The Sword of Truth

Synopsis

Introduction

Invasion of the Imperial Order

Journey through the Old World

Chainfire

Prequels

The Richard and Kahlan series

The Nicci Chronicles

''Death's Mistress''

''Shroud of Eternity''

''Siege of Stone''

''Heart of Black Ice''

The Children of D'hara

Further works

• The Law of Nines. Released August 18, 2009. This novel takes place in our world, apparently one thousand years after the events of the Sword of Truth novels. It was written immediately following Confessor. A descendant of Jennsen Rahl and Tom begins being harassed by warriors from the Sword of Truth universe and a sorceress named Jax comes to his aid as they try to understand what these new enemies want.

  Publications

TV series adaptation

Sam Raimi and his team want to keep the TV series true to my vision, so rest assured that I am going to be intimately involved in the writing of each of the episodes. If you love the book just the way it is, then enjoy the book for what it is and come to the TV series prepared to enjoy the show for what it is.

Wizard's Rules

1. Wizard's First Rule: "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they're afraid it might be true. Peoples' heads are full of knowledge, facts and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."
2. Wizard's Second Rule: "The Second Rule is that the greatest harm can result from the best intentions."
3. Wizard's Third Rule: "Passion rules reason."
4. Wizard's Fourth Rule: "The Wizard's Fourth Rule, he called it. He said that there was magic in sincere forgiveness, in the Fourth Rule. Magic to heal. In forgiveness you grant, and more so in the forgiveness you receive."
5. Wizard's Fifth Rule: "Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie."
6. Wizard's Sixth Rule: "The most important rule there is, the Wizard's Sixth Rule: the only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason. The first law of reason is this: what exists, exists, what is, is and from this irreducible bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. It is the foundation from which life is embraced. Thinking is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts nor are they a means to discover them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality; it is our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss that we refuse to see. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason's light. In rejecting reason, refusing to think, one embraces death."
7. Wizard's Seventh Rule: "Life is the future, not the past. The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew. As rational, thinking beings, we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices."
8. Wizard's Eighth Rule: "Talga Vassternich. Deserve Victory."
9. Wizard's Ninth Rule: "A contradiction can not exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole. To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy - to imagine something is real simply because you wish it were. A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions. Faith is a device of self-delusion, a sleight of hand done with words and emotions founded on any irrational notion that can be dreamed up. Faith is the attempt to coerce truth to surrender to whim. In simple terms, it is trying to breath life into a lie by trying to outshine reality with the beauty of wishes. Faith is the refuge of fools, the ignorant, and the deluded, not of thinking, rational men. In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life. In such an exchange, you always lose what you have at stake."
10. Wizard's Tenth Rule: "Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self."
11. Wizard's Eleventh Rule: "The rule of all rules. The rule unwritten. The rule unspoken since the dawn of history... But Barracus wanted you to know that it's the secret to using a war wizard's power. The only way to express it, to make sure that you would grasp what he was intending to tell you, was to give you a book unwritten to signify the rule unwritten."
12. Un-numbered Wizard Rule One: "There will always be those who hate and always will be." Meaning, one shouldn't waste time trying to defeat or fix people who are driven by hate, as the act can often cause hatred to worsen, or spread to others.
13. Un-numbered Wizard's Rule Two: All things must die. There is no choice in that, only in how we choose to live.

    Magic of the Sword of Truth

Creatures

• Beast, The—A formless entity created to hunt and kill Richard. It comes and goes as it pleases from the Underworld and assumes a different form each time.

• Bird Man—Among the nation of the Mud People, a high ranking holy man exists, known in the series only as the Bird Man. He is able to call any bird he wishes to himself, can read signs from beyond & often participates in, or leads, many magical ceremonies.

• The Chimes—groups of shape shifting, elemental, fairy like creatures who kill people and taint magic by existing in world's with magic. They were long banished to the Underworld, but came back briefly in one book. They are known as the Reechani, Sentrosi and Vasi.

