A/N: Obviously, full credit is owed to Robert Jordan, the man who created the massive Wheel of Time series, and Brandon Sanderson, the man who wrote Kwaan's last words in the Well of Ascension and finished the Wheel of Time series.
I record these words in a ter'angreal, for anything other method of recording cannot be trusted.
I have begun to wonder if I am the only sane woman remaining. Can the others not see? They have been waiting so long for the Dragon Reborn to return— the one spoken of in the Prophecies of the Dragon— that they quickly jump between conclusions, presuming that each prophecy and foretelling applies to this one man.
My colleagues ignore the other facts. They do not realize the importance of the other strange things that are happening. They are deaf to my objections and blind to my discoveries.
Perhaps they are right. Perhaps I am mad, or jealous, or simply daft. My name is Moraine. Aes Sedai, fighter, traitor. I am one of the ones who searched so long for Rand Al'thor, and I am the one who first proclaimed him to be the Dragon Reborn. And I am the one who betrayed him, for I now know that he must never be allowed to complete his quest.
I record this message now, projecting my thoughts in a ter'angreal, because I am afraid. Afraid for myself, yes—I admit to being human. If Rand does return from Shayol Ghul, I am certain that my death, or even my obliteration via Balefire, will eventually come about. He is not an evil man, but he is a ruthless one. That is, I think, a product of what he has been through. What we have made him. Afraid of a doom worse, even, than the Dark One.
It all comes back to poor Rand. I feel bad for him, and for all the things he has been forced to endure. For what he has been forced to become.
But, let me begin at the beginning. I found Rand Al'thor in Two Rivers; he was a young lad then, and had not yet been warped by two years spent leading armies. Rand's height struck me the first time I saw him. Although he was not this way then, this man, despite how he looked now, would one day demand respect.
Oddly, it was Rand's odd fortune that first led me to befriend him. I helped him heal his father and had him accompany me on my journey to Tarwin's Gap.
It was then that I became convinced that Rand was the Dragon Reborn. The Dragon Reborn: the one called Shadowkiller in Tel'Aran'Rhiod, the Coramoor. He Who Walks With the Dawn. Savior. When I finally had the realization—finally connected all of the signs of the Dragon Reborn to Rand—I was so excited.
Yet, when I announced my discovery to the other Aes Sedai, I was met with scorn. There were many who tried to have me or Rand killed. Oh, how I wish that they had succeeded then, that I had listened.
And yet, any who know me will realize that there was no chance I would give up so easily. Once I find a cause to believe in, I will not drop it for any reason. I had determined that Rand was the Dragon Reborn, and I intended to prove it. I should have bowed before the will of the Amyrlin Seat; I shouldn't have insisted on traveling with Rand to guide and instruct him.
It was inevitable that Rand himself would find out what I believed him to be. Yes, he soon became determined that he was the one, even though he struggled to accept it at first. I do not know if this would have happened if he hadn't accepted his powers eventually.
If only the prophecies of the Aes Sedai, and belief in Tarmon Gai'don, hadn't spread beyond our people. If only the Dark One hadn't began stirring when he did, providing a threat that drove the world to desperation both in action and belief. If only I had passed over Two Rivers when searching for the Dragon Reborn a few years ago.
It wasn't until a few years later that I began to notice the signs. I knew the Prophecies of the Dragon—I am an Aes Sedai, after all. During my time with Rand, I could not help but become more interested in them. He seemed to fit the signs so well.
He was born of a humble family, yet married the daughter of a king.
He drew Callandor from the Stone of Tear.
The Aes Sedai feared him and sought to control him, but he came to lead them.
He commanded kings, and though he at first sought no empire, he became greater than all who had come before.
He became the ruler of the Aiel.
He was born on the Dragonmount.
He left ruin in his wake, but it was forgotten. He created kingdoms, and then destroyed them as he made the world anew.
There were other prophecies to connect Rand to the Dragon Reborn. Smaller things, things that only one who had studied the Prophecies would have noticed. The markings on his hands. The eventual fates of his two friends, Mat and Perrin. The way he spoke, the way he treated people, the way he ruled. He simply seemed to fit.
But, I must continue with the sparsest of detail. Time is limited. Soon, he will reach the Bore. The other Aes Sedai must have thought them humble when they came to me, admitting that they had been wrong. Even then, I was beginning to doubt my original declaration. But, I was prideful. In the end, my pride may have doomed us all.
I had never received much attention from my brethren; they thought that what I did went to far, even for my Ajah. They couldn't see how my work, studying nature instead of religion, benefited the people of the world.
