The first thing that made you love the Wheel of Time?

[szilard]

Gusts plastered Rand al’Thor’s cloak to his back, whipped the earth-colored wool around his legs, then streamed it out behind him. He wished his coat were heavier, or that he had worn an extra shirt.

This sentence. Finally a fantasy character who is a human.

[jedman67]

I started the series on the third book, if I remember correctly.  With that in mind, Loial was the single most creative spark I had ever seen.  I had read many fantasy books before, filled with all the typical fare of elves, elfs, giants, and trolls.  Yet here was this Ogier walking into existance out of seemingly nowhere with a whole racial history and mythos built in!  The creativity didn't stop there, with countless characters, places, societies, histories, and even languages to explore.

 

Although I was slightly confused as to what was going on and why (a problem starting three books in), it was all the details that kept me reading.  I wanted answers to my questions and I wanted a whole picture of what had happened in the world the book portrayed.  So, I kept reading.  It wasn't until some time later that I was given the first books of the series, but I have to admit that I am glad my first experience was out of order.  Frankly, while the first two books are amazing in their own right, the third holds the scenes that have resonated the loudest in my mind.  Remember the taking of the Stone, the introduction of the Aiel, and the sword that isn't a sword?  All the glamour of old myth drapped in the grandest new clothes!  And in the midst of it all, the secret of just what forgotten scrolls RJ pulled the foundations of the Ogier from.

 

While I never figured out the real life equivalient of the Treebrothers, I greatly enjoyed reading these books.

You reminded me, i started with book 4 (because books 1-3 were being read by other people in my dorm), there's this girl approaching a fortress of women, requests an audience with the head honcho, and see's really creepy visions of pain, torture and suffering around everyone. I had no clue what an "Aies Sedai" was, or this army camped out in the backwaters of the civilized world, etc. It was quite fascinating. I stopped reading in the middle since someone had finished book 1 so i could read it.

Good ol' days!

[driedraspberry]

My first WoT book was the Great Hunt and my first series love was the complex relationship of Siuan and Moraine, their manipulative streak, and AS politics.

[ironisles]

The first part, Tam and Rand coming into Emonds Field, the trip back and their evening... something about that just clicked with me.

[thom_merrilin]

The one main character though who grabbed me from the off was Thom. There was something magical about his persona. He just seemed so world-wise. Plus with Mat and his impish ways those two for me carried it carried, when Thom went down in Whitebridge I was gutted.

[wotfan4472]

The first scene for me was the Dragonmount prologue. To me it is the best prologue I have read in any book. It made me want to open my mind and keep reading. I have never looked back.