the dragon shall be reborn: the reincarnation of of the dragon, lews therin, was written of in prophecies throughout many different people and lands. the man destined to either save or break the world. rand al'thor was born on the slopes of dragonmount. his mother having died in labor rand was saved by a solder, tam al'thor and taken back to the small village of emond's field. tam was a sheep farmer and he raised his son without any knowledge of his true heritage. years passed quietly, happily until the dark one - in search of the dragon reborn - sent forces to emond's field to find him during the bel tine festival. as the dark ones forces attacked his village rand struggled to get his injured father to the wisdom. this was when his father revealed some of rand's true heritage. a moment that would haunt rand. moiraine, an aes sedai, who had come to the village with the mission of finding the dragon along with her warder told rand and his friends mat cauthon and perrin aybara that the dark one was after them, convincing them to leave with her and her warder, lan. accompanied by egewene al'vere and thom merrlin they set out of the village. and followed out by the village wisdom, nynaeve. the group finds themselves in shadar logoth, a cursed city touched by darkness. here the group splits, rand, thom and mat are together on the road. where later rand discovers his friend has a cursed object from shadar logoth, which is slowly killing him. thom trains the two of them in ways of the gleeman and these skills are what they use to pay for room and board on their journey to try to find the rest of their group. running and hiding were constant until they finally found themselves in caemlyn where rand meets the daughter heir , elayne and the queen of andor herself, morgase. the aes sedai who stands beside the queen has a foretelling of rand, one that terrifies her and confuses rand greatly. after being reunited with the rest of the group they find themselves heading towards the blight heading to the eye of the world. at this very sight rand came face to face with the dark lord himself. he defeated him - or so he thought - and he was told that he was the dragon reborn. with only egwene, moiraine, and nynaeve having the knowledge that he could channel.

twice the heron to name him true: forced onto the hunt for the legendary horn of valere , an ancient artifact that's said to raise up dead heroes to fight in the last battle, because of his wanting to help mat with his curse he's pushed and pulled in different directions by aes sedai manoeuvring. moiraine even makes rand carry the dragon banner, which he hides, and wear expensive clothing to sell his role more convincingly. on the hunt not only do rand's friends discover he's a channeler, he also finds himself transported to another world through ancient portal stones. this deters his journey somewhat, here he meets a strange and mysterious woman calling herself selene. taken with her rand is determined to see her safely home. rand is also confronted by ba'alzamon while hunting for the horn of valere. while holding his sword ba'alzamon heats the sword, thus branding a heron onto one of his palms. after being forced to channel to escape the portal stones rand continues on the hunt where he finds the horn. heading to toman head to fight for the fate of his hometown rand and his friends find the horn and with one of them blowing it the warriors from the age of legends arise and rand is taken above the war happening below so he might, again find himself face to face with the dark one. the fight is brutal and rand is mortally wounded. after he wakes several days later, he meets min farshaw, a girl with a unique ability to read auras that give her viewings about people. having been healed by moiraine and he's faced with the decision to either leave the world in further tatters or to declare himself as the dragon reborn. he chooses the latter and raises the dragon banner, gaining followers and being declared through the world. but the declaration is also a beacon for darkfriends and the dark one. fearing his own power and ability to channel rand fears his madness that sets upon most men who once had these same abilities. he runs away then leaving behind his camp and setting off towards tear to make sense of his dreams as well as putting to rest the fear of whether or not he truly is the dragon reborn.

twice the dragon, for the price he must pay: he heads to tear and takes the stone, pulling callandor from its spot and solidifying himself as the dragon reborn. the aiel, warriors from the waste have remained with him to see if he is truly their own prophesied leader: the car'a'carn, he who comes with the dawn. after sometime in tear navigating through nobles and assaults from the forsaken and the dark one himself, rand gathers his aiel and heads to the waste where he'll get an army much larger than many have ever seen. to survive the waste and understand the aiel culture, the wise ones send aviendha to be his guide and he falls for her, honestly, even if they are fated to be together. the waste is a brutal and different culture, a desert place where rand finds many things out about himself: more about his mother, his place within the clan as chief of chiefs after going through rhuidean. he emerges, marked with dragons on each arm and finds opposition at every turn. with the aiel behind him he returns to cairhein to fight those that will oppose him. among those a forsaken that he kills that had over taken caemlyn. in cairhien he offers amnesty to men who can channel, against the aes sedai who will gentle any man who can. this causes a great uproar and conflict. but rand determines still has his black tower built, where the men can be trained up and ready for the last battle. he calls them asha'man.

