Wizard's First Rule

This is the first book in the Sword of Truth fantasy series. The story takes place in a world divided into three lands: Westland, the Midlands, and D'Hara, separated by magical barriers called boundaries, which are rifts of the underworld, the dominion of the dead.

Richard Cypher, a young woods guide in Westland, is investigating his father George Cypher's recent murder when he spots a woman being stalked by four assassins near a remote lake. He intercepts her and leads her to safety, though a mysterious concussive force from the woman kills the attackers. She introduces herself as Kahlan Amnell and reveals she crossed the boundary from the Midlands to find a powerful wizard. She is being hunted by followers of Darken Rahl, the tyrannical ruler of D'Hara.

Richard takes Kahlan to his old friend Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, known as Zedd, a thin, eccentric man reputed to read omens in clouds. Kahlan explains the crisis: Darken Rahl has put the three boxes of Orden in play, an ancient magic requiring one year to complete. One box grants unchallenged power over all life; one kills the user; the third destroys everything. Richard realizes that his father had him memorize and burn a secret instruction manual called the Book of Counted Shadows, whose prophecy has come true. He deduces that Zedd is the great wizard Kahlan seeks, the one who left the Midlands years ago. Zedd confirms it and presents Richard with the Sword of Truth, naming him the Seeker, a champion who answers to no authority but his own. The sword amplifies the wielder's anger into lethal power but exacts a price: The Seeker feels the pain of seeing the good in anyone he kills.

A mob incited by Rahl attacks Zedd's home as a diversion. The three flee moments before Rahl destroys the house in a column of flame. Joined by Chase, Dell Brandstone, the head boundary warden, they journey south toward the boundary pass. At the home of Adie, a sorceress near the pass, Zedd and Chase collapse from underworld magic and must be left behind.

Richard and Kahlan navigate the pass alone, fighting shadow things, spectral underworld beings that whisper seductively to lure travelers to their deaths. They become separated at the Narrows, where a landslide has destroyed the trail, but Richard finds Kahlan and kills the last assassin stalking her. This first kill with the sword's full magic nearly destroys him, but he masters the pain. They emerge into the Midlands.

They travel to the Mud People, a remote tribe whose council of seers communicates with ancestor spirits. Richard earns their trust through practical help. At a gathering, the spirits name the witch woman Shota as someone who knows where the last box is. That night, Darken Rahl attacks the village on a red dragon, kidnapping a young boy named Siddin.

Richard and Kahlan journey to Shota's hidden valley. Shota reveals that Queen Milena of Tamarang holds the last box. She also delivers a prophecy: Zedd will use wizard's fire against Richard, and Kahlan will use her Confessor's power, a touch that enslaves a person's identity, against him with no defense. Kahlan tries to kill herself but returns after realizing her death would fulfill the prophecy rather than prevent it. She reveals her secret: She is the Mother Confessor, the most powerful of an order of women whose touch permanently destroys a person's will, replacing it with absolute devotion. Confessors serve as arbiters of truth in the Midlands. Because a Confessor involuntarily releases her power during intimacy, she can never be with someone she loves. Richard is heartbroken but vows to remain her friend.

Meanwhile, Rachel, an orphan mistreated as Princess Violet's "playmate" in Queen Milena's castle in Tamarang, is befriended by Wizard Giller. When Rahl arrives to claim the box, Giller hides it inside a loaf of bread and entrusts it to Rachel, then sacrifices his life to protect the secret. Rachel escapes the castle.

Zedd rejoins Richard and Kahlan and teaches Richard the Wizard's First Rule: People believe lies because they want to believe them or fear they might be true. At Tamarang, they find Giller dead and the box missing. Chase arrives with Rachel, who hands over the bread containing the jeweled box of Orden.

Richard sends the others ahead with the box while he goes to erase a keeper spell, a magical binding drawn by the Queen's court artist and tied to Richard. He is captured by Denna, a Mord-Sith, a woman trained through systematic torture to seize control of those with magic. For weeks, Denna tortures Richard at the People's Palace in D'Hara using her Agiel, a weapon of concentrated agony. Darken Rahl interrogates Richard, who begins reciting the Book of Counted Shadows but stops. Rahl claims a traitor is bringing the third box to him, places an "enemy web" on Richard that makes everyone perceive him as their worst enemy, and releases him, hinting the sword has two sides: anger and love.

Richard discovers the sword's second magic: love and forgiveness. He forgives Denna and kills her with the white blade, escaping the Palace. He bargains with Scarlet, a red dragon, to fly him to his companions. The enemy web prevents recognition; Zedd attacks Richard with wizard's fire, fulfilling part of Shota's prophecy. Richard then discovers his brother Michael leading soldiers toward D'Hara, unaffected by the web. Those who honor Rahl see through the web, and Michael's immunity proves he is the traitor who gave the box to Rahl.

Separately, Kahlan learns from Demmin Nass, Rahl's commander, that Richard was tortured and is presumed dead. She invokes the Con Dar, the Blood Rage, an ancient Confessor magic of devastating power. She kills Nass and his soldiers and marches toward the People's Palace.

At the Palace on the first day of winter, Richard recites the Book of Counted Shadows for Rahl, guiding him through the ritual but omitting the final paragraph, which warns that the boxes' effects shift with the user's intent. Rahl opens a box, but the magic turns against him. Kahlan arrives in the grip of the Con Dar, sees Richard through the enemy web as Darken Rahl, and touches him with her full Confessor's power. Richard falls to his knees. Darken Rahl emerges from a side door with Michael, having survived the failed opening. Believing Richard is now under Confessor control, Rahl commands him to recite the book again. Richard pretends to comply, guiding Rahl through a second recitation. Rahl opens the box, and the magic of Orden consumes him, pulling him into the underworld.

Kahlan tries to kill herself, believing she has destroyed Richard's identity. He stops her and reveals the truth: His total, selfless love left nothing for the magic to change. He was already wholly devoted to her by choice. He defeated Rahl by using the Wizard's First Rule against him: Rahl believed Richard was under a Confessor's power because he wanted to believe it.

Richard orders Michael executed for treason and commands an end to hostilities. Zedd has concealed the truth that Richard is Darken Rahl's biological son, conceived when Rahl assaulted Zedd's daughter; George Cypher was Richard's adoptive father. Scarlet carries Richard and Kahlan away to return Siddin to the Mud People and begin their life together. A report that the walls in the tomb of Panis Rahl, Darken Rahl's dead father and former tyrant, are melting suggests the boundary between the living world and the underworld may be tearing. The story continues in subsequent volumes of the series.