nature of the Dark One

[iron man]

It has occurred  to me that it is doubtful that the dark one is a god. If the dark one was a god, then the only other person who could stand up to him would be the Creator, and he has stepped out of things, letting the mortals decide things, for good or bad, on their own. If the dark one is a god, Rand stands no chance. He is crippled, half mad, going blind, and missing an arm. There is only one way that Rand can win if the dark one is a god.

 

My theory is that he was a man, a remarkably powerful and evil man but a man none the less. There are many ways that this theory fits. The battle between the light and the dark has been going on for centuries, and the only for the light to win is for the hero to win by creating a perfect seal or recreating the prison, and either would be impossible for a mortal. The only other option would be to kill him, also impossible, unless he was not a god.

[Tamia Sedai]

Well, I don't know if the DO is a god. ???

 

I agree that Rand is looking pretty beat up right now and I think that Nynaeve and Flinn should work together and heal him, but back to the point.

 

If the DO was a god, then your right and Rand stands no chance, but it would make the universe have the good/evil balance (Creator and DO).  But he could have been a powerful man... but why would the Creator have let him become this powerful, because it is said that this war has been going on since the beginning of time.  Also... since the war has been going on since the beginning of time, how could the DO been a man?

 

Sorry if my post makes anyone more confused... just thinking out loud here. ;D

[avacraft]

I agree with Tamia, The DO was sealed right when the creator created the world(s).  If this is true then the DO couldn't be a man.

[Tamia Sedai]

Then all Rand can do is seal the DO up in the prison again.  It may be that this time Rand will do something different and the DO will be destroyed forever.

[Nelal Hurcran]

I've always envisioned the WoT "Universe" as an existence inside a protective bubble of some type, which floats around a higher plain of existence.

 

For some reason, after the Creator made this world (and possibly this happens on others of his creations as well), the DO comes and tried to either take control of the existence, or just remove it entirely. The Creator placed a protection around it to keep ALL outside interference out which is why he won't take a hand (keep reading).

 

Lanfear created a hole in this "bubble", and let the DO come in, just a bit. He has been working to widen this hole since it was "patched". In order to "reach" the world, it would be necessary to open another hole in the bubble, which would weaken it's overall structural integrity.

 

I'm running the risk of hijacking this thread, so I'll stop my theorizing here.

[Tyrell]

Generally I see it as:

 

 

Metaphysical boundry of the pattern/the universe

          |

          |

  D      |

  A      |

  R      |

  K      |

          ' <- Bore

  O      |

  N      |

  E      |

          |

          |

 

My own pet theory about the seals and why they need to be broken, just 'cause I thought I may aswell throw it out there.

 

It goes something like this, bear with me, it's rather early in the morning. The now thoroughly corrupted seals are now serving as the Dark One's anchor in the world, getting into the world being something that he otherwise has some real difficulty with - 10 years of war and He still didn't get free enough to win without an army of darkfriends + trollocks + chosen and yet now we have seals pulsating with pure evil, Shadar Haran, the pattern beginning to come apart, the dead walking and all that Jazz, with the bore (apparrently) more closed than it was during the war of shadow.

 

Sooo Rand needs to break those seals (and Moridin wants to keep them intact) because if he doesn't do it in time the pattern is going to come unraveled from the sheer pressure of the Dark One's growing presence in reality. And as we know Moridin isn't really playing for any goal short of his master's ultimate one. A side track on the attacks that seem to be trying to get the seals back - either Moridin wants them so he can keep them safe, or it was a faint meant to fail (while possibly dooing some serious damage to Rand's armies with alittle decapitation) to convince the forces of light that the seals need even more protection, seems to me a clasic Moridin move - he wins both ways ;)

 

/rant

[ignavus1223]

 

I think Rand needs to break the seals at TG, but not because they are evil.  The same seals that prevent the DO breaking through the bore would also prevent Rand from sealing the bore.  I think if they were really radiating evil, one of the channelers who touched it would have felt it, like the male a'dam Liandrin wanted to use on Rand. 

 

Back to the main topic, I agree that the DO can't be a man.  But Rand doesn't really need to go head-to-head with the full power of the DO.  Rand only has to go head-to-head with the power that the DO can send through the bore.  They can can reseal the DO outside the pattern. 

[Ahaz Flagg]

 

I think Rand needs to break the seals at TG, but not because they are evil.  The same seals that prevent the DO breaking through the bore would also prevent Rand from sealing the bore.  I think if they were really radiating evil, one of the channelers who touched it would have felt it, like the male a'dam Liandrin wanted to use on Rand. 

 

Back to the main topic, I agree that the DO can't be a man.  But Rand doesn't really need to go head-to-head with the full power of the DO.  Rand only has to go head-to-head with the power that the DO can send through the bore.  They can can reseal the DO outside the pattern. 

 

They do indeed radiate something, weather it is evil, meh no idea. But Nynaeve and Elyane mention how tocuhing them makes them feel dirty.

[Harmless Bandit]

Rand cannot face the Dark One's full power. However, that s'angreal of his is quite powerful. Lanfear believes (perhaps mistakenly) that with it the Dark One could be challenged, though I don't know how far I could run with that, she is nuts, and power-hungry. But I believe the Choedan Kal (sp) can deal with whatever the Dark One can send through the Bore.

[Tamia Sedai]

I think that Nelal's theory makes the most sense to me and this makes the DO a god then, basically

Also, this would mean that the Creator and the DO are the two entities at war here and that there would have to be a very powerful force to push the DO back out of the "bubble".