Originally this theory was intended only to explain a puzzling Jordan's answer about Mat's luck. But this explanation resulted in major implications about the nature of Mordeth's special talents and Shadar Logoth's supernatural element as consequence, and that's why I posted this theory under the Padan Fain category.

Part I: Mat's Luck

One of the answers RJ gave at DragonCon was the following:

"Question: In the Dragon Reborn, Lanfear visits Mat as he is recuperating from his one power surgery over the dagger. At one point she stretches out her hand towards him and he feels a tingle going over him, somebody interrupts them, and she turns her head and sobs, at about the same time a member of Black Ajah stole angreal and ter’angreal out of the tower cache, one of which was a ter’angreal that was known to have some effect on chance. So it was about this time that Mat’s really really really weird luck and the dice rolling in his head began, is this a connection or coincidence.

Jordan: That is a coincidence. When they say that Mat has the Dark One’s own luck, he can get as mad as he wants to, but in a way it is true. It wasn’t a gift from Lanfear, though."

I needed lot of time before I could think out anything believable about this revelation. Before I read this, I strongly believed that Mat's luck was ta'veren and nothing more. There's seems to be nothing such in Mat's luck that the tel'maral'alein wouldn't explain without any difficulties. But here Jordan says directly that something in Mat's luck originates from the Shadow. Mat is still a ta'veren and lot of his luck is normal ta'veren luck, but there must be also something from the Shadow. What could this mean? What and when the heck Mat received any gift from the Shadow, save the "own luck" of the Dark One?

Before answering this question let take a closer look of how Mat's extreme luck begun. The night in Tar Valon is the most visible manifestation of this beginning, but it's not the real beginning of Mat's unusual luck. As Mat himself reveals in his poV in this very night (tDR, ch.30):

quote: "He knew he was lucky. He could remember always being lucky. But somehow, his memories from Emond's Field did not show him as lucky as he had been since leaving. Certainly he had gotten away with a great deal, but he could remember also being caught in pranks he had been sure would succeed. His mother had always seemed to know what he was up to, and Nynaeve able to see through whatever defenses he put up. But it was not just since leaving the Two Rivers that he had become lucky. The luck had come once he took the dagger from Shadar Logoth. He remembered playing at dice back home, with a sharp-eyed, skinny man who worked for a merchant come down from Baerlon to buy tabac. He remembered the strapping his father had given him, too, on learning Mat owed the man a silver mark and four pence."

Mat always been lucky stuff here is insignificant, Mat feels how a different, unusual luck came to him after Shadar Logoth. The timing speaks so much here: we have to seek for the reason of Mat's luck first in Shadar Logoth and only after that on any other place. After mat was healed from the dagger, his luck gained after Shadar Logoth was only unleashed. Well, but why Shadar Logoth if Jordan mentioned a completely different Evil behind Mat's luck? Isn't "Dark One's own luck" exactly the opposite of anything to be eventually found in Shadar Logoth? Yes, it is opposite, and exactly that is my point. I'm stating that BECAUSE Shadar Logoth is the opposite of the Shadow, the dagger caused the DO's luck becoming part of Mat. An odd statement for the first glance, right?

Let see what consequences bearing the ruby dagger by Mat has for the Shadow:

quote: "Isabel: How did Aginor manage to sense the Shadar Logoth dagger in the eotw?

RJ: It’s an effect of resonance. The dagger is the same evil as the evil of Shadar Logoth. You can say it’s diametrically opposite to the taint, that’s the evil on saidin. Rand, in one point in Shadar Logoth feels it repulsing with each other. And especially in the wounds on his side. There is a resonance created. A positive and negative pulse of evil, you might say."