As the one who found Rand, however, I became someone important. I could have been the Amyrlin Seat, had I been around. Renouncing Rand then would have been to renounce my new position, my acceptance, by the others. And so I did not.
But I do so now. Let it be known that I, Moiraine Sedai, am a fraud. Rand was never the Dragon Reborn. At best, I have amplified his virtues, creating a Dragon Reborn where there was none. At worst, I fear that all we believe may have been corrupted.
And so, I come to the focus of my argument. I apologize. Even recording my words in this ter'angreal, sitting and thinking in my quarters in the White Tower, I am prone to ramble. This is the problem. Though I believed in Rand at first, I later became suspicious. It seemed that he fit the signs, true. But, well, how can I explain this?
Could it be that he fit them too well?
I know your argument. We speak of Tarmon Gai'don, of things foretold, of promises made by our greatest prophets of old. Of course the Dragon Reborn will fit the prophecies. He will fit them perfectly. That's the idea.
And yet . . . something about all this seemed so convenient. It felt almost as if we constructed a hero to fit our prophecies, rather than allowing one to arise naturally. This was the worry I had, the thing that should have given me pause when the Aes Sedai came to me, finally willing to believe.
After that, I began to see other problems. Some of you may know of my fabled memory. This is not true; I am in possession of a ter'angreal that lets me record things so that I may access them at any time. And I tell you, call me daft, but the words of the Karatheon Cycle are changing.
The alterations are slight. Clever, even. A word here, a slight twist there. But the words on the pages are different from the ones in my ter'angreal. The other Aes Sedai scoff at me, for they do not believe that my ter'angreal works as I say. Plus, having defending Rand so greatly at first, I look foolish disbelieving him now.
And so, this is the great declaration I must make. There is something—some force—that wants us to believe that the Dragon Reborn has come, and that he must travel to Shayol Gul. Something is making the prophecies change so that they refer to Rand more perfectly.
The others call me mad. As I have said, that may be true. But must not even a madwoman rely on her own mind, her own experience, rather than that of others? I know what is in my ter'angreal. I know what the other Aes Sedai now repeat. The two are not the same.
I sense craftiness behind these changes, a manipulation subtle and brilliant. I have spent the last few days locked up in my quarters in the White Tower, trying to decipher what the alterations could mean. I have come to only one conclusion. Something has taken control of the Tower, something nefarious, something that cannot be trusted. It misleads, and it corrupts. It uses Rand to destroy, leading him along a path of death and destruction. It is pulling him toward Shayol Gul, where the Dark One is closest to the waking world. I can only guess that it sent the Forsaken as a method of making mankind more desperate, of pushing us to do as it wills.
The prophecies have changed. They now tell Rand that he must give up destroy the Dark One once he escapes. This is not what was once implied by the texts—they were more vague. And yet, the new version seems to make it a moral imperative. The texts now outline a terrible consequence if the Dragon Reborn fails to kill Shai'tan.
Rand believes as they do. Although he is a good man, these past two years have hurt and broken him, which is no doubt what whatever dark thing twists our words was hoping for. He is used to doing what he believes to be right even if it will be hard.
I have no doubt that if Rand reaches Shayol Ghul, he will find the Dark One and then—in the name of the presumed greater good—kill him. Kill him for the same thing that has changed the Prophecies. Kill him for this force of destruction that has brought him to war, that has tempted him to kill, that has craftily led him to the north.
And so, I have made one final gamble. My pleas, my teachings, my objections, and even my treasons were all ineffectual. Rand has other counselors now, ones who tell him what he wants to hear.
I have a young nephew, one Demandred. He hates all of Two Rivers with the passion of envious youth. He hates Rand even more acutely—though the two have never met—for Demandred feels betrayed that it is not an Aes Sedai or Asha'man that is the Dragon Reborn.
Rand will need guides through the Blight. I have charged Demandred with making certain that he and his trusted friends are chosen as those guides. Demandred is to try and lead Rand in the wrong direction, to discourage him, or otherwise foil his quest. Rand doesn't know that he has been deceived, that we've all been deceived, and he will not listen to me now.
If Demandred fails to lead Rand astray, then I have instructed him to kill Rand. It is a distant hope. Rand has survived the Forsaken, wars, and catastrophes. And yet, I hope that in the frozen wastes of the Blight, he may finally be exposed. I hope for a miracle.
Rand must not reach Shayol Ghul, for he must not be allowed to slay the thing that is imprisoned there.