Let me die forever!

Do you think I'm crazy? If you do, then great! I have your attention. Look at what has been seen as of yet.

To get an idea of what we are dealing with let us look at a few points about the Dark One. What do we know about the him?

1) The Dark One is bound outside of the pattern.

2) He was put there by the Creator at the moment of creation.

3) He is trying to shatter the Wheel of Time.

4) The result of this will be the End of Time. No more Ages. At least according to Moridin.

The Gathering Storm: A Place to Begin

"There is no path to victory," Moridin said. "The only path is to follow the Great Lord and rule for a time before all things end. The others are fools. They look for grand rewards in the eternities, but there will be no eternities. Only the now, the last days."

Also notice how I phrased number 3. I did not say that he is trying to break free. Why, because I don't believe that is the case.

Most of you will say that we know what the Dark One is trying to do, and that is to break free. On the very contrary, look again at what Verin has said about the Dark One.

The Gathering Storm: a Visit from Verin Sedai:

"The Chosen are predictable, but the Great Lord is anything but. Even after decades of study, I can't be certain exactly what he wants, or why he wants it. I only know that this battle isn't being fought the way that al'Thor assumes it will be."

So, not even Verin is sure about the plans of the Dark One. So we, going back to Moridin and Rand's conversation we can see...

The Gathering Storm: A Place to Begin

"There is a way to win, Moridin," Rand said. "I mean to kill him. Slay the Dark One. Let the Wheel turn without his constant taint."

Moridin gave no reaction. He was still staring at the flames. "We are connected," Moridin finally said. "That is how you came here, I suspect, though I do not understand our bond myself. I doubt you can understand the magnitude of the stupidity in your statement."

Notice that Moridin does not state that that is impossible, only incredibly stupid.

What is more stupid to say than "the only way to win is to do exactly what the Dark One wants?"

Now into specifics. We will see why the Dark One wants to die and why it must not happen.

1) He is an immortal entity with great powers and is trying to destroy the Wheel.

2) Breaking free of his prison will not allow him to destroy it.

3) The Wheel requires balance. If the Dark One ceases to exist, balance will fail

4) He cannot destroy himself, any more than you can lift yourself with the One Power.

For some evidence, let's start with a few myths.

In Norse mythology, the Midgard Serpent is one of the three children of the god Loki and his wife, Angrboda. The gods were well aware that this monster was growing fast and that it would one day bring much evil upon gods and men. So Odin, the ruler of the gods, decided that their best interests were to kill it. He threw the serpent in the ocean that surrounds the earth and all the other worlds, but the monster had grown to such an enormous size that it easily spans the entire universe, hence the name Midgard Serpent. It lies deep in the ocean where it bites itself in its tail, where it waits. Prophecy states that at the end, it will let go of its tail, which would destroy the universe, and the serpent will die with the universe.

In Egyptian mythology, the serpent Apophis was a monster that had to be defeated every night. Defeated but not killed. If the Lord of Chaos were to be killed, the foundation of Ma'at, the balance between order and chaos, would tremble and fail.

Okay, I'm done boring you with myths, and a few details straight out of the books must come.

Lord of Chaos: The First Message

Interesting choices, those names. Osan'gar and Aran'gar were the left and right hand daggers in a form of dueling briefly popular early in that long building from the day the Bore had been made to the actual beginning of the War of Power. His memories were spotty - too much had been lost in the long sleep, and the short - but he remembered that. The popularity had been brief because almost inevitably both duelists died. The daggers' blades were coated with slow poison.

Who wields Osan'gar and Aran'gar? The Dark One! What are they used against? The Pattern! So, this shows that inevitably, both the Dark One and the Pattern will die.

So, in conclusion, we have a Dark One who is trying to commit suicide, but is incapable of destroying himself. He needs mankind to do it for him.

As to those who believe that it is impossible to kill the Dark One, there has never been a statement of 'why' this can't be done except for this vague response of "Destruction is the removal of something from existance. The Pattern itself "is" existance. It is impossible to destroy something outside of the Pattern because there is nothing to destroy" or something like that. Well, we have seen incidences of things outside of the Pattern being destroyed. Saidin is outside the Pattern and so that would mean that the taint is also outside the Pattern; but it was destroyed. Obviously, it is also possible to destroy the Dark One.

Now, what is the most evil thing the Dark One could do in a world that needs him? Leave it. In the Gathering Storm, Rand made the decision to kill the Dark One. He made the wrong choice.