I agree. Moiraine is definitely going to live and might play a pivotal role in the ending of AMOL. But this thread is about who will be alive when the story is over. Some people are going to have to die, even if it's just the bad guys (unless RJ pulls a D.J. MacHale and brings everyone back to life, which I sincerely hope he doesn't). Yes, Moiraine lives, but will she survive the Last Battle?
Smashingsilver, you said "If the Wheel were to be destroyed, everything RJ wrote about, the philosophy of everything repeating would have to be ignored." But maybe that's the point. What if RJ used the destruction of the Wheel as a metaphor, showing how at last, the timeless struggle of the Light is no longer timeless. The Dark One is dead. Finished. A new order is here. The Wheel represents all that (hopefully, by the end of AMOL) no longer exists–Fades, Trollocs (although there will undoubtedly be survivors), Darkfriends…with time and effort, they will all be eradicted. The destruction of the Wheel will keep them that way.
Yes, that discussion has some very good points in it. However, the point you took from that discussion, "If the Dark One breaks free, he will break the Wheel of Time and remake Time and the world in his own image." can be switched around. (1) If the DO breaks free, and Rand/someone kills him, he won't be able to remake Time and the world in his own image. And also, that sentence does not necessarily imply that the DO is connected to the Wheel–it could mean that after he breaks free, he will intentionally break the Wheel, not that his breaking free causes the Wheel to break. And if the DO can break the Wheel of Time…what if Rand and his allies can, too?
I know, I'm sorry, I'm been reading t oo much history. RJ said he was a history buff, and I really believe him. I have found so many parallels between his writing/characters and real historical figures. (Merrilin/Merlin, al'Thor/Arthur, Elayne/Elayne, Gawyn/Gawain, etc.)