"You will kneel, Lews Therin!"

[RembrandtQ.Einstein]

If Ishamael had killed Rand in any book something would have happened to bring him back.

 

This much is I think almost certain - even if not in the timescale of the books, if the Dragon dies or turns much as the Forsaken (excluding Moridin) did, there's still another Dragon when the Wheel turns again. The Dark One must be getting pretty bored of this by now.

 

The Dragon did die - as LTT. And the DO did not win. Therefore, It needs something other than the Dragon/Reborn's death in order to win.

 

Note further that Ishy did not kill LTT, though he could have done so easily. LTT killed himself, and Ishy wasn't at all happy about it!

 

LTT was the dragon.

 

Rand is the dragon reborn, same soul, but serving different purposes. LTT was never meant to fight the last battle like Rand is, not in his incarnation.

 

 

LTT and the forces of Light were betrayed by the female channelers in the moment of their greatest need and hence could only employ half the OP to imprison the DO in his strike on Shayol Ghul. Great acts can only work in union. This is why LTT reborn this time around secured that such treachery (as Egwene seems intent on repeating) will not damage the cause of humanity again by having had Aes Sedai swear fealty to him and also have other female channeler retainers among the Aiel/Windfinders loyal to him as their leader.

[Callern]

My theory on the Pattern is that is it is like a grand macroscopic version of Quantum Mechanics. If there is any probability that the pattern will continue, the pattern will find that probability and continue.

 

It appears that it is impossible for the pattern to be destroyed unless the Light's champion does it. It is not clear this is but you can see this through the myriad parallel worlds that exist in the WoT. In large numbers of these Rand dies but the pattern continues.

 

The DO knows this hence all his efforts are aimed at turning Rand. As a side note it is clear that the taint is a huge part of his efforts to be freed. Without the taint, Rand would never have reached the level of insanity required.

 

Also BTW it is unlikely that DO dominated world would achieve the level of cooperation/technology required to build their own CK's. It would be everyone for themselves and technology would rapidly go backwards.

 

Agreed. That's what I was trying to get at, with a few extra details. Well done.

 

Umm, now I'm confused. A parallel world is like the world where the Finns live. A mirror world is what you can reach with a portal stone. As far as I know, there is no way you can get to a parallel world, by using a portal stone.

 

OneOfTheBand mentioned Rand dying alot of times (in the Mirror worlds), and the wheel continiued spinning. Mirror Worlds are the "If's", what could have been if this and that happened. But this and that, did not happen.

However, his deaths implies that the Dragon must do something before Shai'tan can be released, yes.

Neither does it not imply that the Dragon himself must destroy it. This is something he can not do, since he's a part of the Pattern.

 

No one inside and of the Pattern can destroy the Wheel or change the destiny of the Great Pattern. Even those who are ta'veren can only alter, but not completely change, the weave.

 

However, his deaths implies that the Dragon must do something before Shai'tan can be released, yes.

 

So, the Dragon is crucial for DO's escape, but Rand can not destroy the Wheel. So in what way is he crucial?

The Dark One was imprisoned outside the Pattern, by the Creator. By the time of the Age of Legends, the DO was a forgotten substance. So a bunch of Aes Sedai worked on a research project, and they unfortunatly produced the bore. Yabba-Dabba doo, we drilled out the DO...

As the DO started to "touch" the world, the book states that LTT gathered people to "prevent the Dark One from breaking free of his prison. So, LTT & CO sealed the bore so the DO could not touch the world anymore.

How exactly the Dark One can escape his prison, we do not know. We do know, however, that he could do this without the Dragon, because LTT was not known as the Dragon until after these events.

 

LTT sealed the Bore, that is all. Now Rand has the remaining seals, by destroying them the DO will:

1, Fingerbang the world again

2, Have found a way to instantly break free, as the seals are broken

 

 

I'm not good at theories and all, but this is my guess:

The seals LTT made are getting weaker. The Wheel spun out the Dragon because the Seals needed to be remade. If they are not remade, I would guess that the barrier which keeps the DO imprisoned still remaines, but he would still have alot of influence on the world.

The Dragon needs to break the old seals, to be able to patch it up nicely, right? So he breaks the seals and patches up the Bore again.

But why is he not killed, earlier in the series? Somewhere in this thread, someone said the it might be because the Dragon is the only one who can destroy the seals. I do not agree with this. However, I'd bet a gold mark that he's the only one able to track them down(or pull them towards him, ta'veren style). The Shadow would not risk to kill him, because then the seals would not have been found. Or something like that.

 

I believe this is the reason for not killing Rand in the earlier books. And please excuse my lack of english skills, I'm Norwegian

Btw, please correct me, if my theory is too thin.

Edit; Spelling

[Hadilmir]

LTT and the forces of Light were betrayed by the female channelers in the moment of their greatest need and hence could only employ half the OP to imprison the DO in his strike on Shayol Ghul. Great acts can only work in union. This is why LTT reborn this time around secured that such treachery (as Egwene seems intent on repeating) will not damage the cause of humanity again by having had Aes Sedai swear fealty to him and also have other female channeler retainers among the Aiel/Windfinders loyal to him as their leader.

Whoa, calling the Fateful Concord treachery is a pretty big stretch considering LTT's plan was flawed anyway. The way the hundred companions sealed the Bore would have tainted both halves if the female Aes Sedai had been involved. He was right that they needed to work together, but his method for sealing the Bore was almost as wrong as the Choedan Kal plan. Rand 'doing it right this time' will involve not only having Saidar and Saidin work together, but also sealing away the Dark One in a different way.

 

I can't help but read your post in a biased voice...