I'm doing a reread before AMOL comes out and I recently passed the dream meeting between Moridin and Rand in tGS. It struck me that Rand doesn't get the sickness when he channels saidin in that scene and also the act of channeling saidin seems to break the contact between him and Moridin.

 

He reached for the One Power. It was distant, far away. Rand seized it, and felt himself yanked away, as if on a line of saidin. The room vanished, and so did the One Power, as Rand entered a deep blackness.

--tGS, ch 15

Any explanation of this in light of this theory? I can't think of anything myself.

He also doesn't hear LTT's voice and there's this:

Oddly, Rand felt more stable—somehow—here in this place where all else appeared fluid. The pieces of himself fit together better. Not perfectly, of course, but better than they had in recent memory.

 

All these are probably connected.

Edited November 24, 201213 yr by Cem Önal

yes, I noticed that too but I didn't want to mention it because I'm not sure if this is related. It might or might not be. Rand's connection to Moridin is very different than the one to LTT. Same with the viewings he gets when thinking of Mat and Perrin. He doesn't get those in that dream either but again, this seems a separate issue to me.

Moridin will not turn to the Light. The reason is that he is communicating with the DO in a strong link that seems to be identical to Moridin and Rand's link. Perhaps that is why Moridin is Nae'blis: the DO was reaching into Rand's mind, especially after Rand using the True Power to kill Semirhage. The nausea in Ebou Dar may be because the VoG moment would reverse this link, may be cutting it completely. If the DO is linked to Moridin, then TG is in doubt for Rand and the Light. I know they will beat the Shadow..... I believe that they cannot win without Moiraine. She has a huge part to play, not just the with the seals; she may be able to explain this link.

 

Perhaps she found a prophecy about it and knows how to cut the link with Moridin herself if the VoG epiphany failed to????

Edited November 25, 201213 yr by wotfan4472

If Rand was ever linked to the DO, directly or indirectly, then he isn't now, as the apples incident showed (ToM1).

@wotfan4472 I don't think the DO was reaching into Rand's mind but rather Rand was reaching for the DO when he grabbed the TP. There is a difference. And the link between Moridin and Rand is still there post VOG. That's clear from the fact that Cyndane showed up in Rand's warded dreams at the end of TOM.

And there is some stuff in the released part of AMOL which makes this very obvious too.

@FSM BS said in an interview that Rand can still sense the TP (which is presumably why he knows that the Far Madding guardian doesn't block it) but has refrained from using it.

 

 

Interview: 2011

 

Twitter 2011 (WoT) (Verbatim)

Shane Crenshaw (2 August 2011)

 

When Rand saved Ituralde from the Trollocs, did he use the True Power or saidin?

Brandon Sanderson (2 August 2011)

 

Rand has resisted using the True Power except for that one dangerous moment. He can still sense it, though.

Yes, I've seen that quote from BS. Perhaps wrongly, I was thinking that a link to the DO isn't the same as being able to sense the TP. But in any case, the apples incident shows that Rand is not under the DO's influence, which is how I read the phrase 'linked to the DO'.

On 9/14/2010 at 12:08 PM, Naffy said:

i find this link to be the most fascinating thing going in the series and I think it will play THE crucial role in the outcome. I read a theory once that said balefiring balefire creates a paradox. They both cause the other to cease to exist, but if one ceases to exist, the other exists, and so on is the paradox. The only way for the pattern to solve this paradox is to make the two balefire streams (and thus their source) become one. I am not sure I buy into this theory fully, but it is interesting. I always wondered how (pre KOD) people thought this was the taint. I thought it was very clear right away that the dizziness was from this.

 

Sooo, I just finished the series, and started doing some searching about what exactly this link is between Moridin/Elan and Rand/Lews Therin, and the initial post is SUPER enlightening, but I just wanted to say that your first sentence here was 100% spot on, and for you to have realized it in 2010 before Towers of Midnight was released--bravo. well done. respect.

On 9/14/2010 at 9:28 PM, Arkane101 said:

anyone remember when this link was formed? could be the big unnoticed thing lol...

it was when they struck their balefire together at Shodar Logoth.  When Rand and Nynaeve were cleansing Saidin.  They were both burned out of the pattern as a result, but the act of using balefire was also erased, which created a paradox, which could have destroyed the entire pattern.  The Wheel weaved them into one soul to compensate.