Sword of Truth

The Sword of Truth is a fantasy series written by Terry Goodkind. Thus far, it consists of the following books:

The tenth book of the series, Phantom is due to be released in January, 2006.

Each of the books is themed around a Wizard's Rule.

The most recent book, Chainfire, is the first book of a trilogy that will conclude the entire Sword of Truth series [1] (http://www.tor.com/Goodkind/).

Terry Goodkind has stated that the books draw upon Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy.

The 2001 Legends anthology, edited by Robert Silverberg, features a short story, "Debt of Bones," set a few decades before the events in the main series. Later the same year, it was published as a stand-alone novella.

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Contents

1 World, Geography, and History

2 Magic

3 Sword and Seeker of Truth

4 Characters

5 External links

World, Geography, and History

The action primarily takes place in two continents, the New World (where the early books take place) and the much, much larger Old World (which is introduced in the later books).

The New World can be divided into three distinct roughly equal sized regions: D'Hara in the east, the Midlands between D'Hara and Westland, and the Westland in the westernmost part of the continent.

The three regions are divided by natural terrain formations (rivers, mountains, etc), and at the beginning of the novel, by a magical barrier called the Boundary as well.

The background history to the series involves a long ago war fought mostly when wizards were, overall, much more powerful than at present time of the novel. At that that time, wizards who could use both the additive and subtractive sides of magic were the rule instead of the exception.

This war was basically fought over whether magic should be allowed to continue to exist or should be removed as a factor in the human condition. The wizards in the old world believed in extinguishing magic, while the wizards in the new world believed in its preservation.

In an end game to the war, both sides began constructing towers that derived their energies from the spent lives of wizards. This series of towers, when finished, would enable one side to win the war in a way that is not explained. Both sides built their towers in a thin isthmus that connects the Old World and the New in a pattern converging towards the other system. In the end, the two systems of towers stopped each other just short of either of them reaching the point of completion where they could be used to produce victory. The powerful magical forces in these towers functioned to effectively separate the Old and New Worlds from each other and thus ended the war in a stalemate.

A long time passed, during which magic among human beings suffered a marked decrease that begin just as the above mentioned war was ending.

In the New World that was a continual struggle among the wizards there among those who believed that their Magical capabilities gave them the right to rule over others and those who opposed this view. A number of conflicts over this issue are alluded to but not expanded upon in the series thus far.

The immediate lead-up to the series sees Panis Rahl, leader of a nation called D'Hara, conquering his neighbors one by one until the entire eastern third of the New World, which is now collectively known as D'Hara, was under his sway.

The Midlands, much like D'Hara before the conquest of Panis Rahl, was made up of several distinct nations but cooperated in an organization called the Council of the Midlands. The Council of the Midlands was given force by the wizards and Confessors who enforced its rules and ensured that small or weak nations were protected by larger more powerful neighbors.

Panis Rahl tried to fool the Midlands in a manner similar to the one he had used to conquer D'Hara, and met with some success. He then began invading the Midlands, which started a long and bloody war. One of the main characters of the novel, Zeddicus Z'ul Zorander (Zedd) led the battle against Panis, and in an act of desperation, used ancient and powerful magic to create a magical boundary between D'Hara and the rest of the New World, effectively separating them and bringing the war to an end. In a last act of revenge, Zedd used Wizards Fire to kill Panis, an act which also severely wounded Darken Rahl, his son, and the main nemesis of the first book.

Several people of the Midlands, after this bloody war, were sick of magic and its alleged evils and wanted to live in a land free of magic. Zedd reformulated the Boundary spell to form an additional Boundary between what became Westland, which was populated by these people who wanted to be rid of magic, and the Midlands. Zedd himself left the Midlands for various reasons and settled in the Westlands.

The Westlands is sparsely populated, and details of its governing structure are sketchy. It has only a few moderate sized cities, which are run in a town hall manner of government. There is a central government whose powers are left vague, but it is at least capable of gathering a respectably sized army.

Thus the beginning of the series, some 40 or so years later, finds D'Hara ruled by Darkhen Rahl, who has the same nature and ambitions as his Father, the Midlands still a loose confederation of nations ruled by the Council of the Midlands, and Westland deliberately removed from the affairs of the rest of the world.

