I think there is a further reason he has to die and live again, the seanchan prophecy says he will be blinded, meaning he wont be able to see to weave, that could be a reference to the need for callandor to be used he could still link blind, or it could be a reason to have alivia help him die so...
heres one way out there for you...Rand dies, goes to tel'aran whatever... and either gets ripped out of there or somehow affects the course of events from there.
Just a way out there theorum