On 1/2/2019 at 10:06 PM, Lord English said:

Soooo....Is there any official/canonical art? Also, do we have any specific details on Perrin & Slayer e.g. height, weight, etcetera

I don't know if it helps any, but Slayer would look similar to either Rand or Lan, depending on which form he's in (Luc or Isam). So they could be used as a starting point if you have anything for either of those? I tend to picture Lan as looking like a younger and more built version of Ken Watanabe's character in The Last Samurai, but that's just headcanon.

For Perrin, being a blacksmith, you'll want to have huge, broad shoulders and very muscular arms as a starting point.

I appreciate this probably isn't particularly helpful, tho.

The thing that would count against Rand being the Creator for me (other than the fact I personally don't feel it would be narratively satisfying) is that the Creator speaks to him a couple of times.

Oh, I guess you could go down the God/Jesus thing where they're the same but not the same, so to speak, but I think it's better that Rand is simply the Creator's Champion rather than the Creator Incarnate.

I always felt that Fain had a sort of "Gollum" style ending in store, but with a twist.

Bear with me here, but play along:

Rand has the Dark One contained, using the three-powered 'fist' to hold him, but he's crippled with indecision. He knows he can't kill him, or the Twisted Victory happens, he thinks just resealing him will not be enough, and certainly can't let him go. Is he to be trapped there forever, holding the Dark One at bay but never able to 'win'? Is hope fading?

He doesn't know what to do. He's stuck. But then, seemingly from nowhere, and fulfilling the original "desire" of Ardhol/SL to fight the Shadow, Mashadar/Fain (or whatever it decides to be called at that point) surges past him and strikes at the Dark One himself, landing a killing blow. Screaming about how al'Thor belongs to him. Getting Fain his revenge at the tortures the Dark One put him through, etc.

Rand is horrified. The Dark One is dead, there is nothing now to create the contrast that allows people to *choose* to be good, rather than be forced to it. But wait, just as nature abhors a vacuum, the Pattern demands and needs a Dark One, and at that moment, Fain is sucked into the Dark One's prison as a substitute, and Rand then reforges the prison to contain him for all time.

So Fain's huge build has a resolution, Rand gets to die/live as before, the day is won, and Fain is eliminated in (imho) a more satisfying manner than Mat simply stabbing him with the dagger.

Ok, call me names now. :D