- “Richard loves Kahlan. That says it all - it says everything.”
- ―Nicci[src]
It all started in 1994, when Tor Books picked up and published the book, Wizard's First Rule, which would become the first of many books in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. The book established Goodkind as one of the world's bestselling fantasy genre authors. Each subsequent book in the series has sold better than the one before and some twenty million copies of the books have now been sold.
The series features a young man, Richard Cypher, being thrust into a world that he knows nothing about, but he had to save. With the help of Kahlan Amnell and other friends and family, he saves the Midlands from the rule of Darken Rahl, an evil man who desires power of life itself.
Richard grew up in Westland, a part of the world where the influence of magic did not exist. There he grew up with the instruction of Zedd, an older man that Richard came to call one of his best friends. Little did Richard know that Zedd was actually his grandfather. Richard knew little about magic and wanted less to do with it, but when Kahlan Amnell came looking for an old wizard (Zedd), Richard was named the Seeker of Truth.
The series is mainly about the struggle for freedom. The first two books of the series are against the evil Darken Rahl, then the remaining Sword of Truth series pens Richard and Kahlan defending the New World against the Imperial Order and the Emperor Jagang. Following a harrowing triumph against Jagang and the Old World, Richard and Kahlan yet again find themselves against a foe from millenniums past with dangers unseen in their age.
The two most current storylines, happening at the same time, are in two different locations. Sorceress Nicci and the near-powerless prophet Nathan Rahl find themselves traveling on a charge from a witch woman to travel deep into the Old World to help save the world from yet another hidden enemy while Richard and Kahlan deal with threats unseen and dangerous in the Children of D'Hara series.
The Sword of Truth book series was made into a TV series called Legend of the Seeker [1], which aired in broadcast syndication November 1, 2008. It ended in 2010 with two seasons of forty-four episodes in total. The show tells the story of Richard's defeat of Darken Rahl and defeating the "Keeper" (mainly covers the general plot of the Darken Rahl duology.) There is a campaign to fund a continuation of the series, but no word on production starting.
Books[]
All of Terry Goodkind's books take place in the same universe. Eleven of the books constitute the Wizard's Rules books, or rather, the Sword of Truth series itself. The series has two prequels to it, a sequel, and a sequel series. The stand-alone sequel takes place far in the future, whereas the sequel series picks up where Confessor leaves off.
Wizard's Rules books[]
Darken Rahl duology[]
Imperial Order saga[]
Pristinely ungifted duology[]
The Chainfire trilogy[]
Prequel[]
Sequels[]
- +12. The Law of Nines
The Richard and Kahlan series[]
- 12. The Omen Machine
- 13. The Third Kingdom
- 14. Severed Souls
- 15. Warheart
The Nicci Chronicles[]
- 16. Death's Mistress
- 17. Shroud of Eternity
- 18. Siege of Stone
- 19. Heart of Black Ice
The Children of D'Hara series[]
- The Scribbly Man
- Hateful Things
- Wasteland
- Witch’s Oath
- Into Darkness