because we have followed his life, so why would Rand show her respect? He’s the savior of all of the world, no reason to call him boy all the time.

I don’t like how extreme Gawyn got, you’re right, but I don’t think that he really knew what he was doing? He does have a lot of angst, but I would disagree, there was a lot of him liking Egwene when Egwene was still mooning over Galad, reading it through a second time you saw it more, personally I think how Elayne falls in love with Rand is ludicrous, they met once, and she goes head over heels for him.

I just think there are some plots that pull away from the story, like Gawyn’s or Perrin’s, where you know they aren’t going to make a difference in the long run, and they just drag out. Same with Nynaeve and Elayne being in that one travelling troop. The Borderlands I don’t mind as much, because we don’t hear about them, but the other stories waste so much book space that it frustrates me.

I hope you are going through the 13th book just as fast as the 12th! It really gets you ready for the 14th book, I really like this last 3, it really develops all those stories where you thought no way in hell will they be ready for the Last Battle, and really drives that sense of urgency, that you feel should have started a lot earlier.
Demandred I think is my favorite forsaken, as well as Lanfear, you never know what side she truly on. Moridin’s conversation was really sobering, that conversation, like you said, really shows the reality of the situation in a way you would have never thought would have been explained in the book, and it’s just so sobering.