People are Stupid
“People are Stupid.”
It was the first line to really grab my attention and make me sit up straight. At the impressionable age of 16, these words were like a beacon to me. It so fit. It so made sense—this was TRUTH! It continued to get better:
“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.”—Zeddicus Z’ul Zorander
(Chapter 36, Page #397)
At such a young age, this became practically Gospel to me. I didn’t want to be like those people…those stupid people. I wanted to be a Seeker. I wanted to see the truth. But, I think like so many others, I didn’t really understand what this meant. I didn’t see it then, but I do see it now: the first rule is flawed. In a sense, it covers it’s own flaw. It is true, people have so much “Knowledge” and so many “facts” thrust at them every day that they believe they can tell what is true or not. The internet is a great resource: a wealth of readily-available information. Yet half of it is all lies, and many of those lies have been covered by the media as truth. This can definitely support what Zedd has explained.
Yet there is still a very important flaw in this rule, and it lies in WHY people believe a lie. Yes, people believes lies out of fear or out of desire…but it is far more complex and there are far more reasons for believing a lie than that. Believing a lie does not necessarily make one stupid, but it really depends on circumstances and reasons for believing it. Most examples of the First Rule given in the books fall well within line of this description, too. It is to be expected. Richard and Kahlan are in pretty much ideal situations to flaunt this rule and make it very true. Though the villains in the story have great depth, good and evil are still very black and white. The villains do horrible things and the good guys try to stop it. The truth is often very easy to determine as well, as most people only have to travel to a ravaged village to see the aftermath of the Order or the D’haran troops. The real world is not nearly so cut and dry, and a lot of times, the lies we believe are not life-and-death situations.
So what other possible reasons would someone have for believing a lie? Well, one reason is that they do not know it is a lie. Maybe they were raised from birth with it, maybe they were brain-washed. In this case, it isn’t necessarily wanting to believe it or fearing to not believe it…it just is how it has always been and nothing new has been presented to them. Is the person stupid for believing it when they know nothing else? Of course not. Now, if the truth is presented to them and they reject it completely, then that brings us more into the territory of this definition of the First Rule. Actually, I think that happens a couple of times.
It could also be that no other information is available. It is wonderfully amazing how Richard can hunt down the answers in books and such…but let us face it, historians have not been as honest as we would like to believe. Early European conquerors often over-exaggerated or even created accounts that never happened. There have been several hoaxes, even recently, within historical discoveries. Just look up Piltdown Man. It is also a fact that the victors write history, and so much has been lost in wars. We have no magic here to preserve the past.
The only way to avoid believing a lie is to research, experiment, and excavate yourself…and this is just not practical on any level. Firstly, any field that you wish to learn about requires time to learn. Whether it is science, history, archeology, math, politics…it all takes time to learn and to apply. It also takes resources: books, tools, locations, travel, lodging, etc. This means it requires money and/or some kind of support. Now learning from the internet is great, but you have to A) be aware of the scammers and liars out there because there are a lot of them and/or B) have money to be able to afford the real information, as colleges do not give that stuff out for free. Oh, and by the way…you are still believing someone else over your own observations. Because you lack experience, you have to follow in the foot-steps of those before whether they are right or wrong. We would all like to believe that they are right…but sadly, that is not always the case. It is good to learn what is wrong, but if you don’t know it (because of lack of experience) it is annoying at best. Considering all of these requirements to determine what is true and what is not true, it is kind of sad. Maybe Bill Gates and other rich people can accomplish this (if they are motivated to) but what hope does someone who is barely scraping by each pay-check have?
This is the reason why we have professionals. Ideally, they are supposed to objectively observe and present the information they have discovered. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Corporations, politicians, and those in power all want a stake in controlling the populace. Information is manipulated, spoon-fed, or completely falsified for this purpose…and how do we get access to the truth if the people in charge burn it all up or whatever? And then there is that great moment when tons of conflicting information comes out, and all of it has great evidence to support it. At some point, we have no choice but to choose what to believe and hope that it is the right choice. At this point, any one can justify what they have chosen and find hundreds of arguments to back them up. It is at this point that no truth can be truly discerned. I can say that you are believing a lie, and you can say that I am believing a lie…and we could both back it up and both be right. Obviously someone has false information, especially if it is a contradiction. The Egg argument is a good example of this.
