#rand's relationships

[nat111love]

THE WHEEL OF TIME ↳ Season 3 ↳ Episode One

[hikarielizabethbloom]

This broke me.

Moiraine's hand still reaching for him

Rand's eyes fixed on her

[onaperduamedee]

I do get feral at times about how much Siuan helped shape Egwene, and how much Moiraine helped shape Rand, and how much Egwene and Rand shaped each other, and how much Siuan and Moiraine shaped each other, and how much the story hinges on Egwene and Rand parting, growing separately, fearing what the other became and finding each other again a changed people, and how much Siuan and Moiraine in the show specifically... You get the gist of it

Beautiful mentor quatuor, too good for this world, too pure

And by too pure I mean "Moiraine would slit Rand's throat if needed, Siuan would let Egwene be torn to shreds if it served the Light, Rand would have choked Moiraine if she pushed too hard at some point and Egwene would have let Siuan rot if she hadn't been of incredible value to her"

I love them

[thoughtkick]

The question isn't who's going to let me; it's who's going to stop me?

Ayn Rand

[perfectquote]

The question isn't who's going to let me; it's who's going to stop me?

Ayn Rand

[clearancecreedwatersurvival]

I would like to once more formally rescind any complaints I made previously about the give Perrin an s1 wife choice he’s absolutely the most emotionally grounded and mature of the boys of course he would have got married off in this small town at age 20.

And as I thought they would, they’re also using her death as a way to make his overprotectiveness towards Faile in the books make more sense than just being a factor of how RJ’s male characters often have an obsessive need to protect women.

[blank-potato]

The Boy Is Mine

Pairing: Lanfear x Rand al’Thor x Reader

Warnings: 18+ Explicit content, Overstimulation kink, Sub!Rand, Dom!Lanfear, Switch! Reader

Summary:

"Don't pretend like you don't want this," she purrs, a knowing smirk curling her lips. "I've seen your dreams." After hearing him every night moaning in his sleep it had influenced your own dreams. There had been dreams with a mixture of you and Rand, you and Lanfear and in the most dangerous iteration, all three of you. You hated that she knew that, that she knew what made you weak. “Don’t fight it.” Or Lanfear has been lurking in Rand's dreams a little too much for your liking, when you catch them in the act you try to show her who he belongs to

A/N: Got to love a Lanfear and Rand sandwich and Lanfear using weaves kinda like tentacles

✶✶✶

How could you compete?

She was a forsaken and she had her hooks deep in him. 

You lay next to him at night as he sleeps and often hear her name on his lips followed shortly by yours. 

You didn't talk about it, you wouldn't even know how to bring it up. 

You wouldn't question why or the clear effect her dreams had on him in the morning.

It drove you mad to hear him call out her name right next to you. 

He wasn't hers anymore, he was yours.

✶✶✶

As you enter your room Lanfear is sitting on your bed as if she owns the place. Her domineering stare is not lost on you as it sends shivers down your spine. 

“Did you like my gift?”

You assumed she was referring to the slew of dreams she had been sending Rand’s way and it was not at all appreciated. 

“I will not let you corrupt Rand’s mind.”

“And how exactly would you stop me, hm?”

She's toying with you like you're a mouse caught in her trap and she loves to see you squirm. 

“How about I corrupt your mind too? We could have fun,” she says as she approaches you, you don’t even register that she’s right next to you before it’s too late. 

“I would never…” you start to say but your words trail off.

Her lips were ghosting your neck, making the hairs on your body stand up.

It's definitely fear but there's something else underneath, threatening to rear its ugly head.

She pushes you to your knees and you feel no urge to resist or fight back. 

Almost like some innate need to please her, you didn't know why but you had to. It’s not long before she’s exposed to you, in all her naked glory and you’re tentatively licking at her clit. Having enough of your shyness she grabs you by the head and starts grinding on your face. You could only breathe in her scent when you gasped for air.

“Good girl.”

You wake up in a panic, your body acting and longing for her but your mind hating her for putting you in such a position.

That night, as you lay tangled up with Rand, you can’t help but have her on your mind. Her shadow lingered between you, taunting you, haunting your relationship with him.

You look down at Rand, his beautiful stormy eyes half-lidded, his short red hair tousled from your touch. Adam's apple bobs up and down as he swallows, his breath unsteady. As if possessed, you wrap your hand around his throat and squeeze. He lets out an ungodly moan, his body arching beneath you.

Snapping out of your haze, you ease up, quickly moving your hand away, worried that you had hurt him. But instead of pulling back, he catches your wrist, guiding your hand back to his throat.

“No, no, I... I like it,” he murmurs, his voice breathless, eyes dark with something you’ve never quite seen in him before.

As he grinds his hips against yours, his hands gripping you like he never wants to let go, a shiver runs down your spine. Marking his neck with love bites, you lose yourself in the moment, the warmth of his skin, the way he reacts to every touch. The night feels endless, a blur of heat and desire. You didn’t know what came over you, and you weren’t sure how to feel about it, but one thing was clear—Rand liked it.

✶✶✶

You had to check that you weren’t dreaming. You blinked hard and even pinched your own arm but no, it was real.

Lanfear was there, in your bed... with Rand.

A cold rush of anger surged through you as you stepped forward, voice sharp and unwavering.

"Get your hands off of him!"

She only smirked, her fingers still lazily tracing over his bare chest.

"I don't think he'd like that very much," she purred, amusement dancing in her eyes as if she already knew she had the upper hand.

