The Mud People

The Mud People are a group of people from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series.

The Mud People reside near the boundary separating Westland from the Midlands in The Wilds, a southern area of the Midlands. They are described as being a shorter race of people who wear mud in their hair and often over their bodies.

Their society is that of a hunter/gatherer type. Their hunters are revered by the village, often inspiring children to follow them around. They used bows and arrows tipped with poison to hunt, with a distinction made between arrows for hunters hunting animals and those hunting men. The Mud People do not allow outsiders into their village normally, with few exceptions, one being the Mother Confessor. The hunters kill outsiders who approach their village with bad intentions, and they eat the flesh of these enemies, believing that they absorb their enemies knowledge. The women of the village make clay pottery and cook. One of the main staples of their diet is an item called tava bread which they often eat rolled around peppers. People in the village are only allowed to eat with their right hand, as the Mud People believe that only evil spirits eat with their left hand.

The Mud People have very stringent ideas about strength and respect. In the outer areas of their land, they show strength and respect by hitting a person in the face- open hand for a woman and closed fist for a man. In the village, they exchange only small slaps to keep order. The Mud People do not smile until this respect is exchanged in fear that their souls will be stolen.

The Mud People are led by the Council of Elders who are in turn led by the Bird Man, an old, weathered man who can call any bird he chooses with a small whistle he keeps around his neck. The Council and Bird Man make up the group of elders who can call a Gathering- a meeting of their ancestors' spirits- for assistance or advice. In a Gathering, they will cover their naked bodies with mud painted in certain symbols and then rub their chests with a red spirit frog in order to allow the spirits to come to them.

In Wizard's First Rule, Richard Cypher and Kahlan Amnell visit the village to convince them to call a Gathering in hopes that the ancestors' spirits will help them find one of the Boxes of Orden. The Mud People allow them in because Kahlan is the Mother Confessor and rechristen Richard as Richard-with-the-Temper after he knocks one of them to the ground in his show of respect. They visit the Mud People's village several times throughout the rest fop the series.

The Sword of Truth series is currently being filmed in New Zealand and will premiere November 1, 2008 under the new name, Legend of the Seeker.