WMG / The Wheel Of Time Confirmed

This page is for Wheel of Time loony theories that turned out to be right all along. Beware of spoilers!

The Last Battle

The Last Battle will involve an epic sword-fight between Rand and Moridin

And what's more, Rand will be wielding Callandor with a new hand made from either black cuendillar, or rock from Shayol Ghul.

Both armies of the Last Battle are going to have roughly the same number of channelers on either side

There is probably going to be a stupid reason too.

Once Moiraine is rescued and rejoins Rand, she and he will have to defeat the Dark One together.

Nothing says that Rand, as The Chosen One, is the only one who can/will fight the Dark One, simply that he has to be there for humanity to have any chance. Rand has certainly shown, for various reasons, that he needs help in his endeavors, and has even accepted it on certain occasions. Once she surrendered to him, he always trusted Moiraine; after thinking he caused her death, to see her back again would not only undo a lot of the angst and restore his confidence in himself, he'd immediately accept her as his advisor again in Cadsuane's place. And Min had those visions saying he would fail without her. Why would that be?

Well, aside from whatever she might have learned/bargained from the Finn, there's the fact that Rand is going to attempt to somehow actually destroy the Dark One. Failing that, he needs to destroy the seals and then completely reseal the Bore. Lews Therin failed at this task. Why? Because he only used saidin. Saidin and saidar are both necessary. We've already seen the two were needed to cleanse the taint; both were used by the Bowl of the Winds; both may well be a part of the makeup of Callandor; and the Guide and glossaries explicitly state (the books might too) that the greatest feats of the Age of Legends were always performed by men and women working together.

A theme of the series all along has been people learning to put aside their differences and join together; look at the Red Ajah going from gentling and killing male channelers to bonding them as Warders. It could well be that one of the big reasons Jordan put the whole Battle of the Sexes thing into this series was because it had to be overcome for victory: can't have men and women working together unless they get over their irrational beliefs about each other first. So, when Moiraine returns, and once she finds out saidin is now safe (can't wait to see her reaction to that!), her linking with Rand is the only way he'll be able to reseal or even destroy the Dark One.

The Horn of Valere

Jain Farstrider will return in the final book as a Hero of the Horn.

The way he was described in the previous 13 books was in terms rather similar to how the legendary heroes are described. Not all great heroes need necessarily be great fighters; Jain is one who did great deeds of a different form, and his legacy is to spread geographical knowledge.

• That was not his only legacy, of course. Although it is certainly no guarantee that he will appear as a Hero of the Horn, he is certainly worthy of recognition for literal heroism, quite aside from his activities under the name "Jain". And as a famed gleeman was a direct witness to his death and his last deeds, the story of his final heroism is sure to be remembered (it isn't clear whether popular recognition is necessary to become a Hero of the Horn, but if it is, he'll surely satisfy it).

Asmodean

Graendal killed Asmodean

• In the epilogue of Towers of Midnight, when Superfade comes to punish Graendal for her epic fail, it mentions that three Chosen have died by her hand. One of them is Aran'gar, who got balefired by Rand because Graendal shielded her, another is Mesaana, who got trapped when Perrin brought Graendal's dreamspike to the White Tower, but who is the third? Osan'gar was killed near Shadar Logoth, ironically by a Darkfriend, Cyndane and Moghedien are mindtrapped by Moridin, Sammael got killed by Mashadar, Be'lal, Rahvin, and Semirhage got balefired, and Demandred is still alive (though where he is based is still unknown). That leaves only Asmodean unaccounted for, so he probably got killed by Graendal.

The True Power

The True Power must be channeled to seal the Bore.

Lews Therin explains his theory that they were unable to seal the bore because they used saidin and it touched him so his counterstroke traveled back along it and tainted it. So, Rand should use a power that he won't mind touching the Dark One. Like power that comes from the Dark One himself. Rand has already channeled it once.