His cock was twitching in her right hand, slick with a mixture of her spit and his pre-cum. His eyes widen when he sees you, the haze in them flickering with recognition. He had been in a dazed state, his body tense yet pliant beneath her touch, eyes glazed over like he wasn’t entirely present.

“I...” he breathes, voice hoarse as if waking from a dream or a nightmare.

Lanfear’s smirk doesn’t falter. She tilts her head and palms his cock like she has every right to be touching him.

It made you sick. 

“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” she muses. “It’s not like he was resisting.”

Lanfear steps toward you, each movement slow, deliberate, like a predator toying with its prey. Instinctively, you take a step back, your heart hammering in your chest.

"Don't pretend like you don't want this," she purrs, a knowing smirk curling her lips. "I've seen your dreams."

After hearing him every night moaning in his sleep it had influenced your own dreams. There had been dreams with a mixture of you and Rand, you and Lanfear and in the most dangerous iteration, all three of you.

You hated that she knew that, that she knew what made you weak.

“Don’t fight it.”

She smiles, taking delight in the way you freeze under her touch, your breath hitching as anticipation coils in your stomach. Her lips meet yours in a tender, almost taunting kiss. It surprises you, a slow warmth spreading through your body, sinking straight to your core, leaving you unsteady. You’re surprised your legs don’t collapse from beneath you. 

When you finally manage to pull away, your gaze flickers to Rand. He’s captivated; his chest rising and falling heavily, his lips parted ever so slightly. It’s evident in the way his body reacts, the tension in his muscles, and the dark hunger in his eyes.

You walk over to him and undress with an unnatural quickness, climbing on top of him and claiming your spot.

You wanted him focused on you and only you, and feel a rush of pride runs through you when a strong desperate moan rings out as you ride him without abandon. As he grips your hips, he nuzzles against your neck like he needs you to ground him to this moment. Each whimper he makes vibrates on your jawline as he lays sloppy kisses against it, reaffirming his need for you. 

As Lanfear is forced to watch, you lock eyes with her. A silent challenge, a declaration. This moment, this connection belongs to you. She may covet him, weave dreams around him, try to claim him as hers… but she would never have him. Not the way you do.

"I'm... I'm close," Rand breathes, his voice ragged, his grip tightening.

"Blood and ashes..." he groans, head falling back, completely lost in you. He finishes crying out your name and you feel his load pour into you. The shudders racked his body with each pulse leaving him breathless. But you don’t stop, continuing to drive him into overstimulation, pushing him past the edge of reason, past anything but the feeling of you.

He calls out your name over and over again, his voice cracking as he’s barely able to keep up. He’s so overrun with sensation, so utterly wrecked beneath you, as you bounce up and down on him, refusing to let him go, refusing to give him a moment’s rest.

You think he's about to cry, his eyes glassy and pleading. You had never seen him like that, it was beautiful, stunning even. Like he was a masterpiece, painted just for you.

But your painting would be ruined when Lanfear moves from her position. She closes the distance in an instant and before you can react, she yanks your head back by your hair, forcing a sharp gasp from your lips.

Then she kisses you. It’s fierce, unrelenting and a clear battle for control. Her weaves find you immediately after, slithering around your body like vines, tightening around you. You try to squirm, to fight, but it’s no use. She has you completely bound and at her mercy. 

“What a show you put on for me.”

She moves you up and down on Rand’s shaft with effortless control, like you’re nothing more than a plaything caught in her grasp. A column of air presses against your most sensitive spot which makes your thighs clench against Rand’s thighs.

You feel your orgasm building with each passing moment. You were close and they both knew it.

With a final thrust, you reach your climax, your body trembling and shaking against Rand uncontrollably. The pleasure you experienced was like nothing you had ever known. 

Barely having a moment to breathe, her weaves manhandle you again, pulling you around as if you weigh nothing. She positions you above Rand’s face, his eyes locked onto you with an intensity that sends a fresh wave of heat through your body.

"What are you...?" you manage to gasp, but Lanfear only smirks.

"Well, you should let him clean up the mess he made," she purrs, her voice dripping with amusement.

Rand exhales sharply, his grip tightening on your thighs. "Let me clean up my mess," he murmurs, his voice thick with desire.

You couldn’t protest if you wanted to. Not with the way he looked at you like an eager puppy. You could never say no to him.

And so you nod, your breath hitching as you lower yourself to his mouth. The moment his tongue meets you, a sharp gasp escapes your lips.

His ministrations are slow at first but quickly build in intensity. Your last orgasm had been blinding, but this… this was something else entirely.

Whiny moans spill from your mouth as he starts to move faster as if repaying you for what you had done to him. But Rand wasn’t vengeful, at least you didn’t think he was until now. But the way he was eating you out was downright filthy; pushing you to the brink just like you had done to him earlier. His hands reach up, fingers digging into the soft flesh of your thighs before sliding lower to cup your butt, holding you exactly where he wants you.

There's a dip in the bed as Lanfear climbs on top of him, her movements slow and deliberate, claiming the space where you once were. As you try to shy away from Rand’s mouth, her weaves tighten around your thighs, holding you in place, preventing even the slightest escape. Rand groans against you as Lanfear starts to ride him, the vibrations only intensifying the pleasure coursing through your body.

“Lan…fear…” Rand moans out from beneath you, muffled by your pussy against his mouth. The humiliation of it all—losing control, losing to her. Despite your best efforts, it was clear, she had all the power. She could make both of you surrender whenever she wanted, bend you to her will with nothing more than a touch, a whisper, a well-placed weave.