Let me illustrate this. Since the early 1900s, people have been saying that Eggs have high cholesterol and are therefore bad for you. In 1972, the American Heart Association followed research and limited Egg intake to no more than three a week. A WEEK. Fast-forward to 2008 or so. Now, people are calling foul on the previous research. Some claim it was sponsored by the Dairy Association (I have found nothing to back this up. In fact, I can not find the original research at all yet). People are saying that the body stops making cholesterol when it is introduced into the body, that Eggs don’t impact the cholesterol of the body, etc etc…. Here, I will provide links to both arguments
http://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-facts/eggcyclopedia/c/cholesterol
http://www.ajcn.org/content/87/4/964.full?sid=d405c20f-3363-494a-b819-56948996970e
http://www.ajcn.org/content/80/1/58.full?sid=d405c20f-3363-494a-b819-56948996970e
http://www.ajcn.org/content/73/5/885.full?sid=d405c20f-3363-494a-b819-56948996970e
Now, I have personally chosen AJCN as a resource for looking at health research because sponsors and all data is provided free of charge. Obviously the incredible edible egg site has an agenda, but if you Google it, you will find many articles claiming and supporting that eggs are fine and have no adverse affects, or virtually none as long as you are healthy…or something like that. Really, the only way to know is to do my own experiments…but I have no ability to do that at this time. No money, no training, and no resources. Who does? So I will eventually have to pick a side or ignore the whole thing and just live. Truly, this isn’t a life-or-death situation, but it is merely a simple illustration of how much more complex it is to determine what is a lie and what is the truth.
I think that the only thing we can do is acknowledge that whomever is providing the information has an agenda, and it has nothing to do with how it benefits us. It is all about how it benefits them. It could be that they get money out of it, or maybe it strokes their ego, or maybe it gives them confidence in their own choice. After that, we have to consider how sound the arguments are. Sometimes, people will contradict themselves. That is easy enough to waive off. Thirdly, we need to look seriously at the other side—even if we do not believe it, we have to research it as if we do to truly understand what is being said. Only by comparing both sides careful do we have a chance of finding a seed of truth.
I would love to be a Seeker of Truth. It has always been my nature to question things anyway, so maybe I am not far off. I have great respect for Goodkind and his works, and I still agree with the principles found in the Rules. But I think it is important to question and dissect them…because that is what a Seeker would do. They would not blindly accept what is said by another and use it as Gospel. They would prod, twist it, find it’s weakness and expose it’s innards. I hope that is what I have started to do here. But of course….if finding the truth was easy, everyone would do it, wouldn’t they ^_^
Why am I putting this song here on my Sword of Truth page? Because whenever I hear this song, I can just see Jagang singing it. It is his song about Nicci and how he sees her. He was always fascinated by her because she was not like anyone he had met before. The female singing, though, is not Nicci. I kind of have this picture in my head of some other slave-servant singing that part. I have this whole video in my head of Nicci and Jagang for this song…..some day, when I study animation, I will make it!
Here is the translation:
Red lips hide your teeth
and your tongue is so coarse
Fire and frost are in your eyes
are you a woman or a fox?
Wild and sly you hunt in time of darkness
long sleeves hide your claws
with your prey you play
your mouth is red with blood
(Chorus)
Rise now lust and rave desire
rush on upwards, sap in birchstem
Rise without a word of witch craft
rush without a rune of making!
You are wild and frighteningly beautiful
skirt barely hides your tail
Luring deeper into the woodlands
with your mad wild animal’s dance
Just when your clothes fall
and I see your naked frame
you laugh and open your jaws
and give me deep bites of love
…
Rise now lust and rave desire
rush on upwards, sap in birchstem
Rise without a word of witch craft
rush without a rune of making!
((warning—long rambling/read))
It took me all of one single day to finish the entire book, and I must say: I was very pleased. ^_^ I had finished the Sword of Truth series earlier this year and hadn’t read any of the books for several months. Stepping into this new world of Richard and Kahlan was very refreshing, and in my eyes, a perfect reset for the characters.
The Richard and Kahlan that we have grown to know and love was always at the dead-center of a war-torn country. The threats were life-threatening on more than a global scale. The events culminate and end on the first day of winter. That is where we left our beloved Richard and Kahlan.
Fast-forward several months. Spring is approaching and the big wedding of Cara to Benjamin is being celebrated. I feel that this time-frame is extremely important. For at least 3-5 months, there has been peace. No wars, no fighting, no bickering, not constantly wondering when their last breath would come. Everything is different, and the characters, I feel, reflect this perfectly. Some people say they felt the characteres were off. I don’t agree. The characters were perfectly off-balance due to living in a world of peace. They definitely grew a little lax, and it shows. I would expect as much. For them to maintain the same characteristics that helped them survive in the grimmest of situations when there was no threat to them now would be ridiculous! It felt like they were trying to adjust to this new world and new life, and it felt right.
The book is fast and short, which caught me by surprised. I didn’t really feel the Law of Nines writing style as much as I feel a lot of excess detail was removed. I still went on to forums just to make sure I had really read the end and that I hadn’t gotten a bad online copy ^_^
This particular book feels a lot like a warm-up, too. The characters and development has long-since been established, and a new stage has to be set. I felt the events and the book did this very well. I am on-edge, awaiting the next one anxiously!!!!!!!!!