Now my theory: When Mat took the dagger from Shadar Logoth, it infected him, so Mat's whole thread became associated with the SL evil. So Mat became a source of resonances with the Shadow's evil. Opposites in WoT metaphysics both repel and attract each other, independently of what both opposites want. So Mat due to him being bearer of SL-Evil attracted something from the DO-Evil. Some of these resonance effects made him easy target to be detected by Aginor and Balthamel. But there may be also other resonance effects. If Mat's thread will cause resonance with the Shadow, it will most likely do it with some Shadow's metaphysical equivalent of something of Mat's properties. One of Mat's properties is that he is ta'veren. So if DO has some equivalent of the ta'veren function, it is likely that the resonance will occur between this DO's luck and the SL-infected ta'veren. So Mat gained literary the DO's own luck due to resonance with the dagger.

And DO has some equivalent of Wheel's ta'veren function. Even if the mentioned "DO's own luck" could be just a figure of speech, DO will have an equivalent of Wheel's luck. Because the ta'veren are also described as "lucky" from a human perspective. From Wheel's PoV the whole ta'veren's "luck" is nothing else but altering the Pattern so that it could be fixed while the ta'veren is only the focal point. In DO's perspective it would mean the same. From a human perspective it would appear as something describable as "luck". Because what is "luck"? It's when events and circumstances in the world, that shouldn't depend on you, are too much in your favor. If one (e.g. the Dark One) is altering the Pattern itself (i.e. all the events and circumstances) in his favor, the effect is the same as the effect of "luck". From a human point of view the symptoms are similar, and the phaenomenon is likely to be called with the same name. People can call the fact that Rand gets the events needed for the Dragon to do Dragon's deeds Rand's "luck", and it isn't a traditional "luck", but people can still call it "luck".

What is said to be DO's ultimate goal after he would escape? To re-build the Pattern. I.e. from DO perspective it's a task similar to Wheel's task to use a ta'veren. Even before DO escapes he seems to be able to influence the world's very reality in very serious manner (especially at Shayol Ghul). The Pattern is the reality and nothing is outside the Pattern, so DO is actually re-arranging the Pattern. In a degree of course. But this means that he has an ability. He doesn't belong to the Pattern, but he has resource to re-arrange the reality. Re-arranging the Pattern in own favor is another way to speak about metaphysical luck. There is such thing like "DO's own luck".

Further, we see that something from DO's metaphysical forces to inflict the reality exists and acts as it seems without a direct will of the Dark One. The Bubbles of Evil for example seem to be accidental miasms independent of DO's explicit will. But the most striking example of Shadow-originated entity independent of the Dark One is the Machin Shin. Machin Shin is especially interesting here because it is also involved into the Shadow-SL resonances:

quote: "In the Great Hunt when Rand, Mat and Perrin are trying to enter the Ways Machin Shin is waiting there for them. It seems like Padan Fain has been waiting there for them. Is Machin Shin in any way related to the evil of Shadar Logoth?

RJ: In some ways. Machin Shin is linked or you might say drawn to that. It’s not a matter of linked, but more attracted by. In much the same ways as I spoke about the evils being attracted to one another due to opposite polarities. (Shadar Logoth and the Taint). In the same way there is an attraction because Machin Shin was created in effect by the Taint. It grew out. You can see is at a fungus that was constructed with the wrong type of materials. If you think about it as that way you get a more idea about its true nature."

I think that the resonance between Mat's dagger-infected Web of Destiny and DO's own luck created some parasitic standing effect on Mat, derived from the Dark essence, but standalone from the Dark one and adding additional Wheel-free features to Pattern-re-arranging capacities, a sort of dark plugin to his luck.

Because of it's Shadow origins, it is unleashed when Mat is Healed of the dagger. SL attracted the dark luck, but once attracted it already situated itself in Mat and doesn't need further attraction. But because being opposite to the Shadow the dagger also repelled the dark plugin and so restricted it's efficacy. With removal of the dagger the dark luck became unrestricted.

Maybe this could make Mat's mere presence at the Last Battle instrumental for Shadow's defeat, because a device of DO's luck will act independently of DO's will and could restrict the effects of DO's own luck, or just interfere in an unexpected by DO manner.

Egwene's dream about Mat playing dice against Ishamael could be an indication about dark luck balancing in game another dark luck.