The vibrations against your sensitive spot send a violent shudder through you as you hear Rand’s moans increasing in volume, pushing you closer to the edge. 

The weaves wrapped around your thighs tighten, keeping you helpless against Rand’s relentless efforts. You’re surprised he can still breathe, but he doesn’t stop. If anything he grows even more desperate, more eager. Long, throaty moans spill from Lanfear’s lips, and for the first time since she started riding Rand, you finally look at her.

She’s completely lost in the pleasure, her body moving in slow, sensual rolls. But then your eyes trail lower, and you realise she’s using her weaves, delicate yet precise, teasing Rand in ways neither of you had before.

Her power fondles him mercilessly, ghostly touches gliding over every sensitive spot. Toying with his nipples and balls, rolling and pinching, no wonder he’s a moaning wreck beneath you. 

Lanfear meets your gaze, smirking. "Beautiful, isn't he?" she purrs, her voice thick with satisfaction.

He was utterly undone, lost in the overwhelming sensations consuming him. Every twitch, every tense muscle, every shuddering breath spoke of his submission. His body showed just how deeply he had surrendered to her touch. Lanfear's weaves continue their relentless torment, drawing out every gasp, every moan, every helpless tremble.

And though you wanted to deny it, you thought that she was beautiful too. The danger of a Forsaken clung to her like a second skin, yet what a breathtaking creature she was. She was a testament to temptation itself, to the dark pull of desire.

The way her bare hips rolled against Rand’s, slow and deliberate like she had all the time in the world, only made it clearer—Lanfear didn’t just take what she wanted. She made you want to give it to her. And if she asked either one of you at that moment to follow her into the darkness, you don’t know if you’d have the strength to say no. 

She leans in closer, voice like silk. "And he's all mine."

You nod at her, too blissed out of your mind to say anything of value.

She laughs, low and sultry and you can tell it’s teasing, almost mocking, but not cruel. The kind of laugh one gives when their pet does something endearing.

Hearing the shift in pitch in Lanfear’s moans, you know she’s close. And so are you.

Your orgasm sneaks up on you, building faster than you can prepare for, a tidal wave of sensation threatening to pull you under. The heat coils in your core, tightening with every roll of her hips, every flick of Rand’s tongue, every ghostly caress of her weaves.

Lanfear’s grip tightens on you, her breath hitching. “Go on,” she purrs, voice strained with her own impending release. “Come for us.”

You're not sure who she's speaking to, but it doesn't matter—both you and Rand reach your peak at the same time, pleasure crashing over you like a tidal wave. Lanfear follows shortly after, her cries of ecstasy mingling with yours, the room thick with heat and exhaustion. The orgasm knocks the breath from your lungs, leaving you feeling weightless. 

She releases you both, and you collapse next to Rand, bodies slick with sweat, limbs tangled together, the sound of heavy breathing filling the space. The thing you had nightmares about had happened and you had no idea what to do with yourself. There was no stopping her, she had made the both of you into her puppets, her toys. 

Lanfear runs her fingers through your hair as Rand struggles to catch his breath, looking as satisfied as ever. She kisses you both as if reinforcing her claim on you before saying, “Sleep well, my loves. You’ll need your strength”, then slipping off the bed and walking out the door, leaving nothing behind but the ghost of her touch.

You lay your head on Rand’s chest, his heartbeat steady beneath your ear. He kisses your forehead, tender, almost grounding.

You had lost. The battle for Rand’s heart was over before it had even begun.

He was already hers but now, she owns you too.

Masterlist

[thehopefulquotes]

The question isn't who's going to let me; it's who's going to stop me?

Ayn Rand

[vorbarrsultana]

you can't convince me that aunt moiraine wouldn't spoil rand's kids rotten. baby princess trakand has attitude problems in the white tower because moiraine sedai said she can do whatever she wants. baby first prince of the sword knows he can travel to the tower and "borrow" a ter'angreal from their depository any day of the week. aviendha's kids scare anyone who threatens them with aunt moiraine. avirandlayne try to intervene at some point, but soon give up and let her be.

[anghraine]

I was thinking again about the divide between the tactical seduction Kirk romances and the genuinely romantic unforced ones, and something that's been percolating through my head for awhile is the question of power.

So, the tactical Kirkmances are all responses, at some level, to power being taken from him or someone else or both, and are part of attempts to gather information, escape, and/or protect other people, whatever. But "no" is not realistically an option, whether because he's trapped or imprisoned or desperately needs some information or is under duress in some other form (sometimes the woman in question is also under duress, like Shahna or Drusilla, though most often not).

Because of that, and because of multiple cases where it's made explicit that he doesn't feel any interest in the woman in question and is willing to just lie/deceive to succeed and smooth things over afterwards, we often have no way to know what he really feels in these varyingly coercive circumstances. In most cases, whether he's actually into the woman or not is so irrelevant to him as far as his outwards behavior goes that we have a much clearer idea of the desperation of the situation, his primary agenda, and what other people would be most comfortable with him feeling than what he himself does.

So, for instance, Deela in "Wink of an Eye" enjoys seeing him struggle against her, whether it's through seduction, trickery, physically pushing her away etc, but also wants him to be actually attracted to her and ultimately willing to live out his entire life in the next few months as her, uh, sex toy/breeding stock before dying. Kirk's feelings about all this end up being messy and complicated in a believable way, but essentially culminate in "anyway fuck off forever and die."

