You say the point has never been made, then you go ahead and quote Graendal's statement where she makes that very point. Graendal's statement is merely a repetition of what the BWB has already said, by the way. He has no intrinsic love of warfare, unlike Sammael. It is merely a means to an end for him. The fact that he is a good general has no bearing on this point.



No he hasn't. Throughout LoC Lews Therin is fixated on Demandred. His feelings regarding Demandred are particularly strong, including references to the fact that Demandred wanted Ilyena, and multiple other references to the man. And from the other Forsaken, we get the grudging acknowledgement that Sammael's hatred for LTT pales next to that of Demandred.



I don't understand your point. NO ONE is a match for Lews Therin in a one on one battle. Nevertheless, Sammael would have beaten him if not for Moridin, Rahvin would have beaten him if not for Nynaeve and Lanfear would have beaten him if not for Moiraine. Now that he has reached his full power, no Forsaken is going to challenge him to a one on one duel on equal terms. Instead, he will be attacked from the shadows, or in a moment of weakness, or with the odds stacked against him in some other way.

Was Moiraine more powerful than Be'lal? Come now, your argument that Rand is unbeatable and therefore no Forsaken could possibly kill him is frankly ridiculous. The vagaries of war are many. Beating a superior opponent relies on choosing the terms of your attack wisely.



Again you twist my words, deliberately, it seems. What foreshadowing of Demandred killing Moridin did I refer to? Instead, I referred to the foreshadowing of Rand's inevitable death, coupled with the foreshadowing that Demandred's fate will culminate in a final confrontation with Rand. If Moridin happens to be laid low as a result of Rand's death, that would occur regardless of who kills Rand. Nowhere do I say that it is foreshadowed that Demandred will kill Moridin.

Besides, Rand's death will not necessarily kill Moridin, just like Semirhage's fireball did not cause Moridin's hand to fall off, now did it?

Instead, it is more likely to severely hurt Moridin, or perhaps even drive his soul from his body or something along those lines, giving Rand the opportunity to swap bodies with him. That's if the body swapping theory turns out to be true.

A possible scenario could then be for Rand - in his new Moridin body - recovering, and killing Demandred, who is once again thwarted on the brink of ALMOST succeeding. In fact, this time he will think that he HAS finally succeeded, seeing Rand's dead body before him, only for Rand in his new body, or one of Rand's allies - perhaps Alivia - to kill Demandred a hair short of achieving his goal once again.

The point is, this final contest seems dramatically far more likely given the information we have thus far, than Demandred dying in some sideshow battle against Mat or Ruarc or Perrin.



And throughout the later books more than one of the Forsaken have secretly worried that the ultimate goal of the Shadow is to turn Rand instead and to make him Nae'blis above them. Once again, why would Moridin care about hurting someone close to Rand, or causing him emotional anquish if his state of mind at the end will not be a crucial issue?

There is no way for Moridin to kill Rand without hurting himself as well. Of course, he cannot reveal this to the other Forsaken, nor can he acknowledge that the ultimate goal is to turn the Dragon to the Shadow, as the first would reveal his vulnerability to his rivals, and the second would place their loyalty in doubt as they will see Rand as rival for their own positions in future.




Once again, you twist my words. Of course Demandred isn't going to achieve glory. And of course he will most likely die. But my point is that he will play a crucial role in the final confrontation with Rand. As I suggested above, he will still fall short of success at the very end, but not before having this impact on the final outcome. Just like Rahvin was killed in a confrontation with Rand, just like Be'lal, Sammael, Lanfear, Aginor, Balthamel, Ishamael and Semirhage were defeated in confronations with Rand.

Demandred will meet his fate in the same way. Why would he be the only one to fall in some sideshow battle with Mat, while the real confrontation goes on elsewhere between Moridin and Rand? Demandred will fall in a battle with Rand, either before or after the death of Rand's current body. The only difference between him and Rahvin or Sammael, is that his battle with Rand is the one at the very end, while their respective battles took place earlier in the series.



Again, I think Demandred will fall in a confronation with Rand, just like Rahvin, Be'lal, Sammael, Lanfear, Ishamael and Semirhage did. You in turn, seem to be hoping for him to fall in a more ignominious way, for some reason, far removed from the real climax. That is where we differ.