Hello, and welcome back to another exciting edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog. This time, our topic is about the nature of the fight between Rand and the Dark One in A Memory of Light. But first, please remember: SPOILER WARNING. This will include content from A Memory of Light. Please DO NOT read this if you have not completed the book. Rand has a plan when he goes to Shayol Ghul to fight the Dark One. We know from other sources that Rand's ideas of the Dark One's nature are far off. Verin says: And we see Verin is correct when we actually get to the battle between Rand and the Dark One. Rand is taken outside the Pattern, and their duel is not physical, or even really combative. More than anything, they try to exert their will strongly enough to overcome the other. And in this way, would Rand's goal of actually killing the Dark One even work? Many people within the series agree it's a dumb idea. First Moridin brings it up. And Moiraine agrees with the Forsaken. And when we finally get to the scenes in A Memory of Light where Rand and the Dark One have direct interaction, the fight does go differently than most of us suspected. In a way, they play a game of "What If?" The Dark One shows Rand the way the world would be if he was in control. Rand responds with different ways he would make the world. They go back and forth, using threads of the Pattern to create a reality around them. The interesting point is when Rand creates a world where there is no Dark One. We see that without the Dark One, without evil, the world becomes a different sort of twisted place. Let's look at the ending of that scene. It seems that without the threat of evil, the population doesn't have anything to make them strong, anything to fight against. That changes them into mindless robots. They are unable to make choices—they no longer have free will. The Dark One even points out how it is the same to remove all their good qualities to remove all their bad. However, look at how easily the Dark One persuades Rand that this is not the right course of action. It seems a little too neat. The example fits in entirely too well with what the Dark One says he wants. Would the Dark One really have surrendered to being killed if this was the outcome? I highly doubt it. That leads to a possible conclusion: the Dark One is tricking Rand. Rand is ta'veren. He is the Champion for the Creator. But he is not the Creator. The Dark One, trapped outside the Pattern, may have the ability to weave threads of the Pattern, but can we be certain that Rand is able to copy that ability? Can we be certain that it is indeed Rand's vision, and not another of the Dark One's? There has been some speculation by fans already that this was just another ploy by the Dark One to save himself. It's reverse psychology, of sorts. If the Dark One says, "Yes, that's a fine plan," naturally Rand will not do it. Or, if the Dark One himself didn't create that vision, could it have been the actual Pattern? Would the Pattern get out of balance if the Dark One were killed? It would even take the side of the Shadow to keep itself preserved. So, it seems plausible it could be either the Dark One or the Pattern. Okay, now for the argument. The epilogue of A Memory of Light shows Rand being able to light his pipe with his will. This is very similar to how he and the Dark One dueled. They both used their will to make weaves form a different future for the Pattern. Rand seems to have that ability now that he's in the real world. This would suggest he was actually weaving the threads outside the Pattern. Regardless if Rand was the creator of that one vision, we cannot know for certain if the Dark One tampered with it, or added in his own threads to make the people seem changed. From this, I think we can argue that Rand was manipulated into not killing the Dark One. Most likely, I think, by the Dark One himself. Because in this scenario, it's assumed that all evil, all bad things, derive from the Dark One. That's completely illogical. Even without the Dark One, there would still be accidents, people would stub their toes and curse, plants would die from drought or from insects. Greed, ambition, selfishness are not necessarily evil traits. They would still be in abundance if the Dark One were not influencing the world. The Creator, who made all things, had to be responsible for allowing bad things to happen. To me, this shows that Rand could have killed the Dark One, and the world would have survived without him. It might have even broken the Wheel—as we've talked about in past blogs—and made time linear. However, Rand's decision seems to be forced upon him; Rand wouldn't willingly give the Dark One something he wanted. Was it the correct decision? Probably in this case. Rand had been guided to this decision by many people—good and bad—and perhaps even the Pattern itself. But that doesn't mean he wasn't tricked into making this choice. Maybe in the next Third Age, he will decide to go through with killing the Dark One anyway. That's all for this edition. Next week, I have an announcement that will change the flow of "WoT If?" a little bit. So join us for the surprise! Thanks for reading.