**spoilers contained**

In my previous articles I mentioned that Jordan designed the Wheel of time series initially as a Trilogy.  To me The Great Hunt completes what would have been the initial book. 

It opens about a month after the end of Eye of the World and Rand spent that month equally being trained by Lan (and as a result is one of the greatest swordsman in the world... let's just owe that to his Ta'veren nature shall we?) and being ignored by Moiraine.  Rand is sulky and being a bit of a jerk to Mat and Perrin.  Apparently he thinks treating them similar to stray animals that get attached to you and you want to drive off is the most logical choice for how to protect them from the fact that he's the Dragon Reborn.  This book is very much about how Rand needs to succeed in spite of himself and his still childish persona.  Essentially he was not ready to grow up and his destiny sort of forces it on him.  He's perfectly willing to drag his heels about being the savior and destroyer of the world and if he can he'll just run away from it... after he pouts.

One of my favorite touches in this novel was a throwaway line by Ba'alzamon commenting about how Lews Therin in all his incarnations draws in the oddest collection of followers including a girl who wants to protect him.  At this point in the series Rand's mind immediately jumps to Moiraine, but for anyone who's gone through the series a couple times knows it's actually a bit of a foreshadowing of Min's relationship with Rand.

The opening of the book is a bit slow and spends a good deal of time re-introducing us to characters and plot lines, but once they actually get on the road (and Rand is one bottle of black hair dye away from being the lead singer in an Emo band) the pace picks up.

Fain is the real point of interest here because we find out that he's still got some of the essence of the Dark One and a drive to find Rand, but by being possessed by Mordeth Fain is outside of the Dark One's control.  Remember the guy pegs a Myddraal to a door and leaves it there just to prove a point to the other Fades under his control, namely: "I'm the Big Dog."

This novel is cluttered with the introduction of major story lines to the series including the Seanchen invasion, the Black Ajah is real, Important people don't die (I'm looking at you Thom), more of the Forsaken are running around and getting themselves in trouble, The Hunt for the Horn of Valere is under way even though it's already been found (then stolen then recovered then stolen again then recovered again), the White Cloak are seriously more of a pain than you could even expect, and Rand leaves devastation and inspiration in his wake in equal measure (see Carhein).  It also kicks off two major themes in the series 1) Egwene gets captured and 2) Egwene gets tortured.  Up to this point Egwene hasn't been particularly frustrating outside of acting like a teenage girl, so you can still have sympathy for her.  However, I've found that with multiple readings of the series my sympathy for her has dwindled and her constant punishments always seem like she's just paying forward for future sins.

My appreciation for Nyneave continues to grow.  Sure she can only channel when she's agitated, but she goes through the test to be accepted after just a couple of days at the tower and in true Nyneave fashion fails because of her love for Lan... and once she's failed she then wills her way out of the archway and to passing the test, stunning the Aes Sedai witness that she was able to channel in the arch.  Nyneave isn't just powerful, she's special and this scene really drives that moment home.  It makes her response to Rand's transformation throughout the rest of the series just that much more important.

This book also kicks off the debate about Verin Sedai and whether or not she's Black Ajah because contradictory evidence makes it seem that either she's capable of lying or she speaks affirmatively about things which she simply doesn't know treating assumptions as truth.

The portal scene, where Rand transports a group of people via portal stone but wastes 4 months by seeing prophetic visions of possible futures is still one of my favorite in the series as it's one of the first major psychological attacks on Rand that the Dark One is able to unleash, just punishing his psyche over and over.

Sure it seems a bit farfetched that Rand kills a blade master after only a month of training (finally earning that Heron Mark Blade he adopted), but the pattern weaves as it will and Rand won his duel.  The battle at Falme is very well paced and sets up the Rand, Mat and Perrin to their roles while Egwene, Elayne, Nyneave and Min claw their way out of the mess they'd gotten themselves in with the Seanchen.  Mat blowing the Horn of Valere was a great side step from what most readers expected (and caught the forces of darkness by surprise too).

At its heart The Great Hunt is about one thing, Rand accepting his role as The Dragon Reborn.  He was always walking the path because the path drags itself before him, but he finally steps up and takes the responsibility of his role in the world.  Rand still is a young man and not ready for the task at hand, but this is his first real step towards it.  The battle with Ba'alzamon leaves Rand injured in a way that can't be healed (similar to the Fisher King) and begins what is the slow and painful shattering of the man who was rand and the creation of the force of nature that is The Dragon Reborn.