I have read the theory about Fain being the Gollum-like wildcard at the Last Battle. Now we have this, "unwittingly sidestepped outside the pattern". To me' it looks indeed certain that Fain has a vital role to play in the LB, but in which manner?

How about this:

* Fain has sidestepped the pattern; therefore, his destiny is no longer in control of the pattern.

* Remember the rather lengthy debate on how the bore could be sealed a few weeks back. Many suggestions were made that souls or threads of the pattern could be used to seal up the Bore, which seems like a good idea.

BUT... if Fain is now outside the pattern, is he still in possession of a soul? Perhaps two, counting Mordeth, or perhaps an amalgamation. To me, it seems like there is definitely a soul there, albeit in some strange form.

Now... assuming for one instance that the souls of the Forsaken were in some way connected to the original sealing of the bore, and were not only caught up in the act of sealing but actually provided some of the substance of it. These souls were in the pattern, as active threads. Therefore, at some future date, the Wheel weaved them back into a different part of the pattern, and the bore was reopened.

Now to the Fain issue. If HIS soul (which has somehow sidestepped the pattern) were to be plugged into the Bore with a OP-based crowbar, could this be the way that the Bore is finally sealed? After all, if his thread is outside the pattern, it will be very difficult if not impossible to reweave it.

In addition to this, we have the nature of Fain/Mordeth. Pure hatred of the shadow, as bad as the shadow itself, mixed with a darkfriend personally touched by the DO. How does this mixture of evil react to the 'pure' evil of the DO? The answer to this is (obviously enough) in the wound in Rand's side. I remember a quote from Damer Flinn that he could not heal Rand, but that he could lock the two differing evils away so that they would fight each other, and leave him largely untouched. So the evil caused by the Shadar Logoth dagger fights the evil of Ishy's staff/Thakandar.

If this same sort of conflict were to be instigated by lodging Fain/Mordeth into the bore, would this lock away both evils away from the pattern into some sort of private pitched battle?

Please respond. All criticism will be politely ignored :P