Lord of Chaos recap

Rand, ruling from Cairhien and Caemlyn, struggles to hold a fracturing web of nations while founding a secret school to gather and train men who can channel, the Asha'man, aided by a hard former false Dragon named Mazrim Taim. Both Elaida's loyalist Tower and the rebel sisters of Salidar send embassies to him, each hoping to control the Dragon Reborn. In Salidar the rebels raise Egwene, still young, to be their Amyrlin Seat, expecting a puppet; Nynaeve there discovers how to Heal the once-incurable severing of a channeler's gift, and she and Lan are wed. The loyalist embassy betrays Rand, seizing him, sealing him in a chest, and carrying him off to be broken and delivered to Elaida. His friends and the Asha'man ride in pursuit, and at the Battle of Dumai's Wells they cut through a besieging Aiel host and free him, the young male channelers unleashing terrible destruction. In the aftermath, a group of Aes Sedai kneel and swear fealty to the Dragon Reborn himself, an act without precedent, and Rand's power, and his hardness, grow greater than ever.

Rand al'Thor, a shepherd of the Two Rivers, was named the Dragon Reborn after he first channeled the One Power: the prophesied champion fated to fight the Dark One and, because he wields the tainted male Power, to go mad. He fought the fiery-eyed Ba'alzamon in the sky above Falme, was proclaimed the Dragon before the world, and drew the crystal sword Callandor from the Stone of Tear, killing that enemy and learning it was the Forsaken Ishamael. He went to the Aiel Waste, uncovered his people's hidden past, and was accepted as their Car'a'carn, chief of chiefs. Leading the Aiel down into the heartland, Rand warred against the renegade Shaido, and destroyed the Forsaken Rahvin at Caemlyn with balefire. In that campaign the Aes Sedai Moiraine, who had guided him since Emond's Field, sacrificed herself by dragging the Forsaken Lanfear through a doorway that consumed them both. Along the way Mat grew into a gifted battle commander; Perrin defended the Two Rivers, wed Faile, and was made its lord; Nynaeve and Elayne captured the Forsaken Moghedien and bound the legendary Birgitte into living flesh; and the White Tower split, Elaida seizing power and stilling the deposed Amyrlin Siuan Sanche, driving rebel sisters to gather at Salidar. As this book opens Rand rules Cairhien and Andor, commands the Aiel, and has begun secretly gathering men who can channel, while rival Aes Sedai maneuver to seize control of the Dragon Reborn.

Rand's captivity ends at the Battle of Dumai's Wells. The loyalist Aes Sedai embassy that feigned friendship has kidnapped him, sealed him in a chest, and beaten him daily on the road toward Elaida, meaning to make him a tame weapon. His friends refuse to abandon him: Perrin, the Aiel, Mat's soldiers, and above all the newly trained Asha'man ride to the rescue and break through a besieging Shaido host in a slaughter that announces the return of men who wield the Power as a force in the world. Rand is freed, shaken and further hardened by the ordeal. In the aftermath a number of Aes Sedai kneel and swear fealty to the Dragon Reborn, a humbling of the White Tower's ancient pride that would once have been unthinkable. In Salidar, the rebels have raised Egwene, still only a young woman, to the Amyrlin Seat, badly misjudging her as someone they can steer; Nynaeve has learned to Heal the once-permanent severing of a channeler's gift, restoring the deposed Siuan and others, and has married Lan. Rand ends the book more powerful and more feared, but colder, warier, and more alone, the taint on saidin and the memory of the chest both weighing on him as the Shadow's servants prepare fresh moves.