This is my first attempt at a theory. I have enjoyed reading all of yours, and hope anything I do is half as good. Okay. The purpose of this theory is to find out what Rand will do in the last book of the series. To accomplish this, I will go thru the topics one at a time.

1.The Seanchan - We know that Rand refuses to fight the DO until a truce has been made with the Seanchan. His first attempt failed miserably, but he is still insisting on meeting with the Daughter of the Nine Moons, or Tuon. This must happen because of two prophecies:

(The Dragon Reborn: Chapter Six, The Hunt Begins, Page 57)

Moiraine in conversation:

He has yet to break the nations, or shatter the world... What does it mean that he shall slay his people with the sword of peace and destroy them with the leaf? What does it mean that he shall bind the nine moons to serve him? There are others. What wound of madness and cutting up of hope has he healed? What chains has he broken, and who put into chains?

And then:

(Knife of Dreams: Chapter 18, News For The Dragon, Page 395)

Rand dropped back into his chair, stretching his legs in front of him and crossing his ankles. "It doesn't matter how unpopular it is. I went through that doorframe ter'angreal in Tear, Cadsuane. You know about that?" Golden ornaments bobbled as she nodded impatiently. "One of my questions for the Aelfinn was 'How can I win the Last Battle?' "

"A dangerous question to pose," she said quietly, "touching on the Shadow as it does. Supposedly, the results can be quite unpleasant. What was the answer?"

" 'The north and the east must be as one. The west and the south must be as one. The two must be as one.' "

There is another reference in the Prophecies of the Dragon that is about the same as the Aelfinn's answer. What this all adds up to is that Rand must meet with Tuon and make a truce. There is no other way. If he does not, the Light will lose the Last Battle. This meeting should be made easier now that Mat is married to her; you would assume one of them would bring it up. Where this meeting will be held, I'm not sure, but I don't see it in Tuon to try and pull any dirty tricks on Rand, and Rand knows he can't afford to if he wants to win. This must be done.

2.Shara - We know RJ has said that there will be no expediations into Shara or Seanchan, so Rand going over there is impossible. The Sharans themselves seem content to let the people in Randland handle all of the world's problems themselves. They will not cross the bordor or try to influence Rand in any way, so Rand does not have to worry about them at all.

3.The Borderlands - Rand, in his thoughts and actions, has almost totally ignored the Bordorlands, the place in Randland where the Last Battle will mostly affect. They are eager to meet with him,but he won't have to go there to meet them if Verin is already there. I know this part of my theory is based on Callandor's Verin theory, but it does make sense. If Verin somehow dosen't end up with the Bordorland army, Rand dosen't have to meet with them. Lan is up north raising the Golden Crane; that will surely cause any soldier who isn't with the Bordorland army to join up. The Army itself, it will probarly hike itself back up home when they get word of the Last Battle approaching. And if they don't, it would be nice to have a lot of Borderland trained soldiers in the middle of Randland just in case. But in any case, Verin is going to meet with them, and that will be settled without any direct influence from Rand.

4.Moiraine - We found out in KOD that Thom and Mat are going to rescue Moiraine with the help of a third person. It is very unlikely that is to be Rand. All signs seem to point to Noal.and even if Mat wanted Rand's help, he has no way of contacting him. But, when she is rescued, as Min's viewings indicate, and we know Min is always right, it seems that she will need to meet with Rand, or at the very least be at the Last Battle, due to this:

(A Crown Of Swords: Chapter 35, Into The Woods, Page 543)

Min in thought:

"He would almost certainly fail without a woman that was dead and gone..."

Rand would not be able to find out about Moiraine right away, she would more then likely have to come to him. As to what she can do to help Rand, maybe its something earned through the red doorframe. In all likelyhood, she will not be able to channel. That should be able to be fixed (hopefully by Flinn). Or her help could be killing someone in the Last Battle. A big, bloody, drawn out fight between her and Cyndane would be quite pleasing. In any case, Rand will not have to help free Moiraine.

