I was perusing the r/WoT subreddit, and there was an argument advanced that LTT isn't actually real. In the sense that the voice Rand hears inside his head isn't LTT, but instead is Rand's brain's manner of dealing with memories of LTT. The subtle distinction being that instead of Rand simply being LTT reborn, and the two lives being distinct lives, Rand and LTT are one and the same, and always have been. The arguments advanced went so far as to state that the reason Rand is so good with the sword (in particular early on, as an explanation as to why Rand was able to defeat Turak) is that he was already relying on LTT knowledge and memories.

This theory goes against everything I thought I understood about the way in which Rand and LTT operated. It has always been my understanding (or theory perhaps) that the reason Rand is able to communicate with LTT is that the Taint on Saidin breaks down the barriers between lives. So the LTT that Rand hears inside his head is actually in fact LTT as a distinct person from the Age of Legends. By the time Veins of Gold happens, the Taint broke down the barrier so much, that when Rand and LTT understood that they were one and the same, is the point in time that Rand fully embodied the memories and became effectively a hybridization of himself and LTT (or more correctly, he became Rand from a personality perspective, but with the knowledge and memories of LTT fully encompassed).

Perhaps I'm rambling just a bit, but I hope my point comes across. Naturally I've come back here, to really where I think one of the most knowledgeable collections of Wheel of Time fans exists (though not nearly so many as there used to be).

Anyone have thoughts/ideas on this?