War of the Shadow

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The War of the Shadow, or War of the Power, was the conflict that signalled the end of the Age of Legends, though they did not realise it at the time. Since the Bore into the Dark One's prison had been drilled, society had been falling apart, in a period known as the Collapse, which lasted approximately one hundred years. At the end of this period, the forces of the Shadow felt secure enough to act to try and free the Dark One. They turned the technology and advanced knowledge of the One Power of that Age to the making of weapons of war. The people turned to the Aes Sedai to defend them. The Aes Sedai, in turn, were led by Lews Therin Telamon, who, over the course of the next ten years, became known as the Dragon.

For the first three years of the war, the forces of the Shadow were ascendant, but after that period, the forces of the Light took back much of what was lost, leading to a temporary stalemate, which lasted nearly a year. It was becoming clear that the Shadow would win and that the Light was fighting a losing cause. This was exacerbated by several of the leading generals turning on Lews Therin and joining the Shadow. Several plans were created to respond, but only two are known. The first was to use the Choedan Kal to create a barrier around Shayol Ghul. This plan, favoured by Latra Posae Decume, seemed the most likely, as she persuaded every Aes Sedai of significant strength to support this and only this. It never came to fruition however, as the Access Keys, which had been prepared away from the sa'angreal, came to be in Shadow held land. The other plan, favoured by Lews Therin, was to creat seven seals, using cuendillar discs as focus points, to reseal the Bore. As no female Aes Sedai agreed to this, the party that performed it was male only, the Hundred Companions. This plan worked, but the Dark One's counter stroke tainted saidin, killing many of the Hundred Companions and sending spiraling into madness. Since that time, no man could safely channel saidin. Any who did would go horribly insane. The release into society of so many insane men, and the gradual insanity of the remaining male Aes Sedai, led to the Breaking, in which the remnants of society that people tried to rebuild at the end of the war was completely ripped apart. In total, the war lasted just ten years.

(Reference: the World of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" Chapter 4)