Winter's Heart

Robert Jordan's epic fantasy novel Winter's Heart, part of The Wheel of Time series, follows multiple storylines across a world where Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, a prophesied champion destined to face the Dark One, prepares to cleanse saidin, the male half of the One Power (the world's magical force that can be channeled), of a corruption that drives male channelers mad.

In the White Tower, the stronghold of the Aes Sedai (an order of women who channel the One Power), five Sitters, members of the Tower's governing body, use a ter'angreal (magical artifact) called the Chair of Remorse to break a fellow Sitter named Talene. She confesses she belongs to the Black Ajah, a secret faction of Darkfriend sisters. The five women dare not report their findings, unable to determine whom to trust, and resolve to hunt the Black Ajah in secret.

In Caemlyn, Andor's capital, Elayne Trakand, the Daughter-Heir, struggles to claim the Lion Throne against rival noble Houses. She hires mercenaries to rebuild the Queen's Guard, clashes with Mazrim Taim, leader of the Black Tower (a training ground for male channelers called Asha'man), over his compound's autonomy, and manages Sea Folk demands for promised teachers. She undergoes an adoption ceremony with the warrior woman Aviendha, a member of the Aiel (a distinct warrior people), bonding them as first-sisters through the One Power. Her position grows more precarious when someone poisons her tea with forkroot, a channeling-suppressant herb, and three assassins attack with poisoned daggers. Dyelin Taravin, a powerful noblewoman who has been advising Elayne and supporting her claim to the throne, fights the attackers despite being badly wounded, proving her loyalty. A Guardsman named Doilin Mellar kills the remaining assassins and is promoted to captain of Elayne's bodyguard, though he is secretly a Darkfriend placed by agents of the Forsaken, the Dark One's most powerful servants. Meanwhile, at the Black Tower near Caemlyn, tensions deepen between factions loyal to Logain Ablar, a full Asha'man who leads a rival faction to Taim's, and Taim's inner circle, as captured Aes Sedai bonded against their will observe the compound's alarming growth.

Perrin Aybara, sent by Rand to retrieve the fanatical Prophet Masema, returns from negotiations to find his wife Faile captured by the Shaido, a renegade Aiel clan. The Shaido strip the captives, leash them, and force-march them through freezing snow. Faile survives near-fatal hypothermia only to find herself in three snares: forced servitude as gai'shain (servants bound by Aiel custom), an order from the Wise One Therava (an Aiel spiritual leader) to spy on the Shaido leader Sevanna, and a demand from a captive Aes Sedai named Galina to steal an object from Therava's tent in exchange for help escaping. Perrin organizes pursuit, and Masema agrees to allow Traveling, magical gateways that cover vast distances, to speed the chase.

At the Academy of Cairhien, Rand appoints Lord Dobraine Taborwin as his steward and reveals his plan to Min Farshaw, his lover. He carries two small ter'angreal that serve as access keys to the Choedan Kal, a pair of immensely powerful sa'angreal (amplifiers of the One Power). He intends to channel enough Power through them to strip the taint from saidin, and plans first to kill the renegade Asha'man who tried to assassinate him before attempting the cleansing. He experiences troubling episodes of dizziness he conceals from Min.

Rand visits Caemlyn in disguise, where Elayne, Min, and Aviendha confront him. He confesses he loves all three, expecting rejection. Instead, all three declare their love and bond him as their shared Warder, a magical link between an Aes Sedai and her protector. Elayne and Rand consummate their relationship, and Min has a viewing—one of her innate prophetic visions—that Elayne will bear twins. Rand gives Nynaeve al'Meara, a powerful channeler from his home village, the access keys and asks her to link with him for the cleansing. She agrees and insists on traveling with him.

