D'Hara
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D'Hara is a fictional location in the Sword of Truth fantasy series by Terry Goodkind.
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[edit] Geography
D'Hara is the easternmost nation in the New World. Until just before the start of the series, it was separated from the rest of the New World by an impassable boundary.
[edit] Government
D'Hara is ruled by a supreme monarch. Alric Rahl ruled D'hara in the old wars, around 3000 years ago. The most recent leaders have been Panis Rahl, his son, Darken Rahl, and his grandson, Richard Rahl. At the start of the series, in Westland especially, the name of D'Hara was rarely spoken except in the cautious whispers of older people. Or in a curse.
[edit] History
[edit] Midlands War
Two generations before the birth of Richard Rahl, D'Hara was a loose confederation of kingdoms, as was the Midlands. Panis Rahl was a ruler of one of the D'Haran nations. From the first day of his reign, he started swallowing up all of D'Hara for himself, one kingdom after another, many times before the ink was dry on a peace treaty. In the end, he held sway over all of D'Hara, but instead of satisfying him, it only whetted his appetite, and he soon turned his attention to the lands that are now the Midlands, which had formed into an alliance of nations against him called the Council of the Midlands.
Panis Rahl threw the might of D'Hara against them. War waged for many years. As his legions were finally slowed and then halted, Rahl turned to magic. He was ruthless in his use of magic against the free people using trickery, sickness, fevers, and the shadow people. Whole battalions were found killed to a man. However, with the help of a great wizard, Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, the Midlands were finally able to hold Panis Rahl's magic in check and his legions were driven back into D'Hara. The boundary was then put up to prevent Rahl's forces from invading the Midlands again. Panis Rahl was killed just as the boundary was going up by a ball of wizard's fire from Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, infused with the power of the underworld. Panis Rahl's son, Darken Rahl, who was also injured in the blast, inherited the throne of D'Hara.
[edit] Darken Rahl Movement
Darken Rahl grew up to become a well-studied and powerful wizard. He used his power and influence to start the Darken Rahl movement, espousing the virtues of peace, which was embraced by the people of D'Hara and even the Midlands, across the boundary. Forty years after the boundaries were put up, they began to weaken and eventually faded away. The People's Peace Army, the army of D'Hara, marched right into a few of the bigger cities of the Midlands, and were accepted with open arms. Darken Rahl went before the Council of the Midlands and asked them to join him in an alliance of peace. Those who did were held up as champions of harmony. Those who did not were held up as traitors and publicly executed on the spot by Darken Rahl himself. Rahl then outlawed the use of all magic in the Midlands and D'Hara and declared anyone using it an insurrectionist, including all creatures of magic. Then he outlawed fire. People in many areas of the Midlands ignored the alliance, although Rahl considered it a petty problem. His true goal was to obtain the boxes of Orden which would make him master of all, without having to fight anyone. Darken Rahl was killed by the magic of Orden due to the use of the wizard's first rule by his son, Richard Rahl, who then inherited the throne of D'Hara.