5.Cadsuane - Rand must learn something from Cadsuane, according to Min:

(A Crown Of Swords : Chapter 41, A Crown of Swords, Page 642)

Min, talking to Rand :

"It's Cadsuane. She is going to teach you something, you and the Asha'man. All the Asha'man, I mean. It's something you have to learn, but I don't know what it is, expect that none of you will like learning it from her. You aren't going to like it at all."

We learn what Cadsuane is going to teach Rand and all of the Asha'man in these three excerpts:

(The Path Of Daggers : Chapter 12, New Alliances, Page 310 Paperback)

"Do you believe that a man must be hard?" she asked. She was taking a chance."Or strong?" By her tone, she left no doubt she saw a difference.

Again Sorilea touched her tray; the smallest of smiles might have quirked her lips for an instant. Or not. "Most men see the two as the one and the same, Cadsuane Melaidhrin. Strong endures; hard shatters."

Cadsuane drew breath. A chance she would have scoured anyone else for taking. But she was not anyone else, and sometimes chances had to be taken. "The boy confuses them," she said. "He needs to be strong, and makes himself harder. Too hard, already, and he will not stop until he is stopped. He has forgotten how to laugh except in bitterness; there are no tears left in him. Unless he finds laughter and tears again, the world faces disaster. He must learn that even the Dragon Reborn is flesh. If he goes to Tarmon Gai'don as he is, even his victory may be as dark as his defeat."

And on the next page:

"I offer you water oath," she said solemnly, picking up one of the cups. "By this, we are bound as one, to teach Rand al'Thor laughter and tears." She sipped, and Cadsuane imitated her.

Then there is this interesting excerpt:

(Winter's Heart : Chapter 25, Bonds, Page 573-74 Paperback)

Cadsuane talking to Verin:

"Verin, he can do whatever his heart desires, anything at all, as long as he lives to reach Tarmon Gai'don. And as long as I can be at his side long enough to make him learn how to laugh again, and cry." Closing her eyes, she rubbed her temples with her fingertips and sighed. "He is turning into a stone, Verin, and if he dosen't relearn that he is human, winning the Last Battle may not be much better then losing. Young Min told him he needs me; I got that much out of her without rousing her suspicions. But I must wait for him to come to me. You see the way he runs roughshed over Alanna and the others. It will be hard enough teaching him, if he does ask. He fights guidance, he thinks he must do everything, learn everything, on his own, and if I don't make him work for it, he won't learn at all." Her hands dropped into the emboidory hoop on her lap."I seem to be in a confident mood tonight. Unusual, for me. If you ever finish pouring that tea, I might confide some more."

"Oh yes; of course." Hastily filling a second cup, Verin slipped the small vial back into her pouch unopened. It was good to be sure of Cadsuane at last. "Do you take honey," she asked in her most muddled voice. "I can never remember."

From all of that we can infer that Cadsuane must teach Rand, and even more fascinating, all the Asha'man, that strong is not hard, and laughter and tears. Cadsuane must wait for Rand to come to her. It seems that unless something major happpens, this could take a good bit of time, for when we last saw Rand, he did not seem anywhere near approaching Cadsuane.

Now the part in Min's viewing about all of the Asha'man learning from Cadsuane as well. This could be tricky. Rand has some Asha'man with him, about half are in Arad Domon, and the other half at the Black Tower with the mysterious Taim. It seems unlikely that Cadsuane will teach all the Asha'man at once, with how spread out they are. An event of signifcant magnitude must occur for word of mouth to spread that far. I doubt if there is enough time left for her to teach Rand the normal way, the way she wants to. What I think could end up happening is she will end up taking on Taim. That certainly would cause ripples throughout the Black Tower. If they both die, or she or Taim, anyway it seems they will learn something. This would also purge the Black Tower of Dreadlords, at least somewhat.

