<blockquote>"I thought I was being forged into a sword," Rand said, eyes growing distant. "But I was wrong. I'm not a weapon. I never have been." ~ ToM, ch12</blockquote> <p>After reading 'The Twice-Dawning Day' and comments on it, I recalled this quote, and it occurred to me that what the Dragon really -is- will play the key role in determining his fate. When questioned on that, he is enigmatic, but after being pointed to the emphasis on the "One with the Land" prophecies, I think that the answer has been staring back at us; the quote so often cited is a fragment laden with meaning, but it is also part of a larger statement:</p> <blockquote>"<strong>There can be no health in us, nor any good thing grow, for the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and he one with the land.</strong>"</blockquote> <p>In essence, this statement is linking the health of the Dragon to the health of the land. It is not an assignment of blame nor fault, precisely, but of simple fact. The health of the Dragon reflects the health of the world, and vice versa. One mirrors the other. With the emergence of a greater Rand in the finale of TGS, a Rand that is not in conflict and hurting himself at a fundamental level, the world directly surrounding him begins to flourish.</p> <p>Examine the world around Rand, the land itself. Certainly, it is infested with all manner of forsaken monstrosity, dark hearts and ne'erdowells, but these are people, not the land itself. They are not the Dragon.</p> <p>There is a part of the world that can only be described as a wound upon the land. It festers with an evil presence sealed within, and upon it no good thing grows. Horrors spring forth from its maw, and it is described as a pit by those who dare to speak of it.</p> <p>It is the Blight, and at its center lies Shayol Ghul and its Pit of Doom that we also know as the Bore.</p> <blockquote>"Mile by mile the corruption of the Blight became more apparent. Leaves covered the trees in ever greater profusion, but stained and spotted with yellow and black, with livid red streaks like blood poisoning. Every leaf and creeper seemed bloated, ready to burst at a touch." TEoTW, ch48</blockquote> <p>It is a wound upon the side of the world, inflicted by men, poisoned by the Shadow, and prevented from healing by the presence of the Dark One who is Sealed within.</p> <p>So long as the DO is within the wound of the world, its darkness will remain represented within Rand's own wound.</p> <blockquote>"The wound given him by Ishamael throbbed in time with the taint, while the other, from Fain’s blade, beat counterpoint in time with the evil that had killed Aridhol." ~ WH, ch35</blockquote> <p>To Heal the world, Rand must Heal the Blight. The rubble must be cleared, the cancer of the DO removed. To accomplish this...</p> <blockquote>"Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed. Once for mourning, once for birth. Red on black, the Dragon's blood stains the rock of Shayol Ghul. In the Pit of Doom shall his blood free men from the Shadow."</blockquote> <p>The blood of the Dragon is the Light, that which dispels Shadow. This two-fold dawn is a metaphor for two new beginnings... a new day, specifically one in which the Dragon has gone, and another in which the world is remade anew without the poison of the DO. His passing will be mourned, but the Dragon's passing will also birth a new world.</p> <p><strong>Thus, I submit the theory that the Dragon will not act as a weapon against the Dark One, but as a Healer whose scalpel will remove that cancer and the poison it exudes.</strong></p>