Well were to start, an epic journey and the eternal struggle between light and dark was first printed in 1990 and follows the lives of three young men Rand al'Thor, Matrim Cauthon and Perrin Aybara. They are joined by several friends, Egwene al'Vere, Nynaeve al'Maera, Thom Merrilin (a gleeman not from their village) and they are led by Moiraine Damodred, an Aes Sedai (see below) and her warder Lan Mandragoran.

This is where it begins to get more complicated, the first five names are all from a quiet village called the Two Rivers which is very isolated from the world, Thom Merrilim was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the Aes Sedai was there for the three young men. In the world of WOT the wheel of time goes round without end and is driven by the True Source. Certain people, Aes sedai, can channel this power, the One Power, to accomplish great things and are given possitions of great authority in society. There are two halves to this power and they are as different as chalk and cheese, that is one half for men, Saidin,  and one for women, Saidar, and in times past, the Age of Legends, both worked together, to create a world that was a paradise, untouched by greed or war. Then one day an Aes Sedai called Mierin Eronaile and a group of researchers thought they had found a new power, usable by both men and women so they drilled though the earth to harness it, afterwards this place would be know as the Bore. What they had sensed was not a new power but the Dark One, a being of pure evil bound outside of time at the moment of creation, by the creator. Thus the world was plunged in to chaos for nearly 100 years and the world new the meaning of war once again.

From this moment People began converting to the Shadow in the hope of everlasting life and power and amoung these were the dreadlords, Aes sedai that went over to the Dark One and normal people called "friends of the dark" would try to convert people. The power became a weapon and the War of the Shadow lasted nearly 10 years, with people continually converting to the Shadow becuase it was the winning side. The side of good was going to lose but there was hope, when man's need was greatest Lews therin Telamon, Lord of the Morning, First Amoung Servants, The Dragon led a strike against the Bore with the aim of resealing the Dark Ones prison. However no female Aes Sedai would join him as they thought his plan was too rash and dangerous becuase to reseal the Bore would require the power to be focused very precicely by several seals and if they got it wrong, then they could free him completely.

So the Dragon led a quest to the Bore with the Hundred companions which was 113 male Aes Sedai and 10,000 soldiers. When they arrived there they found a meeting of the 13 most powerful dark Aes Sedai, who would become known as the Forsaken and they set to work placing the seals and thenthey struck. The Bore was sealed and the Forsaken were also trapped inside it but 45 of the companions died and many many more of the soldiers, but worst of all was the Dark Ones counter-strike. In the final moments before the Bore was sealed the Dark One lashed out and tainted the male half of the power Saidin and within an instant all the companions and any man touching the male half of the source went mad destroying all they could see and over time all men who could channel began to go mad, and forevermore was Saidin tainted. This time was known as the breaking of the world and the most famous story is of the Dragons madness where he did kill anyone who carried even a drop of his blood, and in his final moments one of the forsaken, (i know i've said their bound in the Bore but this is not strictly true... i will explain later dont worry) Ishamael, appeared and cured Lews Therin of his madness so that he could know what he had done, know that people would forever call him Kinslayer and then he would kill him. But Lews Therin used the power and fled and when he arrived he drew more of the power than he could handle and destroyed himself creating what is now known as Kinslayers dagger, a giant mountain in the spine of the world.

Years later after the breaking, once the wheel had turned and all of above was but a memory, an Aes Sedai, Gitara Moroso, had a foretelling and said that the dragon had been reborn unpon the slopes of the Dragonmount. This was the start of it all but there is nearly 20 years between this moment and the start of the first book (although many of these are written in "A New Spring") But when The Eye Of The World starts the story starts all over again and the battle continues.