Confessor (Sword of Truth)
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Confessors are a race of people in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.
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[edit] General characteristics
A confessor is a race of beings in the Midlands, part of the highest social class and primarily female, that were almost entirely wiped out during the reign of Darken Rahl. Kahlan Amnell, the Mother Confessor, is the last Confessor.
[edit] Physical characteristics
Confessors all have long hair, due to their social position in the Midlands. The magic of a Confessor will not allow her to cut her own hair. If she tries, it brings pain so great, it prevents her from doing so. It will render a Confessor unconscious before the task can be accomplished. Every Confessor inevitably tries once. Their hair must be cut by another when it needs trimming. But none would dare to cut it all off.
Confessors always wore a Confessor's dress, cut square at the neck, so that there could be no mistaking who they were, although most people of the Midlands would recognize them no matter how they dressed. All Confessors, no matter their age, wore a Confessor's dress that was black - except the Mother Confessor; her dress is white.
[edit] Sisterhood
Confessors were a close sisterhood; when trouble struck one, it struck all. A Confessor's power is passed from parent to child, going back almost as far as there have been the lands, back beyond the dark time. It is something they are born with, magic that is a part of them, and cannot be separated from them any more than you could be separated from your heart. Any person who is a Confessor will bear children who are Confessors, always. However, the power is not the same in every Confessor, in some it is weaker, in some, stronger.
The Confessor's lived together in the Confessor's Palace in Aydindril, along with the wizards (who lived in the Wizard's Keep). The Confessors and the wizards are closely linked, bonded.
[edit] Mother Confessor
The Mother Confessor is more than a queen; queens bow down to the Mother Confessor. All Confessors follow the Mother Confessor. Confessors have position according to their power, because the ones with the strongest power will bear daughters who have the best chance of having that stronger power, and so the Mother Confessor is the most powerful Confessor in the order. There is no jealousy among the Confessors for those with the strongest power, only deeper affection and devotion in times of trouble. A duty of the Mother Confessor's position is to chair the Central Council of the Midlands, and as such is - in practice - the ruler of all the Midlands, though this is not entirely accurate as all the nations of the Midlands have nearly complete autonomy. The first Mother Confessor was Magda Searus, wife of the then First Wizard Baraccus. After Baraccus' death, she volunteered to undergo the experimental process.
During the war with Panis Rahl, the Mother Confessor was a pleasant woman twelve to fourteen years older than Zedd with violet eyes, a warm smile, and a mass of long hair that reached her waist. She had a twelve year old daughter when the war ended. The current Mother Confessor is Kahlan Amnell.
[edit] Public opinion
A Confessor is feared by every intelligent race in the New World. Not many dare to look into the eyes of a Confessor. They are universally feared and hated. It is rumored that to meet the gaze of a Confessor could cost you your mind if you were lucky, and your soul if you weren't. Most people see them as a menace who take their men, and a threat to their lifestyle; women are not supposed to be independent.
Men resent that none of them can rule a Confessor, or even tell one what to do. Men are terrified of a Confessor who is looking for a mate, because they don't want to be chosen, to be touched by her. Women are terrified because they don't want their man, or their brother, or their son to be taken. Women resent that Confessors do not live the kind of life they do, that Confessors do not live in the traditional role of women; to take care of a man, or submit to one. Confessors are seen as privileged and allowed to wear their hair long. No Confessor would wear her hair short, and that rankles people, that none could dare make a Confessor do so.
The relatives and friends of a man to be executed hate Confessors because they often don't believe their loved one would do the things they confess to. They would rather believe the Confessor is somehow tricking the person into confessing. People are especially afraid of the Mother Confessor. A confessor would get more than used to their cool glances.
Because of the general fear and hatred directed at the Confessors, each confesser had a wizard assigned to her for protection.
[edit] Duties
Despite what most people think, Confessors exist to serve the people, to serve the truth. It is ironic, that a Confessor is less free than most, yet people don't see that part of it. A Confessor cannot choose what she will do with her own life, but must submit to her duty to the people. Most Confessors loved all the people of the Midlands, and would give their lives to protect them and to keep them free.
