Confessor by Terry Goodkind is the eleventh book in the Sword of Truth series, and book three of the Chainfire Trilogy. It was released on November 13, 2007. It follows Phantom and is followed by The Omen Machine.
Synopsis[]
The book begins with Richard still captured by Commander Karg of the Imperial Order and playing the position of Point Man for his Ja'La team. During Richard’s imprisonment he is warned by a cloaked figure that he is now a player of the Boxes of Orden. Both Richard and Ulicia are told that the time to open the Boxes has been reset one year from when Nicci put named Richard a player (the first day of Winter). Six breaks into the Wizard's Keep and 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 must be abandoned.
Catacombs below the People's Palace are revealed by Jagang's excavations in making the ramp to the People's Palace. Three Sisters of the Dark gain entry to the lower levels of the Palace and combine their powers to kill Ann and capture Nicci, whose power is severely limited by the spell form within the Palace. The point of entry of the Sisters is then concealed so that an army can be amassed beneath the palace without the D'Haran Forces knowing.
Richard paints his face and the faces of his team in symbols to hide his features so he is not recognized. His team meets and defeats Jagang's team. Jagang 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) go back to the Palace through the catacombs, helped by the fact that Nathan and Cara are suspicious and are investigating the missing Ann and Nicci.
Violet drew a spell in the cave at Tamarang that would lure Rachel to come there, and then summon creatures called "ghostie gobblies". While Rachel is en route to Tamarang, she is visited by the spirit of her mother and given a piece of chalk, which she pulls out at the last instant in the cave to alter the spell that is about to kill her. The alterations cause the "ghostie gobblies" to kill Violet. Rachel then alters the spell involving Richard and manages to give him access to his Gift. Zedd is captured by Six - who is in league with Jagang and has helped attack D'Haran forces. Richard is told by Nicci that he must not reveal his love for Kahlan otherwise Chainfire will not restore her love for him - but will restore others memories to what they were before the Chainfire event was started.
Richard then goes through the Underworld with the help of the spirit of Denna and retrieves everyone's memories. While in the underworld, he encounters the beast one last time and destroys it with Additive Magic. He is then rescued from the underworld by the Mud People. At the Palace, Nathan thinks Richard is dead and is going to accept Jagang's terms (which include surrendering Nicci - who is imprisoned, and access to the Garden of Life to open the boxes).
Kahlan is attacked by Samuel but she touches the Sword of Truth and realizes that she is a Confessor. She touches Samuel, who reveals that he is an agent for Six and that Richard and Kahlan were once married. Richard on the way to Tamarang meets Kahlan and carves for her another model of spirit.
Six has imprisoned Zedd and Chase. She appears when Richard reaches the cell. Shota kills Six after which Richard, Kahlan and Zedd fly back to the People's Palace on the Red Dragon (revealed as Gregory son of Scarlet)
Back at the Palace, Richard helps Jillian to make Jagang become obsessed with finding Nicci through nightmares. Richard surrenders, Jagang and the Sisters of the Dark enter the Garden of Life. Jagang goes to see Nicci - who puts a Rada'Han on him and eventually kills him.
Back in the Garden the Sisters of the Dark complete the magic to find out which Box is correct and open it. It turns out that The Book of Counted Shadows was a false key to Orden - they contain references to the Confessors, which outdate the boxes by 1000 years, at the least. The Sisters are sucked into the Underworld.
The key to the Magic of Orden is the Sword of Truth. Kahlan tells Richard she loves him - to Richard's dismay. Richard puts the Sword on each box - one box turns the Sword white. Richard stabs the box and uses the magic to send believers in the Order's ideology to a new world, devoid of magic, as well as repairing the damage caused by the Chimes. Richard's half sister Jennsen and some of her people (Pillars of Creation) say that they wish to go to this new world too because they belong in a world of no magic since magic does not affect them. By staying in Richard's world magic may be bred out in the future. Richard agrees because he understands his sister's reasoning and sends her people to the new world, along with Tom, the man that loves Jennsen. As Richard goes to close the doorway, he fears Kahlan is lost because he believes the sterile field required for Orden was tainted. She then tells him that she was protected because she realized her love of him, thus bringing the series full circle.
There is a short look at how the other world is doing. Jennsen believes she will always remember Richard and what he stood for, while others around her slowly forget. Much to Tom's contentment, she is pregnant.
The book ends with the marriage of Cara and General Meiffert. After the Marriage Richard announces that there will be no more devotions. The world is at peace.
Resources[]
Wizard's Rule[]
- Main Article: Wizard's Rules
The "Rule Unspoken", the "Rule Unwritten", "The rule from the beginning of time."
Chapter guide[]
(coming soon)
Characters[]
- Adie
- Annalina Aldurren
- Mother Confessor Kahlan Amnell
- Anson
- Sister Armina
- Berdine
- The Bird Man
- Chase Brandstone
- Cara
- Victor Cascella
- Elder Chandalen
- Denna (Appears as spirit)
- Egan
- Friedrich Gilder
- Gratch
- Gregory
- Johnrock
- Emperor Jagang
- Priestess of the Bones Jillian
- Commander Karg
- Lokey
- Marilee
- General Benjamin Meiffert
- Nicci
- Nyda
- Owen
- Rachel
- Jennsen Rahl
- Prophet Nathan Rahl
- Lord Richard Rahl
- Rikka
- Samuel
- Prelate Verna Sauventreen
- Shota
- Queen Six
- Sliph
- Tom
- General Trimack
- Ulic
- Sister Ulicia
- Queen Violet
- First Wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander
Creatures[]
Extras[]
Dedication[]
"To my good friend Mark Masters, a man of remarkable creativity, determination, and achievement. He is living proof of all that I write about: that one man, through his joyful love of life, the valor of decency, and the calm grace of strength devoid of hate, can inspire all who know him with the nobility of the human spirit."
Awards[]
(coming soon)
Facts & trivia[]
- Artist Keith Parkinson passed away before Confessor was published, but had created art for all the books in the saga beforehand.
- 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."
- The inspiration for the cover seems to be the statue of Spirit as in the cover Kahlan stands straight and her arms slightly out just as the description for Spirit says the only difference being the sword in her hand.