Praise for The Wheel of Time®

“The Wheel of Time [is] rapidly becoming the definitive American fantasy saga. It is a fantasy tale seldom equaled and still less often surpassed in English.”

—Chicago Sun-Times

“Jordan’s multivolume epic [is] a feast for fantasy aficionados.”

—Library Journal

“The most ambitious American fantasy saga . . . [may] also be the finest.”

—Booklist

“For those who like to keep themselves in a fantasy world, it’s hard to beat the complex, detailed world created here.”

—Locus

Praise for Lord of Chaos

“Jordan’s talent for sustaining the difficult combination of suspense and resolution, so necessary in a multivolume series such as this one, is nothing short of remarkable.”

—Library Journal

“A great read . . . Some surprising new developments . . . A spectacular kidnapping and rescue bring this volume to a (temporarily) satisfying conclusion. This series is so complex, I can’t recommend starting anywhere but at the beginning, but the volumes only get richer as they go along.”

—Locus

The Wheel of Time®

By Robert Jordan

New Spring: The Novel

The Eye of the World

The Great Hunt

The Dragon Reborn

The Shadow Rising

The Fire of Heaven

Lord of Chaos

A Crown of Swords

The Path of Daggers

Winter’s Heart

Crossroads of Twilight

Knife of Dreams

By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

The Gathering Storm

Towers of Midnight

A Memory of Light

By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson

The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time

By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk and Maria Simons

The Wheel of Time Companion

LORD
OF
CHAOS

ROBERT JORDAN

A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK

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Dedication

For Betsy

The lions sing and the hills take flight.
The moon by day, and the sun by night.
Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.
Let the Lord of Chaos rule.

—chant from a children’s game
    heard in Great Arvalon,
    the Fourth Age

Maps

PROLOGUE

The First Message