Darken Rahl
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Darken Rahl is a fictional character from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. At the beginning of Wizard's First Rule, Darken Rahl is the leader of the country of D'Hara. He is the son of Panis Rahl and has become a wizard that can wield both Additive and Subtractive Magic. He is a gifted wizard, in which he has the gift of magic, not the calling.
When Darken Rahl was young, Zedd put up the boundaries of magic. As he was doing so, he also threw a ball of Wizard's Fire, which hit Panis Rahl and a young Darken Rahl. This Wizard's Fire killed Panis and scarred Darken Rahl. This also further set Darken Rahl on the path of evil.
He doesn't have the gift of Subtractive magic, but instead made a pact with the Keeper in order to have that side of Magic.
In Wizard's First Rule, he put into play the three Boxes of Orden before ever finding all three. Because of this, a wizard by the name of Giller sought the final Box of Orden and did his best to keep this Box from getting into Darken's hands. Also, to know which Box of Orden he had to open, he needed the Book of Counted Shadows. He eventually finds both with Richard Cypher.
It is revealed at the end of Wizard's First Rule that he is the bastard father of Richard Cypher. It is revealed that Darken had raped Richard's mother, who also was Zedd's daughter. When Zedd escaped beyond the West Boundary, he cast a Web spell on everyone, including Darken Rahl, that they would forget who he and Richard were.
Darken Rahl reappears in later books in the series as a spirit, now trying to stop Richard on his many journeys. Every time, he is thwarted by Richard or someone acting on the behalf of Richard. One of these times, in Stone of Tears, Richard is with the Mud People and having a gathering when he accidentally summoned forth Darken (his "ancestor") who touched him with his hand, which would have killed him if Richard hadn't been saved by the spirit of Denna, a Mord Sith that Richard killed in Wizard's First Rule.