All in all, it dosen't matter how it is done, but it must happen.

6.The Whitecloaks - Galad is now Lord Captin Commander of a considerable weaked Whitecloak army. They are still strong enough to make an impact. Galad would not go looking for Rand like Gawyn would, he know the Dragon Reborn must live. I look for Galad to turn the Whitecloaks in a new direction, with Berelain's help, of course. Rand would not be needed in any of this.

7.The Seven Seals - We know Rand will not make a move against Shayol Ghul until he has all seven seals, or in this case, at least knows where they are, and if they are broken or not. As of the end of KOD, he has three intact seals in his pocession, even through a three year old with a plastic hammer could break them. He knows of three that have been broken. The only one he dosen't know about is the one Nynaeve found, and later broke, on her way to Salidar:

(Crossroads Of Twilight : Chapter 24, A Strengthening Storm, Page 675 Paperback)

Bashere speaking:

"You have three, and you say three are broken. Maybe the Shadow knows where the last is."

If only he would just talk to Nynaeve. It's bound to happen sometime, unless he is forced to press forward without knowing the truth of it all. He holds the remaining three intact seals, but he thinks one is still out there, waiting to be found, or maybe in the hands of the Shadow. This is a problem. He could waste valuable time looking for it. This is something he dosne't have to do, but might. I would look for him to bring them up in conversation somehow. The answer is right in front of him.

8.The Madness - The taint is gone, but Lews Therin is still there. Rand can still go insane at anytime. Semirhage has more to say on the matter:

(Knife Of Dreams : Chapter 27, A Plain Wooden Box, Page 592)

Semirhage saved him the effort of thinking up a lie. "He's insane," she said coolly. Standing there stiff as a statue, Min's knife hilt still sticking out beside her collarbone and the front of her black dress glistening with blood, she might have been a queen on her throne. "Graendal could explain it better then I. Madness was her speciality. I will try, however. You know of people who hear voices in their heads? Sometimes, very rarely, the voices they hear are voices of past lives. Lanfear claimed he knew things from our own Age, things only Lews Therin Telamon could know. Clearly, he is hearing Lews Therin's voice. It makes no difference that his voice is real, however. In fact, that makes his situation worse. Even Graendal usually failed to acheive reintegration with someone who heard a real voice. I understand the descent into terminal madness can be. . .abrupt." Her lips curved in a smile that never touched her dark eyes.

Now I believe Semirhage is telling the truth right here. One, it all makes sense. Two, this would make Rand's followers uneasy about being around him. While that may seem like a good reason to lie, simply telling the truth would work as well. And finally, I just have that gut feeling that this is the truth.

Semirhage did give Rand one useful bit of information here. It can be healed. She said Graendal "usually" failed to perform reintegration with someone like Rand. Now I don't think it is likely that Rand is going to go capture Graendal and force her to do this. But with all the new discoveries being made, maybe one of the faithful Asha'man can find this. Or maybe Semirhage knows how to do it and Cadsuane can get it out of her. But in any case, I think Rand is going to need Lews Therin's voice for the Last Battle. But afterwards, if Lews Therin is still there? This is not something Rand needs done unless his situation gets much worse, and even then I don't think it will get done.

9.The Seanchan attack on the White Tower - Here are all the quotes I dug up on the subject:

(The Shadow Rising : Chapter 1, Seeds of Shadow, Pages 16-23)

Random Aes Sedai in the White Tower- A silver collar (damane's), bones, a lot of suffering)

I know a lot of the suffering is due to the split of the tower, but the silver collar significant.

(The Fires Of Heaven : Chapter 26, Sallie Daera, Page 317)

Min thinking about Carlinya:

"For an instant Min saw an image of a raven floating beside her dark hair; more a drawing of the bird then the bird itself. She thought it was a tattoo, but she did not know its meaning."