Another note is that this book is creepy, with a bit of sleuthing if you are up for it. Personally, I didn’t store or analyze anything as I was reading, to some things definitely sprung up to surprise me. The violence in this book is very real….there is a particular scene that I really could not stomach reading, and not because of the violence of it necessarily, but because of who and what was involved.
Okay. That is the most of a review that I can give without any spoilers. From here on out:
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I don’t really know where to begin. As I said above, the fact that Richard and Kahlan were not exactly characteristic rang true to me for the new situation and world they found themselves in. On top of that, the whole problem is based upon Prophecy and Omens, which Richard considers to be Riddles and despises. Though I know he learned to take them seriously, I can imagine the desire to utterly ignore them and believe that peace has returned to their world.
As I was reading it, I didn’t make the connections until moments before they were revealed. For example, when the prophecy talked about the prince falling to the fangs, I never once thought of Queen Catherine. I knew she existed—Kahlan had paid specific attention to her and the fact that she was pregnant, but it didn’t dawn on me. When they approached King Philips room, I still wasn’t making the connection. My mind was thinking maybe he was really a prince still, or maybe he brought his son with him…. It wasn’t until King Philips himself ran up into the crowd that I made the connection. Sure, it was pretty damn obvious, but I wasn’t reading it like a mystery book. I was just following the story and not really storing any of the information.
Still, once it became clear, it was always obvious. Even with the Hedge Maid and the strips. Actually, I had a feeling about that one. When Richard thought of the message from the Omen Machine, I was certain of it. It made perfect sense, and I could understand how he would come to that conclusion.
I got really excited when I read that Bishop Arc had a Mord-Sith. My eyes got all big and I was going through all the possibilities. I remembered Cara mentioning that Constance had been up into the Dark Land and returned. I wouldn’t doubt the connection between that and the rogue Mord-Sith.
I had read on some forums that people were really upset that Richard left Kahlan alone and said it was out of character. I disagree. First of all, no one knew that Kahlan was sick because of the Hedge Maid. There was no way at the time for them to connect Kahlan’s sickness with any of this. Secondly, people were constantly looking in on her. Third, Richard felt that threat to Kahlan was the Omen Machine itself. Sure, he was allowing his passion to overcome his reason—but it was about Kahlan. He would slay the Keeper in the heart of the Underworld for her! Another point is that there was no mark outside the door. Again, they didn’t know she had been marked by the Hedge Witch, so there was no reason to believe that she was in immediate danger. Another reason was that the attacks on Queen Catherine were physically manifested and she was in a room close to the ground floor. The evidence matched up to physical animals, and there had been an incident earlier before that where one large, black dog was taken down. Since Kahlan was up high, there was really no reason to think that she was in direct danger. The mirrors had also been removed from the room, as I recall. Basically, they had every reason to feel that they had her completely protected. They did not yet realize that there were spectral beings, and no reason to think such. In fact, Richard was already starting to believe that someone was physically making these omens come true. He didn’t really solidify that belief until he confronted the Machine with his own rage. Another thing to keep in mind is that Kahlan and Richard hadn’t really dealt with a foe like this before. The closest was that dark, evil thing chasing Richard in the last three books, but it behaved very differently from these creatures.
I think a lot of people forget that they receive a lot of fore-knowledge. We previously had already read about Henrik’s made dash away from the wolves, so we knew what to expect. There was no reason yet for Richard to connect the wolves Henrik’s mother briefly mentioned at the very beginning to anything going on now, especially since wolves and coyotes were very common on the plateaus.
It was kind of funny how Richard went down to destroy the machine. I mean, he already knew that the thing went all the way through the entire palace! It was very obvious that his rage was blocking his reasoning, and I think this is very important. Richard has spent months without a focus, without anything to provoke him. Have you ever done something for a few years, then stopped for several months and started up again? Sure, it is like riding a bike, but you still wobble a bit. I feel like it was like that for all of them.
The Omen Machine was the one thing that really interested me. There were so many hints and questions, and more than just what was asked in the book. I definitely got a Sliph vibe from the machine, and it wouldn’t have surprised me at all because during that war 3000 years ago, they often used people as a base to create new things. My question is….
Why aren’t there any other machines in this world?
Seriously, think about it. What kind of machines have any of the characters ran into? I don’t mean like a mill or draw-bridge—I mean a real machine, like this one. There have been absolutely no machines in the Sword of Truth series up until now….So how the heck do they even know that it IS a machine? Or what a machine is?? I don’t even remember reading about a clock tower of any kind. It was all bells! There has never been a mention of any kind of technology in the Sword of Truth outside of the simpliest medieval tools.
Now, I know that machines have existed in simpler forms—but how would they know to apply the term to something like the Omen Machine when they had never seen anything like it before? That is the one thing that really bothers me. I would expect them to call it a thing more than a machine (but machine does sound cooler ^_^)
Okay, enough of that. I suppose I could ramble on and on about this book, but I will throw in one more thing—that girl-shadow thing creeped me out!!! I think it was the scariest part of the book. The first image that came to my mind was “The Ring” and “The Grudge” and those monstrous ghosts crawling toward you to suck the life from your body. :::shudders::: I am so glad I was reading that part in the day, but I still shudder!!!
