Confessor (novel)

Confessor
First edition cover
Author(s)	Terry Goodkind
Cover artist	Keith Parkinson
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Sword of Truth
Genre(s)	Epic fantasy novel
Publisher	Tor Books
Publication date	November 13, 2007
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	673[1]
ISBN	0765315238
OCLC Number	153578184
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 2
LC Classification	PS3557.O5826 C66 2007
Preceded by	Phantom
Followed by	The Omen Machine

Confessor is the eleventh novel in Terry Goodkind's epic fantasy series The Sword of Truth, and the last in the Chainfire trilogy bringing an end to the current story arc involving the Imperial Order. The book was announced on February 20, 2007 on the author's official website.^[2] The book was released November 13, 2007.

Plot introduction

A short plot description of the book was released on the author's official website, which read:^[2]

Descending into darkness, about to be overwhelmed by evil, those people still free are powerless to stop the coming dawn of a savage new world, while Richard faces the guilt of knowing that he must let it happen. Alone, he must bear the weight of a sin he dare not confess to the one person he loves…and has lost.

Join Richard and Kahlan in the concluding novel of one of the most remarkable and memorable journeys ever written. It started with one rule, and will end with the rule of all rules, the rule unwritten, the rule unspoken since the dawn of history.

When next the sun rises, the world will be forever changed.

Plot summary

Richard Rahl, leader of the D'Haran Empire, has been captured by an Imperial Order commander, who lets Richard (under the guise of Ruben Rybnik) live if he will be the point man for the commander's Ja'La dh Jin team. During Richard’s imprisonment, he is warned by a cloaked specter that he is now a player of the Boxes of Orden. Sister Ulicia is also visited by this figure, and is told that the time to open the Boxes has been reset to one year from the first day of winter-the day that Nicci put the Boxes into play under Richard's name. The witch woman Six steals the third box of Orden from Nicci and Zedd. Zedd discovers that The Wizard's Keep is being affected by the contamination of the chimes, and places a spell to protect it from future damage.

Jagang's excavations in the Azrith Plains reveal catacombs under the People's Palace, which provide a secret entryway. Three Sisters of the Dark enter, killing Ann and capturing Nicci, while soldiers are sent into the catacombs to prepare an attack. The Sisters of the Dark discover what they believe to be the original Book of Counted Shadows.

Upon a surprise visit from Jagang, who is sizing up the members of rival Ja'La teams, Richard disguises himself by covering the faces and bodies of his teammates and himself with intimidating symbols and parts of spell-forms. His team defeats Jagang's team in the tournament final; but Jagang, refusing to accept his team's loss, announces the win is invalid. This unfair decision causes a riot in the camp, during which Richard and Nicci escape and Kahlan is 'rescued' by Samuel. Richard and Nicci (helped by Adie) enter to the Palace through the catacombs, where Nathan and Cara help them wipe out the Order forces hiding there.

Rachel is lured into Tamarang by Violet, who has drawn a spell around her that sets 'ghostie gobblies' to destroy her. On her way, she is given a piece of chalk by Shota in disguise as Rachel's mother, and with this transfers the spell to Violet. Rachel then restores Richard's gift. She is again visited by the disguised Shota, who sends her to deliver a message with Gratch. Zedd is captured by Six, and discovers that the witch woman is in league with Jagang and has helped attack D'Haran forces in the Old World.

Richard is warned by Nicci that he must not reveal his love for Kahlan to her, lest Kahlan's lost memories alone fail to be restored, much Richard, in the first book of the series, could not be told before finding himself the way to love a Confessor untouched by her power.

Richard then helps priestess Jillian give the Order's army terrible nightmares. Jagang is given particularly nasty dreams, mostly involving Nicci. Richard is taught many spells and spell-forms by Nicci, and then sends himself to the Underworld, using Denna as a spirit guide, and retrieves everyone's memories of Kahlan, but is attacked by the pursuing beast earlier sent against him, and attempts to escape by releasing Additive Magic into the Underworld, whence he is projected into a gathering of the Mud People. He is greeted by Rachel, who, with Gratch's help, had told the Mud People to hold a gathering to summon him. At the Palace, Nathan assumes Richard is dead and accepts Jagang's terms of surrender, which include surrendering Nicci to Jagang and giving the Order's magicians access to the Garden of Life in order to open the boxes.

Samuel attempts to rape Kahlan; and during the struggle, she touches the Sword of Truth, which restores her memory of being a Confessor (though none of her other memories), and releases her power to take control of him. Samuel reveals he is an agent for Six, and that Richard and Kahlan were once married; then dies when she refuses to forgive his attempt against her. Richard meets Kahlan on the way to Tamarang; but refuses to answer her questions of their marriage, for fear of contaminating the spell upon her, and gives her Spirit in compensation.

Six has imprisoned Zedd, Tom, and Rikka, and appears as Richard and Kahlan arrive in Tamarang to rescue them. Shota arrives as Six is about to recapture them, in disguise as Six's mother. Shota kills Six and then Richard, Kahlan, and Zedd fly back to the People's Palace on the red dragon Six had enslaved; now revealed to be Scarlet's son Gregory, whom Richard saved as an egg.

At the Palace, Richard allows Jagang and his Sisters of the Dark to open the boxes of Orden. During the ritual, Jagang goes unguarded to Nicci, who locks a Rada'Han around his neck, rendering him powerless, and eventually kills him unceremoniously to prevent his martyrdom.

In the Garden of Life, the Sisters of the Dark discover the correct box and open it; but find a flaw in their succes. Richard explains that all of the Books of Counted Shadows were false keys to the boxes; whereas if they had the true key, they would still fail by reason of malicious intent. Immediately, the Sisters are drawn into the Underworld.