Carlinya is one of the rebel Aes Sedai, so this means they will be involved in the upcoming battle as well. Now, the raven indicates that the marked person is property of the empress, so Carlinya is in trouble.

(The Dragon Reborn : Chapter 25, Questions, Pages 233-234)

Egwene thinking:

"She had dreamed of Seanchan, too, of women in dresses with lightening bolts woven on their breasts, collaring a long line of women who wore Great Serpent rings, forcing them to call lightening against the White Tower."

This again indicates the upcoming battle, and also means the Seanchan may attack the rebels first to be able to get Aes Sedai to attack their own White Tower.

(Crossroads Of Twilight : Chapter 20, In The Night, Pages 492-495)

Egwene dreaming:

She was struggling up a narrow, rocky path along along the face of a towering cliff. Clouds surrounded her, hiding the ground below and the crest above, yet she knew they were both very far away. She had to place her feet very carefully. The path was a cracked ledge barely wide enough for her to stand on with one shoulder pressed against the cliff, a ledge littered with stones as large as her fist that could turn under a misplaced step and send her hurtling over the edge. It almost seemed this was like the dreams of pushing millstones and pulling carts, yet she knew it was a true dream.

Abruptly, the ledge dropped away from under her with the crack of crumbling stone, and she caught frantically at the cliff, fingers scrabbling to find a hold. Her fingertips slid into a tiny crevice, and her fall stopped with a jolt that wrenched her arms. Feet dangling into the clouds, she listened to the falling stone crash against the cliff until the sound faded to nothing without the stone ever hitting the ground. Dimly, she could see the broken ledge to her left. Ten feet away, it might as well have been a mile off for all the chance she had of reaching it. In the other direction, the mist hid what remained of the path, but she thought it had to be farther away still. There was no stregnth in her arms. She could not pull herself up, only hang there by her fingertips until she fell. The edge of the crevice seemed as sharp as a knife under her fingers.

Suddenly a women appeared, clambering down the sheer side of the cliff out of the clouds, making her way as deftly as if she were walking down stairs. There was a sword strapped to her back. Her face wavered, never settling clearly, but the sword seemed as solid as the stone. The woman's reached Egwene's level and held out one hand. "We can reach the top together," she said in a familar drawling accent.

This seems to indicate that a Seanchan woman will help Egwene in the attack. Why the sword seems so important is unclear, as is why a Seanchan woman would help not only someone who could channel, but the rebel Amyrlin.

Next, on the same page, the most important:

Egwene dreaming:

A small white plinth stood centered in that circle, supporting an oil lamp made of clear glass. The flame on that lamp burned bright and steady, without flickering. It was white, too. Suddenly a pair of birds flashed out of the mist, two ravens black as night. Streaking across the spire-top, they struck the lamp and flew on without so much as a pause. The lamp spun and wobbled, dancing around atop the plinth, flinging off droplets of oil. Some of those drops caught fire in midair and vanished. Others fell around the short column, each supporting a tiny, flickering white flame. And the lamp continued to wobble on the edge of falling.

Egwene knows right off that this means the Seanchan will attack the White Tower. And it will be soon:

(Crossroads Of Twilight : Chapter 30,What The Oath Rod Can Do, Page 677)

Egwene riding:

Something flashed across the moon, and her breath caught. For an instant, she thought it had been a Draghkar, an evil sight on this of all nights. Only a bat, she decided.

Sounds an awful lot like a Seanchan scout flying a to'raken to me. Okay, we are sure that the Seanchan will attack the White Tower, now, will Rand be involved? No. Min has had no visions of him helping out, Egwene no dreams. In the unlikely even he learns of the attack while it is happening, he cannot afford any more injuries, and I doubt he would walk into the tower and risk being captured by Elaida.

