Ages in the Wheel/Rand as Christ/The Source

Yes, I know the whole Randland/Earth thing gets done into the dirt, but I’d thought I’d take a shot at putting a little extra spin on it. I am not putting forward a belief system or trying to bring lower any religion or religious views. This is simply my take on the use of real life events and objects in a FICTIONAL world. Forgive the small mistakes, as I don’t carry my library around with me.

As it says in the beginning of each book, Myth fades to Legend, and even that is lost once that age comes again. In reconstructing the ages of the Wheel, all we should have to do is go though both Randland and our own Mythical Past and future (as in current prophecies) and piece the puzzle together.

First, we put Randland in the third age (as it is called by some). We know the age of Legends was before that, so the second age. That leaves us with five ages to fill in. From what we can see in Randland, both ages have/will end with a major cataclysmic “end of the world” event, as well as one person who will be a savior to the world; Rand in the third age, Hawkwing in the previous.

If we go through our own folklore, we have a Christ who will end our current age in his return, and ended the previous age when he came before. We can also piece together (with continuing difficulty, because as Thom said, no one knows how the story will change in the ages to come), that the age before Christ began with the Flood. The world was saved at the end of that age by one man, Noah, but it is possible there was someone else not mentioned in the lore. That’s three ages.

A little more on the scientific bent is the fact that every several millennia we have an Ice Age.

Summing up. Each age, both in Randland as well as in our own lore being used in that world, ends with the coming of a savior. Christ is referred to by many names, and it wouldn’t surprise me that in a couple of Ages it wouldn’t also be Dragon.

First Age: Christ-Current day.
Second Age: Age of Legends.
Third Age: Randland.
Fourth Age: Post-Randland (because we do hope for a happy ending)
Fifth Age: Ice Age
Sixth Age: Adam-Noah
Seventh Age: Noah-Christ

All ages end with a victory for the Light, but to varying degrees. For example, the end of the Noah Age ended with the Flood, thus being the savior of the living; the end of the Christ Age ended with the the current age, the current Age (supposedly) should end with a new Age of Legends, AoL ended with the tainting of Saidin, etc., etc..

The use of Saidin/Saidar is not necessarily ever forgotten completely, as it was used extensively in the AoL, even today there are Cloistered peoples who do “miracles”. Catholic Nuns (which also start as Novices), for example, or monks and priests around the world. There is even a group in Asia which can unexplainably stay in sub-zero whether for long periods of time without any effect to them, even melting the snow around them. These groups are a shadow/precursor/etc. of things to come/have come in Randland.

There’s the basic jist. Myth fades to Legend, and even Legend fades from memory. Good fiction.

Raserei says: Normally, I'm an advocate who loudly says Randland is not earth, but, seeing this, i couldn't help but conceed that it's a neat idea.

When I looked at your cycle you gave, I was thinking that perhaps God/The Creator, or whatever he might be called in another age, really continues his role as a deity.

Though, there is one element that goes against the grain of the Creator in Randland. The Creator is thought to never touch the world, for he is the one who made it, and he leaves it to the devices of man. While this is also true for God and our current state of being, having free will and such, the one act of flooding the world during Noah's time isn't like the Creator. He wouldn't act out like that.

Unless, the flooding was in fact an act of the Dark One/Satan, in which the bible covers it up by saying the people were impure.

All in all, I sorta kinda like this idea, while I still adamantly say Randland is not Earth.