Richard explains that the true key to the Magic of Orden is the Sword of Truth. Kahlan tells Richard she loves him, revealing that her emotions have contaminated her chances of regaining memory. Richard uses the Sword to reveal the correct box and then to capture its magic. Now in command of life and death, he uses the magic to send the followers of the Order to a new world, devoid of magic; then sends his half-sister Jennsen, her compatriots the Bandakar, and her suitor Tom after them. Richard also uses Orden to repair the damage caused by the chimes, and to send Chainfire to the new world he has created, ensuring the complete removal of magic from that world, and removing all its inhabitants' memories of their previous world. As Richard goes to close the opening between worlds, he fears Kahlan is lost to him; but she replies that she was protected from this loss because she had fallen in love with him on her own, much as he had with her at the beginning of the series.

An epilogue shows Tom and Jennsen expecting a child, who will carry the Rahl name, and shows the emigrants gradually forgetting Richard and everything from their previous world. The book ends with the marriage of Cara and General Meiffert. It is revealed that the Sisters of the Light have moved into the Wizard's Keep, where along with Zedd, they can continue to teach young wizards. Chase (now a Warden of the Keep) and his family have also moved into the Keep, as have Adie and Friedrich, who are now a mated pair. Under Zedd's questions, Richard admits taking Panis Rahl's spell from red fruit, so that it is no longer poison, and to bringing back the Temple of the Winds to the world of the living. After Richard and Kahlan's wedding, the devotion bells begin to ring; but Richard prevents the people kneeling, arguing that they are no longer his subjects.

Characters in "Confessor"

• Richard Rahl
• Kahlan Amnell
• Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander
• Cara
• Nicci
• Ann
• Nathan Rahl
• Verna
• Adie
• Egan & Ulic
• Sister Ulicia
• Sister Armina
• Shota
• Six
• Chase
• Rachel
• Emperor Jagang
• Violet
• Jennsen Rahl
• Tom
• Gratch
• Rikka
• Berdine
• Jillian
• General Benjamin Meiffert
• Johnrock
• Bruce
• Samuel

Cover art

Cover artist Keith Parkinson died before Confessor was published, but had created art for all the books in the saga beforehand. Author Terry Goodkind had the following to say: "When Keith and I were working on cover concepts for Chainfire he came up with a number of color roughs that, because of their simple, iconic nature were very close to being final. At the time I recognized three of these roughs as perfect for the Chainfire Trilogy. That means that the final book of the series had already been done by him before he passed away so that is the cover that will appear on the book".

Wizard's Eleventh Rule

The eleventh and final rule that appears in The Sword of Truth series is revealed in Confessor to be an unwritten rule. The reason is explained through the character Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander:

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.

—Chapter 65, p. 592, U.S. hardcover edition

Richard goes through great struggle to obtain a book left for him by Baraccus, a great wizard from the past. The book entitled Secrets to a War Wizard's power is a means for him to understand how to use his gift and therefore is in essence the solution to major problems. When he obtains the book, its pages are blank and Zedd informs him that Baraccus left it blank to illustrate the meaning of the phrase "rule unwritten". Using this knowledge Richard reasons that the Book of Counted Shadows could not be the key to the boxes of Orden, and that the Sword of Truth was the only way to harness Orden's power. As far as the knowledge within the book was concerned, there was "nothing in it", much like Richard's Secrets to a War Wizard's Power. The Sword of Truth, representative of its namesake, was key to life.

The secret to Richard's power is that he seeks the truth. In seeking truth he turns a blind eye to corrupt ideas and embraces the essence of life itself. The Sisters of the Dark assumed the truth to be what they had always been told by others and never thought to verify it themselves, and died for it; but would never have been able to access the power by reason of acting in hate. Richard, on the other hand, intended to use the power to help those he cared about and thus had the ability to harness the power.

Quotes

"Truth has advocates who seek understanding. Corrupt ideas have miserable little fanatics who attempt to enforce their beliefs through intimidation and brutality… through faith. Savage force is faith’s obedient servant. Violence on an apocalyptic scale can only be born of faith because reason, by its very nature, disarms senseless cruelty. Only faith thinks to justify it....Justice is not the exercise of hatred, it is the celebration of civilization."

-p. 576, U.S. hardcover edition

"Every person makes choices as to how they will live. Evil does not exist independent of man. Men do evil by choice. Choice involves the requirement to think, even if ineffectually. The most basic choice you can make is to think or not to think, to let others do the thinking and tell you what to do, even if they tell you to do evil. Wise choices require more, they require rational thinking. Refusal to think rationally affords one the ability to maintain the illusion of knowledge, wisdom, even sanctity while committing evil. If you follow the teaching of others who do your thinking for you and who have you do evil, the innocent victims are harmed just the same as if you choose to harm them yourself. Dead is dead. Their life is over. Teachings that defy reason defy reality; what defies reality defies life. Defying life is embracing death. Celebrating faith over reason is merely a way of denying what is, in favor of embracing any whim that strikes your fancy."

-p. 579, U.S. hardcover edition

"To exist in this vast universe for a speck of time is the great gift of life. Our tiny sliver of time is our gift of life. It is our only life. The universe will go on, indifferent to our brief existence, but while we are here we touch not just part of that vastness, but also the lives around us. Life is the gift each of us has been given. Each life is our own and no one else’s. It is precious beyond all counting. It is the greatest value we can have. Cherish it for what it truly is... Your life is yours alone. Rise up and live it."

-p. 603, U.S. hardcover edition

References

1. ^ Terry Goodkind: The Official Website. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
2. ^ ^{a b} Confessor at Terry Goodkind's official website.

External links

• Official Terry Goodkind website
• Terry Goodkind's page for Confessor
• Welcome to the Sword of Truth Wiki, including characters, places, items, etc..