Rand's job in the Third Age is to set right the imbalances of the Second Age, resetting the status of the Wheel so that it can turn; when it returns to the Second Age, the world must be in its original form. The Bore, sealed in the Second Age by Lews Therin Telamon, must be healed. This brief theory discusses how Rand might go about doing so. Victory is only possible if the Dark One's ability to touch the world is destroyed; if the Bore is healed. I believe the key to healing the Bore can be found in Rand's answers from the Aelfinn. During his trip through the Redstone Doorway, Rand asked the Aelfinn how he can win the Last Battle. In Knife of Dreams, Chapter 18, he reveals their answer to that question. <blockquote>The north and the east must be as one. The west and the south must be as one. The two must be as one. To live, you must die.</blockquote> A passage from the Karaethon Cycle in Chapter 34 of A Crown of Swords includes similar language. <blockquote>The north shall he tie to the east, and the west shall be bound to the south.</blockquote> Conventional wisdom is that this is referring to a union between regions of the world; that the South and West must be united (under the Seanchan); the North and East must be united (under Rand) - and peace must exist between the two. I believe this is a flawed interpretation. To begin with, this is a worldwide conflict. However, the Land of Madmen (South) and Shara (East) are both outside of the scope of the story, and there is little indication that Rand will somehow unify those lands, with only A Memory of Light remaining, especially now that he has gathered the nations to fight the Last Battle. His territorial union is incomplete. Not only does he lack Shara and the Land of Madmen, he has not completed his union. Murandy remains untied. Far Madding as well. I propose that the answer of the Aelfinn is really a metaphor for how he can heal the Bore and thereby seal the Dark One away once more. When Rand healed saidin in Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan wrote of metaphysical channeling using concepts of direction. Rand wove a funnel of saidar; a funnel of infinite length, and of none. It began at the male half of the Source, and stretched to its end at Shaidar Logoth. I believe the answer of the Aelfinn is a similar metaphor for the metaphysical channeling that Rand will need to do in order to heal the Bore. The language of the Finns' answer says he must make the North and East as one; the South and West as one. Then, that the Two must be as One. The Prophecies say he will tie the South to the West and the North to the East. Rather than a literal unification of territory, I believe that Rand will heal the Bore by using the Source in a very particular way, using both saidin and saidar. When Traveling, men fold the Pattern, and punch a hole through it, tying the two together. Women envision a sameness between where they are and where they seek to be. They make the two be as one. Rand may be able to heal the Bore by using something akin to a gateway. He would seek to merge the Pattern around the damaged area, using saidin to bend the Pattern and pierce it; saidar to make the space in all directions around the Bore be one space. It is incomplete to say that the North and East must be as one; the South and West must be as one; the Two must be as One, but it makes me envision a folding of the Pattern over the Bore such that the Bore ceases to exist. If he folds the South and West of the Bore together, the North and East, then takes those two points and folds them all together into a single point, the Bore occupies no space. Since a literal, territorial union the four points of the compass (Shara, the Waste, the Land of Madmen, the Wetlands, and Seanchan all) is impossible from where the book stands now, perhaps it is this metaphorical union that will allow the Bore to be closed, and Rand to win the Last Battle.