But this theory has most far-going implication on Fain and the nature of Shadar Logoth Evil in general. Because if Mat unwittingly "stole" the luck of DO, then wouldn't Mordeth also steal a couple of goodies from the dark pool?

Part II: Nature of Mordeth's supernatural effects

I remember speculations about Fain being a ta'veren - something definitely not true, but if Fain has DO's luck instead of ta'verenness it could work. Because the dark luck is a Pattern re-arrangement, but it's also out of Wheel's control, because DO is outside the Pattern. This matches exactly Fain's unique wildcard position.

quote: "Question: Has the Padan Fain/Mordeth character been present in previous Ages, or is he unique to this particular Age?

RJ: He is unique to this particular Age. A very unique fellow, indeed. In some ways, you might say he has unwittingly side-stepped the Pattern."

Another quote: "- He also mentioned the fact that Fain is essentially his wild card, a character that is outside the structure of the work and can therefore act totally unpredictably."

Since everything in the world is controlled by the Pattern, side-stepping the Pattern is not something the Pattern could allow. Unless something outside the Pattern is brought into the game. But there is nothing outside the Pattern except the Creator (and Fain definitely doesn't use the Creator) and the Dark One. So there's no other thing to allow the Pattern-sidestepping save some messing up with Dark One's essence. Fain is side-stepping the Pattern, therefore he is using DO's resources.

Actually Fain doesn't express anything similar to Mat's luck. Fain/Mordeth was never a ta'veren, and there are no prerequisites for him to initiate resonances between the ta'veren and the DO's equivalent to ta'veren function as it was in the case of Mat. But Fain and Mordeth have other special properties and respective special skills.

quote: "- What is Fain? Mordeth + person. Mordeth is a human-made evil. The black wind gets along with Mordeth because of professional courtesy. Fain is anti-forsaken as well as anti-Rand. He has a lot of skills and abilities outside of channelling. He can not channel."

All that indicates that Fain is something, may I say, concurrent in some way to Pattern's luck-control. Fain is a challenge to Wheel's system of control over luck. And he has special powers of a quite evil nature. Mordeth can transmigrate himself into Fain's body - something that only DO seems to be able. Fain was able to arrange the trap for Rand in tGH when the time was hung up into an never-ending cycle - the trap with flies (RJ said it at the KoD book signings) - a very advanced skill in any case. Fain is able to torture Myrddraals and making them obey. Fain is able to "touch" a human person and make horrible things to him (as he did with the child of a darkfriend woman). All these abilities are frappant Evil, something that can be expected from Dark One's touch. Where from are these abilities? Actually the whole Shadar Logoth has powers that share the style. What does say Jordan about the Shadar Logoth supernatural element?

quote: "The Taint on Shadar Logoth did not come from the Dark One. The taint was created by humans, who believed that they must do whatever was necessary, anything that was necessary to defeat the Shadow. And because they would accept no limits to what they would do, to what could be done, to what needed to be done, they created their own destruction."

From one side RJ said here that SL-evil didn't come from DO. But from the other side it's said it's human-made. But if it is human-made, how do supernatural properties appear in it? Doesn't human-made mean made by something completely in human skills and consequences of it? SL definitely caused consequences. But WHAT was activated to bring these consequences? Is there something in the normal nature that can bring such consequences? Something besides One Power, because we know it wasn't One Power that created Shadar Logoth? Is there something else then Shadow-originated phaenomena, that could explain this effects.

If active in Shadar Logoth is not DO as sentient beings, but some side-effects of his "dark matter", it could be said that the taint of SL came not from DO. It was not from himself, because it was not from his will. But Machin Shin was also not from himself, it was only side-effect from the Taint of saidin.

Mordeth and Aridhol citizens may become so radically evil (even if in simple human evilness) that they caused a resonance with the Shadow and unwittingly (and without DO's will) downloaded some special Shadow's features. SL-evil is stolen from the Hell.