In the Third Age, an age of prophecy when the world and time themselves hang in the balance, the Dark One, imprisoned by the Creator, is stirring in Shayol Ghul.

The Dragon Reborn--the leader long prophesied who will save the world, but in the saving destroy it; the savior who will run mad and kill all those dearest to him--is on the run from his destiny. Able to touch the One Power, but unable to control it, and with no one to teach him how--for no man has done it in three thousand years--Rand al'Thor knows only that he must face the Dark One. But how? Winter has stopped the war--almost--yet men are dying,...

Rand al'Thor consolidates his power base and attempts to come to a rapprochement with the Aes Sedai, the female mystics who channel the One Power and whose schism lends tension to his meetings with them. The schism has unexpected consequences for three young women: determined Egwene al' Vere, precocious Elayne Trakand and braid-tugging Nynaeve al'Meara.

The conclusion to the Wheel of Time series draws on notes left by the late Robert Jordan.