A Possible Theory Regarding the Last Battle

[Orderofolde]

Whatever is used will be tainted, Saidin or Saidar.  The thing is, Rand now has access to the True Power, the Dark One's own source, and must use it to seal the bore.

[Hadilmir]

Whatever is used will be tainted, Saidin or Saidar.  The thing is, Rand now has access to the True Power, the Dark One's own source, and must use it to seal the bore.

Are you saying that it's possible to fix a leaking dam using water?  :-\

[algspkr]

FRom the indications in the Gathering Storm it looks to me that somehow Rand must use a blend of the male and female powers along with the dark power. He now has access to two of these and his alter ego did say that at the end of the War of the Power the female power wielders let him down claiming his idea was too risky and he was forced to only use the male power as a resonance on the dark power to effect a temporary seal.

 

One thing I am unsure of is the next age, given a win for the light, is it the fourth age or the first age?

Potentially it could be any age. The current age is called the 'Third Age' but it's uncertain whether or not this is true.

 

I believe they call it the third age because they have memories of two previous ages: our age aka the age before the Age of Legends, and the Age of Legends.

[Luckers]

Did anyone ever read the old wheel of time spoofs? WoT in twenty seconds or whatever.

 

"In one age, called the third age by some, called the fourth age by others who couldn't count real good".

 

Heh.

[Lacanos]

FRom the indications in the Gathering Storm it looks to me that somehow Rand must use a blend of the male and female powers along with the dark power. He now has access to two of these and his alter ego did say that at the end of the War of the Power the female power wielders let him down claiming his idea was too risky and he was forced to only use the male power as a resonance on the dark power to effect a temporary seal.

Stop making things up - Lews Therin never used the TP, so he didn't use saidin with it, he just used saidin due to the fateful conchord

[Cirin]

Whatever is used will be tainted, Saidin or Saidar.  The thing is, Rand now has access to the True Power, the Dark One's own source, and must use it to seal the bore.

 

Although Sai'din was tainted because it touched the Dark One, and although Llews Therin said he had to touch the Dark One with something, considering the fact that Llews Therin's seal wasn't permanent, touching the Dark One may not have been the ideal way... which, really, is kind of the point of the theory I posted anyway - a speculation that maybe the Dark One was only temporarily sealed and sai'din tainted because Llews Therin wasn't supposed to be the one doing it originally, and then that person sided with the Dark One and the Aes Sedai had to rig up a quick "plan B" that ended in a draw.

 

I also don't really see Rand using the True Power to defeat the Dark One.  I think the Dark One let him use the True Power to escape from Semirhage for the same reason that Emperor Palpatine keeps telling Luke to use his anger and hate to defeat Vader... because the True Power is highly addictive, dangerous, and he's trying to get Rand on his side.  I don't really see Rand having some secret backdoor into the Dark One's own energy so he can turn it against him.

[Orderofolde]

Many are on the bandwagon that Rand's link with Moridin allowed him the use of the TP.  We see crossing over of Rand's postures, pain, and mannerisms with Moridin, and some of the darker traits of Moridin crossing over, possibly from the TP use or the link, there is no longer a balance with the Taverin random things, only bad.

 

And we won't really know for sure all of our guessing until we read the last two books and have all our "Aw, man" and "Aha!" moments.  We can only guess and be kind to others as we add our own thoughts.  :D

[Cirin]

Many are on the bandwagon that Rand's link with Moridin allowed him the use of the TP.  We see crossing over of Rand's postures, pain, and mannerisms with Moridin, and some of the darker traits of Moridin crossing over, possibly from the TP use or the link, there is no longer a balance with the Taverin random things, only bad.

 

And we won't really know for sure all of our guessing until we read the last two books and have all our "Aw, man" and "Aha!" moments.  We can only guess and be kind to others as we add our own thoughts.  :D

 

Indeed, we will have to wait and see.  It's not that I think it's impossible that he could have drawn the True Power through Moridin - after all, the author makes the rules of the world, so whatever he wants to happen goes - I just think that story-wise it doesn't make the most sense, and I would prefer it if that wasn't the case.  Ultimately, it's a matter of preference.

[aunt_pol]

One of my earliest posts about TGS was to the effect that Rand had unconditional DO permission to use the TP, and Brandon/team Jordan were using Aes Sedai word trickery to turn us from that idea. If the DO wanted to turn the Dragon, then forcing him into a situation where the TP would be irresistable was a great idea. It could easily have led to more and more use of the addictive stuff, binding Rand continually closer to the dark side. It was really a small remaining remnant of Rand's basic good nature that stopped him destroying everything - he was pretty much gone.

Can't see how it can be used to defeat the DO, either, but I'm lookin' forward to findin' out...

 

sorry, Orderofolde, I just realised I pretty much paraphrased you here, tiredness is my excuse