One last thing—-the person on the cover is the Hedge Maid. I have no doubt about that. Some people want to believe it is Zedd when he tries to destroy the Machine, but there are a few things wrong with that. Firstly, Zedd is not the focus of this book. He is a very minor character right now. But that is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that Zedd wears ROBES. Anyone who has seen robes knows that the sleeves are loose, and there are several times where Zedd is described (in previous books) to be pushing up his sleeves out of the way. There are no sleeves on this silhouette. given the burst of light, there should be at least some indication of sleeves. Also, Zedd has wavy, white hair. That hair is straight, not wavy. I believe that we are seeing the Hedge Maid as Henrik saw her when she was casting the spell upon Kahlan. The Hedge Maid was described as having a ruler-straight, boy-like body and was wearing a bag-dress. Bag-dresses do not have sleeves. She is said to have straight, shoulder-length hair. That description seems to fit this silhouette far better than the one of Zedd. ^_-
I absolutely loved the book and the ending. It was exactly what I expected, surprisingly!
I just finished the Omen Machine! It only took me the whole day (with some breaks).
OH MY GODDDDDD!!!! I can not believe he ended it there! I am 100% certain that another one is on the way—-there HAD BETTER BE ANOTHER ONE ON THE WAY!!!!!
I will write a review for it tomorrow….I have to get some sleep for work :P I do have to say…why does he always seem to come out with the perfect story and theme that seems to totally reflect my life and the current quest of truth and knowledge I constantly find myself on. The Twelfth rule is my life now:
“You can destroy those who speak the truth, but you can not destroy the truth itself.”
Currently Reading the Omen
^_^ And a great Cara quote came up that just made me giggle (man , I love Cara…and Mord-Sith ^_^):
Kahlan gave Cara’s arm a squeeze. “I’m so sorry. I wanted this celebration to be perfect for you.”
“But it was, Mother confessor. The woman failed to harm you, you’re alive and well, and a would-be assassin is dead. What could be more perfect than that? On top of that, I now get ot lecture you on letting people get that close to you you.”
The Violence of SoT
((Warning. This is a post that talks about the more depressing scenes of SoT. Mainly rape and pillaging and dissecting the who and why fore. Contains spoilers)
Roaming around on the internet, I sometimes ran into an interesting comment or two about SoT: it is too violent. All the women get raped. This made me raise an eyebrow.
I will not deny that SoT is extremely violent. The bad-guys in the book do play up on what we deem to be evil and bad. That being said, the book is extremely true to human nature and the horrors of war. I am sorry, but in any war at any time, there is rape and pillaging. Even now, in the modern era, it happens. The point of war is to control and subjugate your enemy. If you are particularly evil, or just very power-hungry, then you will utilize pillage and raping. Romans, Greeks, Mongolians, and any other culture you can think of did it. They all enslaved the conquered and usually used the women by raping. Reading a book where the main characters are smack-dab in the middle of war, and only reading about the battle field just feels like a lie. We know what is really happening. What sets these heroes apart from other books is that they witness these atrocities—AND THEY REACT TO IT. They react with moral outrage.
Not every woman in SoT gets raped. The main characters either come close, or had a past of it. Again, though, this is true to reality in many ways. You may be surprised how many of your female friends have been molested or raped. It sucks, but it happens, and unfortunately happens a lot. That being said, remember that they are in a dark time. This isn’t modern-era times, this is more like back in the 1800s—with magic. Women do have a lot more rights, though, and many are on the higher end of the spectrum. But who was really raped in SoT? Not many of the main characters. Cara was, during her breaking to become a Mord-Sith (most mord-sith were, most likely), and she was also molested by Drefan (I don’t care what he calls it, he was a perv!). I count Nadine as well, because she only agreed to the ceremony to be with Richard. She would not have willingly gone with Drefan. Once the Sisters of Light and Dark were caught by the bad guys, they were all victims. In fact, pretty much every single woman in the Order was a victim, guaranteed. Ah yes, do not forget Du Chaillu. Actually those were the only direct names I could think of. Every other crime was vaguely mentioned with barely any names. For example, Ebinissia…the aftermath was apparent, but we only got names because Kahlan played the witness and was remembering those that she had interacted with. Oh, and we can not forget about Kahlan’s half-sister, Cyrilla . More on her in a moment.
There were those that were completely untouched. Verna, Annalina, Rachel, Shota (though she never got caught by the bad-guys), Adie, Jebra and Jennsen. They were only involved in consensual acts (though Jennsen could have chosen better :P)
Then there were the ones that were molested or almost-raped. Actually, only one name comes to mind: Kahlan. She is the main character, the main heroine, and the bad guys want to destroy her. She is also very beautiful. It would seem very wrong that they didn’t attack her.
