Rand runs into a cliff, where Aginor corners him. And that’s where things get a bit psychedelic. A magic thread pulls him to the battle currently going on with the people of Fal Dara, where he somehow has the power to just say a few words and decimate the Dark One’s army. Then he moves into what I guess is the palace from the prologue, where the Dark One appears with yet another entreaty to join him. But this is one time too many, and Rand gets one hell of a Crowning Moment Of Awesome by starting with a Badass Boast about how much he’s survived, then repeatedly denying the Dark One’s hold on him before pulling a sword of pure light out of the ether and cutting the Dark One off from his own magic thread. It doesn’t make much sense, but boy is it cool.
The climactic confrontation fully delivers on the story that comes before it. Though it would have been nice to get something a little less surreal and save this kind of thing for later in the series, like A Song Of Ice And Fire has done so well, Rand standing up to the Dark One and refusing him at every turn is quite spine-tingling, to the point where I’m worried the series will have trouble getting back up to this level again. In fact, I’m now pretty confused as to how the series can last so much longer past this book, though there’s still two more chapters that I’m sure will set that up.
Comments
Well, for instance the lightning strike seemed like a huge Deus Ex Machina when I read the book the first time, and Rand's periods of inexplicable foolhardy behavior and/or brief sickness puzzled me. But once you know what's coming...the symptoms Moiraine describes to Nynaeve of a girl learning unconsciously to channel match up pretty well. Refreshes Bela en route to Baerlon (her example, when she says she started to suspect), has persistent headache and stands up to Whitecloaks. Saved from Trolloc by boom swinging loose (which Gelb was sure he'd secured), does his stunt in the rigging several days later. Four Kings lightning strike, comes down with short, rapid fever while Mat takes care of him.
Also if you haven't caught on, Rand can channel, which is not a good thing in the view of 99% of the world, including himself. You probably didn't see my comment since I posted it long after you passed that point, but...this is actually hinted at 3 times earlier (Baerlon, Domon's ship, Four Kings), with Moiraine's talk with Nynaeve being the key. One of those Fridge Brilliance moments when I got it.