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So, Rand is hearing voices. Is Lews Therin a real entity, or is he a product of Rand's taint-maddened imagination?
Two minds inhabit Rand's body; Rand and LTT. This seems to be supported by Min's vision (ACOS: 33, A Bath, 526) in which Rand and another man touched and merged into one another. Rand certainly takes it that way (which should alert the cynical reader to the distinct possibility that this is probably the wrong interpretation :). This theory implies that Rand is relatively sane still and his problems can be attributed to stress, paranoia, fear and another mind trying to take him over and that Lews is completely insane.
However, it doesn't make much sense for LTT to be talking to Rand. If we look at the other people who have lived past lives, we don't see this happening. Mat's memories of his past life/lives are integrated into his own personality. Same with Birgitte--she doesn't talk to "Marion," she says she was once called Marion. If LTT _is_ a separate entity, it could imply that Rand is just some poor sod who happened to be born into the same body that LTT was reborn into, and that not Rand, but LTT is the actual Dragon Reborn. OTOH, it was _Rand_ who pulled the Sword that Ain't, not LTT; he hadn't even shown up then. There is only one case in which we definitely know that two entities coexist in one body: the Fain-Mordeth combo, and they are melding into a single entity over time. (*'gar don't count, because there is only one mind in the body. Slayer doesn't count, because we have no evidence that any of Luc's consciousness survives. In fact, in TAR, we see only Isam.) However, this wasn't a rebirth. This theory also neglects to explain the fact that there is no manifestation of LTT prior to Rand channelling.
Another possible argument, proposed by Joseph Rosenfeld against this is that, if the Dragon has been reborn over and over through all time (as claimed by Ish and others), there must have been other "dragons" before LTT. Why, then, is only Lews Therin Telamon Kinslayer, the Age of Legends version of the Dragon, inhabiting Rand's head? Why not a whole committee? Counter to this, also suggested by Mr. Rosenfeld: maybe LTT is the easiest to get get to because he was the most recent. If Rand tried really hard, he could maybe contact the 1st Age Dragon, and the previous 7th Age one, etc.
The LTT personality is the manifestation of Rand's encroaching insanity. "...everybody has been telling him he is Lews Therin reborn, so he starts perceiving Lews Therin is in his head. Not only that, but he finds the voice responds to him. Now he's trying to carry on conversations with this voice. It all seems logical to us, but then it seems logical (sort of) to Rand, as well. I found myself thinking he should tell somebody he was hearing a voice in his head. When I thought how absurd this sounded, it struck me that I had been fooled into thinking Rand was still completely sane." (James Beavens)
Then, there is also, "He raised the point that Rand's creeping insanity may manifest in much more subtle ways than the people of Randland expect..." (from Emmet O'Brien's account of Jordan's talk at Trinity College in Dublin).
This theory is supported by Cadsuane's statement that "some men who can channel begin to hear voices....It is part of the madness. Voices conversing with them, telling them what to do." (ACOS: 18, As the Plow Breaks the Earth, 331) If we assume Dashiva is not a Forsaken, but just a crazy channeller (see section 1.52), then Dashiva's reaction to Cadsuane's statement, as well as some of his other behaviour, seem to support it.
On the other hand, this doesn't take into account that "LTT" knows things that Rand could never have known on his own--stuff about the AoL, the Forsaken, channelling, etc.
OPTION 1.5 -- This is a kind of compromise between 1 & 2. Rand's taint-maddened subconscious could be constructing the LTT voice out of past life memories like Mat's. That is to say, the memories and knowledge expressed by LTT are real effects of being somebody Reborn, but the LTT voice is not, Rand has multiple personality disorder.
OPTION 3--(This is a bit out in left field, IMO, but some people do believe it, so I'll mention it.) There IS a voice in Rand's head, but it is NOT LTT, or Rand being crazy. Rather, it is the result of some skullduggery on the part of the Shadow to infiltrate Rand's brain. Variations on this theme have been Mesaana (disproven by her actual appearance in LOC), Ishamael, and maybe others.
An interesting thing to note is that, as soon as Cadsuane mentions hearing voices, "LTT" stops talking to Rand. Another thing to note is that Cadsuane channelled while making that statement. The obvious thing she did was fetching the teapot to her, but it is possible that she used the channelling of the teapot to disguise something else she did. So, we're left with the question of why did LTT go away? Was it something Cadsuane did? Did he go away of his own volition (is he in hiding)? Did Rand subconciously supress him? Also, what does his disappearance signify?
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