Reading and rereading the Wheel of Time has led me to ponder RJ's Pattern of Ages. I believe that the Fourth Age is the Age of literal dragons, their creation the end result of the Third Age (and RJ's series-see Aviendha's Children thread). The Fourth Age ends with the destruction of dragons, and the world is broken by ice. I believe that the First Age begins in ice, and transforms into OUR Age. There is no magic. By the late First Age technology reigns supreme. Lenn (John Glenn?) goes to the stars. A nuclear holocaust breaks the world, 'we are become death the destoyer of worlds', and the horn ends the age. The Second Age is the Age of Legends as magic returns to the world. Dragons, a legend in the First Age, have now faded almost beyond myth, but some Jungian racial memory inspires Lews Therin Telamon to take the serpent as his sigil. The Third Age sees that Dragons as an animal have been totally forgotten. So the end of the Third Age will be their rebirth, making the opening paragraph of every book make complete sense.

A cool theory...but I believe there are 7 spokes in the Wheel of Time, thus 7 Ages to come and go.

Interesting theory.

There could be many possibilities of what the Fourth Age will be.

Third Age seems to be named Age of Prophecy.

 

Some of the quotes at teh begining and the end of teh WoT books are from the 4th age.