10. The White Tower - I am positive that somehow the Seanchan will be fought off and the rebels will take over the tower due to this:

(A Crown Of Swords, Prologue, Lightnings, Page 26)

Elaida Foretelling (about the only thing she is useful for):

"The White Tower will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole and stronger then ever. Rand al'Thor will face the Amyrlin Seat and know her anger. The Black Tower will be rent in blood and fire, and sisters will walk its grounds."

Now Elaida has not sent anyone out to capture Rand again, and in any case won't be able to because of the Seanchan attack. Rand would not go willingly while Elaida is Amyrlin, so Egwene must be for him to go. I hope Rand chews Egwene out. Anyway, this is something that Rand must do before the Last Battle, and something he will do.

11. The Black Ajah - The members of it around Rand seem content to let events play out, and unless one of them has a direct order from a forsaken, they will not attack him. In any case, it would hardly be wise, with all the channelers he has around him. Rand will not have to worry about them until Tarmon Gai'don.

12. The Forsaken - Now that Semirhage has been captured, there are no foreseeable attacks on Rand until Tarmon Gai'don. Moggy and Cyndane are under Mordin's thumb, Grandal would not do something that risky, not Ana'gar, who is not in position to do anything, and Demandred hasn't made an obvious move the whole series. Unless Rand decides to attack on of them, or runs into them, there should be no more fights. Rand should stay away from trouble all together, with how beat up he is. No, the Forsaken are content to let the Lord of Chaos rule. Until Tarmon Gai'don.

13. Rand's Injuries - As of the end of KOD, our buddy Rand isn't doing so hot. He has two conflicting wounds in his side, he lost his hand, is going mad, and has something wrong with his eyes.

Many channelers have tried many times to try and heal the wounds in his side, and have failed. There is nothing to suggest that won't continue. He can't do anything about his hand, and we already talked about the madness, but there is still the slight problem of his sight:

(Knife Of Dreams : Chapter 27, A Plain Wooden Box, Page 590)

Nynaeve speaking:

"There's something wrong with your eyes," she said with a frown. "I'm afraid to try fixing that without studying on it. The smallest mistake could blind you. How well can you see? How many fingers am I holding up?

"Two. I can see fine," he lied. The black flecks were gone, but everything still seemed seen through water, and he wanted to squint against a sun that appeared to glare ten times brighter then it had. The old wounds in his side were knotted with pain.

There are three possible scenarios that could come of this. One, Nynaeve could study up it and fix his eyes. That is very unlikely, due to all the forewarnment we have had about Rand's eyes. Two, the blindness will take a long time to make him totally blind, and he won't have to worry about it. Three, he will go blind before Tarmon Gai'don. I have a gut feeling the latter will occur. But, as Rand thinks, there is nothing he can do about it, he already put it behind him, he won't waste time trying to fix it.

14. The Horn of Valere - Since Egwene and the former rebels will gain control of the tower, this is easily accesible to the light again. Rand could pick it up when he visit the Tower, but it has been safe there all this time; why not keep it there until it is needed. No reason for Rand to fret about this.

15. Min - She is Rand's major weakness; he has been able to say no and send Elayne and Avi away, but he can't to Min:

(Winter's Heart, Prolouge, Snow, Pages 82-83 Paperback)

Min speaking:

"We had this out, Rand bloody Dragon Reborn al'Thor! You are not leaving me behind!"

"The thought never crossed my mind," he lied. He was too weak; he could not make himself say the words, to make her stay. Too weak, he thought bitterly, and she might well die for it, the Light burn me forever!

I don't believe Min will die, but being kidnapped is a definite possibility, for her knowledge as well as their companionship. For the last five books, we have constantly been reminded of her reading Fel's books, and she will discover how to seal the bore again. The Shadow can't like that. She would also be extremly useful for her viewings. But the Bore is the most important. That means that is something Rand dosen't have to do, and probarly can't. She has the brains, and more common sense then anyone in the books.

