A Memory of Light recap

Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle, is fought at last. At the Field of Merrilor the nations bind themselves to the Dragon's Peace, and Rand goes to Shayol Ghul to face the Dark One while four great battlefronts hold the Shadow's armies of Trollocs, Sharans, and Forsaken. Lan holds Tarwin's Gap and, in single combat, kills the Forsaken general Demandred. Egwene falls destroying an army of Shadow channelers; Gawyn, Siuan, and the great captain Gareth Bryne are among the many dead. Mat, become the Light's supreme commander, turns the tide and the Horn of Valere is sounded to call the heroes of legend. In the Pit of Doom, aided by Nynaeve and Moiraine, Rand battles the Dark One in a contest of wills and visions, refusing to destroy him utterly because that would end humanity's freedom to choose, and instead reseals his prison. Rand's dying body is burned on a pyre, but his soul lives on in another man's body, and he slips away unknown, free at last, while Min, Aviendha, and Elayne, who carries his children, keep the secret. The Wheel turns, and a new Age begins.

Rand al'Thor of the Two Rivers was revealed as the Dragon Reborn, prophesied to fight the Dark One at the Last Battle and to break the world again. Guided out of hiding by the Aes Sedai Moiraine with his ta'veren friends Mat and Perrin, he claimed the sword Callandor, was accepted by the Aiel, conquered nations, killed several of the Forsaken, founded the Black Tower, and did the impossible by cleansing the male One Power of its taint, though he lost his left hand along the way. His friends rose with him: Perrin became a wolfbrother and battle lord and freed his wife, Faile; Mat, a peerless battle commander wed to the Seanchan heir Tuon, lost an eye rescuing the long-lost Moiraine from beyond the Tower of Ghenjei; Egwene broke a usurper to become Amyrlin of a reunited White Tower and shattered the Black Ajah's grip; Elayne won the thrones of Andor and Cairhien. After nearly falling to despair and madness, Rand was remade into a calm, certain man ready for the end. Now the seals on the Dark One's prison are breaking, Rand has declared he will shatter them and face the Dark One directly, and he has called the rulers of the world to the Field of Merrilor. Lan rides to hold Tarwin's Gap, and the nations gather for Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle.

A Memory of Light ends with the Shadow defeated and the world remade at terrible cost. The forces of the Light win Tarmon Gai'don, but many fall: Egwene al'Vere dies unleashing a power that turns the enemy's channelers against themselves; Gawyn Trakand, Siuan Sanche, and the great captain Gareth Bryne are among the dead; Lan Mandragoran slays the Forsaken Demandred in a duel and barely survives. The twisted peddler Padan Fain is killed by Mat. Perrin destroys the assassin Slayer and guards Rand in the world of dreams. At Shayol Ghul, Rand confronts the Dark One directly and chooses not to annihilate him, for a world stripped of the ability to choose evil would be a world of puppets; instead he seals the prison anew and closes the Bore. Bound soul to soul with his enemy Moridin, Rand walks out of the fighting in Moridin's healthy body while his own broken body is burned on a pyre. The world believes the Dragon dead, but he lives, anonymous and finally free, riding away alone. Min, Aviendha, and Elayne, who carries his children, keep his secret. The Wheel of Time turns onward into a new Age.