In spite of all this, I do feel that this books reflects the strength of the women. For the main characters that endured these horrible acts, they usually came out stronger, more independent, and able to defend themselves better. They also had more sympathy and more desire to burn the stain of the Order off the face of the planet. Sure, guys wanted to help protect them—but let us face it, the women had more to fear and definitely used that fear to fuel their determination. Also, Kahlan—though molested, was always successful in fighting off her assailants. And almost always alone. I am a woman. That, to me, is strength. I fear walking at night, walking down a street alone—-because it really could happen to me. I want to be able to fight it and defend myself, just like Kahlan could.
Ah, but some say—-Kahlan says her sister Cyrilla DESERVED what happened! Actually, she didn’t. I read through the part at least where Harold brings the news from Cyrilla in Faith of the Fallen. Well, let us take a quick moment to review what happened because this scene is taken way out of context by the offended. Cyrilla was, unfortunately, group-raped by a bunch of sadists in the pit of Aydindril. Her brother, Harold, rescued her. When Kahlan met up with them, she basically became her nurse and mother. She comforted, took care of, and did everything she could for her half-sister. She even took the crown at her sister’s request, though she wanted nothing to do with being a queen. Mother Confessor is certainly enough. Kahlan is in the front lines, trying to unite the Midlands and D’Hara so as to protect the people and drive out the threat of the Order. If the Order comes, then the same fate will befall every city and town across the country. The same fate will befall other women. It has been discussed in previous books that there is no way to win if the Midlands remains divided. The political preface before the scene to come was very detailed and made perfect sense in the time, climate, and given all that was at stake: freedom and life.
Fast forward to the part where Harold comes and says that Cyrilla is better and has decided to NOT HELP, to ignore everything Kahlan has done, and to isolate her kingdom in hopes of protecting herself (not her people…she is terrified of the order). Kahlan points out that
“Galea stands at the head of the Callisidrin Valley! It’s a gateway right up the center of the Midlands! Don’t you see what a tempting route it might be for the Imperial Order? Don’t you see how they might want to split the Midlands?”
It is easy to imagine the images running through Kahlan’s head. If the order winds, more cities like Ebinissia will pop up—-pillaged, raped and murdered. Men, women and children. No one will be safe. Cyrilla basically spat in Kahlan’s face, and the Midlands, and said to hell with everyone else—I am going to hole-up and pray they don’t find me. Based on how Harold describes Cyrilla’s actions and conduct, she is obviously not well. Kahlan sees this clearly, as well. Harold flat-out refuses to follow her order as Mother Confessor and chooses to follow his queen, even though he knows and agrees that it will lead to more death, rape, and destruction of his home and the Midlands.
Don’t you think you would be just a little bit pissed off? I sure would. Kahlan isn’t thinking about the slight to herself, or the insult Harold gave her in refusing to follow her orders as head of the Midlands. She was pissed off that they were willing to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and for no reason at all outside of Harold wanting to believe his sister is okay. She even calls Harold out on this by saying:
“You pompous fool. How dare you speak to me of your honor? You are sacrificing the lives of innocent people to your delusions of honor. Honor is honesty to what is, not blind duty to what you wish to be. You have no honor, Harold.”
This is the part that offends people
“Tell Cyrilla that she had better hope for the fate I have just described, because if the Order does not come through Galea, I will. I have promised no mercy to the Order. Galea’s treason condemns her to the same fate as the Order. If the Order does not get Cyrilla, then I swear I will, and when I get her, I am going to take her back to Aydindril and I’m going to personally throw her back down into that pit from which you rescued her, and I am going to leave her down there with every criminal brute I can find for as long as she lives.”
Considering everything Kahlan has been through, everything she has seen, and all the people she is fighting for to save—the people she is risking her life for so that they can remain safe and live life freely—does anyone really believe that she is over-reacting? Considering what she believes will happen once Galea is overthrown, it could be reasonable punishment. Cyrilla will be responsible for thousands of rapes, murders, and worse, all because of her madness.
I am on the fence on this one. For one, it very well could be just a message to display her pure rage at the treason to the Midlands, the people and their freedom. But then again, this is a hard-core war and the rules are set by the aggressors. She has allowed Cara to torture a captive to get information from them. I put this part up to Goodkind illustrating the rule: passion rules reason. Everyone is folly to this rule, including Richard and Kahlan. She has made the threat, but there is a very good chance that she would not carry it out. Her reasons and her anger is fully justified, in my opinion.
Okay. One last thing. This gets over-looked a lot, and I wanted to point this out. Many people had gone on about the issues of violence and rape in the book. No one remembered something very important (in my opinion): Richard was raped. In fact, he was raped over an extended period of time. Yes, I am talking about his time with Denna. He was tortured, twisted, and bound and he was not allowed to say no. How many books even admit to the fact that men can be raped? Actually, I think this is the first book I have ever read that put the main hero in such a predicament. Yes, some part of him came to care for Denna (it had to for the sword to turn white) and he was able to forgive her completely for all the things she did. He became stronger because of it, but the scars carried over into several books.