16. Moridin - He has screwed a lot of stuff up for Rand, and caused his channeling sickness, but I don't see them dueling it out until Tarmon Gai'don. Rand will not inhabit Moridin's body. No one has seen anything to indicate this (Min, Egwene, Foretelling, and Prophecies). While this is fantasy and anything can happen, this won't.

17.Tam al’Thor – I do not know if Rand is going to visit his father, or more likely, vice versa, but they should get together. That would truly help Rand’s emotional status (or lack of), and it would be very interesting. A great scene. It isn’t mandatory, but it would be nice.

17. Tarmon Gai'don -There is not much in prophecy, dreams, foretellings or viewings to indicate what exactly will happen in the Last Battle. The people in Randland believe it will be vicious, with Shadowspawn pouring out of the Blight, darkfriends unveiling themselves everywhere, and dreadlords fighting the Aes Sedai and Asha'man. For all we know, however, Rand could just simply go to Shayol Ghul and reseal the Bore. That would be rather disapointing,(I would personally perfer Tarmon Gai'don to be at least 500 pages), but anything is possible. What I guess I'm saying is we do not know what will happen. Except that Rand will reseal the Bore, more then likely putting some Forsaken in their graves alone the way. And Rand will survive. His propheiczed death everyone talks about isn't going to happen because. . .

18. The Beggar/Logain's Glory - Here are all the quotes I dug up on it:

(The Eye Of The World : Chapter 15, Strangers And Friends, Page 181)

Min speaking about auras around Rand:

". . a golden crown of Laurel leaves, a beggar's staff, him pouring water on sand. . .

Note the beggar part.

(The Shadow Rising : Chapter 53, The Price Of Departure, Page 612)

Perrin Dreaming:

Mat vanished, and it was Rand. Perrin thought it was Rand. He wore rags and a rough cloak, and a bandage covered his eyes.

Notice the beggar like appearance. The eyes are important.

(The Path Of Dagger's : Chapter 15, Stronger Then Written Law, Page 308)

Egwene Dreaming:

Rand, wearing different masks, until suddenly, one of those false faces was no longer a mask, but him.

This means after Tarmon Gai'don, Mordin and Lews Therin will leave him in peace.

(A Crown Of Swords : Chapter 10, Unseen Eyes, Page 202)

Egwene Dreaming:

Logain, laughing, stepped across something on the ground and mounted a black stone; when she looked down, she thought it was Rand's body he had stepped over, laid out on a funeral bier with his hands crossed at his breasts, but when she touched his face, it broke like a paper puppet.

Wow, this holds so much. Logain is laughing, so he is happy about something. He may not like Rand, but he wouldn't laugh at his death. He is happy because Rand is going to fake his death, giving Logain his position of power and all the credit for defeating the Dark One. Take notice this relates to Min's viewing of Logains glory to come and Moridin's Fisher game. This is how Rand wins. Also notice how when Egwene touch's Rand's face, it breaks like a paper puppet. Puppet, because it is not the real him.

(Lord Of Chaos : Chapter 14, Dreams and Nightmares, Page 255)

Nicola's Foretelling:

"The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond. Three on a boat, and he who is dead yet lives. The great battle done, but the world not done with battle. The land divided by the return, and the gaurdians balance out the servants. The future teeters on the edge of a blade."

It does not matter if the boat Rand, Min, Elayne and Avi are on is symbolic or literal. He who is dead yet lives. The true Dragon reborn is dead to the world, but Rand al'Thor lives on. Again, what the finns told him. To live, you must die. For Rand to survive the turmoil after Tarmon Gai'don, he must disapear. It is as simple as that.

That about covers everything Rand al'Thor will or won't or might do in Book 12. I hope we do get to see him do a lot of this; he is the main charactor, he is the one that matters. The world rests on his shoulders. Sure, he is proud, hard, arrogant. But he didn't choose for any of this to happen; he was chosen, by none less then the Creater himself. That means he can handle all of this. He accepted his fate the best way he knew, and no one can say he hasn't done everything in his power to try and help the Light.