List of The Wheel of Time characters
The Wheel of Time is a series of high fantasy novels by American author Robert Jordan, which began with The Eye of the World in 1990. Jordan wrote the first 11 novels of the series, and the prequel novel New Spring, before his death in 2007. The final three novels—The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light —were co-written by American author Brandon Sanderson. The series features 2787 distinctly named characters.
The Wheel of Time follows the characters Rand al'Thor, Mat Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Egwene al'Vere and Nynaeve al'Meara, teens from a remote village whose important destinies are recognized by Moiraine Damodred, a powerful member of the Aes Sedai. In this world, the pattern of human existence is determined and maintained by the cosmic Wheel of Time, which is rotated by a magical force called the One Power. Rand and his friends are among those, like the Aes Sedai, who possess the ability to channel, the term for accessing and wielding the One Power. As the series progresses, new characters join the ongoing struggle against the malevolent [|Dark One] and his minions.
From 2021 to 2025, the first five novels were adapted into an Amazon Prime Video series, The Wheel of Time.
Main characters
Rand al'Thor
Introduced in The Eye of the World, Rand al'Thor is a sheep herder whose remote village Emond's Field, in the Two Rivers, is attacked by a horde of monstrous Trollocs. Rand and his friends flee with Moiraine Damodred, an Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah who believes that one of them is the prophesied Dragon Reborn, the reincarnation of Lews Therin Telamon, a hero of the Age of Legends. The group is pursued by agents of a malevolent figure known as the Dark One, who seeks to seduce the Dragon to the Shadow, or destroy him. At the Eye of the World, Rand is exposed to a well of pure, uncorrupted saidin, the male half of the One Power. He finds himself able to channel it, and faces off against Aginor, one of the Dark One's most powerful servants, the Forsaken. Rand thus proves himself to be the Dragon Reborn, and is drawn into the millennia-long struggle against the forces of the Dark One.The Amyrlin Seat Siuan Sanche, leader of the Aes Sedai, confirms Rand is the Dragon Reborn in The Great Hunt, and Moiraine's Warder, Lan Mandragoran trains Rand in swordplay. During the hunt for the stolen Horn of Valere, Rand is transported to a distorted world where he meets the mysterious Selene, who helps him get back to the real world. Rand later defeats the High Lord Turak, leader of the Seanchan forces invading Falme, in single combat. In The Dragon Reborn, Rand travels to the Stone of Tear and claims the crystal sword Callandor, a powerful sa'angreal, an artifact which amplifies the One Power. He learns that he is the son of Shaiel, an Aiel Maiden of the Spear, and Janduin, chief of the Taardad Aiel, in The Shadow Rising. Selene reveals herself to be the Forsaken Lanfear, who was in love with Lews, and shares her plans to help him become all-powerful. In The Fires of Heaven, however, the news that Rand has slept with the Aiel warrior Aviendha sends Lanfear into a murderous rage. She finally decides to kill Rand when he swears he will never love a woman sworn to the Shadow, but Moiraine intervenes. Rand's mother, Shaiel, is later revealed to be Tigraine Mantear, daughter of the then-Queen of Andor. In Lord of Chaos, Rand founds the Asha'man, male counterparts to the Aes Sedai who are trained at the Black Tower, a converted farmhouse near Caemlyn. In A Crown of Swords, Rand defeats the Forsaken [|Sammael] and takes the crown of Illian.
In Towers of Midnight, Rand conceives a controversial plan to shatter the remaining seals on the Dark One's prison in order to recreate a strong and uncorrupted one. Rand confronts the Dark One in A Memory of Light, and they realize they must coexist because the Pattern requires them both. Logain Ablar breaks open the Dark One's prison, and Rand uses a unique weave of saidin, saidar and the Dark One's True Power combined, to first capture the Dark One, and then recreate his prison without flaw.
Rand is portrayed by Josha Stradowski in the Wheel of Time television adaptation.