There are multiple scenes in "The Conscience of the King" in which we see McCoy desperately wanting to believe that Kirk isn't just using Lenore Karidian, but actually likes her and has real romantic interest in her. McCoy prefers to filter his understanding of Kirk's behavior in the episode through that lens, rather than contending with the horror and injustice that drives Kirk's actions. Spock, whose judgment is continually validated throughout the episode, had already considered the idea of Lenore being a motive and found it unlikely in this case; he guesses that Kirk's real focus is on Anton Karidian and he's just using Lenore to get at him, an assumption that leads to Spock's discovery of the Tarsus IV genocide and murders of the eyewitnesses. In the final scene, McCoy returns to his insistence that Kirk must have had genuine feelings for Lenore; Kirk ignores him and McCoy takes this as proof that he's right, while Spock stands quietly by.

Even in much worse episodes, it's like ... Shahna in "The Gamesters of Triskelion" wants Kirk's sudden flirtation with her to be real, and is too sheltered and vacuous (/sigh) to connect it to his screaming panic over Uhura that immediately preceded it, or the fact that Shahna is his prison guard. Shahna is made so utterly clueless that she can't be held responsible, while Kirk transparently uses her for information to deal with the oppressive overlords of the episode that have placed Chekov, Uhura, and Kirk in thralldom. In the end, Shahna just blandly accepts his refusal to take her with him, and his hope that someday she'll understand why he had to do what he did.

But in these story lines, whether it seems like he's actually into the woman at some level, or very much not, or (as is overwhelmingly most common) it's ambiguous, Kirk takes the initiative to pursue or flirt with someone because of some loss of power. He's not exactly aggressive in the usual masculine sense (the narrative framing is more dramatically-lit morally-ambiguous noir lady), but he is highly proactive and assertive in these cases, and essentially sets out to initiate and control a romance for a distinctly unromantic agenda of his own.

There is a kind of stage management quality to it, and the cases where he seems most visibly troubled or angry about the whole thing tend to be the ones where he's least able to steer the "relationship" or where someone who puts him in some awful situation to begin with acts like they're the injured party (obvious examples: Deela, Helen Noel, Lenore, Sylvia). But he seems to have a definite preference in these "romances" for asserting some kind of power: being the flirty one, the one doing the pursuing, the one who understands what's happening more clearly, the one ultimately in control of how this is going to go, and the terms on which it will end.

But this is conspicuously different when it's an actual romance that isn't forced by the circumstances. Apart from his demeanor being radically different, something that's struck me about the genuine, unforced Kirk romances is how much this insistent assertion of power, authority, and/or control vanishes when there's no threat.

The first person we know he fell in love with was his girlfriend as a teenager, Ruth. He hasn't seen her since he was 18, when he was a somber first-year cadet at the Academy. Even accounting for 60s casting, his memory of Ruth is pretty evidently that of someone who was older than him, more sophisticated and assured, and further along professionally, in no way under any authority from him. Even his interactions with a replica of her lack that stage management quality of the tactical Kirkmances, and his instinct on seeing her is to just go along with this bizarre situation.

The timeline isn't exactly clear, but some time later, he had a disastrous year-long relationship with Janice Lester. And it is clear that something fundamental to that relationship falling apart was the fact that he had avenues of authority open to him that Janice didn't. Kirk actually agrees with Janice that the glass ceiling is wrong and unfair, he just thinks that Janice taking her frustrations out on him as her partner, and tormenting him while indulging her internalized misogyny, was intolerable. One of Janice's many grievances is that they could have stayed together as his career progressed, and she could have gone to space with him, presumably as a member of his crew, while he was and remains very much "absolutely the fuck not" about that possibility. That decision is reinforced by his very consistent, non-negotiable red line around relationships with any crew members, but seems pretty clearly even more objectionable to him than usual in this case.

Even within "Turnabout Intruder," it seems that Kirk doesn't like having to bring power to bear on Janice, although she has thoroughly violated his agency at that point and it has become very necessary. She's the only ex he's known to have unilaterally broken up with, and he would have preferred to part ways cordially, but that was never going to happen; Janice is strongly implied to be an abuser-turned-stalker who resents him getting away, and filters every violation she commits against him through her sense of eternally persecuted (white) feminine fragility.

She insists a man like Kirk could never be physically assaulted and overpowered by a weak and feeble woman like herself, despite knowing perfectly well it's exactly what happened. She isolates him through medical abuse as well as lying about why he left her to his friends and co-workers. She relentlessly targets anyone who tries to help him—the one mainly punished for Kirk's escape attempt is Spock, after all, not Kirk himself ("Turnabout Intruder" is misogynistic in many ways, but a lot of the discussion of that seems to ignore that it's also pretty obviously dealing with an abuse/stalking situation that, apart from the sci-fi conceits, includes some extremely common traits of female domestic abusers IRL).

Janet Wallace, who parted ways with Kirk some six and a half years before S2, is a very successful scientist, and was already building a career in her field when they were together. Both of them are authority figures in their own careers, but their professional paths had so little to do with each other that it was essentially the reason they broke up. Their lives were too separate, despite what seems to have been a pretty mutually rewarding relationship when both were ambitious 20-somethings, and they mutually agreed to separate rather than one of them dictating terms to the other. Jan does seem to have some kind of kink for older male authorities, though; in "The Deadly Years," her sudden uptick of interest in 34-year-old Kirk as he starts prematurely aging is directly associated with her marriage to a very much older authority in her own field, and Kirk is viscerally uncomfortable with it.

