Throughout all the books I have always made the assumption that somehow Rand will die, but destroy the dark one in the process, and I have always wondered the "why's" behind this. One, most stories about Heroes are tragic at least on some level. This, although great, is a tragic story. Two, RJ's world, even at the direction of BS, has distinct and unbreakable rules. I'm going to start this proof with one of these. Everyone dies. Now I don't mean to say that the story is going to end in absolute destruction of everything, just that all characters in the story are meant to be fallible. Outside the story, everyone will pass on at some point. Even the Dark One. Three, It is a presumption that we have all made that the DO is godlike, rather than a being possessing reigns of great power. Nowhere does it say The DO is a god. Let me digress to illustrate a plausible illustration of this. Lanfear states that with the Choedan Kal, someone could challenge the Creator. Although destroyed in the timeline now, object of the One Power like the Choedan Kal will be spit out on the wheel every revolution, likely near the Breaking when The Dragon Reseals the Bore. It does not seem unlikely, out of the question, or against the rules that something or someone of equal power using the True Power could exist. In order for such a thing to exist, it would have to be created and destroyed at some point. I believe The Last Battle(On the timeline, not the wheel) is that point where the DO is destroyed. Four, Rand's use of the True Power lends weight to the idea of his taking by the DO after his demise. Many theorists attempt to answer how without considering the aftereffects. Rand previous infections(the never-healing wound in his side, the dizziness, the voice of LTT) lend weight to the notion he can't sustain any battle with the DO. He will be killed and buried as per Min's viewing. He will be re-embodied by the DO. Five, This death provides a clear separation between the Creator's Dragon Reborn, and the Chosen Dragon. Rand, in a new body, using probably a new name equivalent to Shai'tan, will struggle against the bonds of Shadow put on him by his new condition. As the final battle mounts and the forces of good and evil coalesce around Shayol Ghul, he will find a way to act free of the DO's power and confront the DO in his physical form. No one has ever seen the DO. New Rand does. It is the previous turning of the wheels form of New Rand. The DO's motivation to get out is that he has been trapped for an entire turning of the wheel. The DO is bitter. He views it as the Creators fault. Outside of the pattern he could not age and die. Doing what New Rand thinks is his destiny, he somehow wrestles the focus of the True Power from the DO. Then he kills him. The DO, the previous turnings Rand is the Rand that dies. New Rand then tries to use the True Power to erase the Bore. In the flashback memories, witness of the explosion of the Collam Daan displays the effects of tearing open the pattern to reveal the object of True Power Mieren had found. The wheel requires an opposing force. Just like the forsaken were trapped with the DO when the hundred companions resealed the Bore, when Rand closes it someone will be trapped inside. That will be Rand. Rand is the Dark One. Rand's thread in the pattern is the Great Serpent, eating it's own tail. Causing it's own destruction. New Rand gets trapped outside of time. New Rand goes mad. New Rand has the True Power. Thousands of years later, after the Dragon Reborn is all but forgotten, the Bore is opened.