I was thinking about the Blade of Light prophecy idea I had earlier in another thread and I came up with another potentially bizarre but hopefully interesting prediction.

As I mentioned, earlier, the prophecy that Min mentions about Rand(presumably) holding a blade of light potentially has another possibility besides Callandor. In the first book, Rand uses something which he refers to as "a blade of light" to cut Ishamael's connection to the Dark one. That is to say, the black wires that the male forsaken have. He uses the same technique again against Asmodean later, and refers to it by the term "sword of light" this time. The first reference is exactly the same as in the prophecy, and the second is very close.

This weave or technique or whatever is apparently not exactly common, considering that Lanfear atleast had no idea that such a thing was even possible. Perhaps its some very difficult weave that Rand invented. Or perhaps its something only Rand can do as the Dragon Reborn.

Anyway, I thought about the possibility and wondered what use this technique could have in the coming books. Rand could perhaps use it against Moridin at the end but it would be somewhat repetitive since he used it against him once already. Not to mention that Moridin could well know of the possibility and be ready for it this time. But then it occurred to me that the name of the next book is Towers of Midnight, which perhaps refers also to the Black Tower.

Now it seems very likely at this point that Taim is a darkfriend now. It also seems likely that most if not all of his cronies are darkfriends too and that he probably has darkfriends amongst most of the Asha'man groups in the world. Given that in TGS, Egwene "cleansed" the White Tower of the Dark Ones followers, it seems possible that a similar cleansing is going to occur in the Black Tower in the next book.

The question comes however, how will Rand know who is a darkfriend and who is not. It was easy for Egwene to do this since the Aes Sedai have the oath rod and could reswear sisters and then ask if they were Black Ajah or not. But that cannot work in the Black Tower since the Asha'man do not use the oaths. So how can Rand find out who is loyal to the light and who has sworn to DO. The answer is simple. The black wires.

Consider, prior to Rand cleansing the taint, what would be the best possible bait to lure Asha'man to the darkside? The ability that the DO has to protect his servants from the taint ofcourse. Not only would this link the dark Asha'man to the DO and therefore assuage their loyalty to him the same way the dark oaths do with the Black Ajah, but it would also protect them from the taint and make sure they don't go mad. Afterall, a darkfriend Asha'man loyal to Taim who went mad could easily give himself and others up by spouting secret information in his insanity. It seems quite likely then that most if not all of the Darkfriend Asha'man are connected to the DO with the black wires, just like the male forsaken for reasons of safety and loyalty both. And it seems likely that this practise has continued after the cleansing aswell for loyalty reasons if no other. A dark Asha'man who was not bound either by dark oaths or black cords could easily have second thoughts and betray the entire organization to Rand afterall.

Now recall what happened to both Asmodean and Ishamael when Rand used his blade of light to sever the dark cords. Both had a very violent reaction which is quite obvious and most likely impossible to hide. I theorise that in the next book, after it becomes obvious to the now saner Rand that Taim is a darkfriend, he will cleanse the Black Tower of darkfriends by testing each Asha'man with his blade of light. Those Asha'man who are not darkfriends will be unharmed by this since they obviously do not have any dark cords, but those who have sworn to the DO will have a violent reaction when their DO cord is cut, revealing them as darkfriends.

Rand, wielding his saidin blade of light will discover and expose the dark Asha'man and cleanse the Black Tower of traitors the way Egwene cleansed the White Tower, preparing the Asha'man for the last battle.

How this works together with the three becoming one I am unsure, though it could refer to an alliance with the also darkfriend free White Tower and perhaps a third channeling organisation (Seanchan, Aiel, Sea folk?).

What do you think?