His later girlfriend, Areel Shaw, is a healthier figure, though their relationship and break-up seem roughly similar. Both are highly successful career professionals, they're still very fond of each other and obviously still attracted to each other, and there's no indication of any attempts on either side to assert power or control over the relationship in the past or present. Areel makes a joke about him outranking her, but they're in completely different parts of Starfleet, and throughout the episode, he's obviously much more professionally vulnerable to her than the other way around. She's the one to suggest their goodbye kiss by the turbolift, and she takes the initiative to blow another kiss at him as she leaves, leaving him cheerfully poleaxed for a moment before he returns to his job.

The only other ex we know about it in TOS, as I recall, is the unnamed lab technician mentioned in the pilot, whom Kirk seems to have been oblivious to until Gary Mitchell helped her out. Kirk was an instructor at the Academy at the time (implicitly teaching philosophy to cadets for several years), likely in his mid-twenties from contextual information, and she was the one who pursued him. Kirk did have a serious relationship with her, but he didn't know about Mitchell helping her with the "campaign" to catch his attention in the first place, even though he and the lab technician nearly ended up getting married.

In terms of the unforced romances we actually see in the timeline of the show, there are only a few. The earliest is the sort of mutual courtly pining between him and Janice Rand. In "The Naked Time," Kirk's fantasy of a romance with (the superior) Janice is a fantasy scenario where they're on a beach away from any kind of professional context, and specifically, where he has no captain's insignia. We find out in "Miri" (though it was already obvious) that Janice fully reciprocates his interest and wanted to attract him, though she's very professional and competent in general. It's very obviously doomed as a romance. They might hang on to each other in a crisis, but will never do more or cross that line, though it's allowed by regulation—it's doomed wholly because Kirk's position as captain gets in the way for Kirk. Kirk even vents to Bones about being frustrated at Janice's assignment to him as his personal yeoman because he specifically doesn't want pretty women filling that kind of role around him.

It obviously bothers him especially when the yeoman is Janice because he's infatuated with her, but we also see that discomfort in the notorious backrub scene, when Janice's equally photogenic successor as yeoman dutifully starts trying to help with the strain in his back. Kirk thinks it's Spock massaging his back and that's fine (more than fine lmao), but when Spock makes a point of stepping forwards and Kirk realizes the person touching him must be his pretty yeoman, he's intensely uncomfortable and immediately orders her to stop as he gives Spock a long-suffering look.

In Kirk's grand m/f romance, the one with Edith Keeler, she's very much a socially established figure with a secure, stable position, the one who provides Kirk with a job and a roof over his and Spock's heads. She evidently thinks they're eccentric homeless guys when she finds them and takes them under her wing, and later suspects they're WWI vets, but it is very clear that the security of their situation remains entirely dependent on Edith's good will towards Kirk.

Of course, there are ways in which he knows more than Edith and has an advantage in that respect, but Edith is absolutely calling the shots in general. This is the context in which their romantic walks and hand-holding and dates and stolen kisses in the stairwell etc are happening. One of their big romantic scenes occurs because she finds out about Spock stealing materials and Kirk has to sweet-talk her, and she's like ... well, I guess I could overlook it... if you took me on a date. ;) And he's delighted to be pursued by his landlady that way, let's be real.

Edith running the show at least as much as Kirk is, I think, forms part of the idyllic quality of this romance for him. He's not there when Edith casually refers to him as "my young man," but I suspect he would very much like it, yet he's extremely unlikely to think of her as his girl/young lady/whatever. But overall, it just seems very, very clear that this whole dynamic is vastly more to his tastes than one where he's primarily in control and managing things and making all the major decisions.

That's reinforced over a season later, when we find the increasingly strained, tired Kirk of S3 wistfully longing for some arena of his life in which he's not making all the decisions all the goddamn time. Then he gets amnesia, remembering almost nothing about his previous life except that he had never felt happy or at peace, and he's pretty much informed that he's going to marry a hot priestess. Without the baggage of his actual life/memories/responsibilities, he is entirely content to go along with this and seems happy with her.

I mean, "The Paradise Syndrome" is a bad episode, especially the A-plot, but that aspect of it absolutely does track with the rest of what we see of him.

In the superior S3 episode "The Mark of Gideon," the more ephemeral romance with Odona occurs in a context where he thinks they are completely isolated from all other people and institutions, and neither of them has any particular power over the other. In reality, Odona knows a lot more than he does about what's going on, including that they aren't remotely alone. She's there to steal a blood sample from him and, ideally, to make the idea of remaining on Gideon as a disease blood bag more appealing.

After Kirk and Odona are back on the real Enterprise and she's saved, and both are able to exert the autonomy to decide their futures (Odona set on returning to Gideon, which Kirk doesn't want her to do, and Kirk on returning to commanding the Enterprise and its mission, which Odona doesn't want him to do), he has no particular power over Odona specifically but is very much back in authority. They're still flirty, but it's clearly dialed down to a more courtly, going-nowhere level:

ODONA: How can you bear to look at me after the way I deceived you? KIRK: At least, you owe me the privilege of letting me look at you. ODONA: You are a gentleman, Captain Kirk. KIRK, visibly pleased: Thank you, ma'am.

His last romantic plot is with Rayna in "Requiem for Methuselah," a decidedly mid episode until the absolutely buckwild final scene. It's also probably the weirdest of the romances that aren't obviously tactical. Kirk does meet her in his professional capacity, but it's actually the crew of the Enterprise who need help from Flint, Rayna's guardian (Flint has the resources to cure a terrible disease). Kirk et al. essentially bully Flint into helping them, but Rayna isn't present at that point, and Flint evidently has his own secrets and motives. It's only later that they're allowed to meet Rayna, Flint's highly educated and intelligent, but extremely sheltered, ward. She has never met a man other than Flint before (and for the audience, Flint is very obviously grooming Rayna to be his wife).

