The start of The Eye of the World does not begin with Rand al'Thor. It begins with a man named Lews Therin Telamon. Lews Therin Telamon was the first Dragon. The first man to fight the Dark One. With the help of his Hundred Companions, other male Aes Sedai, he sealed the Dark One in his prison on Shayul Ghul along with the Thirteen Forsaken. But when the Dark One fights back just before he is sealed away, he taints saidin, which causes all male Aes Sedai to go mad and break the world. This is called the Time of Madness, when the world was reshaped by the madness of male channelers.
