Moridin, Rand, Death, and a little Fain on the Side

[Jarraad]

So I just finished my re-read, and when I got to the prophecy that Moridin shows Graendal in ToM:

 

"Lo, it shall come upon the world that the prison of the Greatest One shall grow weak, like the limbs of those who crafted it. Once again, His glorious cloak shall smother the Pattern of all things, and the Great Lord shall stretch forth His hand to claim what is His. The rebellious nations shall be laid barren, their children caused to weep. There shall be none but Him, and those who have turned their eyes to His majesty. In that day, when the One-Eyed Fool travels the halls of mourning, and the First Among Vermin lifts his hand to bring freedom to Him who will Destroy, the last days of the Fallen Blacksmith's pride shall come. Yea, and the Broken Wolf, the one whom Death has known, shall fall and be consumed by the Midnight Towers. And his destruction shall bring fear and sorrow to the hearts of men, and shall shake their very will itself. And then shall the Lord of the Evening come. And He shall take our eyes, for our souls shall bow before Him, and he shall take our skin, for our flesh shall serve Him, and He shall take our lips, for only Him will we praise. And the Lord of the Evening shall face the Broken Champion, and shall spill his blood and bring us the Darkness so beautiful. Let the screams begin, O followers of the Shadow. Beg for your destruction!

 

The relevant portion is in bold. Couple this with the standard prophecy of Rand's blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul to save the world and that to live Rand must die, and this portion of the prophecy makes little sense, as the portion in bold seems to indicate that if Rand dies at Shayol Ghul, it will bring the darkness, unless it is the Lord of the Evening's (moridin) blood that must be spilled to bring the darkness. This does make sense given that Moridin is Rand's counterpoint for the shadow.

 

Furthermore, given their strange "bond" I think that it is distinctly possible that if one of them were fatally wounded the other would die and leave the wounded one to live. I came to this conclusion because Rand feels like his missing hand is really there, and Moridin seems to be slowly using the use of his left hand. The implication of this is that Rand's blood on the rocks means death for Moridin, and thus the death of the Shadow's champion, and Moridin's blood on the rocks means death for Rand and victory for the Shadow. This also reinforces the "to live you must die" prophecy. This essentially means that Moridin cannot be killed by the opposing side and neither can Rand, and members of their own sides are not going to kill either of them, so you need a "neutral party." This neutral party could be Fain, who wants very badly to kill Rand, and seems to be moving towards SG.

 

Personally this is how I see the end. This is, of course assuming that the "to live you must die" prophecy has not been fulfilled, and that the "three women around a funeral bier" is simply a metaphor.