So not only did Goodkind address the true nature and follies of human beings, the horrors of war, and the emotions that it inspires—he also stepped over the boundaries and reminded us that no one is immune to these atrocities: not even the main character.
Sword of Truth Meme
I can’t believe I finally found one focusing on the books! Why are those so hard to find? Anyway—
The first character I fell in love with: A tie between Kahlan and Zedd. Kahlan because I share some of her features (at the time I read it, I had long brown hair and hazel-green eyes), so I could pretend it was me. ^_^ And Zedd is just so cooky and funny—gotta love him!
The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Denna. She was the bad-guy, so to speak, and I hated her for all the things that she did to Richard. And then you started to learn about her life, her hardships, and then her courage to accept her own death…She was a good look into the world of Mord-Sith and redemption.
The character everyone else loves that I don’t: I don’t really follow fandoms, so I am not sure who all the popular ones are.
The character I love that everyone else hates: I don’t really follow fandoms, so I am not sure who all the hated ones are.
The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Prelate Annalina. Well, I did not really love or her like her. She was ho-hum, then annoying. Toward the end of the series, I wanted to smack her, though.
The character I would shag anytime: Gonna have to be a stereotypical fangirl and go with the main man: Richard.
The character I’d want to be like: Kahlan. Actually, I know that I have a few of her traits but I would really love to have her mental strength and confidence.
My five favorite characters: Only five? :P… Richard, Kahlan, Zedd, Rachel, and Cara. (and Nicci, and Warren (god he was so cute!) and Berdine and Scarlet and Gratch (I almost cried when those last two came back..I was almost sure they were dead! AND VICTOR! The cool blacksmith!!)
My five least favorite characters: Annalina, the sisters of the Dark, Shota was real annoying, and Samuel. I really loved the way the bad-guys were portrayed—they were human and actually had REASONS for what they were doing. It wasn’t just “bad guy wants to destroy/control the world”. Jagang was a religious fanatic on some levels, even in a corrupted sense. Darken Rahl had serious issues after his father was decimated by the first wizard…things like that.
My deep dark fandom secret: Hmm….not sure what that could be. Maybe the fact that I started skipping the long-winded speechs (and long-descriptions after I had read that particular book a couple of times)
( I have decided to screw the book I am currently reading and pick up reading the Omen Machine this weekend..I can not wait anymore!)
YES!!!! The release is coming soon and I just jumped on and placed an order on Amazon. I am so glad I get to spend the credit amount on our credit card (we can not cash it.) I plan on spending the weekend devouring the hell out of this book!!!!! ::does happy dance:::
Kind of wish I decided to re-read the series, but it is so ingrained in my head that it will be fine. I already did that last year anyway. The problem is Japan being ahead of the world…so even though Goodkind’s facebook announced it officially released, it is still a pending order for me :P Or some reason like that…doesn’t make as much sense to me, but as long as I get it, I don’t really care. XD
The man behind the best series I have ever read. I have liked many books and many series, but I can never say one was my favorite until I read his. As someone who took to heart the philosophies and ideals he was trying to teach, I took a dive into the objectivist realm and read some Ayn Rand. I had to see more into the mind behind the Sword of Truth, and the only way to do so was to go where he had gone.
I have only read one book so far: We the Living. Though I can not say much for the characterizations, I will say this: read it. I have a feeling that the next time I read my beloved Sword of Truth, it will be with different eyes. This is what I thought of the book:
http://anjyils-library.tumblr.com/post/8597663360/we-the-living-by-ayn-rand-i-am-not-one-to-pick
After reading We the Living, I feel that people’s comparisons to Wheel of Time are unfounded. I sincerely and with all my heart believe that there is no way Jordan could put into the story what Goodkind did. Someday I may read Wheel of Time to see the superficial comparisons, but it is now a mute point in my eyes.
So again, I encourage you who love the series of books The Sword of Truth…check out some of Ayn Rand if you haven’t done so already. Not to convert, but to see more of the world that Terry Goodkind had created.
And thus ends my listing of fan-arts of the Sword of Truth Series. Not because I want to stop, but because… I CAN NOT FIND ANYTHING ELSE descent enough!!!! This really depresses me. The above I found mostly on DeviantArt, showing various groupings. I think I saw some more that I will try and hunt out again.