• Confessor—Confessors are a magically formed race of women given the power of Confession. They can force anyone to fall so madly in love with them that they will do anything the Confessor asks. Prior to the beginning of the series, they had taken to ruling over the Midlands, a loose connection of separate lands confederated under them. They primarily used their powers to force confessions of criminals and to dethrone would-be tyrants. All Confessors wear matching black dresses, except for their leader, who wears white. The leader of the Confessors is the Mother Confessor. Their only weakness is that they can only use their powers once, and then need time to rest and recharge. This time varies from Confessor to Confessor.

• Dragon—Just like dragons from medieval lore. There are various dragon species, but only a few types are ever met. Some dragons even have the ability to speak and reason, but there are allusions to other species which are kept as pets for hunting purposes. Given how dangerous they are, humans have long hunted them for their own protection, making them increasingly rarer. In the sword of truth universe, their existence is linked to magic so that, if magic dies out, so do they. Nicci once attempts to kill an elderly dragon with Wizard's Fire, but it has the opposite effect, actually seeming to heal and de-age the creature.

• Adjudicator—a wizard who used an amulet to turn the "guilty" to stone. Was driven mad with power and decided all people were guilty of something or other and must be made to suffer for it.

• Gar—A nightmarish creature best described as a cross between a gorilla, a bat and a gremlin that hunts through the use of Blood Flies. It wipes Gore from prior meal on its stomach to feed the biting flies, which then stay close and spread out to attack and flush out further prey for the Gar. Two species are made note of- long tailed and short tailed, with the latter being the smartest.

• Glee—A reptilian race of beings from an entirely different world, who use a device to enter Richard's world to hunt humans.

• Half People—soulless monstrosities who kill and canabalize the living in order to try to gain a soul through eating the dying alive. Some of them have Occult Powers. They were created by Emperor Sulachan.

• Hearthounds—Underworld creatures who take the form of wolf-like beings when in this world. Came out at night from within the boundary. It was theorized that the name came from their hunting by listening for one's heartbeat.

• Hedge Maid—a sort of witch with access to Occult Powers. Her mouth is sown shut, as her scream is lethal. She can call spirits and control the dead.

• Lifedrinker—A wizard who used a spell to save his life from cancer, which caused him to nearly bleed the entire world dry.

• Life's Mistress—a former sorceress who misused a spell to try to repair the damage done to a fertile valley, which turned her into a giant plant monster, gave her control over plants and the ability to change humans into nymph-like soldiers who followed her will.

• Morazeth—a variation on the Mord'Sith that only existed in the city of Ildakar. They use an Agile Knife, rather than an Agiel, and were primarily used to train arena fighters for the amusement of the Ildakaran upper class, as well as serving as bodyguards. They are minimally dressed in black leather, buzz cut their heads and are covered in welted magical runes that protect them from magical attack.

• Mord'Sith—Used in the series primarily by the House of Rahl, Debt of Bones noted that the use of them was once more widespread and later books confirmed that others can utilize them. They wear skin tight, leather jumpsuits and their hair in a long, single braid. Kidnapped and torturned into insanity as children, they serve as torturers and bodyguards. The magic of their weapons ensure that they must have a master in order to have power. A Confessors touch is an excruciatingly violent and painful death to a Mord'Sith.

• Mriswith—reptilian monsters created from people long ago. They can become invisible and are expert fighters.

• Night Wisp—a fairy like entity that only appears as a ball of light and speaks with a child like voice. Their survival depends on companionship and they will grow weak and die without their own kind near. They usually live in colonies, but only one such place is ever visited within the series.

• Priestess of the Bones—A job passed down through a tribe of Nomadic people in southern D'hara. It was prophecies that a certain someone would one day need her help. Can use her pet Raven to carry dreams to others nearby that she wishes them to see.

