A Memory of Light

[Necroben]

I have a theory about LTT that doesn't involve time travel or torture. The DO torturing him is unlikely because LTT has been remarkably helpful in cases where the DO would definitely not want him to be competent.

Basically, we know it is possible to have memories that are not from your own life. Matt got his head filled with memories from other people, and Birgette naturally remembers memories from her previous lives (although she is now forgetting them.) In both cases, we get a perfectly well-balanced person who just happens to remember a whole bunch of stuff from the past. Note especially the fact that Birgette produces a single, integrated personality that is constant across all her lives.

I suspect that Rand is experiencing something similar, but with key differences. Unlike Matt, these memories are from his own soul. It seems likely that the soul makes a difference; give the same soul the same memories and you get the same personality back. Thus Rand's personality, as he regained his LTT memories, would begin to overlap and absorb the personality of LTT. Notice the fact that he starts unconsciously picking up LTT's mannerisms and using LTT's memories without being aware of it. Note especially that if he doesn't notice it, there is nothing crazy about what he does with LTT's memories. He is LTT reborn, and so his essence is the same person as LTT, just like Birgette reborn is always Birgette at core; a core which we see in the world of dreams.

Thus I claim that Rand has these extra memories in his head of his previous life, like Birgette. Unlike Birgette, however, he does not want to admit to himself why he has these memories. He does not want to admit that he is LTT and that he really did all the things he remembers doing. These memories are extremely painful ones for him, partly because of LTT's reputation, and especially because of what he did at the end. Combine his attempt to deny himself (because denying that he is LTT is denying himself) with fact that the taint is probably driving him crazy, and it is easy to see how he could end up constructing an alternate "persona" he could assign the LTT memories to. Thus LTT is just Rand talking to himself, refusing to admit that he's gone slightly around the bend.

Of course, part of the question is: why does he remember being LTT? The only answer I can come up with is that the taint triggered it somehow, a la Semihrage's (sp?) explanation in Knife of Dreams that crazy people (even before the taint) somehow remember past lives.

And thus; To Live, you must Die.  Embrace the other part of his soul (learn laughter and tears) and he is no longer exactly the same person, or is a completely different person and only the core of who he is is the same.  This way several different prophecies all come together at once, even those I've forgotten.

I like this theory.

[Cynewulf]

So what is LTT then? He does have the knowledge and skills of LTT, Rand can now draw because of him and he knows the faces of the Forsaken because of him, not to mention all the different weavings for channeling. Is it some dormant part of Rand's soul remembering the old persona?

Happyman's explanation is right, of course, and one closely mirroring the explanations given by Robert Jordan himself. To add to what Happyman wrote, imagine a soul as a multifaceted diamond, where the facets represent the various personalities associated with the soul over the millennia. Such a facet would then contain every aspect of an incarnation of the soul in question, including personality traits, memory and other idiosyncracies. Normally, these facets are clearly demarcated and separate from each other. In the case of Rand, the boundary between his personality facet and Lews Therin's has been deteriorating, until the two actually come into contact with each other. As indicated by Semirhage, and all extant evidence suggests that she was not lying, this was a known form of schizophrenia in the AoL. That is, it is a variant of the multiple-personality disorder, only with the distinction that the imposing or intruding personality is one which had been previously associated with the soul of the afflicted person.  That is, the voice, memories and characteristics of Lews Therin are real, but arise as a consequence of a known mental disease. We have every reason to believe that this breaking down of personality boundaries has come about as a direct consequence of the taint. We know that taint madness takes a variety of different forms, that is, there is no fixed taint madness by which all male channelers are beset. As I see it, the taint merely accentuates or brings to the forefront mental diseases to which a person may be predisposed.

[Comfortable Madness]

Birgitte only has the memories of her former self because she was ripped out of TAR before it was time for her to be spun out by the Wheel. That is why the memories are fading. It is also the reason why she fears her destiny to be with Gaidal Cain will not happen now.

[Cynewulf]

Certainly they are fading because the facet boundaries, to use that metaphor, are being reestablished.

[darxbane]

I agree with some of the multi-facet theory.  However, couldn't it be possible that a soul could split? 
Cynewulf: What I meant by saying he is not far off is that Rand is speaking to a previous (and also future)  incarnation of himself.  So in a manner of speaking, he is talking to someone from the past.  Matt also had past memories bleed into his current personality before the Finns, but the difference is that his personality didn't split like Rand's.  Nynaeve's Accepted test shows her fighting Aginor, which could be a continuance of a fight from her previous life.  I feel that all the major characters are reborn souls with special abilities needed for Tarmon Gai'don (which may be obvious).  However, most people remember things almost like Deja-vous.  I do like the Tyler Durden theory though. 

