Naked Empire

Naked Empire
Author(s)	Terry Goodkind
Cover artist	Keith Parkinson
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Sword of Truth
Genre(s)	Epic fantasy
Publisher	Tor Fantasy
Publication date	July 2003
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	608[1]
ISBN	0-7653-0522-4
OCLC Number	52381073
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 21
LC Classification	PS3557.O5826 N35 2003
Preceded by	The Pillars of Creation
Followed by	Chainfire

Naked Empire is the eighth book in Terry Goodkind's epic fantasy series The Sword of Truth.

Plot introduction

This book opens with Richard and Kahlan still in the Old World traveling back to the New World. A new character Owen pleads for Richard and Kahlan’s help in freeing his people from the hands of the Imperial Order. They are set upon by a seemingly mysterious dust storm that holds the silhouette of a man. They are sent a warning letter by Nicci, but before they are able to finish reading the letter they are set upon by Imperial Order Mercenaries. After learning that Richard has been poisoned by Owen they must travel back deeper into the Old World to the Bandakar. They find an ancient boundary protecting the Bandakar Empire from outside invaders came down two years past and now the Imperial Order has occupied this nation of frail-minded people. Soon Richard and Kahlan learn of a new monster that was created by Jagang’s Sisters of the Dark.

Plot summary

The novel begins detailing the travels of the main characters as they move through the Old World in order to accomplish temporary goals. Their travels are interrupted by the entrances of Nicholas, who is a Slide (a wizard that is capable of soul stealing and using souls to project himself into animals). This situation is further complicated by Owen, a man from the Bandakar Empire. He poisons Richard in order to force him to help the Bandakar Empire shed the yoke of the Imperial Order.

Much of the novel focuses on Richard's interactions with the Bandakar people. The people of Bandakar are all pristinely ungifted like Richard's half-sister Jennsen. They are descendants of the house of Rahl who were banished into the Old World thousands of years before. These people were then again banished by the people of the Old World. A wizard,Kaja-Rang, placed them behind a boundary that would force any that tried to leave to walk straight to the Pillars of Creation. The Bandakar shunned all forms of violence and they laid their lives down before any aggressor. It was believed that,because they "could not see evil" or, rather because they strongly embraced a philosophy which required them to disbelieve reality that they were a threat to the existence of the Old World.

Richard convinces several of the Bandakar to shed their ideals and embrace the individualist ideas espoused by Richard and his D'Haran Empire. This allowed the Bandakar to take up arms and fight for their own freedom. However, throughout the entire ordeal Richard is reeling not only from the poison the Bandakar gave him, but also because his gift is out of balance.

Nathan and Ann go to the Bandakar Empire in order to realign Richard with prophecy. They save Richard and his companions from certain death, but are ultimately unable to aid him in restoring his gift to balance.

Eventually Richard realizes that his belief that not eating meat would be the necessary balance to his need to kill was mistaken. By not putting his faith in himself and in his abilities he was creating improper balancing ultimately causing not only the gift within himself to twist and fail, but also the magic of the Sword of Truth to fail. He realizes that his actions are justified in themselves and require no additional balancing.

After Richard has once again set himself in order, he and the Bandakar people destroy the remaining Imperial Order encampment in Bandakar resulting in the death of Nicholas, who destroys the antidote, and the rescue of Kahlan. Richard uses his gift to piece together the what and how of creating the antidote himself.

During the course of these actions, Zedd and Adie are captured as the Keep is taken by men captured from Bandakar and forced to do the work of the Imperial Order. They were forced to identify random objects from within the keep for a Sister of the Dark. If they refused to do so, they were forced to listen to the screams of children being tortured while their parents begged them to give up the information.

As a result of this identification process, Zedd is able to unleash a constructed spell within an object that kills several men in the camp along with all the other artifacts. Zedd and Adie are saved from destruction by three independently orchestrated rescue attempts: Captain Zimmer and some of his men, Chase and Rachel, and Rikka. Adie goes with Zimmer and his men to free the families being used for torture, while Zedd and Chase go back to reclaim the Keep. While in the keep, Zedd remembers a time when it was full of the laughter of children and families; as a result, he invites Chase to move in with his family to guard the keep.

Characters in "Naked Empire"

Main article: Characters in The Sword of Truth

• Richard Rahl
• Kahlan Amnell
• Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander
• Ann
• Verna
• Cara
• Adie
• Jennsen Rahl
• Tom
• Nicholas the Slide
• Nathan Rahl
• Rikka
• Emperor Jagang
• Chase
• Rachel
• Owen
• Friedrich

Significance

This book set the groundwork for the final trilogy in the series.

Wizard's Eighth Rule

The Wizard's Eighth Rule, revealed in Naked Empire, is:

Deserve victory. (Translated from "Talga Vassternich" in High D'Haran, a literary fictional language)

—Chapter 61, p.626, U.S. hardcover edition

It is explained in the novel as follows: "Be justified in your convictions. Be completely committed. Earn what you want and need rather than waiting for others to give you what you desire."

References

1. ^ Terry Goodkind: The Official Website. Retrieved November 1, 2010.

External links

• Official Terry Goodkind website
• Welcome to the Sword of Truth Wiki, including characters, places, items, etc.