I’ve been lurking on this site for the past few years, occasionally making posts in response to theories and on the message boards. This is the first formal theory I’ve written up, though.

In WH Ch. 25, Min has a viewing that Alivia will help Rand die.

""You said she was going to help me die," he said quietly. "Those were your words." How would he feel at dying?"

There are numerous other places in the series where it is implied that Rand will die in TG, such as the line about “his blood on the rocks at Shayol Ghul” from the Karaethon Cycle (TSR Ch. 3).

In KoD, however, we find out that Rand asked the Aelfinn how to win TG and survive, and they told him “to live, you must die.” This is obviously confusing and contradictory, but nonetheless it strongly implies that Rand has a chance to survive the Last Battle, otherwise they would have simply told him “no way.” This also fits in with Jordan’s tendency to keep all of his main characters alive. One could argue that the Aelfinn didn’t literally mean that Rand would live, but maybe that he would exist in T’A’R as the other heroes of the horn do between lives. I think the literal interpretation is more likely, though, because Jordan’s foreshadowing often uses very straightforward symbolism (for example, Thom pulling Moraine’s blue stone out of a fire indicating that he’s going to go on the rescue mission). Also, Jordan has clearly set Rand up as a messiah figure, so it makes sense that Rand will die and be resurrected like Jesus was in the Bible.

So how does Min’s viewing of Alivia fit in with Rand’s survival? I think it means that Alivia is going to “help Rand die” by balefiring his killer, bringing Rand back to life. I predict that, after the seals are broken, Rand will repair the bore in the way that Lews Therin and company originally intended using a combination of male and female channelers. The specifics of how this will be done will come from Lews Therin’s voice in Rand’s head. After (or perhaps during), someone will kill Rand, the most likely candidates being Moridin and Padan Fain. The bore will be successfully sealed, though. Rand’s body will somehow end up on a boat with Elayne, Min and Aviendha, fulfilling Nicola’s Foretelling from LOC Ch. 14. At this point, Alivia will hit Rand’s killer with a blast of balefire, which will be perfectly timed such that it brings Rand back to life but does not undo his work in the bore-closing.

Recall that the Aelfinn told Mat he would “die and live again” in TSR Ch. 15, a contradictory prediction very similar to the Aelfinn’s answer to Rand’s question. Mat’s prediction was fulfilled when Rahvin killed Mat, then Rand balefired Rahvin, bringing Mat back.

We also know that Rand’s conflict with Lews Therin’s voice and Moridin’s face in his head will be resolved. In TPOD Ch. 15, Egwene dreams of “Rand, wearing different masks, until suddenly one of those false faces was no longer a mask, but him.” I think it’s possible that the balefiring incident will cure Rand, although other explanations are also likely. Moridin’s death will probably break his connection with Rand, and LTT’s voice could be Healed by Nynaeve, perhaps after extracting knowledge from Semirhage, who seemed to know about the phenomenon when she was captured. This is not a critical part of the theory, just an aside.

Others have proposed that Rand will be killed, but will live on after Nynaeve Heals his death. I think my theory makes more sense. Healing death is implausible and opens too big of a can of worms for RJ to realistically include it in the story.

Technically, I suppose I am arguing that Alivia will help Rand live, not help him die. I think this can be rationalized, though, simply because Alivia is the key participant in the process of Rand’s death and resurrection.