• Pristinely Ungifted—Someone born without even a single spark of the gift for magic within them, causing magic to be entirely nonexistent where they are concerned. They can only be harmed by it indirectly and can't be sensed by those with magic. They came about as an accidental consequence of the Rahl family attempting to bypass the progressive loss of magic in their world to ensure that they will always have a gifted heir in every generation. Every child of a Pristinely Ungifted individual inherits the trait, making people fear that their existence will destroy magic forever if they are not all killed.

• Prophet—a type of wizard who can also deliver prophecies. However, this type of wizard goes extinct following the events of Warheart.

• Screeling—Underworld creature which takes the form of a dried up, desiccated, human corpse in this world. They have needle-like teeth, golden eyes, claw-like nails and walk on all fours. They adapt to the world of the living slowly, but are extremely powerful and violent.

• Sea Serpent—Exactly as the name implies. The Norukai people worship them as gods.

• Seeker of Truth—a type of avenging warrior created by wizards long ago to force truth out into the open and lead people towards more wise lives. They are given a weapon known as the sword of truth to accomplish the task, but must still be the right kind of person in the first place.

• Seer—someone who has prophetic visions at will, but not always clear or obvious ones. They have no other abilities beyond this, seemingly. The only Seer in the series was Jebra Bevinvier.

• Selka—Aquatic creatures created from people long ago to engage in Marine warfare. They live in the ocean south of the Old World.

• Sisters of the Dark—a group of sorceresses who turned to the worship of the Keeper of the Underworld for a variety of personal reasons. They murdered and stole the gift from Wizards to get power equal to a wizard, and gained Subtractive Magic from the Underworld in return for their service. They were all originally Sisters of the Light and hid in plain sight. The Sisters had a hard time rooting them out, as it was their law that wrongful accusation of being a Sister of the Dark was seen as attempted murder and carried with it a death sentence.

• Sisters of the Light—a group of sorceresses who tried to fill in the gap of training young wizards who had no wizard teacher themselves in the use of their powers. They were a semi-religuous order who worshipped the Creator and lived in the Palace of the Prophets together, until it was destroyed. They later took up residence in the Wizard's Keep.

• Skrin—Underworld creature that takes the form of a giant, hairless dog with horns when in this world. It is said that they are the physical embodiment of the force which keeps the dead in the Underworld and the living in this one.

• Slide—a wizard-weapon which can steal souls to use for special spells and can possess any living thing with eyes to see through them.

• Sliph—a creature created to transport people great distances through a series of underground tunnels. They are made of a substance similar to Mercury/ Quicksilver and work through the individual asking for a destination, breathing in the creature and allowing it to pull them under and take them there. They can only go to pre-determined places, where Sliph Wells have been constructed. They were once people. Although it was believed that "The" Sliph in the Wizard's Keep was the only one, two others have since appeared in the series who go by different names.

• Sorceror—a sort of antithesis to a wizard. They are noted to have similar powers, but their powers are equal and opposite and don't work correctly against one another.

• Sorceress—the female equivalent of a wizard, but usually arguably weaker. They cannot do some of the things wizards are known for, such as creating Wizard's Fire.

• Warlock—noted as the male equivalent of a Witch Woman. They can do everything a witch can. The only Warlock in the series was Moravaska Michec.

• War Wizard—a unique and rare type of wizard who is extremely powerful and has varied potential skills, but can usually only use their gift by instinct.

• Witch Woman—can see into the future and create illusions. Are usually feared and persecuted. Shota is the best known in the series, but there have been several so far.

• Wizard—a generic term for several types of male gifted individuals with unique powers.

• Zhiss—A creature resembling a swarm of angry insects. They attack anything that moves as one and drink blood until their victim dies. They arrived on a comet and took over the ruins of the city of Orogang.