• I am immediately going to argue with myself and point out that supposedly the Dark One has to personally bless every use of the True Power. But I still like my theory.
  • I am going to back you up by pointing out that you should consider the source of that little tidbit.
  • That...is an absolutely brilliant idea. I hope it turns out to be true, since it would both make up somewhat for Rand having to endure the True Power and would be deliciously ironic and karmic for the Dark One. And indeed, we only have the Dark One's word that its will is required, and that information in turn comes from Moghedien and/or Moridin.
  • If the Dark One has to bless every use of the True Power, that seems to imply that Rand finally jumped off the slippery slope and can now use the True power because he thinks along the lines of evilness.
  • Considering what happened to Rand at the end of book twelve, and what we now know about him from book thirteen, it seems unlikely he's able to use the True Power anymore. Whether his newfound Person of Mass Destruction-hood will be enough to seal the Bore or even destroy the Dark One, who knows. Then again, his newfound power may make him strong enough to draw on the True Power without the Dark One's permission, or being corrupted by it. Sometimes it pays to be The Chosen One.
    • Rand can still use the True Power, or at least he thinks he can. He threatened the Borderlander monarchs with it in Far Madding. He can use it as long as he's linked to Moridin. However, his current plan for sealing the Bore properly is using both saidin and saidar, because last time LTT only used saidin.
      • Actually in that scene, he was implying what would have happened if he had met with the Borderlanders prior to his moment on Dragonmount. (You can tell this because one of the first things Rand says after the test is "If you had done this a month ago, I would have reacted to being struck by using balefire.") Until we get a scene where he thinks or speaks about what he can do in the present, we won't know if he can still use it or not. If he can, it's likely only because of the link to Moridin, and with his new mindset (and plan) he won't use it even if he can unless he has no other choice.

Callandor is a sa'angreal for the True Power too

"The three shall be one" refers to saidin, saidar, and the True Power, not three actual humans. It would explain why Callandor in particular is necessary for the Final Battle, and it'd allow for the (rather obviously true) theory that the True Power will be used to seal the bore to have the right tool for the job on hand. This also explains why it has all the oddities in construction - it's a very one-off item, so it couldn't incorporate all the usual bells and whistles.

• This could actually be true... but more than that, perhaps Callandor and Rand's Cleansing are also related. As you no doubt recall, at the Cleansing, Rand used Saidar to create a conduit for Saidin, which, in conjunction with the Choedan Kal, allowed him to filter all of Saidin through Shadar Logoth. Perhaps he will do a similar thing, except with Saidin and Saidar serving as the conduit. Guiding the True Power without having to touch much of it directly would allow Rand to create a feedback loop, and this could effectively auto-knit the bore back to solidity - essentially, the True Power would be the needle, and Saidin and Saidar would be the thread.

The Dark One and the Shadow

The Forsaken were not the most powerful of the Dark One's minion's in the Age of Legends

They are just 13 random Dark Friends who happened to be in Shayol Ghul at the time the Bore was sealed. They ranged from the extremely skilled (Ishmael) to the totally incompetent (Asmodean) but mostly tended towards the latter. This would explain why in the Second Age the forces of the Dark One were on the verge on winning (because he had far more competent minions who didn't survive the intervening millenia), while in the current age, the Forsaken barely pose a threat to a quadriplegic kindergartner.

• Only half true. The Forsaken are the Dark One's most powerful servants, all granted immortality for that fact, but there used to be more of them and the ones that were sealed were the ones who weren't already killed by Lews Therin Telamon or his allies. So guys like Asmodean are the weakest survivors of a much larger, much more elite group.
• Specifically, the Forsaken who were sealed had apparently been the ones gathered for a war meeting at Shayol Ghul when the sealing went down. This included the top six of the entire organization (Ishamael, Lanfear, Demandred, Graendal, Sammael, and Semirhage, per Word of God) a couple of useful mid-level types (Be'lal, Rahvin, Mesaana), a couple of one-trick ponies (Aginor, Moghedien) a guy who was Unskilled, but Strong and had little else going for him (Balthamel) and a largely useless hanger-on (Asmodean). Word of God indicates that there were a lot more Forsaken still around who weren't bound, but they were killed during the Breaking and were largely forgotten. So the "Shayol Ghul thirteen" likely did benefit from having the reputations of a much larger organization conflated with their own, but a number of them were quite impressive in their own right nonetheless.

Taim and/or his crew have been forcibly turned to the Shadow using the thirteen dreadlords channeling through thirteen Myrddrall trick

Consider:

Early in the series, it's mentioned several times that thirteen dreadlords channeling through thirteen Myrddrall can forcibly turn a prisoner who can channel to the shadow, yet we never actually see it happen. It seems pretty unlikely that a plot element like that got dropped on us for no reason.

Taim's group of dirtbag followers keeps growing, converting people who used to be against them after "private lessons." After attending these lessons, the members of Taim's sect have radically altered personalities and are suspected of being impostors of some sort by members of Logain's party.

The Black Tower has been locked down with a dreamspike, available only to followers of Moridin. Taim runs the Black Tower and is clearly pursuing his own agenda. It seems unlikely that these two are unrelated: the simplest explanation is that Taim is a follower of Moridin and placed the dreamspike there to keep those who haven't yet been "turned" from escaping.

