“Rand's heart pounded as he ran, and he stared in dismay at the barren hills surrounding him. This was not just a place where spring was late in coming; spring had never come here, and never would come. Nothing grew in the cold soil that crunched under his boots, not so much as a bit of lichen. He scrambled past boulders, twice as tall as he was; dust coated the stone as if never a drop of rain had touched it. The sun was a swollen, blood red ball, more fiery that on the hottest day of summer and bright enough to sear his eyes, but it stood stark against a leaden cauldron of a sky where clouds of sharp black and silver roiled and boiled on every horizon. For all the swirling clouds, though, no breath of breeze stirred across the land, and despite the sullen sun the air burned cold like the depths of winter. Rand looked over his shoulder often as he ran, but he could not see his pursuers. Only desolate hills and jagged black mountains, many topped by tall plumes of dark smoke rising to join the milling clouds. If he could not see his hunters, thought, he could hear them, howling behind him, guttural voices shouting with the glee of the chase, howling with the joy of blood to come. Trollocs. Coming closer, and his strength was almost gone. With desperate haste he scrambled to the top of a knife-edged ridge, then dropped to his knees with a groan. Below him a sheer rock wall fell away, a thousand-foot cliff plummeting into a vast canyon. Steamy mists covered the canyon floor, their thick gray surface rolling in grim waves, rolling and breaking against the cliff beneath him, but more slowly than any ocean wave had ever moved. Patches of fog glowed red for an instant as if great fires had suddenly flared beneath, then died. Thunder rumbled in the depths of the valley, and lightning crackled through the gray, sometimes striking up at the sky. It was not the valley itself that sapped his strength and filled the empty spaces left with helplessness. From the center of the furious vapors a mountain thrust upward, a mountain taller than any he had ever seen in the mountains of Mist, a mountain as black as the loss of all hope. That bleak stone spire, a dagger stabbing at the heavens, was the source of his desolation. He had never seen it before, but he knew it. The memory of it flashed away like quicksilver when he tried to touch it, but the memory was there. He knew it was there.” EotW pb. Pg 119-120.

That was the Dream Rand had in the Winespring Inn while Tam slept; recovering from the fever dreams he was having from taking a wound. The dream continues right up to the point where he comes into contact with a Myrddraal. I didn't quote the whole thing here, mainly because if I did, this theory would be incredibly long. But the point is, we are all aware of this dream. It was the first time Rand had a dream that wasn't a dream. The common belief is that Rand had a dream of being at Shayol Ghul.

The purpose of this theory is thus. The dream we all read is in fact the end of the dream. When Rand got to Emond's Field the sun was just coming up.

“Gray first light came while Rand still trudged through the forest. At first he did not really see. When he finally did, he stared at the fading darkness in surprise.” EotW pb pg 89.

However, then he woke up, twilight was upon the land and the moon was clearly visible. (EotW pb pg 124) Where did the day go? An average dream lasts something like 17 sec. or whatever. That doesn't account for the day being gone. Here is what I think actually happened. But first I want to point out something about talents. It seems that every channeler has some kind of talent or ability. Egwene has dreamwalking, Nynaeve and Damer Flynn has healing, Moiraine has the trick of listening from a distance, Liandrin has a form of compulsion. The point is, all channelers have something. What is Rand's Talent or “Ability?” Rand has the Talent of being able to see the mirror worlds through his dreams.

“This one seems pale to us because it is a weak reflection, a world that had little chance of ever being. Others are almost as likely as ours. Those are as solid as our world, and have people. The same people, she says, Rand. Imagine it! You could go to one of them and meet yourself. The pattern has infinite variation, she says, and every variation that can be, will be.” THG pb pg 258.

As Loial was telling Rand, there are some worlds that are so closely related to “Randland” that everything could be exactly the same except one thing. Plus time runs differently in these worlds, so years could take place in a matter of hours in “Randland.”

“She says there are worlds where it is time rather than distance that changes. Spend a day in one of those, and you might come back to find a year has passed in the real world, or twenty. Or it could be that other way around. Those worlds-this one, all the others-are reflections of the real world, she says.” TGH pb pg 258.

I think the start of the dream takes place from the point right after Rand wakes up. This is what I believe happened. The beginning of The Eye of the World actually took place, everything up to the point where Rand fell asleep in the chair in Tam's room.

"When the door finally closed behind them, Rand dragged the lone chair in the room over beside the bed and sat down where he could watch Tam. It was all very well for Mistress al'Vere to talk about sleep-his jaws cracked as he stifled a yawn-but he could not sleep yet. Tam might wake at any time, and maybe only stay awake a short while. Rand had to be waiting when he did."

However, from that point on everything we have read has been a dream Rand has been having.

Everything from leaving Emond's Field to beyond the cleaning of the male half of the true source is only a dream. The part of the dream we read in the EotW, the end of the dream, is what happens at the end of the series. Rand woke up when he saw the Myrddraal at the White Tower. I think that Myrddraal is in fact Shaidar Haran. The reason Rand woke up at this point was because RJ didn't want everyone to know how the series ended so early in the books.

Well, I am sure I left out several key facts that could help push my theory, but I can't think of them right now. I will post them as soon as I can think of any. But, here it is. Have fun with this one; I just wanted to throw a wrench in everyone's way of thinking.