Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

When a soul is reborn, at what point does it enter the body?

Hmm… *think, think* I’d have to say as a fetus. When the body becomes capable of sustaining life.

H

*stupid grin* Ok. In The Eye of the World, Thom said that the dead can take over a living body. If this happened, what would happen to the original soul?

ROBERT JORDAN

*gave me a “haha, nice try you stupid monkey” grin* “Read and find out.”

H

YAAAAAAAAAAAARG! DAMN YOU! (ok, not really)

There are far more reasons, worldbuilding wise, to believe it was real than to believe it was illusion.

TJ

Is Rand's soul in Moridin's body?

Brandon Sanderson

Ha. Right to the point, are you? Let's just say that trickery is not likely in this case.

TJ

Can you confirm that Rand's body was burned at the end of A Memory of Light?

Brandon Sanderson

Okay, fine. Yes, I will confirm that Rand's body was indeed the one that was burned. :)

Jonathan MacAlpine

Why didn't anybody notice when a supposedly-dead Moridin got up and walked away?

Brandon Sanderson

I'd say coincidence. But there aren't many of those in the WoT world.

Siraaj

Seems like a conversation between the Creator and Rand was missing where "switch" and Alivia's role in it are laid out—thoughts?

Brandon Sanderson

I believe that RJ included everything he wanted in this sequence.

Jason Cassidy

Why did Rand switch bodies at the end and why is he going incognito now? Did not understand that part.

Brandon Sanderson

RJ wrote these scenes, and intended to leave them as is. I don't think me delving into explanations is what he'd want.

El Brian

Did the bonding between Rand, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Min transfer over to the new body?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, though I don't know how or why.

Kamarile Sedai

Why did the bond survive the body switch at the end of A Memory of Light?

Brandon Sanderson

I don't know. RJ did not explain this one to me.

J Crosby

How were Rand/Elan able to switch bodies?

Sean Duffy

How did Rand wind up with Moridin's body?

James Starke

Could you explain further about the body switch and how it was possible?

Brandon Sanderson

This is one that I'm not answering, I'm afraid. RJ wanted some things about the ending to remain ambiguous.

Can you shed any light on how the Rand/Elan body swap happened? I'm wondering whether it was like the Dark One's transmigration of souls, if it's tied to Rand's apparent new abilities, or something else.

It's not outlined in the notes, but I think of it as the soul that wanted to live found a body, and the one that wanted to die, did.

Mageen

I knew going in that Brandon has said RJ didn't explain how it happened, but a friend wanted me to ask and I'm glad I did! It was a much better answer than the shoulder shrug I expected based on the torchat.

Speaking of torchat, I noticed Brandon told someone that if they ask him on a tour stop, he might tell them who it was that helped Rand out of the cave. I'd be interested in knowing that and I would have asked that too if I'd remembered.

A fan asked him if Alivia's role in the epilogue was her fulfillment of Min's viewing and he said that it was very clear that that was all that that viewing meant. He said that fans are speculating that she played a part in the body swap but she did not.

Brandon went in to little detail about the body swap, saying he knows as much about it as we do and the notes just didn't give more. He asserted that he has to do with the balefire streams touching and the fact that Moridin no longer wanted to continue to exist but that Rand very much wanted to continue to exist.

This is one of those that I don't actually know. My instincts say that it happened after, as I believe the idea from RJ was "the soul that wants to live finds the body that lives, and the soul that wants to die finds the body that dies." But I can't honestly remember if that's his explanation for why (he wrote most of the epilogue, so this event was done and written before he died) or if it's Team Jordan's explanation after the fact. But it's the one I embraced.

Footnote—Terez

I'm fairly certain that this did not come directly from RJ based on conversations I have had with Maria about this at the "Unanswered Questions" panels at JordanCon 2017 and 2018. Just to be certain, I will ask her at the same panel at JordanCon 2019; she loves this panel and we're going to do it every year.

MatrimRivers (16 October 2014)

Sorry, very late to this party as I just finished AMOL today. So many feels. Just on this topic, as Min, Elayne, Aviendha and Alivia are the only ones who know that Rand still lives, wouldn't Nynaeve etc return to the tent after Rands funeral, see Moridin is gone and be like "oh fuck, the Nae'blis is on the loose. We better hunt him down". Or should we just sort of assume that the important characters are brought in on the secret by those who know?

Brandon Sanderson (16 October 2014)

I am amused imagining Nynaeve's reaction, both to what you just described and to her discovery that Rand is alive. But I DO think she's got an inkling of what's happening, and will bully it out of someone before too long.