[Patriotic Kaz]

Interesting theories and a fun read but how exactly is Matt's case so drastically different? His is the same soul being reborn also not someone inheriting memories that aren't his...

[douglas]

Before Rhuidean Mat had a smattering of the Old Tongue and a few not-quite-actual memories that popped up on occasion, and all of it was from "the Old blood", possibly from ancestors and not necessarily his own past lives.  After Rhuidean, all his memories from the Finns were just memories they happened to have on hand from various assorted people they'd had contact with.  The common thread between Mat and the people those memories come from is contact with the Finns, not rebirth or blood.  Heck, it's mentioned a few times that he actually has memories from opposite sides of the same battle in some cases.

[Patriotic Kaz]

Woops my bad...

[Comfortable Madness]

Before Rhuidean Mat had a smattering of the Old Tongue and a few not-quite-actual memories that popped up on occasion, and all of it was from "the Old blood", possibly from ancestors and not necessarily his own past lives.  After Rhuidean, all his memories from the Finns were just memories they happened to have on hand from various assorted people they'd had contact with.  The common thread between Mat and the people those memories come from is contact with the Finns, not rebirth or blood.  Heck, it's mentioned a few times that he actually has memories from opposite sides of the same battle in some cases.

That reminds me of one of the most chilling scenes in the series. Where Mat comes to the conclusion that, since he has various memories of "himself" actually dying, the Finns actually can see through his eyes at all times. Very creepy.

[IngtarWhoStoleChristmas]

Before Rhuidean Mat had a smattering of the Old Tongue and a few not-quite-actual memories that popped up on occasion, and all of it was from "the Old blood", possibly from ancestors and not necessarily his own past lives.  After Rhuidean, all his memories from the Finns were just memories they happened to have on hand from various assorted people they'd had contact with.  The common thread between Mat and the people those memories come from is contact with the Finns, not rebirth or blood.  Heck, it's mentioned a few times that he actually has memories from opposite sides of the same battle in some cases.

Thats actually one of the most chilling scenes in the book. Where Mat comes to the conclusion that, since he has various memories of "himself" actually dying, the Finns actually can see through his eyes at all times. Very creepy.

Hmm perhaps this is why Mat may need to lose an eye? Maybe they can see thru one but not the other. If Mat plans to rescue Moraine from the Finns, it would be difficult if they can see someone coming towards them....

[happyman]

Birgitte only has the memories of her former self because she was ripped out of TAR before it was time for her to be spun out by the Wheel. That is why the memories are fading. It is also the reason why she fears her destiny to be with Gaidal Cain will not happen now.

Oh, absolutely.  But it shows that souls, in their raw, disembodied state, and even overlapping with their embodied state, have access to all the different facets their different lives represent.  Thus we expect Rand's soul to still have Lews Therin floating around on it somewhere, even if normal birth somehow hides them from immediate access.

You are correct that the reason they have access is completely different for the different cases.  No argument there.

Incidentally, she will almost certainly be with Gaidal in this life.  Min had a viewing about it!

[Patriotic Kaz]

Too bad Gaidal isn't Olver... i remember someones saying Mr. Rigney said he isn't....

[Loud_G]

Too bad Gaidal isn't Olver... i remember someones saying Mr. Rigney said he isn't....

He could've been lying t us. I hear authors do that sort of thing ALL the time. (Yes, I'm looking at YOU Alcatraz Smedry!)

[melbatoast]

But Olver is too old to be Gaidal. I know the timing in TAR is messed up but I don't think it's that messed up.

[happyman]

In his statement, RJ explicitly stated that time might flow different in T'A'R than the "real" world, but it never goes backwards.  Thus Olver cannot be Gaidal, because the timelines are inconsistent no matter how you try to pull things.  Basically, if two characters meet in T'A'R, you know anything that happened before that meeting for one happened before that meeting for the other as well.  Thus if one of the characters saw Gaidal in the world of dreams after Olver was born, then Gaidal was not Olver.  Given that we can rely on the real world's timeline, we easily decide that Gaidal was not Olver.