So Rayna is not in any way subject to Kirk's authority, although it's the reason he's there, but she's so sheltered that there are definitely ways in which he seems the more proactive of the two of them in this particular romance. But she's also intelligent and curious and actively into him. At first, Flint doesn't want her around them at all, and it's Rayna who insists; Rayna is a bit overwhelmed, but interested in exploring the potential of her romance with Kirk; she starts pushing back against Flint's restrictions, and falls for Kirk in a way she never could with Flint.

Flint basically comes up with delaying tactics that involve throwing Rayna and Kirk together, allowing for the more sentimental, "high romance" type of courtship that Kirk goes for (waltzing, kissing etc). But it turns out that Rayna is a very sophisticated android and oblivious to this fact herself (this Rayna is the latest in a long series of attempts), and Flint finds her interest in Kirk promising as far as Flint's ultimate goal of making her his own immortal wife is concerned. He's essentially keeping Kirk around to encourage Rayna's capability to feel romantic love and sexual attraction in general, like a sort of ... sexy lure??? in hopes that she'll turn those feelings to Flint in time.

The problem is that this is, obviously, super fucked-up towards both Kirk and Rayna (Flint refers to Rayna as his property). Kirk's usual hatred of AI does not extend to an AI who is genuinely a full sentient person, though he has to grapple with the concept for a moment, and this revelation doesn't actually destroy his feelings for her. He insists that a) Rayna is in love with him and he with her, and b) Rayna is clearly a full person, and thus no one's property, and has the right to choose what she wants. In the final scene, the question of power is specifically raised:

FLINT: No man beats me. KIRK: I don't want to beat you. This is no test of power. Rayna belongs to herself and she claims the human right of choice to be as she wills, to do as she wills, to think as she wills.

Rayna's very newly-developed capacity for feeling is torn between her love for Flint as a mentor and father-figure, and her confusing and overwhelming feelings for Kirk, and her desire to avoid hurting either of them. The strain of all these contradictory human feelings and impulses (/sigh) fries her circuits and she self-destructs.

(Spock, who spends most of the episode visibly consumed with jealousy of Rayna, is also sympathetic to her, but his priorities are what they are. McCoy accuses him of being incapable of understanding the love triangle that created this situation, as well as of feeling romantic love in general, in all its agonies and ecstasies, after the exhausted Kirk falls unconscious upon returning to the Enterprise. Spock simply tells McCoy goodnight and once he's gone, mind-melds with Kirk and wipes his rival from Kirk's memory because, uh *looks at hand* he and Kirk are totally normal healthy platonic bros and Spock doesn't experience love.)

But I do think the chasm between the actual Kirk romances and the tactical ones is also very much felt in how Kirk navigates power/control/authority. In seduction, he hangs tightly on to some sense of power and autonomy through his ability to control himself and the situation. In romance, though, it seems like he strongly prefers dynamics where he can (or must) step down from his usual authority and the weight of decisions and responsibility is distributed away from him.

[surqrised]

The question isn't who's going to let me; it's who's going to stop me?

Ayn Rand

[cannoli-reader]

I would push back against putting Aviendha and Elayne anywhere but Tier 1. That's the basis of their relationships with him and his affection for them, that they only see the man and regard the figure of prophecy and his channeling ability as irrelevant. This goes on, so I'm putting a cut here...

Ignoring Sanderson, unless his depictions jibe with something developed in Jordan's books, Aviendha and Elayne don't actually interact with him AS the Dragon Reborn/Car'a'carn. That he holds these positions is irrelevant to them, and their own responsibilities make that more significant, they don't invalidate that.

Aviendha might cite that Rand is the Car'a'carn in arguments, but it's always over something personal, like his need for self-care and such. When she (or Elayne) talks to him about his job or duties, they are telling the man how to deal with the situation in his life, not advising the Dragon Reborn on how to to his thing. That's why Elayne's behavior in Tear is so important to Rand, because she is not speaking to him as an initiate and loyalist of the White Tower, or a member of the royal family of Andor, and future queen & Aes Sedai, she is only dealing with him from the position of a woman who wants what is best for a man she cares about. It's the same when Rand comes to Caemlyn. He even tries bringing up political issues to distract him, and Elayne ignores it all, insisting on sticking to the topic of their relationship. The only hint of any politics is Rand's later recollection that off-page, Elayne convinced him not to participate in the conflict over the succession, but again, the phrasing that the throne was Elayne's to win, sounds more like it was on the level of a personal appeal to let her do her thing, rather than the interests or issues of Andor vs the Dragon Reborn.

It's the same with her tearing down the banners. It's a thing that never comes up between them, because Elayne wasn't doing it to Rand, she was acting in response to the mindset of the country. All her posturing of neutrality and opposing Rand on the issue of Andor's sovereignty is a pose for public consumption to get her own goals, she is not using or interacting with Rand, and we all know that she's going to follow him to the hilt, putting all the resources Andor can muster. She's pretending to be opposed as much for his sake as hers, and more than Andor's. She might think things like "Rand is the love of my life, but Andor is my duty" but that's got nothing to do with him being a fellow monarch (based on the Jordan books, that is a datum which never comes up in Elayne's PoV, which is a pity, because it might have been amusing for Mat to throw her comment about attracting kings back in her face), it has to do her not being able to go to her boyfriend when he needs her. When Elayne does act differently because Rand is the Dragon Reborn, it is because other people put those constraints on her. If anything, Elayne's policies wrt the Dragon Reborn are what are affected, because that happens to be Rand.

