Well, This is the first time i've posted a theory, so bear with me. It is not fully fleshed out. I began working on this with the "clear away the rubble" comment.

In various mythos there is an evil being which is bound outside of time. (i.e. the DO) A hero (Rand) arises according to prophecy to battle this evil one who seems to be breaking free. The evil one then makes SOME action which plants a seed of evil in a person (DO touches Fains mind directly). The evil then develops in that person until they become almost as powerful as the original evil.(Fain begins to have powers which are increasing). Out of jealousy or revenge this new evil then does something to tie the old evil back into time. (i.e. attaching a soul to him). This makes it possible for the hero (rand) to then completely destroy the prison and actually KILL the original evil. The Hero then usually dies (but IS RESURECTED) and leaves the imprisoning of the new evil to a companion. (Perrin as Builder) (Perrin does show a very remarkable resemblance to Wayland Smith of myth - Smith was the one who fashioned the original prison for the evil one in mythology and was also one with nature a.k.a. wolfbrother). So when the wheel turns again, Fain (imprisoned by Perrin) IS the DO released in the 2nd age (with an immense gain in power). I wasn't able to work out how he could be outside of time as the DO is but this latest interview from RJ said that he already HAD sidestepped the pattern.

This theory-line can be seen in Egyptian mythology, Greek mythology, Nordic mythology, Welsh mythology, Incan and Aztec mythology. It has been used in novels from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, The Fionvar Tapestry by Guy Gavariel Kay, Loremasters of Elundium by Mike Jefferies, and many others.

Well, that is MY theory and I anxiously await the coming debate and overall trashing of it. I WILL continue writing and will release an update including page references and more detail.

Thanks for taking the time to Read this.