In The Dragon Reborn , when Rand encountered the lady merchant and her soldiers and slaughtered the whole bunch, did he have a good reason for doing so? Were they all really Darkfriends? Was that eleventh man really a Gray Man, or did Rand just count wrong?
He said that it’s not supposed to be clear to the reader exactly what is going on. What is supposed to be clear is that there was definitely a Gray Man in the party. But whether or not Rand knew that before he lopped off their heads, we’re not supposed to know. It’s supposed to be unclear whether Rand is just very observant, or whether he’s on the brink of madness.
Clearly Rand didn’t notice the Gray Man until after everyone was dead: “He had been sure there were only ten men, but eleven men knelt in that line, one of them without armor of any sort but with a dagger still gripped in his hand.” Rand didn’t even appear to notice that it was a Gray Man.
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