To sum up, if Rand were not the Dragon Reborn, Elayne would not behave one bit differently toward him. If the Dragon Reborn were someone else, Elayne would be dealing with that person very differently (even setting aside physical intimacy).

It's the same with Aviendha. Her perception of Rand, and behavior toward him, is shaped entirely by her experience in the rings of Rhuidean, and then later, the relationship that develops. Supposedly her assignment is to teach the Car'a'carn everything he needs to know about Aiel culture, but she sucks at that. The Wise Ones float the excuse that Rhuarc who would otherwise be the obvious choice for Rand's Aiel advisor, is more of a battle leader than a diplomat, which is a blatant excuse to do what they want. Say what you will about his diplomatic abilities by Wise One standards, he's miles ahead of Aviendha, especially in her current frame of mind, of being pissed at both having to give up the spear, and Rand, personally. And her lessons and choice of topics are obviously heavily influenced by her feelings about him and their foretold relationship. The Wise Ones DGAF how bad her advice is, or about the gaps in her lessons (except, in the abstract, regarding her development as a future Wise One), they just want Aviendha and Rand interacting and engaged with one another, hopefully to fall in love, but mostly to give the Aiel a human face in Rand's mind.

Yes, there is her monologue to Rand when she believes him unconscious after the watchtower falls at the battle of Cairhien, but it's pretty blatant that she is lying through her teeth when she says she wants him to survive solely because of her toh and her people. Elayne and the prophecies are simply excuses for her to avoid confronting feelings she does not know how to deal with. Later, after the battle, when Rand speculates about the Wise Ones' attitude towards him, she physically withdraws, plainly have been reminded of their intentions and expectations regarding the couple. In Caemlyn, when Rand butts heads with Sulin over his bodyguard, Aviendha agrees with Sulin, intellectually, on the issue of guards for the Car'a'carn, but that takes a backset to her sympathies being Rand and her enjoyment in his besting the Maidens' leader in a contest of wills. When she later demands that the Maidens report on his whereabouts, it's not regarding security and access to the Car'a'carn, it's about toh between Aviendha, Rand and Elayne.

As with Elayne, Aviendha is only ever interacting with, or thinking of, her foretold lover, her friend's boyfriend or her love interest, and Car'a'carn is simply a job he has. Rand's assumption that her strong reaction to the mention of his death is because of her dedication to her people and the importance of the Car'a'carn to them, or her toh to Elayne, is simply another example of Rand being clueless about his love interests. The reaction is entirely from seeing him unconscious after falling from the Tower, struggling to keep fighting after she was passing out from channeling fatigue, and then waiting for him to recover from his self-imposed exhaustion. The Wise Ones could have told her the night before that he had fulfilled all the Prophecies of Rhuidean, the Aiel were saved for the next age and Rand's term as Car'a'carn was now over, and she was relieved of her obligation to advise and watch him, and she would not have reacted one bit differently when he said he can rest once he's dead.

Another way to put it is that the difference between the attitudes of Elayne & Aviendha to Rand, and Min towards him, are entirely about THEM, not how they see HIM. Basically, the difference is between two girlfriends who have careers, and one who does not. That one of them is free to come visit her boyfriend at work and hang out and chat when he's free does not indicate that his job is a key part of their respective perceptions toward him, or that the other one is more accepting or indifferent to his career. It just means she has more free time. Elayne was doing the same sort of thing as Min later would, when she was similarly free, in Tear.

Now it's entirely possible that I am misinterpreting something about the intended meaning of these tiers, but even if no hierarchy is intended, Egwene really does not belong in a category with Elayne & Aviendha. While the OP is pretty spot on about her mindset ('rival for attention' is a great way to put it), it's not that she forgets that he is important and keeps measuring him by the wrong standard, rather she hates that he is so important, and is actively pushing back against it. She doesn't barge in on Rand, insult him or cite childhood memories because she forgets he is the Dragon Reborn, but because she is extremely aware of it, and hates it and is actively trying to denigrate his importance and build herself up by knocking him down. She doesn't take issue with his forbidding racist violence by the Aiel in Cairhien because she is taken aback by a shepherd giving orders (or likes racist violence. Probably.), but because Rand is in a position to give orders. When Egwene learned he was "just another poor damned fool who can channel" she embraced him and said she doesn't care, and her subsequent behavior largely backed that up. All of a sudden, however, Rand appears in the sky over Falme, dueling Baalzamon, and leaving everyone who witnesses it certain that he is the Dragon Reborn, and all of a sudden, she is telling Min that he's not boyfriend material, because "he's not safe." Also, note the slight hiccup in her kindness toward Rand after she hears that the (noble)women of Fal Dara are seeing him as a potential husband for one of their number. Suddenly, she's all snitty and lecturing him about entering the women's quarters (even though she arrived in time to hear his explanation that he hadn't tried, and was absolutely responsible for his one transgression in that regard), putting him back into what she sees as his place. Her friends and neighbors might suddenly see Rand as someone who could be accepted in the Shienaran peerage, and Egwene's immediate reaction is to emphasize to him their relative power in this setting. Also, notice that her only ideas for hiding Rand from the Aes Sedai involved the absolute worst hiding places for Rand in the whole fortress, one of which would be far more accommodating to his pursuers, being a place for women, which he is not, and the other extraordinarily counter-intuitive for any fugitive, dungeons not generally being built with the idea of helping people evade the authorities. But they are both places where Egwene perceives herself to have the upper hand, because she does, or because she is familiar thanks to frequent (unauthorized and unwise) visits. She is very enthusiastic about going to Rand's aid in the Tower, despite the clearly suspicious nature of Liandrin's invite, when she can view him as helpless victim to be saved. The attitude from book 5 on whenever Rand asks for her help from a position of power, is a complete 180 from how she reacts when she thinks she is the powerful party in their relationship. She's also precisely wrong when she claims that Moiraine would keep Rand's secret from the Aes Sedai & Amyrlin but they can't be sure about Lan. But Rand is much closer to Lan and Egwene appears to have an edge in their dealings with Moiraine, who, from the outside, might seem to be favoring Egwene, because she is able to reveal more of her interest in Egwene, and address that directly, than she is with the boys, at least until she can reveal he is the Dragon Reborn. Regardless of the facts of the matter, Egwene is going to claim, however undeservedly, that her friend is the better ally, just to have a leg up in their discussion.

