The Dragon Reborn recap

Tormented by dreams and terrified of the madness that comes for men who channel, Rand slips away alone, drawn toward the great fortress-city of Tear and the crystal sword Callandor, which prophecy says only the Dragon Reborn can wield. Moiraine, Lan, Perrin, and Loial pursue him, joined by a bold young Hunter of the Horn named Faile. Mat, saved from the dagger's poison by the Aes Sedai, escapes the White Tower and races south carrying warnings, while Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne hunt the Black Ajah, Aes Sedai secretly sworn to the Shadow, who have fled to Tear with stolen treasures. All their paths converge on the Stone of Tear, where Forsaken lie in wait to trap the Dragon Reborn. As Aiel warriors storm the fortress that legend said could never fall, Rand fights his way to Callandor and takes it up, Moiraine destroys one waiting Forsaken, and Rand kills the fiery-eyed Ba'alzamon at last, learning as the enemy dies that this ancient tormentor was the Forsaken Ishamael all along.

Three young men of the remote village of Emond's Field - Rand al'Thor, Mat Cauthon, and Perrin Aybara - were carried off by the Aes Sedai Moiraine and her Warder Lan when Trollocs attacked hunting for them, along with Egwene, the Wisdom Nynaeve, and the gleeman Thom Merrilin. Pursued by the Shadow, scattered at the cursed city of Shadar Logoth where Mat took a tainted dagger, they crossed a poisoned wilderness to the Eye of the World. There Rand channeled the One Power for the first time, destroyed two of the freed Forsaken, and battled the fiery-eyed Ba'alzamon, and Moiraine named him the Dragon Reborn: the prophesied champion fated to fight the Dark One and, because he can wield the tainted male Power, to go mad. In the second book the Horn of Valere, which summons dead heroes to war, was stolen by the Darkfriend Padan Fain, and the hunt for it led to the western town of Falme, held by the Seanchan, ocean-crossing invaders who leash women who can channel. Egwene was captured and freed; Mat sounded the Horn and called back the legendary Heroes of the Ages; and Rand fought Ba'alzamon in the sky above the town before thousands of witnesses, the sign of the Dragon blazing overhead. Driven into the open, Rand was proclaimed the Dragon Reborn for all the world to hear. Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne, the Daughter-Heir of Andor, went to the White Tower to train, and Perrin came to accept his uncanny bond with wolves. As this book opens, Rand cannot bear the destiny closing around him.

At the Stone of Tear the trap set for the Dragon Reborn is sprung and turned. As Aiel warriors take the fortress that prophecy said could never fall until the People of the Dragon came, Rand fights his way to the crystal sword Callandor and draws it from its centuries-old resting place, an act only the true Dragon Reborn could perform. Moiraine arrives in time to destroy the waiting Forsaken Be'lal with balefire, and Rand confronts and kills the fiery-eyed being who has haunted his dreams from the beginning, discovering as the enemy dies that he was never the Dark One but Ishamael, one of the Forsaken. Rand now holds Callandor, among the most powerful objects ever made, and the ancient Stone of Tear itself, and can no longer doubt what he is. Mat has been drawn back into events and freed of the dagger's poison; Perrin, deeper into his bond with the wolves, has grown close to Faile; and Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne have struck a blow against the Black Ajah, though many of the traitors escape to work further harm. The world will soon learn that the Dragon has come to Tear, and Rand must decide what to do with the power he has seized.