Wow.... I've been called an idiot, ridiculed, delusional - even that I couldn't read what was obviously revealed for good black on white in KOD etc. so many times (especially after KOD... jeez, even friendly folk like Linda implied, kinda shacking their head in disbelief, that I was naively holding onto an obvious Taimandred on this one, and to let it go) over my conviction that the link didn't start at Shadar Logoth but that the SL incident happened because Moridin and Rand were already linked - and Moridin simply discovered there a new implication of their link he had not foreseen , that I feel almost vindicated.

It will be interesting to see how close I actually was next week. My theory was that the link between Rand and Shai'tan was mostly achieved on purpose by giving him his first "dolorous stroke" with the TP in TGH, and that the link between Rand and Moridin was created by the DO at Moridin's transmigration (made possible by Rand's TP wound that was "gnawing at his soul". My reasonning was always that it made no sense at all that something that so fundamental to the crippling of the "Fisher King" as his link to Shai'tan/Moridin was a freak accident. To me that undermined completely the mythical underlayers.

Oh well... it sure would be nice that at least one of my more "original" theories turned out pretty much accurate before the end! (this one I'm fond of, and also the one that Mesaana has chosen for her disguise one of the sisters who taught the novices (the usual suspect Danelle most likely, that bit is hardly original, just the reasonning behind my choice of Danelle as the alias is) to return to her AOL methods and mount a parallel network of agents among the Tower's "children". Another one I would really be pleased to see confirm next week is my long held conviction that what I call the "sister scene" to Rand's experience in Rhuidean, where Aviendha would come out as a Wise One, is a major turning point. I've also long pointed out the fact there were many Tinker bands in the Waste, and that the Aiel taken by the bleakness where going to them to ask to be taken in. This of course meant that the Tinkers in the Waste were astonished behind the scenes to learn the Aiel used to follow the Way like them, and that Rhuidean held secrets about their past, and Avendesora... meaning once Aviendha comes out as a Wise One, she'll have an important decision to make about the future of the Aiel, one the other Wise Ones have not made.

Nice to see that what you make of Rand in TOM, and what you imply about the voice in EOTW etc. is extremely close to my post TGS analysis of Rand (and many of my pre-TGS ones, for that matter... the point I got wrong, or was quite surprised about is that I thought Rand's epiphany where he would at last choose willingly to be the Creator's champion and embrace it fully (something even LTT didn't do, based on the prologue and later hints that he didn't embrace the name Dragon given him, and chastised his own "arrogance" would happen two thirds into AMOL only... though with the book split perhaps it's more or less what happens).