Before the destruction of their race, a confessor always traveled with a wizard, for protection. Confessors would spend their lives traveling the Midlands visiting its people; it was almost all they ever did. Confessors knew the Midlands better than almost anyone, where it was safe and where it was not. They were trained from birth in languages, because they never knew where they would be called. Kahlan Amnell speaks every major language and most of the minor ones. Wherever they went, they were always provided with food and a place to stay, and anything else they might require. They rarely had to stay in the woods.
[edit] Confessions
A Confessor is the final arbiter of truth. It is what they do. It is the reason the wizards gave them the power, back in times long forgotten. It is how they serve the people. Confessors use their power to find the truth, when the truth is important enough. During the life of Kahlan Amnell, Confessors were mostly used to make sure a person sentenced to death was really guilty. When a person is condemned to death, a Confessor touches them and makes them confess. Once touched, even the most unrepentant murderes will do as the Confessor commands, and will confess his crimes. Occasionally, the courts are not sure they have the right man, and so a Confessor is called in to find the truth. In most lands, the law states that none can be put to death without first giving a confession, so all can be sure they are putting the right man to death, and not letting the guilty escape, and that it's not an act of political revenge. In rare cases, someone who is to be put to death without the use of a Confessor will call for a Confessor to be brought in, so that he may give a true confession, and thus prove his innocence. In all of the Midlands, this is the right of the condemned.
Some people of the Midlands wouldn't use a Confessor, such as the Mud People. Their wishes were respected, there was no law forcing them to use a Confessor's services. But it would be forced on them if a Confessor suspected there was deception involved. Most lands, though, did use Confessors and found it expedient.
[edit] Choosing a mate
Before the near extinction of their race, Confessors had no friends but other Confessors. When a Confessor reached the age to be a proper mother, she was required to choose a mate. A Confessor could choose any man she wished, even one already married. She could travel the Midlands, searching for a proper father to her daughters, one who was strong, and maybe one who was handsome to her eyes. Whatever she wanted. Confessors were taught from a young age that the mate they choose must be a man of strength, so that the children they bear would be strong. But it couldn't be someone they cared for, because they would destroy him. In the throes of passion, a Confessor's hold on the power would relax, and she would release it into him, even though she didn't mean to, and then he would no longer be the person she cared for. There is no way for her to prevent herself from doing it. He would be hers, but not in the same way. The very one she cared for would be with her, but only because of the magic, no longer by his choice, and not because he wanted to. He would only be a shell, holding what she put into him. No Confessor would want that for a man for whom she cared.
That is why Confessors, since time immemorial, have shut themselves away from men, for fear they would grow to care for one. Though they are seen as heartless, it is not true; they all feared what their touch would do to a man they held dear. Some Confessors chose men they disliked, or even hated, so as not to destroy a kind heart. Though it was only the choice of a few, it was the way they dealt with it, and was their right. No other Confessor would criticize one who had chosen in this manner; they all understood it.
[edit] Power
A Confessor draws her fair share of lightning from all directions, however they are not easy to kill. It usually takes a force as large as a quad in order to kill just one.
After using her power, the Confesser is greatly weakened until it recovers again.
[edit] Usage
One man is hardly a mortal danger to a Confessor. That was why Darken Rahl always sent four men, a quad, after Confessors: one to be touched by her power, and the other three to kill him and the Confessor. Sometimes only one was left, but that was enough after a Confessor had spent her power. But one man alone, no matter how big or strong, has almost no chance against even a weak Confessor. Even if he is big, the Confessor is faster. All she needs is to touch him, and he is hers and it is the end of him. The man touched will then fight to the death of the confessor, often killing men who were his allies mere moments before. Thus sending two, three, or even more men against a confessor is not always successful. Regardless of what is going on around a Confessor, when she touches someone with the intent to release her power, her mind is quiet and calm. There is no sound in her head, only silence - the silence of what she is going to do. To the Confessor (and likely the victim), that spark of an instant twists for eternity. The victim doesn't have the slightest glimmer of a chance to resist. It is a slow, hopeless journey. The Confessor is in complete control. In her calm, she relaxes her restraint, and the released power slams into the victim's body. There is a hard impact to the air - thunder with no sound - and the victim becomes hers.
