The story of the Eye of the World follows 5 main characters. Rand Al’Thor, Matrim Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Egwene Al’vere and Nynaeve Al’meara. All the members of our group come from Emond’s Field in the Two Rivers, a homely little village relatively undisturbed by the wider world. After Trollocs attack their home, they flee in company with the Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred, her Warder Lan Mandragoran, and a trusty old gleeman named Thom Merrilin.
Their journeys take them to Shadar Logoth, where Mat steals a sinister knife that starts to make his brain go wonky. The group is then split off into three groups after a frantic escape from the city. Mat, Rand and Thom travel downstream by boat and make their way to Caemlyn, with Thom being lost to a Myrdraal along the way. Perrin and Egwene meet a strange man named Elyas, some Tinkers, and are eventually captured by Whitecloacks, who believe Perrin to be a darkfriend. They are later rescued by Nynaeve, Lan and Moiraine and the three groups finally meet back up together at Caemlyn.
At Caemlyn they meet Loial, an Ogier, then use a Waygate to travel to Sheinar, where the Borderlanders are preparing an attack on a Trolloc army coming out of the Blight. The group travels into the blight to reach the Eye of the World, as it has been revealed that there has been a threat against it, and Moiraine believes it will reveal which of the three boys can channel. They battle two of the Forsaken waiting there and it is revealed that Rand Al’Thor is the One, a male Channeler and the Dragon Reborn.
“Run when you have to, fight when you must, rest when you can.”
-Robert Jordan, the Eye of the World
Overall, that quote pretty much sums up the Eye of the World for me. A book of journeyings, of fleeing from the Dark One’s minions, of resting in places of refuge along the way, and fighting when one must.