Mat Cauthon
Matrim "Mat" Cauthon is a mischievous farm boy who, as a possible reincarnation of the Dragon, flees Emond's Field with Rand and his other friends in The Eye of the World. Chased by emissaries of the Dark One, the group takes shelter in the cursed city of Shadar Logoth, from which Mat takes a ruby dagger. The weapon, corrupted by the malevolent entity that has taken hold of the city, begins to taint Mat, debilitating his body and infusing him with hostility and paranoia. Mat joins the hunt for the stolen Horn of Valere in The Great Hunt, and eventually blows it to summon a group of legendary heroes from the dead to defeat the Seanchan forces invading Falme. Near death in The Dragon Reborn, Mat is freed from the taint of the dagger by the Aes Sedai at the White Tower in Tar Valon. In The Shadow Rising, the snakelike Aelfinn foretell that Mat will marry "the Daughter of the Nine Moons", and the foxlike Eelfinn grant him memories of his past lives before hanging him from the Tree of Life, leaving his neck forever scarred. He later founds Shen an Calhar, the Band of the Red Hand, and leads as its Marshal General. Mat escapes from Seanchan-occupied city of Ebou Dar in Winter's Heart, kidnapping the High Lady Tuon, heir to the Seanchan Crystal Throne, when he learns she is known as the Daughter of the Nine Moons. He courts her in Crossroads of Twilight and they marry in Knife of Dreams, with Mat gaining the title "Prince of the Ravens".Mat is portrayed by Barney Harris in season one of the Wheel of Time television series adaptation, and by Dónal Finn in seasons two and three.
Perrin Aybara
Perrin Aybara, a blacksmith and woodworker in Emond's Field, is also possibly the Dragon Reborn, and leaves the village with his friends and Moiraine Damodred in The Eye of the World. Perrin and Egwene al'Vere are separated from the group as they flee the cursed city of Shadar Logoth, and meet the tracker Elyas Machera. Elyas informs Perrin that he is, like Elyas, a : a man able to communicate telepathically with wolves. Possessing golden, wolf-like eyes, wolfbrothers have heightened senses, strength and speed, and tend toward aggressive, animalistic behavior in battle. They are also able to navigate Tel'aran'rhiod, the World of Dreams.Perrin is portrayed by Marcus Rutherford in the Wheel of Time television series adaptation.
Egwene al'Vere
Egwene al'Vere is the daughter of the mayor of Emond's Field, and romantically involved with Rand al'Thor in The Eye of the World. The Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred recognizes in Egwene the "spark" of one who is able to channel the One Power, and Egwene joins the group fleeing the village to escape the Shadowspawn who are hunting the Dragon Reborn. She joins the White Tower of the Aes Sedai as a novice in The Great Hunt. She and Nynaeve al'Meara, her friend from Emond's Field and a fellow novice, hear news that Rand is in trouble in Falme. They sneak out of the White Tower, joined by novice Elayne Trakand and their friend Min Farshaw. In Falme, they are betrayed by Liandrin Guirale, an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah, and handed over to the Seanchan High Lady Suroth to be enslaved. Nynaeve and Elayne escape, but Egwene is collared with an a'dam, a device used by the Seanchan to control channelers. A captive Min is helpless to intervene in Egwene's subsequent torture, but helps Nynaeve and Elayne rescue her.Egwene is portrayed by Madeleine Madden in the Wheel of Time television series adaptation.
Nynaeve al'Meara
In The Eye of the World, Nynaeve al'Meara is the Wisdom, or healer, of Emond's Field. In the aftermath of the Trolloc attack, she tracks her friends and joins them on their journey, learning along the way that she is able to channel the One Power as well. She and Egwene al'Vere become Aes Sedai novices in The Great Hunt, but are lured away to Falme by the treacherous Liandrin Guirale. Nynaeve and fellow novice Elayne Trakand escape capture by the Seanchan, and eventually manage to rescue a captive Egwene. One of the most powerful channelers of her time, Nynaeve's skill with healing leads her to join the Yellow Ajah of the Aes Sedai. She eventually discovers methods for healing those who have been severed from the One Power. She marries the Warder Lan Mandragoran, King of Malkier.Nynaeve is portrayed by Zoë Robins in the Wheel of Time television series adaptation.
Moiraine Damodred
In The Eye of the World, the arrival of Moiraine Damodred, an Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, to the remote village of Emond's Field precedes an attack by Trollocs. Moiraine warns that the servants of the Dark One are, as she is, seeking one of three young men from the village: Rand al'Thor, Perrin Aybara and Mat Cauthon. She and her companion, the Warder Lan Mandragoran, lead the trio and some others away to safety, but face danger along the way to the Aes Sedai's White Tower in Tar Valon.Moiraine is portrayed by Rosamund Pike in the Wheel of Time television series adaptation.
Lan Mandragoran
al'Lan "Lan" Mandragoran is the Warder to Moiraine Damodred in The Eye of the World. They lead a trio of young men, one of whom Moiraine suspects is the prophesied Dragon Reborn, away from their small village with a horde of Trollocs, serving the Dark One, in pursuit. The greatest swordsman of the Third Age, Lan is also the King of Malkier by birth, though that country was lost to the Shadow when he was a child.Lan is portrayed by Daniel Henney in the Wheel of Time television series adaptation.