I really wish there were lots of really awesome fan-art of the series. It is so depressing that I could only scrape out so much from the internet. I thought the internet had everything. Well, no matter. My plan is to start my own fan-art as I read through the series next year. Why not this year? I am still studying. Perspective is really hard in drawing, as is anatomy. I am actually not sure when next year I can start..or even if I can. It depends on what level I am at. Still, if someone ever makes a request, I definitely won’t say no ^_^ I just can’t guarantee how good it would be. If any one is curious, they can always check out my art blog
http://anjyils-dreams.tumblr.com/
Anyway…I think I will try and dream about the sword of truth. After reading the Sword of Truth series, it is really difficult to read something like Harry Potter and not pick it apart to death. ^_^
Cara is just awesome, and being able to find this many fan-arts of her was not as difficult as the last one (again, poor Zedd…) Now, I actually like how the Mord-Sith are imagined in the show. I think it is pretty close to the book, though I was not happy about Cara having her hair chopped off in the show.
Anyway, Cara has it all. Witt, sass, undying loyalty, and the ability to do anything—even if it means facing a pack of rats—for her friends. I always loved the banter between her and Richard, and later the friendship between her and Kahlan. One of the images put the crescent-star in the wrong place. Not sure why one has the crescent lying down, but I guess it could work…. Oh, and then there is the one of these makes her look a little anorexic, too….hmmm….
The majority of these were found on DA with a couple of them found through google. Can’t remember which. I tend to just go on a massive splunking mission when trying to find images for SoT.
This is a crime against nature! These are the only three non-TV-show-related fan arts I could find of Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander…the Greatest and most powerful Wizard of the First Order of his time.
What is wrong with people? Zedd is one of the greatest characters! He gave us “Bags” and “True as Toasted Toads”! He was funny and wise at the same time. He was like the perfect Grandfather! I googled, looked through DA (where these three came from) and even several other sites. I used various variations of his name. I also tried his favorite name Ruben Rybnik. This has added more fuel to my motivation for improving my art. I will be sure to commemorate him properly when I am ready.
Edit to add— a great reminder from vorpalqueen….Zedd hates beards! Why did these two artists draw him with beards? They said that no matter how hard they try, they see him with a beard. But again, these were literally the ONLY pictures I could find….I am even more sad now and determined to set things right!
Kahlan Amnell. Part 2.
Some more images of Kahlan. I think a lot of people did a good job of capturing the essence of the character in some of these images. They showed her strength and her intelligence. Some day I will do some art of Kahlan, but it is too soon for me right now.
I think it is interesting that you can google her by her maiden name or her married name, but Kahlan never officially took Richard’s family name. In fact, Richard seemed more intent on taking HER name instead.
I do want to be clear—I actually think that Bridget looks a lot like Kahlan, so I was tempted to put some of her fan art in here…but I didn’t because my focus is the book characters and people’s imagination of what she looked like, not a TV persona. Besides, the dress in the series is wrong….very nice, and I wouldn’t mind having one, but it is not how the dress should be. Kahlan is not about being sexy. She was actually pretty conservative (yes, I am well aware of what Kahlan did in those wars. She may be conservative, but she does what she has to do.)
Kahlan Amnell. Part 1
She is extremely popular! I was pleased by the amount of fan art based off the books that I found. ^_^ Here is the first part of images I found…there is one WIP that was never completed! That person needs to get busy.
Most of these were found on DA. I was too lazy to put the name of them, though.
The Grace.
In the Sword of Truth, it is a magical symbol drawn by various magic users (see picture above).
The grace is usually drawn by starting with the outer circle, then a square where the corners touch the sides of the circle. An inner circle is drawn touching the sides of the square, and then an 8 pointed star is drawn within the inner circle. From each point, a ray is drawn to the outside of the outer circle. According to Soul of Fire on page 40, this is the correct way to draw a grace.
In fact, we see a supporting scene in Debt of Bones on page 36. This is only highlighted because Zedd is drawing a modified grace and the woman watching him is recalling how her mother (a sorceress) drew it as outlined above.
In Debt of Bones (p36), Zedd starts like normal with the outer circle, then draws the inner circle and the star. He draws the lines next, leaving out one line, and then he adds the square but has one of the sides dip down through the inner circle. Because it is symbolizm, it is easy to deduce that this was his indication that he was going to create the boundaries, though it is never explicitly stated.
There is yet another way to draw the Grace—-Richard does this on page 768 in Soul of Fire. He starts drawings the lines and moving from outside the grace to inside, toward himself. He then draws the sword, the inner circle, then the square, and then the outer circle.
So, already, we have three ways to draw a circle. The “correct” way and the two modified ways. Are either of these the Fatal Grace mentioned in Kolo’s journal? Personally, I don’t think so and I have some reasons why.
First, let us look at what Kolo describes as a Fatal Grace. This is on page 318 in Soul of Fire.
“Mark well my words: Beware the chimes, and if need be great, draw for yourself thrice on the barren earth, in sand and salt and blood, a Fatal Grace.”
Richard, on the same page, says that Kolo wrote this report because he was frightened. This was during the time that the Chimes were running rampant in the world, before Anders sealed them. In the above methods of drawing the Grace, however, no one uses sand, salt and blood.
