Richard Cypher
|
|
Richard Cypher is the protagonist in the Sword of Truth fantasy series by Terry Goodkind.
He is adopted son of George Cypher and the brother of Michael Cypher, First Councilor of Westland. He is a woods guide, and friend of the cloud reader Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander. In his youth he learned The Book of Counted Shadows by heart and burned it.
Thus things stand at the beginning of Wizard's First Rule when Richard's adventures begin. Zedd is in fact an old wizard of great power and he names Richard the Seeker of Truth in an attempt to counter the growing threat from D'Hara. He then sets out with Kahlan Amnell and Zedd to cross the boundary into the Midlands and somehow stop the evil wizard Darken Rahl from unleashing the power of Orden. At the end of Wizard's First Rule it is revealed that Richard is Darken Rahl's son and Zedd's grandson. Darken Rahl raped Zedd's daughter. Afterwards Zedd helped her to escape to Westland where she met George Cypher. Thus in later books Richard takes on the name Richard Rahl.