The "death" of Rand Al’Thor

Many ideas have been written about the prophesized death of Rand. Here is my take on it:

Theory:

Rand and Moridin merge like Luc and Isam

Moridin’s body is the host

Alivia (some tie-in—the only part I can not figure out)

Rand fights with Moridin for control of the body and wins

Rand’s body is taken away for burial by his tripod of women

Rand lives out his life in anonymity in Moridin’s body

I do not want to speculate on the details. There are too many possibilities but I think the text supports the main points. I feel that wild speculation about what could happen will only weaken my theory and cause people to disregard the evidence I am about to present.

Evidence:

There have been many ideas and theories proposed regarding Luc’s involvement at the Last Battle. Some are very involved and some are very simple. One of my favorite in-depth postulations involves Luc switching sides and saving Rand at the Last Battle. This is a favorite of mine because it is so overplayed. Everyone has already seen this in Return of the Jedi when Darth Vader, AKA Anakin Skywalker, reverted to the light and saved his son from the clutches of the evil Emperor Palpatine. Simply put, I do not see Robert Jordan heading down this path. Some of the more simple ideas floating around about Luc are that he will die at the Last Battle in the Pit of Doom and fulfill the prophecy of “Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed. Once for mourning, once for birth. Red on black, the Dragon's blood stains the rock of Shayol Ghul. In the Pit of Doom shall his blood free men from the Shadow.” I, however, do not agree with this interpretation because Luc does not fit with “Once for mourning, once for birth” amongst other things.

So, what is Luc’s purpose? He is involved in the story for a reason greater than the Shadow’s assassin. It is my position that Luc’s importance, aside from the events that transpired in Andor following his departure, is his merger with Isam. Eledia has this Foretelling: "The very first thing Elaida had ever Foretold, while still an Accepted - and had known enough even then to keep to herself - was that the Royal line of Andor would be the key to defeating the Dark One in the Last Battle." Eledia assumes this relates to Elayne. Readers generally assume it is Rand because of his mother. However, it could also include Luc.

NOTE--The evidence supporting this theory is based entirely upon the published works by Robert Jordan.

Some commonalities and background information:

In A Crown of Swords, Chapter 41 Rand and Moridin form a link when their streams of balefire touch. In a Crown of Swords, Chapter 33 Min has this viewing "I saw you and another man. I couldn't make out either face, but I knew one was you. You touched, and seemed to merge into one another, and....one of you dies, and one doesn't." At the time, both Rand and the reader assumed the other man was Lews. However, in Knife of Dreams, Chapter 21 it is clear that the other man is Moridin. “The face of the man from Shadar Logoth floated in his head for a moment. He looked furious. And near to sicking up. Without any doubt he was aware of Rand, and Rand of him. Move a hair in any direction, and they would touch.” Rand is sure that when he is viewing images from Moridin that if he was to move an inch in any direction they would merge. This cannot be taken for fact because Rand has been wrong in the past. However, when combined with additional information gleaned from the books it gives us an interesting possibility.

This is where Luc comes in. What is known of Luc comes from bits and pieces of text. Gitara sent Luc into the Blight to find his destiny. Luc’s destiny was to merge with Isam. How this happened is not privy to us readers but one can assume the Dark One did it. In the Dark Prophecy from The Great Hunt the Shadow eludes to Slayer’s origins.

“Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom. Isam waited in the high passes. The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill. One did live, and one did die, but both are. The Time of Change has come."

The most substantial line from the Prophecy is “One did live, and one did die, but both are.” This is amazingly similar to Min’s viewing “one of you dies, and one doesn't." On a related side note, we saw in the Shadow Rising that Luc’s body is the host. In TAR Slayer can assume both Isam’s form as well as Luc’s.

The most information we have about Luc comes from several paragraphs in Lord of Chaos:

Lord of Chaos, Chapter 16

Tellings of the Wheel

"Gitara?" A wonder he did not sound strangled. He had heard that name more than once. It had been an Aes Sedai named Gitara Moroso, a woman with the Foretelling, who announced that the Dragon had been Reborn on the slopes of Dragonmount, and so set Moiraine and Siuan on their long search. It had been Gitara Moroso who years before that told "Shaiel" that unless she fled to the Waste, telling no one, and became a Maiden of the Spear, disaster would fall on Andor and the world.

Dyelin nodded, a touch impatiently. "Gitara was counselor to Queen Mordrellen," she said briskly, "but she spent more time with Tigraine and Luc, Tigraine’s brother, than with the Queen. After Luc rode north, never to return, whispers said Gitara had convinced him that his fame lay in the Blight, or his fate. Others said it was that he would find the Dragon Reborn there, or that the Last Battle depended on him going. That was about a year before Tigraine disappeared. Myself, I doubt Gitara had anything to do with it, or with Luc. She stayed the Queen’s counselor until Mordrellen died. From heartbreak over Tigraine on top of Luc, so it was said. Which began the Succession, of course." She glanced toward the others, who were shifting their feet and frowning with suspicion and impatience, but she could not resist adding one more thing. "You would have found a different Andor, without that. Tigraine queen, Morgase only High Seat of House Trakand, Elayne not born at all. Morgase married Taringail once she had the throne, you see. Who can say what else would be changed?"