Magic

• Additive Magic—Magic of the world of the living. Can only add to or create.
• Agiel—Choice weapon of the Mord'Sith. A leather rod in a gold chain. It is powered by the bond to their master and can inflict any sort of damage the user wishes. It often causes like pain to the user in return, as they usually use the same Agiel that they were tortured with themselves.
• Agile Knife—a small wooden handle with a pop-out needle on one end. The choice weapon of Morazeth. Inflicts pain on impact.
• Books of Prophecy—various books in which the words which go along with the visions of Prophets are recorded. They help to trigger the same visions in other Prophets who read them. Some are spelled so that others can't understand them, or remember anything that they say within.
• Bond, The—Created by the House of Rahl. Anyone who swears allegiance to the Lord Rahl becomes protected. In return, pure blooded D'harans always know exactly where their Lord Rahl is at all times.
• Boundary—Created to break Westland, the Midlands and D'hara up to force the end of a war between the Midlands and D'hara. It is a wall made of the Underworld itself breaching up into the world of the living and gliws green. Anyone who walks through it died instantly.
• Boxes of Orden—three boxes keeping safe the power to control just about everything. An instruction booklet called the Book of Counted Shadows was created to aid in the process of acquiring that power.
• Central Sites—hidden tombs and crypts filled with esoteric books of Prophecy. Created to keep books safe for the time when they would be needed the most.
• Chainfire Event—a spell meant to make people forget that a person exists. It erases all memory of the individual, rebuilds new memories when missing memory is discovered and makes it impossible for new memories of someone to form, rendering a person as good as invisible.
• Con'dar -- a special Subtractive power capable of being tapped by some Confessors. Puts them into a trance, allows them to call down lightning and makes their Confession powers unlimited.
• Containment Field—a room spelled to be hermetically sealed in terms of magic. Allows people to do spells in isolation, or try to work on or dismantle spells that could be dangerous.
• Confession—A power given to Confessors. It wipes clean everything a person ever was or cared about and fills them instead with a desperate, burning desire to please their Confessor by any means necessary.
• Constructed Spells—spells attached to an item. They can be activated at any time through a built-in trigger.
• Gateway—a device which allows people to travel between worlds.
• Grace, The—religious and magic symbol which represents the Creator and the gift
• Han—the technical term for a person's magic. Sometimes also referred to as the spark of magic, or the gift.
• Journey Book-- built in pairs, they allow two people to communicate in writing, no matter how far away they are.
• Language of Creation—a magical, symbol language keyed to physical forms magic takes on when visible.
• Law of Nines, The—a magical law which means that things that come in sets of three are inherently more powerful, but three sets of three sets is even more powerful.
• Occult Power—the reverse power to the gift. Can achieve things the gift normally cannot, like manipulating the wear of time upon a person or object and manipulating life and death itself.
• Omen Machine—the physical manifestation of Prophecy in the real world. It was hidden beneath the People's Palace for untold generations and is somewhat sentient.
• Quillion—a crystal used to absorb and transfer magic from one person and give it to another. Only works if the person is skinned alive first.
• Rada'han—a metal collar which takes control of a person through their magic. Used by the Sisters of the Light to keep trainee Wizards under control.
• Shroud of Eternity—magical veil which removed the city of Ildakar from time and space.
• Subtractive Magic—the opposite of additive magic. Mainly comes from the Underworld. People we're once born with it, but fewer and fewer came about over time. Can only destroy it make things vanish.
• Sword of Truth—a weapon which ties itself to a person's anger to drive them to achieve things otherwise impossible. Cannot harm one thought of as an ally.
• Temple of the Winds—magical archive which is somewhat sentient. Was sent to the Underworld 3000 years ago to protect its dangerous contents from misuse.
• Towers/ Valley of Perdition—several towers built in line to create a shifting boundary of illusions to cut off the New World from the Old World 3009 years ago.
• Verification Web—a spell used to understand what another spell is by viewing what it would do and how in a safe invironment. Usually done within a Containment Field.

  Reception