Ok Sorry, I have OCD and limited time so please forgive me for not reading your entire post.

I simply want to say that I think Rand, being who he is, will come up with something (I don't know what) completely different than what has been done before. Whatever it is I think he may fix things in such away that the DO will never be a problem again, thereby changing the way the wheel turns forever after.

I have had a thought that if the DO were to win then perhaps things wouldn't be that different except time would flow linearly instead of circuitously. IE: no more rebirth, each person gets one trip on the wheel and then Bye bye. But that's just a random thought and I doubt we'll see that come to pass.

Another random thought had occurred to me at one point that the DO may have been some sort of alter ego of the creator and that he would only bring about linear time and that he wasn't really evil, just opposed to the whole 'round and round' bit. This has been shot down rather soundly.

However this thing ends I'm hoping that we'll all have several "WTF" moments and be well surprised. I also hope Rand ends up alive and still a pretty, red-haired boy. LOL