There is something else to consider, and I think this is the most important. It has to do with the way Ander’s thinks, which is described in detail on page 732 of Soul of Fire. Anders believe magic was an art form and treated it in such a way. Richard explicitly states that he believes Ander’s was correct. When Richard has his revelation about how to draw a grace, he recalled Ander’s words “A Grace might rise in obedience to an inventive spell.” As Richard created his own Grace, he drew on his own rage and need—just as he said Anders did. Anders sealed the chimes after Kolo’s entry. Kolo would not have been so frightened in his writings otherwise. One could losely say that Anders took the Fatal Grace, believed by Richard and Kahlan to be a suicide move, and bent it to his will…but I don’t think so. Richard is not a pro at translating the High D’haran texts, and he often times struggled with puzzling phrases and even mistranslates a phrase in the Naked Empire. I think the key to what Richard did was in what we read in this book, as well as the unspoken sections he was puzzling in just before Jiaan came in to collect him to see the person who was beaten.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand. The Grace plays another important role in “Phantom” when Nicci does an Internal Verification Web. This is the only instance that the Grace is drawn in blood, page 31. On this same page it states that the Grace is only ever drawn in blood in the rarest and most gravest of circumstances. A couple of pages later, Richard himself explains the power of symbols and how you can tell if it is “wrong”. He also goes on to explain that you can alter the language of the symbol once you understand and references the Grace that Zedd drew in Debt of Bones ( of course he doesn’t know about the event, so that makes it all the more interesting!) He also explains how if it is misused, it often will not work as intended. I think this goes back to Anders theory about creativity in magic.
So what is a Fatal Grace? I think our answer lies in Phantom on page 42. Richard explains that a Grace is emblamatic—a symbol. It is inert. During the verification process, it was contaminated by a biological source: Nicci`s blood.
EDIT:: Thanks Ajecus for the correction. The source of the contamination is actually the Chimes, which was also considered biological. Nicci’s blood merely acted as oil on fire.
I think the ingredients to make a Grace can determine it’s power. Taking a biological element, blood: a power source, sorcerer’s sand; and finally salt (not sure where that stands as it isn’t explained or referenced) and you have a Fatal Grace. When you really think about it, it makes sense. The added biological element allowed an inert spell to mutate and grow in an unpredictable way. This happened because a) there was a flaw and b) the person IN the web was the person who provided the blood for it. Even in science, it is known not to mix the control group with the variable so you can accurately analysis the results. This, in fact, makes more sense to me. Richard, in Soul of Fire, already understood the language of symbols and used that language to out-think Anders. He merely created a modified version of the Grace. In this situation in Phantom, Zedd, Anne, Nathan and Nicci created a modified version of a Fatal Grace.
Now just to be sure, I also hunted through the official website, through previous interviews, and then some, and I didn’t find any mention indicating that the Fatal Grace is what Richard drew at the end of Soul of Fire. In fact, the only places I find these statements are on fan forums and the Sword of Truth Wiki, which also offers no references or resources to verify their statement. The official site’s forums are down at the moment, so I can not search them for statements. I do know that Terry Goodkind used to post on the forums and he might have, at one point, answered that question. I will wait a little while for the site to right itself and search there. If it doesn’t, I will probably write a letter to Terry and see if it gets a response. The first letter I wrote to him did ^_^ (though I was about 17 at the time….)
Something to keep in mind is that, like many symbols throughout the Sword of Truth series, the Grace was a tool for character development. The most important thing that Richard learned was about balance and the need for creativity and how it worked with his own Magic. Magic is Art…and there is truly magic in art (as an artist I can completely understand this). It comes down to the whole “think outside the box” and “don’t follow the crowd.” It outlines the “need to know the rules before you can break them” as well. In fact…I believe it all comes down to the wizard’s first rule. It makes sense, though. Humans are creatures that need closure. Something left so open-ended tends to drive people crazy and they HAVE to make connections. There was obvious inspiration from the Grace Richard learned about, the word “fatal” in Fatal Grace, and what Anders said. Why do we assume that a Fatal Grace has to be drawn backwards? It could well be the adding of salt and blood that makes a grace fatal. After all, we have only really seen graces drawn with Sorcerer’s sand when they are used. I can not recall a time where a Grace was drawn with something besides Sorcerer’s sand and used with magic. To teach it, Zedd used dirt. When you think about it, it is really not so open-ended as it is more obviously addressed in Phantom even though it was first introduced in Soul of Fire. I think those are the best themes—the ones that span books and make you think about what you previously read.
Now if someone can direct me to a solid statement by Terry Goodkind himself that Richard did, indeed, draw a Fatal Grace at the end, I welcome it! I will definitely pay more attention to the Grace on my next read through, though.
About me
My favorite book series of all time is the Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. So this is my blog dedicated to the series, the subsequent books (such as Law of Nines) and my own thoughts on it.