In Ebou Dar, Mat Cauthon remains the unwilling lover of Queen Tylin, treated as her kept companion under the Seanchan occupation. The massive Seanchan invasion fleet, the Corenne (the Return), arrives, flooding the city with settlers, soldiers, and exotic creatures. Among the arrivals is Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag, the Daughter of the Nine Moons and heir to the Seanchan Crystal Throne. Mat survives an attack by a gholam, an indestructible Shadow-created assassin, using his silver foxhead medallion, which burns the creature on contact. A wandering adventurer named Noal Charin happens upon the attack, helps drive the gholam off, and later joins Mat's escape party. Mat discovers the Aes Sedai Joline Maza hidden in an inn cellar and visits Teslyn Baradon, another Aes Sedai held captive as a damane (a leashed channeler enslaved by the Seanchan), promising to free them along with a third captive sister, Edesina Azzedin. He allies with Egeanin Tamarath, a newly raised Seanchan captain fleeing the Seekers (secret police), who provides sul'dam (handlers of damane) to disguise the Aes Sedai during the escape. On the night of the escape, Tylin cooperates by letting Mat tie her up so she can claim she was overpowered. As Mat gathers his party, Tuon discovers him and attacks with martial arts skill. Noal restrains her, and when Egeanin recognizes Tuon as the Daughter of the Nine Moons, she drops to her knees in terror. Mat recalls a prophecy that he would marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons, declares Tuon his wife, and takes her with them.

Rand travels to Far Madding, a city protected by a ter'angreal that makes channeling impossible, to kill the renegade Asha'man on equal footing. He kills Rochaid, one of the renegade Asha'man, in a street fight, but Padan Fain, a figure twisted by evil who pursues his own vendetta against Rand, has already killed Kisman, another of the renegades, with a cursed dagger. When an anonymous letter reveals the location of Torval and Gedwyn, two more of the renegades, Rand investigates and finds them dead as well, their corpses bearing Fain's mark. Fain attacks Rand directly. Lan, Nynaeve's husband, kills Toram Riatin, a rebel who has joined Fain, but Rand and Lan fall from a rooftop and are captured by the city's Street Guards. Imprisoned in a tiny cell that evokes his earlier captivity by Tower Aes Sedai, Rand forces himself to endure. Cadsuane Melaidhrin, a legendary Aes Sedai, secures his release by channeling inside the supposedly channel-proof city using her own ter'angreal, shattering the Counsels' confidence in their guardian.

The Forsaken learn of Rand's plan from Cyndane, a woman believed to be one of the Forsaken whose true identity remains uncertain. Recognizing the catastrophic danger, Moridin, who holds the rank of Nae'blis (the Dark One's chief lieutenant), orders the Forsaken to converge on Rand when he begins channeling.

Elayne negotiates a diplomatic masterstroke with four Borderlander rulers whose combined army of over two hundred thousand soldiers has marched south seeking the Dragon Reborn. She persuades them to continue through Andor, knowing the apparent foreign invasion will force rival Houses to rally behind her. She returns to find enemy armies approaching Caemlyn and begins preparing for siege.

Rand leads his party to the ruins of Shadar Logoth, an ancient city consumed by its own evil. He retrieves Callandor, a powerful crystal sword sa'angreal, and asks Cadsuane to organize the defense. Linking with Nynaeve through the access keys, Rand creates a conduit that directs the taint from saidin into Shadar Logoth, where the city's evil and the Dark One's taint, opposing forces of corruption, consume each other. A massive black dome rises over the ruins. The Forsaken attack, and the defenders fight desperate battles in the surrounding forest. The Asha'man Eben Hopwil dies warning of a disguised Forsaken. Elza, an Aes Sedai in Cadsuane's party who is secretly a Darkfriend but committed to keeping Rand alive for the Last Battle, uses Callandor through her linked circle of channelers to obliterate Osan'gar, a Forsaken who had been posing as the Asha'man Dashiva. The cleansing succeeds: The dome collapses, Shadar Logoth is destroyed, and the surviving Asha'man confirm that saidin is clean. The female access key is destroyed, but the male survives intact.