To live, you must die.

[Dagon Thyne]

I'm currently reading KoD, and from what I've read I have a pretty good guess of what will happen in the last battle.  It mentions Aelfinn and that Rand asked them How to win the Last Battle and live.  They tell him that to Live, he must die.  My theory is that the voice of Lews Therin is literally his spirit, within Rand.  I got this idea from the many times Lews Therin has mentioned wishing he could die so he could see his wife again.  I think it means he never passed to the next life.  He has been kept from passing on as part of the prophecy.  I believe it is possible that Rand is not actualy Lews Therin reincarnated, but a new spirit that has been intertwined with the spirit of the Dragon, two spirits rather than one, in order to allow the prophecy to e fullfilled.  I believe that at the Last Battle, Rand will be fatally injured when he kills the Dark One.  However it will be the spirit of Lews Therin that is sent to the next life, and not Rand's. 

[Kathleen]

Just a thought..The prophesy here says "to live, you must die". If Rand's spirit and LTT spirit are just living in the same body and what you suggest happens, when Rand dies and LTT's spirit moves on for another life, how does Rand live?

[Dagon Thyne]

Just a thought..The prophesy here says "to live, you must die". If Rand's spirit and LTT spirit are just living in the same body and what you suggest happens, when Rand dies and LTT's spirit moves on for another life, how does Rand live?

 

I call it the Harry Potter Theory since the same thing happens in the last book of the HP series.  When harry is killed by Voldemort, it's the 7th peice of Voldemort's soul that is destroyed and not's Harry's. 

 

I think it will end with Nynaeve or Flynn getting to Rand just in time to heal him. 

[FarShainMael]

It's been suggested a couple of times that Rand misunderstood that prophecy, since he heard it through an interpreter.

 

[Agitel]

Rand and Lews Therin are one and the same. Artur Hawkwing himself understood that Rand was Lews Therin, and it's greatly implied that Lews Therin/Rand al'Thor is also a Hero of the Horn. The Dragon is always the same soul, in every turning.

 

LTT is Rand's insanity matched up with memories of a past life Rand didn't want to remember seemingly brought about by the enormous stress he is under.

[Dagon Thyne]

Rand and Lews Therin are one and the same. Artur Hawkwing himself understood that Rand was Lews Therin, and it's greatly implied that Lews Therin/Rand al'Thor is also a Hero of the Horn. The Dragon is always the same soul, in every turning.

 

LTT is Rand's insanity matched up with memories of a past life Rand didn't want to remember seemingly brought about by the enormous stress he is under.

 

I just think it's possible that instead of being one soul, tyhey may be two souls linked somehow.  It would explain by they have serperate minds. 

[Malruhn]

Rand and Lews Therin are one and the same. Artur Hawkwing himself understood that Rand was Lews Therin, and it's greatly implied that Lews Therin/Rand al'Thor is also a Hero of the Horn. The Dragon is always the same soul, in every turning.

 

LTT is Rand's insanity matched up with memories of a past life Rand didn't want to remember seemingly brought about by the enormous stress he is under.

I'll argue this one.  Semirage says (if we can trust her with this) that Rand is hearing the REAL voices of LTT in his head, and that hearing it will make him go bonkers.

 

We all know that RTT and Rand are the same THREAD, but they are obviously different personages.  It is MY opinion that RTT will finally "give up the ghost" in the end, and the "Dragon" will die to go off an be with Ilena, while Rand will walk away... but Rand has to willingly give up RTT to do so.

 

Just my ten cents (cuz my two cents are free).

[Agitel]

Rand and Lews Therin are one and the same. Artur Hawkwing himself understood that Rand was Lews Therin, and it's greatly implied that Lews Therin/Rand al'Thor is also a Hero of the Horn. The Dragon is always the same soul, in every turning.

 

LTT is Rand's insanity matched up with memories of a past life Rand didn't want to remember seemingly brought about by the enormous stress he is under.

I'll argue this one.  Semirage says (if we can trust her with this) that Rand is hearing the REAL voices of LTT in his head, and that hearing it will make him go bonkers.

 

We all know that RTT and Rand are the same THREAD, but they are obviously different personages.  It is MY opinion that RTT will finally "give up the ghost" in the end, and the "Dragon" will die to go off an be with Ilena, while Rand will walk away... but Rand has to willingly give up RTT to do so.

 

Just my ten cents (cuz my two cents are free).

 

Rand is insane in some aspects. His personality split. His past life memories (which started showing up before the split) manifested themselves as LTT.

 

[rygar]

I always assumed Rand truly dies, and he lives on as a hero of legend to be called by the horn in the NEXT last battle.

[Frost Wynters]

The way I see it, is, that Rand Al Thor and Lews Therin are both lives of his soul. Rand is the current life, and Lews Therin is a past life.  When Rand "talks" to Lews Therin it is simply his current life conversing with his past life. I don't think this is because of the taint, as Semirage mentions that there have been cases of this before.

 

I wonder if Rand being Ta'veren made it certain that the "voice" he would hear would be that of  Lews Therin. After all, what other life that has inhabited Rand's soul  could have the knowledge to defeat the current crisis that Rand faces, other than the life of Lews Therin, the man who beat them before.

 

as for Rand, dying to live again, I've assumed it would have to do with  the body swap that most people seem to think will happen.

 

 

[Impressive Bosom]

I'm still enjoying the theory that Alivia is Illyena reborn and that somehow she will help Rand die and be reunited with her love in the World of Dreams. That's a happy ending from my perspective, an end to Lew Therin's torment

[talligan]

I can't imagine the pattern being so cruel to Rand so as to force him to sacrifice his life until the next TG. A 23ish year old guy who just wants to live a quiet life, been put through hell and back over the past 3 years ... it would break my heart :(

 

Unless he gets ripped out of TAR by one of his three women a la Birgitte.

[Tom Sawyer]

I really hope that he does die at the end of the series.  Not that I have anything against his character, but there's been such a build-up about how he has to sacrifice himself to save the world and if it ends up with him just being fine, then I'd consider it kind of a cop out.

 

I take the Finn message to mean something about how if he wants to stop the DO from breaking the Pattern and be able to come back in the next life to fight Ishamael again, he needs to sacrifice himself for the world.  Sort of like Jesus with a more believable storyline  ;)

[DocBean]

"to Live you must die."

 

I thought everyone understood this to mean that Rand must fake his death.

That's how I've always read it.

 

Rand uses Alivia to "help him die" by making a "paper version" of Rand.

They're all prophecies, and they all point to the same thing.

 

Rand and Alivia fake Rand's death. Logain steps in as the saviour, and wins glory and fame.

However, Rand still lives  and does what needs to be done. - Merge with Moridin (assuming his body most likely)

and defeating the Dark One by merging with it's champion. Rand then seals himself and Moridin up in the bore to power the wheel for all of eternity.

 

Rand's body will die - ala Luc/Isam, but Rand will take over Moridin's skin and True Power, to become a Yin/Yang diety.