The Dragon

Q: When Rand takes Verin and the others through a portal stone in <The Great Hunt>, at the end of each life he heres "I have won again Lews Therin". I thought that if the DO won even once the wheel would be broken and therfor the Dragon would not be reborn again. How could the DO have won before to be able to say "again"? 
A: There are degrees of victory. The Dark One can acheive victory by breaking free, but can also acheive lesser victories. Such as by stopping the Dragon Reborn from doing other things he was born to do. It isn't as simple as him being born to fight The Dark One. It's never simple.

Q: Please find out if Lews Therin balefired himself in the prologue in EotW, or if he just drew too much of the OP. If it isn't critical to the continuing plot, I'm sure he'll say.
A: Lews Therin did not use balefire on himself; he simply drew as much of the One Power as he could, then kept on pulling it in.

Q: What was Lews Therin's age at the time of the sealilng of the bore, and was his prowness with the sword (and sammael's) comparable to modern blademasters?
A: Read and find out!

Q: In WH, Lews Therin says "We are not builders, not you, or I, or the other one." Now I know if I ask who the other one is, i know I'll just get a RAFO, but should we be able to figure out who the 'other one' is?
A: You should have some hints. Follow your hunches

Q: Mr. Jordan, is it possible that in another age, another turning of the wheel, that Saidar could be tainted instead of Saidin? This relates to the Female Dragon Theory.
A: That is not something I intend to explore.

Q: Are there any dragons (like real dragons (=animals)) in Rand's world. If not where did they get the idea of dragons?
A: there are no animal dragons of any kind in this world. the people speak of a man called the Dragon. They know that the banner that has a certain creature on it was the banner of this man and they have taken to calling this creature the dragon. to them it is a simple association with the name of this man.

Reports from signings

Female dragon..NO when a female hero is needed she is one of the ones bound to the wheel. Jordan did mention a name but i didnt hear it. But he did say the Dragon is never female.

Let's try and clear some of this up... I can't remember the exact question, but from what I read in this thread, it doesn't matter (I haven't read the Female Dragon thread). RJ said that, no, it is not possible to have a female dragon. If the wheel needs a female dragon, then it would weave in *insert female dragon name here*. Probably because of the blank faces he was getting he then added, you can find her in the scene where Mat blows the horn...
He also said that a soul ready to be reborn cannot change gender, therefor the dragon is ALWAYS male.

Q: "Is this soul born in any other age, or only at the advent and (theoretically, of course) the closing of the Third Age, as The Dragon/TDR?"
A: This soul is one of the Heroes, and bound to the Wheel, spun out as the Pattern wills.  "It" is born in other ages, but in a non-Dragon incarnation, to suit the pattern of that Age.  In the course of this answer, he related this to why Hawkwing calls Rand "Lews Therin" at Falme--because Hawkwing recognizes this Soul.  This didn't really tell me why he specifically calls him "LTT", but apparently they've been hangin' together in T'A'R and the etiquette there is to call each other by the name of your last incarnation.  (My interpretation.)

In this same Age, in a different Turning of the Wheel of time, could it be possible that it woulnd't be Rand's soul that was spun out as the Dragon, but for a different, female soul to take on this role?
Jordan said "Yes" then maybe a few more words and only then did I remember to actually put the recorder on again. If I remember correctly Avaeus taped those first few words on his digital camera however, so I'll see if I can add those exact words here.
...it would have to be. Err, in the differences between the same Age in different turnings of the Wheel, are that.. as for an analogy: imagine two tapestries hanging on a wall, and you look at them from the back of the room to the front of the store. And to look at them, they look identical to you. But as you get closer, you begin to see differences. And if you get close enough, they don't look anything at all alike. That is the difference between the Ages. Between the Age in one Turning and the Age in another. So it's quite possible that someone other than Rand could be the reborn soul of the Dragon Reborn. [And that's the phrase that ended my jubilation.]
It would be the same soul, or it would be a different soul?
It would be the same soul. That is, that is the belief of the world that I've set up, that it's the same soul. It's a soul of someone bound to the Wheel, which is spun out for the purposes, for the Wheel's purposes really, to attempt to rebalance the Weaving of the Pattern.
But the soul would always be male. Souls don't change gender, so ...
...so the soul of the Dragon Reborn is always going to be male [*sobs] , just as Birgitte's soul is always born as a woman, just as Ameresu's soul [He actually pronounced this as Amatherisu. Anyone else find it curious that Jordan would place her on equal footing with Rand and Birgitte? The way he said this reminded me of Mother Therese, just like 'Materese the Healer' (TEotW, Chapter 4). Amerasu could most definitely be the same person as Materese. And the "The Healer" tag suddenly gets a lot more meaning, when thinking about how important she is to Jordan...] is always born as a woman. There are divisions here, and they are not interchangable. Damn! - Raina

KuraFire asked about... I don't precisely remember what Kura asked. Oh, but I do. Doing Nogling a favor, he talked about Ishamael's belief that Rand had fought him for time without end, and asked if it was perhaps not Rand's goal to take on the DO, but to only take on the DO's Nae'blis. Jordan gleefully answered "Read And Find Out."

Raina's Hold / Thus Spake the Creator - Index