Watching her join the others and go, he thought of one thing that would have changed. He would not be in Andor, for he would not have been born. Everything folded back into itself, in endless circles. Tigraine went to the Waste in secret, which made Laman Damodred cut down Avendoraldera, a gift of the Aiel, to make a throne, an act which brought the Aiel across the Spine of the World to kill him – that had been their only goal, though the nations called it the Aiel War – and with the Aiel came a Maiden named Shaiel, who died giving birth. So many lives changed, lives ended, so she could give birth to him at the proper time and place and die doing it. Kari al’Thor was the mother he remembered, if dimly, yet he wished he could have known Tigraine or Shaiel or whatever she wanted to call herself, even if only for a little while. Just to have seen her."

Now for some information about Rand

It is well known that Rand’s body has taken a beating in the last eleven books. From the never healing wounds in his side to his amputated hand, Rand is a mess. On top of everything he has endured, it looks as if our hero is also going blind. Perin has a dream in that "Perrin thought it was Rand. He wore rags and a rough cloak, and a bandage covered his eyes." In conjunction, Min had a viewing of Rand with a beggar’s staff. There is also evidence from the prologue of A Path of Daggers that Rand, AKA the Fisher, is blind because of the bandages covering his eyes.

Finally, in Knife of Dreams Rand is attacked by Semirhage and loses his afore mentioned hand. The attack also damages his vision. A transfer to Mordin’s body works in Rand’s favor by, for the most part, restoring him to pre Eye of the World condition. Rand and Moridin are almost identical in strength in the One Power. Their size is similar. Both are tall; almost the same height and both are large and muscular (Moridin is described as being more muscular). This is from A Crown of Swords, Chapter 41 and is Rand’s description of Moridin. "His head and shoulders came above the floor, and he could see the other man, a big fellow little older than he, with hair black as the night and a coat black as an Asha’man’s. Rand had never seen him before." This is Moghedien’s description of Moridin (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 25). "The speaker was a tall, broad-shouldered young man in black boots and breeches and a flowing white shirt unlaced at the top, who watched her with startlingly blue eyes from a deep, cushioned armchair in front of a marble fireplace where flames danced along long logs." Their physical appearance is different.

It is also known from those who tell the truth, Aelfinn, that Rand must die in order to live.

From the Aelfinn Q&A: Q—“How can I win the Last Battle and survive?”

A—“The north and the east must be as one. The west and the south must be as one. The two must be as one. If you would live, you must die.” The answer can be read as the two sections of the mainland, (the north + east and the south + west) must be as one. It can also be read as Moridin and Rand must be as one or Lews and Rand must be as one. This also ties in perfectly with Min’s viewing, Nicola’s Foretelling, the Aiel Dreams, and the Karaethon Cycle. Min had this viewing when she first met Rand. ". . . three women standing over a funeral bier with you on it . . ." Nicola Foretold this: "The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond. Three on the 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 guardians balance the servants. The future teeters on the edge of a blade."

Some have questioned the validity of Nicola’s Foretelling because of her actions and propensity to lie. However that may be, this Foretelling is too specific for it to be made up. Also, both Min and the Aiel Dreamers have made statements similar to Nicola’s that corroborates the Foretelling. "Melaine and Bair dreamed of you on a boat with three women whose faces they could not see, and a scale tilting first one way then the other." The Aiel also dreamed similar to the Aelfinn’s proclamation. "Bair and Amys dreamed of you cutting the wetlands in two with a sword." In the Karaethon Cycle it is prophesized that Rand shall be: "Twice and twice shall he be marked,twice to live and twice to die. Once the heron, to set his path. Twice the heron, to name him true. Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost. Twice the Dragon, for the price he must pay.”

Egwene, in turn, has a dream that eerily coincides with Moridin’s thoughts while playing sha’rah. Both involve Rand being a puppet. Egwene’s dream is "Logain, laughing, steps over something onto a black stone. It looks like Rand's body, but when she touches his face it breaks like a paper puppet." Moridin’s thought is "On the board, the Fisher stood waiting, but in the greater game, al’Thor moved already to his wishes."Could Jordan be foreshadowing that Rand, the puppet, will become the master when him and Moridin merge?

Finally, the entire mainland seems know Rand’s face. The battle at Falme began his fame and his exploits thereafter have cemented his celebrity. If Rand were to survive the Last Battle he would never know peace. People from all over would flock to him just to see the man who defeated the Shadow and saved mankind. He would be constantly hounded. That is not a life anyone would want. Besides, how do you top defeating the greatest evil known in the world? With Rand occupying Moridin’s body he would be able to live out his years in peace. Traveling eliminates the difficulty of Rand meeting up with his ladies.

Below are some other note worthy quotes:

Karaethon Cycle—

“Yet one shall be born to face the Shadow, born once more as he was born before and shall be born again, time without end. The Dragon shall be Reborn, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth at his rebirth. In sackcloth and ashes shall he clothe the people, and he shall break the world again by his coming, tearing apart all ties that bind. Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light. Let tears flow, O ye people of the world. Weep for your salvation."

"Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed.
Once for mourning, once for birth.
Red on black, the Dragon's blood stains the rock of Shayol Ghul.
In the Pit of Doom shall his blood free men from the Shadow."

"The blood of the Dragon Reborn on the rocks of Shayol Ghul will free mankind from the Shadow."

"His blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul, washing away the Shadow, sacrifice for man's salvation."

Egwene’s Dreams—

"Him walking down into a great hole in a black mountain, a hole filled with a reddish glare as from vast fires below."

"Him walking toward a burning mountain, something crunching beneath his boots. She stirred and whimpered; the crunching things were the seals on the Dark One's prison, shattering with his every step. She knew it. She did not need to see them to know."

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