It's the same in EotW, where she repeatedly disbelieves Rand, for no real reason. He is never established as a teller of tall tales or a braggart who tries to inflate his own importance. But she does not believe him about seeing the Myrddraal (or rather, does not believe Mat & Perrin when they tell her - Rand knew better than to bother). She does not believe him when he tells her the Trollocs are after him & the other two boys, despite Moiraine & Lan standing right there, and not calling Rand's supposed bullshit. She also refuses to believe he met the Daughter-heir to Andor, despite everyone else in the room being ready to accept that he met the Queen & her Aes Sedai advisor, and reacting with some concern, on Moiraine's part. If Moiraine believes him, why won't Egwene accept that he met the Daughter-heir? Is it so improbable that she'd be there, too?

It comes down to Rand's importance. In the village, prior to the Trolloc attack, novelty is highly valued. Padan Fain despite his unprepossessing appearance and obvious character defects, is a figure of importance and receives deference from the villagers, because he can bring them news. People are thrilled at the visiting strangers, because they represent something new and unusual, and are thrilled at the gleeman, because such are rare in the Two Rivers. The boys being able to tell people about seeing something unique or unusual would give them a minor bump in status and make them, however temporarily, a locus of gossip and conversation. The other things Rand says that she refuses to believe, even more so. As Perrin says, their adventures don't compare to meeting all the most important people in Queen Morgase's court! Note too, that when they reveal the dreams with Baalzamon, Egwene is weeping in reaction. Of all the people to be weeping, Egwene is the least affected by the news, and of all the things she has encountered, this should be fairly low on the scale of tear-inducing. But what is the result of her weeping? Nynaeve is comforting her, not the boys who have been apparently targeted by the Dark One himself. Mission accomplished. Nynaeve compliments the boys on the road to Fal Dara, and Egwene has a "good-natured" insult ready. She is furious with Rand on meeting his future lovers, not because it is possible that she believes he was in any way unfaithful to her (or is constitutionally capable of it), but specifically at the moments when they ask about him turning the conversation momentarily away from Egwene al'Vere, amazing new super-novice and The Most Interesting Person in the White Tower.

Nothing in this pattern of behavior fits someone who keeps forgetting that her childhood friend is important and famous, but it provides a firm grounding for her subsequent habit of actively trying to tear him down. And that really fits with the meta of it all, where lack of knowledge or miscommunication has such powerful effects, and we nearly get the Fateful Concord 2.0 between the reincarnation of Lews Therin and another leader of female channelers, arising from petty childhood jealousy.

Also, Perrin is kind of a shit friend. Maybe his classification is not incorrect, but he is always expecting the worst out of Rand, and tends to have the least charitable outlook, and most unreasonable expectations of what Rand can do about Perrin's problems. But this is TL;DR enough.

The fact that none of the other Aes Sedai are able to see that the reason that Rand holds Nynaeve and Moiraine in high regard is because they gave a shit about Rand al'Thor as a person is fascinating to me.

The White Tower looks down on men who can channel so much that the only two Aes Sedai who care about Rand are a woman who was basically an older sister to him and a woman who spent her entire adult life away from the Tower. Like, blood and ashes that's messed up.

[nalebifrie]

We've been connected since before I was born.

Sometimes fate seems so strong. Tide sweeping us along against our control. And sometimes it's as fragile as gossamer.

[onaperduamedee]

Not without her.

[moonstarsandspacedust]

I just started the fires of heaven and I’m obsessed with how Rand:

1) shows next to no interest in the various women coming onto him

2) sees a naked woman and his only thought is “wow she’s sunburned”

3) has multiple homoerotic encounters

And then describes a man as “probably attractive to women”. In conclusion: Robert Jordan was a coward.

[writer-sedai]

Been spinning the Rand/Egwene scene in 3x06 around in my head for days

She loves him but he'll never be enough for her because she wants greatness for herself, earned by herself

He loves her but he can't trust her to love the monstrous parts of himself (only another monster can do that)

They both take comfort in each other because it's something familiar when everything is changing

The fact that they can no longer take comfort in each other just proves how much they've changed

Even if nothing had changed, they were destined for different things (he just wanted a family, she wanted to carve her own path)

Now he's destined to go mad and maybe he's destined to kill her, or she's destined to still him, or chain him

Their paths are now set to run parallel instead of crossing and the roles they've been thrust into are so much bigger than the tiny village they come from

(but they both still love each other)