The Old World's history from the end of the great war between the wizards to the recent past is unknown, but as the series continues it is revealed that starting about the time the war against Panis Rahl ended in the New World, Jagang, a major character in the series, began a military campaign that would eventually see him in control over the entirety of the Old World. Before this conquest the Old World was a collection of unconnected nations, much like D'Hara before its consolidation under one rule.

By the time the series is underway, Jagang is already comfortably in place as ruler over the entire Old World, which is much larger, and with a much greater population, than the New World.

Magic

There are two types of magic within the series. Additive magic has the power to "add" or create. Subtractive magic has the power to "subtract" or remove and derives from the underworld. For the past 3000 years, all wizards have only had the gift (or natural ability for) for power of additive magic (though Darken Rahl, and the Sisters of the Dark did learn subtractive magic).

There are four general types of magic-users:

Wizards
Sorcerers
Sorceresses
Witches

(And, it is mentioned that Zedd's father was a warlock, but was never followed up on).

Wizards are found in both the New World and Old World. They cast spells called webs. They are able to draw upon wizard's fire. Wizard's fire is extremely hot and can only be produced by a wizard, as the name implies. It cannot be put out by water and kills anyone it touches. A wizard can also call up his life fire. While this is a powerful blast, it will kill the wizard who used it. When a wizard is killed by giving his life fire he leaves behind hints of himself. If he died for a noble cause (such as to protect another) the ashes will taste sweet. If he died simply to protect himself from pain or for selfish reasons the remaining ashes will taste salty and sour. Wizards also live by wizard's rules, which are a series of guidelines, or bits of wisdom to help them keep ahead of others.

The only known Sorcerer was Brother Narev, a corrupt champion of the Imperial Order, and Emperor Jagang's mentor. Sorcerers, we are told by Nicci, are as rare as War Wizards.

Many of the sorceresses are officially the Sisters of the Light in the Palace of the Prophets in the city of Tanimura. They are a religious order who serve the Creator and whose mission is to train young boys who have the Gift. They have several magical artifacts left to them by the ancient wizards to help them in this task. Secretly, there are Sisters of the Dark who are pledged to the Keeper. Sisters refer to their magical force as "Han". There are several sorceresses who are not Sisters, but who at one point went to Tanimura to study with them.

Currently there is only one witch in the series, a woman named Shota. She is talked about as being a very powerful woman, but as yet we are unclear as to all her powers entail. It is clear that she has some sort of prophetic powers as she frequently tells Richard of visions she's had about him. Shota seems to want Richard to succeed in his quests, but has proved a threat more than once.

In addition, other groups, such as Confessors, dreamwalkers, the sliph, and Slides were created via magical means and have magical powers but are not themselves magic-wielders in the same sense as the four groups listed above.

Sword and Seeker of Truth

In the series, the Sword of Truth is the magical weapon of the Seeker of Truth. It has two parts to its magic. It contains both the power of anger, hate, and rage (subtractive magic) as well as the power of love (additive magic). Only by using the magic of love will the Sword of Truth turn white. The Sword of Truth also "remembers" the skills of previous wielders, so that a true Seeker can call upon the blade techniques used by earlier owners. In the time after a Seeker's death, before the next Seeker is found, wizards act as guardians of the Sword of Truth. Once a new Seeker is recognized, he or she will be given the sword. Though many have wielded the blade, it was actually created for Richard Rahl, 3,000 years before he was born. Before Richard's grandfather took the blade from the rulers of the kingdoms, who are the wrong ones to decide a seeker, the sword was given to subjects who were chosen by their rulers. This has the effect that is best demonstrated in Samuel. Thy slowly turn into a hairy creature with lower intelligence and a great desire for the sword. Only by using the sword additive magic by making it white this can be evoided.

Characters

The current Seeker is the main character of the series, Richard Cypher (AKA: Richard Rahl), though as of the book Chainfire, Samuel has the sword. Other important characters include Kahlan Amnell, Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, Darken Rahl, and Emperor Jagang (Sword of Truth). In the more recent books, main characters include the previous as well as Cara and Nicci. Darken Rahl is no longer a main character. There is also a God -like figure in the story, The Creator (Sword of Truth) and a Satanic figure named The Keeper (Sword of Truth)