Yeah... - Edit 2
Before modification by Etzel at 23/09/2009 07:00:34 PM
I've heard all about the "fake death theory" regarding Rand, and I'm not so sure that fits the criteria. After all, faking a death isn't actually dying, and the riddle says straight out, "to live you must die". It's not, "to live you must appear to die".
Because if the Aelfinn had simply said "you have to fake your death", the answer wouldn't be tricky.
Rand has to figure it out by himself. Technically also Mat never died, because Rahvin's balefire death erased his death, although the Aelfinn said he would die. This shows that it's open to interpretation what they meant. And in my view it's pretty obvious, especially considering the other clues, that Rand has to fake his death.I do think Rand will have to kill Moridin before the last battle, as well, but only because I think that may cure his "sickness" when he touches saidin.
Probably Min's Viewing of Rand & another man merging and one of them dies, while the other survives, refers to this event.
Thirteen black Aes Sedai and thirteen myrdraal could still turn Rand to the shadow after the DO is resealed. I doubt all darkfriends and shadowspawn drop what their doing when the bore is patched, and I doubt everyone will even know right away that it happened.
Theoretically, but seems somewhat pointless to me to turn Rand after his victory.
I always figured Logain was just going to take over the Black Tower after he and his loyal ashaman defeat Taim, based on Min's viewing of Logain stepping over a body onto a black stone. The black stone is most likely the platform Taim speaks from, and IIRC, the viewing doesn't specify whose body he steps over (but I think Min would have reacted if it had been Rand's).
The Dreams shows: "Logain, laughing, stepped across something on the ground and mounted a black stone; when she looked down, she thought it was Rand's body he had stepped over, laid out on a funeral bier with his hands crossed at his breast, but when she touched his face, it broke apart like a paper puppet."
This paper puppet of Rand (interestingly with two hands!), which seems to be linked to Logain's glory strongly points to the "Rand has to fake his death"-theory as well.
Also Min had a Viewing of Rand's funeral when she saw Rand in EotW, though as far as we know she only sees what happens to a person during their lifetime till - at the latest - the moment of his death, never what happens several time after the death with the corpse. This implies that Rand actually isn't dead during his funeral.
And the idea that someone fakes his death so that he appears to be dead to everyone is of course even based on some characters of real world myths like Odysseus (disguised as a wandering beggar, similar to one of Perrin's Dream of Rand) or King Arthur (who shall just sleep). There were also scholars who believe that Jesus just faked his death, irrespective of the question if one should take those people seriously.
Well, we will read and find out..