I think Egwene is Eldrene reborn. Both Eldrene and Egwene were powerful Aes Sedai that died battling the shadow. Both died after the death of their Warders/husbands because they drew too much power in order to defeat the shadow and protect their people and their land. The fact that Egwene could almost understand the Old Tounge, backs that to me.

I came by to say the same thing. The parallels between Egwene and Eldrene are significant. It extends beyond the simple way of death - Eldrene had a rival in the white tower (Tetsuan) who was a Red and who became Amyrlin Seat before being stripped of the title, and whose actions benefited the Shadow despite not being a darkfriend herself - sounds like Elaida to me. Egwene would have chosen the Green, she notes at one point, as Eldrene is speculated to have.

Also note the parallel with Rand/Lews Therin, in that Lews Therin and Eldrene both drew too much of the One Power, and Rand and Egwene were both born right next to the most notable geographical feature created by that action (in Eldrene/Egwene's case, the Winespring, which bubbles up right where the Inn is).

You seem to have missed something important.

Yes, Moiraine didn't have a big impact on Rand's mood when she turned up - he had already had his light epiphany. But simply by reappearing, Moiraine did something that nobody else did, nobody else in the world could possibly have done - be removed from Rand's list of people that died because of him.

As YouMayCallMeElci points out, she also was vital in establishing the Dragon's Peace, which not only unified the nations, but also brought in the support of the Seanchan. Without that, infighting would have left Rand with a very different view of events from within the Dark One's void. And it was Rand's final epiphany, due to seeing 'his people' fighting on when all seemed lost, that allowed him to do what he needed to do.

Oh, and who else would have made more sense as the third person in Shayol Ghul? Aviendha? She needed to take out Graendal. Elayne? Other than being the only one who could be the leader at Merrilor, she was also pregnant, which made that a foolhardy option. Alivia? Rand needed people he could trust. Egwene? She needed to die to show Rand how to fight, so she couldn't be there. Which other channeller would Rand have trusted enough? The closest is Cadsuane... but in as much as Rand had forgiven her, it never seemed like he truly trusted her the way he did Moiraine, Nynaeve, Aviendha, Egwene, and Elayne.

So who would have been the second woman if not for Moiraine? Probably Aviendha... which would probably have resulted in an army of compelled Aiel and soldiers on the foothills of Shayol Ghul marching in to defeat the three.

But then, it's worth noting that all of the major (and many minor) characters had their parts to play. If not for Gawyn, Egwene wouldn't have been so foolhardy as to put herself in a balefirefight with M'Hael, which resulted in the Flame of Tar Valon weave discovery and Egwene's death, two events that were essential to victory. And if not for him, Galad wouldn't have risked his life to take on Demandred, which ultimately resulted in Lan defeating Demandred. That's just one example of a character's important role to play in events. So saying that Moiraine is the saviour is a little bit of a stretch - it's that her presence was one that was necessary for the world to survive. Just one of many threads that were necessary.

I feel I must point out that Mordeth couldn't possibly have asked the Aelfinn about how to defeat the Dark One. It's made quite clear that one cannot ask questions that touch upon the Dark One (and my theory on why is that their ability to read the pattern is like a beefed up version of Min's ability - note that she hasn't ever been able to identify a darkfriend, or otherwise see things to do with the Dark One, with her ability).

On the other hand, it is possible that he asked them about objects capable of ensuring the ongoing survival of humanity; the objects could be the powerful things that were mentioned above, and the way that they would be able to ensure the ongoing survival, indirectly, is that, without having to do with the Dark One, they'll still be able to completely destroy the Dark One. But it wasn't time for them, yet, so the items just destroyed Mordeth, corrupting him and then Aridhol.

Either that, or he did go in there asking for information about the Dark One, and the information they gave, and the items the Eelfinn gave, corrupted him - hence the prohibition on asking things touching on the Dark One.

I have an alternate theory as to what the Eye of the World really was meant to do.

I think it was meant to provide a "clean" Saidin source to protect the Seals from the Dark One's taint (since they're practically in direct contact with the bore, the Dark One would just need to wear them down... leading to the question of why the seals lasted so long, but are now falling apart).

So essentially, the Eye provides a safe source of Saidin that is connected to the Seals, and keeps them from decaying and crumbling due to the taint (not unlike what happened in the Ways). When Rand used the Saidin of the Eye, it removed this protection, and the Seals began to weaken - at first, just being weak enough to be capable of being damaged by cutting, but eventually to the point that destroying them would be as trivial as dropping them from a short height.

It might also explain why Aginor so wanted the Eye - if he could be the one to break open the seal, he'd be nae'blis. The first step to that would be to deal with the Eye itself, and then he'd just have to destroy the seals physically, one by one.

Note that the Seals are half black cuendillar, half white cuendillar... which seems like it might mean half-male and half-female created... if true, then they weren't made at the sealing of the bore; maybe they were made at the same time as the creation of the Eye, an event that involved both males and females. This would also explain why the old Aes Sedai symbol was used on it - because it involved a unified effort.

So yeah, I think the Eye was the protector of the Seals (not physically, but in terms of the One Power), and as Herid Fel pointed out, you have to destroy the seal before you can undo the bore, so using the Eye was necessary. In effect, the Eye existed purely for the purpose of delaying the weakening of the Dark One's prison.

Mind you, that isn't to say that the seal wasn't already weakening. Even the Eye wouldn't hold it off forever, and the seal had weakened just enough that Aginor and Balthamel could get free, since they were sealed so close to the surface of it. But the use of the Eye's power by Rand allowed the seal to weaken rapidly, releasing the other Forsaken and producing decay of the physical Seals at a rate far beyond what it had been in the previous 3000 years.

The placement of one Seal inside the Eye was essentially a protection mechanism, so that even if the other seals were broken after some decay, one seal would remain protected until the Eye was used up.

Has anyone considered the possibility that Egwene seeing the teardrop+fang in the window might actually not be a reference to male and female channellers, but to the seals? As I recall, the seals have the same ancient Aes Sedai symbol on them.

So, could it be that her vision in T'A'R was actually a way to say "when the seals are broken, so too will the White Tower be broken"? After all, the second attack on Tar Valon is on its way while much of the Aes Sedai are on the plains. There's a good chance that Rand (or possibly someone else) will break the seals, and right around the same time, the attack on Tar Valon begin.

Alternatively, T'A'R is known to show people what they need - usually, this is done intentionally, but Egwene is a dreamwalker, perhaps it happens automatically for her. She needed to see that symbol in the white tower, to make her realise that she needs to mend the Aes Sedai, female and male, into a cohesive whole again. This could also tie to the seals, which also have the symbol, and may act as the other half of the reminder - it is when she sees the seals that she will need to realise the need.

I always thought that Great Arvalon was just a slight distortion of "Great Tar Valon". "Taralan" seems like it's more likely to be a distortion of Tarabon or some blending of Tear and Illian.

I do expect the White Tower to be "replaced" by an organisation containing both Male and Female channellers. But I think the organisation will simply be based in Great Arvalon.

Oh, and "Gray Tower" doesn't make sense, as it wouldn't just be males and females blended together, it would have two "parts", hence the teardrop and fang.