The power is invoked by touch. It's always there, inside a Confessor. A Confessor does not bring it out to use it; instead she must always hold it in, and use it by releasing her grip of it, relaxing her hold and letting it come forth.
[edit] Nature/Results
Her power is the power of love. Once touched by it, a person is no longer the person he/she was. He is changed forever. Forevermore the person is devoted to the one who touched him/her, to the exclusion of all else. Whatever he wanted, whatever he was, whoever he was, no longer means anything to him. He would do anything for the one who touched him. His life is no longer his own, it is the Confessor's. His soul is no longer his own, it is the Confessor's. The person he was no longer exists. The magic lasts as long as the person is alive. It cannot be removed. The touch can take away all fear and replace it with a love for the Confessor that leaves no room for pain or loneliness. Nothing is left except love for the Confessor.
The magic of a Confessor is a type of additive magic. It uses the spark of love in a person, no matter how small, and adds to it until it's changed into something else. The touch is all at once, and final. Nothing can protect one who has been touched. The person touched cannot be brought back, the person that once existed is no longer there. His free will is gone forever. The one touched by a Confessor will do anything she says. Even if sworn to kill the Confessor, once touched he is the Confessor's and will fight to the death to protect her. Though Kahlan Amnell makes these statements as though they applied to all Confessors, the prequel novella Debt of Bones states that people do not recover from the touch of the Mother Confessor, but will recover from the touch of an ordinary Confessor, given time, so the full extent and duration of an ordinary Confessor's power is at best unclear.
A confessor's power also has an element of Subtractive Magic, which is awakened when a person they care for is in mortal danger, or they are fueled by revenge for a loved one who was slain. This aspect of their power is called the "Con Dar", and must be taught by the Confessor's mother. In the case of Kahlan, she invoked it in vengeance for Richard's death. It eliminated her power's recharge time, and gave her the power to throw blue lightning from her hands. Later on, we learn that the "Con Dar" can only be invoked to protect the person it was originally summoned for. As such, Kahlan can only use it to protect Richard, and cannot call blue lightning to protect herself.
[edit] Limitations
A Confessor's power works on everyone human. However, the magic of Orden protects the one who put the boxes into play from a Confessor's touch. On those who are not human it mostly doesn't work since they don't have the capacity for compassion, which the magic requires in order to work. The touch works on some creatures, but not exactly the same as it does a human.
A Confessor's power is expended with each use. It takes time for it to recover. In every Confessor the power is different. In some it is weaker, and it may take several days to recover. In most, it takes about one day and one night. For Kahlan Amnell, it takes about two hours, which is fairly unusual. Shorter time to recover the power also means the power is stronger, works more powerfully in the one touched. That is why some of the quad members touched by Kahlan are able to kill the other three. It is not so for a Confessor with a weaker power. Male Confessors do not need to recover after using their power.
[edit] Male confessors
The power is stronger in a male Confessor than a female Confessor. Male Confessors need no time to recover. It takes the unique compassion of a woman to handle the power, to be free from its corrupting influence. Most, but not all, male Confessors are unable to retain their sense of balance with the power. They don't have the strength to hold it back when they should. This caused the Dark Times, when male Confessors ran rampant and unchecked through the world as tyrants. It took many years for wizards to hunt down and destroy the male confessors and they offspring they created. From then on, when a boy was born to a Confessor, he was brought to a special place in the center of Aydindril, where his mother placed him on the Stone. The mother then commanded her husband to place a rod over the baby's throat and step on both ends. No chance could be taken that any male Confessor lived, because he might have been one who could not handle the power, and would use it to gain dominance for himself and bring back the dark times. The wizards and other Confessors watched carefully any Confessor who was with child, and did everything they could to comfort her if it was a boy.
