There are two viable theories out there right now that I think would benefit from some comparative analysis. I’m actually going to hijack my research from the two theories, so I apologize if people think my (intentional) attempt to create a new theory by bastardizing two existing theories is misplaced.

Existing theory:

(1): Alivia Will Balefire Rand's Killer After Tarmon Gai'don Existing theory

(2): The Merging of Rand and Moridin

I find certain elements of both of these theories compelling and I here propose the following new theory: Alivia will balefire Moridin (who has merged with Rand) Ozymandias offers the following quotation and analysis in his “Merging of Rand and Moridin” theory:

“TITLE: Crown of Swords, CHAPTER: 33 – A Bath “It was you and another man. I couldn’t make out either face, but I knew one was you. You touched, and seemed to merge in to one another… I don’t know what it means, Rand, except that one of you dies.” Rand interprets this to mean he and Lews Therin will merge and one will die. This is not, however, so certain. Rand only thinks this because he has not yet gone through the whole balefire incident. I think that this man he merges with almost HAS to be Moridin.”

I want to juxtapose this quote with the following from amazinglarry’s “Aliva Will Balefire Rand’s Killer After Tarmon Gai’don”:

(a)“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?"

(b) “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.”

(c)“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.”

Many have suggested that Rand and Moridin must duel to the death, as Rand is the champion of Light and Moridin is the Nae’blis, but not all struggles end in the death of one party. Much of the series operates in a classic dialectic (a theory in its own right): thesis, antithesis, mutual recognition. Think about where Rand is taking the Aes Sedai: there is thesis (female Aes Sedai), antithesis (male Aes Sedai), and mutual recognition (the unified Aes Sedai symbol of the AoL). I doubt I’m stating anything new to most readers of the series.

The merger of Rand and Moridin represents the “mutual recognition” aspect of their conflict. Rand and Moridin have faced off several times and Moridin (as Ishmael) even died on one occasion. Yet he returns and the conflict continues. Why? They have not resolved the two terms of the dialectic. Uniting the male and female Aes Sedai resolves a dialectic internal to the Light (as does removing the taint, perhaps more strongly so). But the dialectic between Light and Dark can only be resolved (until a later age) when Rand and Moridin merge.

The mechanics of how this plays out before/during Tarmon Gai’don, I will not venture. I wish to conjecture merely that Rand and Moridin not only will merge, but must merge. But can Rand survive this merger? We should think so, given what he has been told by the Aelfinn.

The next question: how can he survive? By dying. But if Rand and Moridin merge, Rand’s “dying” becomes a far simpler proposition. When Rand and Moridin merge, they are (technically) one: both are Rand, both are Moridin—they form an identity. But if they only form this identity in a technical sense, that is, if someone could distinguish the “Rand” part of the merged being from the “Moridin” part, perhaps the Moridin part could be killed.

My prediction is thus that Alivia, after (or at the end of) Tarmon Gai’don, will kill the Moridin “part” of the Rand-Moridin being. That amazinglarry suggested Alivia might use balefire has interesting implications. Perhaps Alivia will balefire Moridin so powerfully that Rand’s wounds will heal. I think it also possible that Alivia will somehow balefire Moridin enough that his effects on Lews Therin (EoTW prologue) might be undone. Perhaps that will finally allow Rand peace from Lews Therin (and fulfill Egwene’s vision that all of the masks will resolve into Rand’s true face).