the unstained tower, broken, bends knee to the forgotten sign: the aes sedai send emissaries to him in the guise of talk. but the tower has him kidnapped. on the road to the white tower, beaten and kept in a box for days rand is kept company only by his madness, the voice of lews therin in his head. armies come to his aide at dumai wells, along with the asha'man. a bloody and terrible battle ensues. this event forces the aes sedai who captured him to bend the knee to him. breaking any trust that rand might've had in them. after this event rand finds it easier to cut himself off from people and emotion, turning himself into stone to be better prepared for the last battle. rand leads an army to take illian and the council who rule the city declare him king.

he shall heal the wounds of madness and cutting of hope: after an attempt on his life by the asha'man rand decides to not only hunt down those who had been sent after him. but also finds himself determined to cleanse the male half of the source of the madness that plagues it. between the attack on cairhien and his return to caemlyn to find nynaeve he confesses his love for elayne, aviendha and min which culminates in the three of them bonding him as their warder. rand along with nynaeve go to shadar logoth to cleanse the source after a stint in far maddening where he hunted down the asha'man who tried to kill him. using the most powerful ter'angreal in the world rand channels the power linked to nynaeve not only cleansing the taint but wiping out the cursed city as well.

and he is one with the land. soul of fire, heart of stone: rand returns after the cleansing to a world of disbelief over what he's done. a world with little food supply. the green decaying, the farms turning little harvest. and people in need of a leader. rand sets above trying to solve the problems for the cities that he has taken. confronting another forsaken rand not only loses his hand but also is told that the voice in his head is due to a prolonged madness that will surely kill him. he takes the forsaken captive but finds that mercy of not killing her backfire when he finds himself collared and controlled briefly by her. but this event leaves him entirely cold and even more determined than ever to see his mission to the end. the end being a promised death, something he's promised lews therin in his mind.

Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed. Once for mourning, once for birth: a reunion with his father in which rand endangers him, causes him to run off and away from the group he's currently with. he finds himself at dragonmount, still searching for reasons and answers beyond the coldness that he's forced himself to adopt and the madness that seems to ebb away at him. after some reflection rand discovers the reasoning beyond the hopelessness and the revelation that the voice in his head is not madness at all. during his return he has a new out look. and his darkness has gone from him. instead rand's very steps make the decaying world bloom, gives grain to the starving cities he steps foot in, and his new found outlook and light starts to mend the brokenness he had left behind previouly. after gathering the nations together in the field of merrilor to discuss the last battle rand proclaims the dragon's peace. a treaty all nations must sign if they want him to fight in the last battle. reluctantly they all agree. leaving rand with some confidence of what the world might be once he defeats the dark one. still as determined than ever to sacirfice himself at shayal ghul. rand takes nynaeve and moiraine with him to the pit of doom, where he'll fight the dark one one on one. with the battle raging around him outside of the pit of doom rand discovers moridin waiting for him. the two of them sword fight. an obstacle before he faces the dark one. after he then finds himself outside of time and the pattern itself. here him and the dark one fight the true last battle, against each other. after surviving the terror and torment that the dark one had tried to inflict on him and those he loves rand emerges, grabbing a hold on the true power and managing after some time to seal away the dark one once again. but this time perfectly, managing to prevent another taint from happening. nearly dying rand stumbles his way out of the pit of doom, carrying the unconscious body of mordin. they're both taken back to one of the camps, where now the battle is over and won. several attempts to heal rand's body are futile leaving everyone in distress. they prepare him for a funeral. it's revealed later that rand survived by switching bodies with moridin just before he died. now awake and fully recovered rand - in moridin's body - sees his own funeral taking place. where most think rand is dead, there are a few people that know the truth of it. considering a new life without the burden of being a ruler or constantly hunted down, rand rides away.