Pristinely ungifted

“The person I fear most in the world."
"The Seeker."
"Oh, no. Someone far more fearsome than he.”

―Darken Rahl and Denna, on the pristinely ungifted

Pristinely ungifted people are those who are completely immune to Additive Magic. This is because they were born without a single trace of the gift unlike most people, who are born with a tiny fraction.

Often referred to as "Pillars of Creation" or "Holes in the World", the pristinely ungifted are unharmed and unseen by the gift, and it is thought that they do not see Additive Magic when used. Subtractive Magic, being the power of death and from the Underworld, affects them the same as it does any ordinary individual. Chainfire (spell) is an example of Subtractive Magic that has an effect on the pristinely ungifted.

Though Additive Magic can not directly harm someone who is pristinely ungifted, it can harm them indirectly. A bolt of lightning, conjured by a sorceress, will in itself not injure the pristinely ungifted, but shards of rock sent flying by the conjured bolt would still be capable of wounding them.

The trait of being pristinely ungifted was an unforeseen side effect of the bond to the Lord Rahl. At first, the only pristinely ungifted born were in the house of Rahl, but it was discovered that once the pristinely ungifted reached adulthood and mingled with the general population the trait would then spread to the newly born even though neither parent was pristinely ungifted.

A person who is pristinely ungifted will always bear a child who is pristinely ungifted, regardless of the lineage of, or gift within, their mate. Because of this, and the fact that the presence of a pristinely ungifted could cause the anomaly to occur in unrelated births, it was decided that the pristinely ungifted, if left unchecked, could theoretically destroy all magic by breeding the gift out of mankind. There is no way of restoring the link in the chain of magic once it has been broken in this manner.

To combat the possible erasure of all magic and to save their reputation, the house of Rahl banished the pristinely ungifted to the Old World so that they could not interfere with the populace of the New World. Also, any child born after the banishment that carried the anomalous trait was put to death.

At a later point in time, the wizard Kaja-Rang realized the same phenomenon was occurring in his land (a by product of the arrival of the pristinely ungifted that were banished), the Old World, and it was spreading. He rounded up all of the pristinely ungifted and banished them into a valley beyond the Pillars of Creation and erected a barrier to keep them from escaping. His actions saved magic in the Old World.

Richard Rahl is in part responsible for the eradication of the barrier, since his life is the one that was saved by Kahlan Amnell when she invoked the Chimes which eventually caused the barriers magic to fail. Since then, the pristinely ungifted have remained, for the most part, in Bandakar. That is until, by using the Boxes of Orden to counter the Chainfire (spell) effect, Richard Rahl created an alternate world without magic and sent those of the Imperial Order who wished to follow the tenets and all of the pristinely ungifted to live there. The inhabitants of the world in The Law of Nines are thought to be the descendants of Jennsen Rahl and all of the pristinely ungifted as well as the former members of the Imperial Order that were sent to this alternate world without magic.

TV Series - Legend of the Seeker

In the TV series 'Legend of the Seeker', Denna made the statement that once every generation or so a child was born on whom magic would have no effect on whatsoever and they, in turn, couldn't use magic. Pristinely ungifted were obviously much more rare in the television series than they were in the books. In the first part of the two part series finale of Legend of the Seeker, some Sisters of the Dark capture Jennsen and drain her blood. They make a serum with her blood which destroyed their gift, and therefore, made them pristinely ungifted, letting them infiltrate the People's Palace unnoticed. Ungifted and pristinely ungifted are two very different qualities found in the books. Pristinely ungifted is an exceedingly rare trait.

Known Pristinely ungifted

• Jennsen Rahl
• Oba Rahl
• Owen
• Anson
• Marilee
• Wise One
• Laurie

Appearances

• Legend of the Seeker- 1:16- "Bloodline"
• Legend of the Seeker- 1:21- "Fever"
• Pillars of Creation
• Naked Empire