To be honest I don't really see that as negating the possibility that the Dark One is at least the Creator (or half of that via Rand)

It matches the gnostic inspiration for the theme you bring up, which is a Gospel of Thomas verse about a pearl found among junk.

Edit: here's the verse

(76) Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a merchant who had a consignment of merchandise and who discovered a pearl. That merchant was shrewd. He sold the merchandise and bought the pearl alone for himself. You too, seek his unfailing and enduring treasure where no moth comes near to devour and no worm destroys."

On 9/3/2019 at 10:58 PM, wotfan4472 said:

The distortions around Shayol Ghul actually helped to stop those possibilities from happening.

This, among some of the other things have begun to make me question the dark one's intentions.

I get that "evil is self defeating" but what if it's more than that.

Semirrhage was, for instance, reportedly ordered to send shadowspawn to fight shadowspawn in Tear. This isn't self defeating, this is rather intentional.

What if the Dark One was the Victor, not because he succeeded in destroying the pattern or because he swapped with the dragon, but because he acheived what he set out to achieve in raising Rand.

The way the DO communicates to Rand after he touches the shade of shaidar haran is almost like that of a teacher in the way that he criticizes rands attempts.

Perhaps the last battle is the dark one's way of repairing the bore himself, entrusting only a worthy adversary to wield those powers necessary without ruining creation. 

Think of how much the Dark One's servants pushed rand into the man he becomes. In the portal worlds and in egwenes accepted test we see a world where the two Rivers is never attacked and Rand eventually succumbs to the dark one's taint. If he really wanted to deal with Rand then he would have simply ignored him and let his very existence destroy him.

For some reason the dark one needs Rand to be the dragon.

I'm finally joining.

I've been reading the forums for quite some time and only now do I really feel ready to discuss the series. 

I've got a few crackpot ideas in my head that I haven't really seen talked about anywhere, I've seen things get pretty close but not quite in the way it seems in my head. The "big implications" kind of crazy ideas.

I won't get into it here but hopefully you all might at least find my ideas entertaining.