• Most likely a good chunk of his crew joined up with the Shadow normally, and the 13-13 only got started up in To M, possibly after the White Tower purge, since that's when Asha'man start operating as Dreadlords (It's pretty clear the new Dreadlords are Asha'man), and also when the radically altered personalities start showing up.
• Quite possibly. I'll take it one step farther: suppose the 13x13 trick requires both male and female dreadlords working in a circle. (This is never explicitly stated, but most great works involving the Power require channelers of both genders, so it stands to reason. This would also explain why it's so rarely done; it's tough to get enough channelers of both genders, all shadowsworn, into the same place at the same time.) Egwene purges the Black Ajah from both White Tower factions. Mesaana catches onto what Egwene is doing, too late to save the Black Ajah members close at hand, but quickly enough to send a message warning the Black sisters encamped at the Black Tower. (She can't go to their aid herself because her sudden disappearance from the White Tower would blow her cover.) These sisters do NOT scatter and run, as we've been led to believe, but go to Demandred or Moridin or whichever male Forsaken is in charge of the Ashaman darkfriends for protection. (Alternatively, Mesaana may have sent a message directly to Demandred or Moridin asking for help; she never revealed which sisters were Black before because she didn't want him taking charge of her servants, but better to let another Forsaken get ahold of them than let them get captured and executed by Egwene's faction.) Only after the Black sisters camped at the Black Tower had gone into hiding under the protection of a male Forsaken and his Black Ashaman were all the necessary pieces in place to start using the 13x13 trick.

Demandred is in charge of Shara

So, we know he's secured his rule somewhere and started moving armies around, but all the major military movements are accounted for and everywhere in Randland is controlled by Rand, was controlled by a (dead) forsaken, or is not controlled by anyone. Seanchan falls into the latter category, and although not much is known about the situation in the Waste, it's largely stripped of military forces. However, there's a contient-sized region that's largely out of contact but which has begun sending out traders (Silkworm man). Given that the White Tower has been purged, the Kin didn't have many darkfriends to begin with, and same with the Wise Ones and apparently Windfinders, the Dark needs a good source of female dreadlords. Shara fits the bill.

The Seanchan

Rand will renegotiate a treaty with Fortuona, possibly giving the Seanchan Illian.

At the end of The Gathering Storm, Rand notes how the people under the Seanchan rule seem much happier than his own, realising that even though they're conquering his home continent and enslaving men and women, forcing women who can channel to become weapons, they can bring some prosperity and peace, which he can't due to him having barely any clue as to running a nation and working with nobles who are out for themselves. Most likely in The Towers of Midnight we will see Rand giving up the crown of Illian, while requesting that his appointed steward (Can't remember the name) be left in charge.

The Ways

The Ways will be used to move troops to the Blight

Loial has mentioned that there are several Way Gates connecting to The Blight. I think the Ogier and Asha'man will work together to undo the corruption of The Ways so Rand can move his troops quickly without having to rely on Travelling. This will also allow him to insert secret troops since channelling can be detected by other channellers.

• AMOL Spoiler: No, but the reverse is certainly true.

Misc.

Callandor is special

The new bits of the Prophecies of the Dragon we get a look at towards the end of The Gathering Storm made me think about the nature of Callandor a bit more. Apparently it has to be used by a circle of one man and two women to actually be stable; otherwise, bad stuff happens. This seems fairly unique amongst angreal and sa'angreal; even the Choedan Kal can apparently be used individually without problems (well, beyond the "temptations of god-like power" problem). So the reason for Callandor's weirdness? It actually channels both sides of the One Power at the same time. Try to use with just women, however, and it doesn't work; try to use it with just a man and it works, but the little bit of saidar it naturally draws in anyway makes it impossible for him to control the weaves he sends through it. Use both a man and two women, though, and you can run saidar and saidin through it at the same time, and have control of both.

• Which suggests a number of possibilities for who would link with Rand to wield it (keeping in mind who he trusts): Elayne, Aviendha, Nynaeve, Egwene, and Moiraine after her return are all good theories. Pick the first two if you're ascribing to 'only those he personally loves', Nynaeve and Egwene if you want to stick with pure Aes Sedai allies who are also among the most powerful in this Age, and as for Moiraine, who knows what she might have learned in Finnland and could bring to the table. Not to mention she's one of the few he's ever trusted. Then again, she might be being saved up for something even better. See below...
• Although I forget why I thought it, I somehow got the ridiculous idea that Callandor might allow Rand to link with Mat and Perrin, even though they can't channel. It would certainly fulfill the whole "all three are needed" idea.
• This Troper thinks that Rand (Who can wield the True Power) might need to link with the forsaken woman that channels Saidin and a powerful Saidar channeler, because the prophecies state that (He shall hold a blade of light in his hands, and the three shall be one.) The three being the two halves of the One Power, and the True source. Rand being the only non-forsaken to be able to use the True Source controls Callandor, and the two women to create the link. Only then can he seal the Dark One for good.
• AMOL Spoiler: As said above, Callandor is a True Power sa'angreal