[edit] The Con Dar
The Confessor's Blood Rage is a joining of both sides of magic within the Confessor, Additive and Subtractive. The Blood Rage can only be invoked on behalf of another, and can only be taught by a Confessor's birth mother when she reaches a certain age, although Kahlan Amnell was able to summon it through instinct alone. While in the Blood Rage, a Confessor needs no time to recover after using her power, and doesn't even need to be physically touching someone to use her power. While in the Blood Rage, a Confessor paints red lightning bolts on her face, as a warning to the innocent, and a threat to their target. In this state, a Confessor will stop at nothing, and kill anyone who gets in her way, to achieve her goal.
Most Confessors don't survive long after it is invoked, but those who do keep the Subtractive element to the magic even after they are no longer in the grips of the Con Dar. This element manifests in a blast of blue lightning shot from the fist, but can only be invoked in the defense of the one for whom the Con Dar was summoned, and not to defend the Confessor herself.
[edit] History
[edit] Origin
Long ago, wizards were almost like rulers, and they became frustrated by the corruption about them. They hated the lies and deception. They wanted a way to prevent corrupt leaders from using their power to deceive and subvert the people. At that time, many unscrupulous leaders would simply accuse their political enemies of a crime, and have them executed for it, at once dishonoring them and eliminating them. The wizards wanted a way to put a stop to this. They needed a way that left no room for doubt. So they created a magic, and gave it a life of its own in the first Confessor, Magda Searus. They created other Confessors from a select group of women. They picked the women carefully, because once brought to life in these women, the power had a life of its own, and would pass to their offspring - forever. The Confessors were used to discover important truths.
[edit] Dark Times
The wizards made one mistake when creating the Confessors. They didn't give sufficient thought to how the power would take a life of its own. They didn't foresee how the power would be passed on to the offspring, and be so different in men. Shortly after Confessors were created, a few male Confessors joined forces, and brought about a terrible reign of cruelty. It was called the dark time. When they wanted a woman, they simply used the power and took her. Many women. They had no restraint, no sense of responsibility for what they were doing. It was one long night of terror that lasted for years. The wizards had to do a lot of killing and they eventually killed all the offspring of this lust, to prevent the power from spreading, uncontrolled. Many wizards died as well. From that time on, every male confessor has been killed at an early age.
[edit] Rise of female confessors
After that time, arrogant rulers thought to make the Confessors submit to their word. In those times, there were farsighted Confessors, now revered as legends, who knew they must lay the foundation for their independence, or forever submit to domination; so the Mother Confessor took the rulers with her power. The rulers were removed from their thrones, and replaced with new rulers who understood that Confessors were to be left alone. The Mother Confessor with a band of her sisters would sweep through a castle like the plague. Many Confessors died, but the goal was seen as worth it. The old rulers, those who were taken, were kept in Aydindril as little more than slaves. The Confessors took those old rulers with them when they traveled to the different lands, made them carry the provisions and luxuries of travel. Back then, there was more ceremony surrounding the Confessors than there is now, and it made the intended impression. This is the reason no land is closed to a Confessor, though it may be to every other. Closing a land is tantamount to an admission of guilt, and is sufficient cause for the leader to be taken from power. Not allowing a Confessor access would raise questions and suspicions. A leader involved in any sort of plot would gladly grant a Confessor free access, to try to hide his involvement in any subversion. There were some among the Confessors who were more than willing to use their power as they wanted, to root out wrongdoing, as they saw it. The wizards exerted their influence to bring this under control, but the Confessors' zeal (both male and female) showed the people what a Confessor was capable of.
[edit] Modern confessors
In the time just before the reign of Darken Rahl, Confessors rarely (if ever) removed a ruler from power. However, the leaders of the lands were still all keen to avoid their attention. However, during the reign of Darken Rahl, every Confessor was hunted down and killed by quads from D'Hara, all except the Mother Confessor, Kahlan Amnell (though not for lack of trying). Many Confessors laid down their lives to protect the Mother Confessor, that she might survive and somehow use her power to stop Rahl. After the near extinction of all Confessors, the fear, respect, and authority of the Confessors was diminished greatly.
