Darken Rahl is a fictional character from Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth series. He is the primary antagonist in the book Wizard's First Rule. He is the son of Panis Rahl, a ruthless dark wizard who had been killed by a wizard of the first order Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander. Darken Rahl is the current ruler of the land of D'Hara at the time of the story. He is also revealed to the reader to be the father of Richard Cypher, the primary protagonist in the story.
Rahl is portrayed by Craig Parker in the syndicated TV series Legend of the Seeker, produced by Sam Raimi.
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Description
Darken Rahl is described as 5' 11" slender and good looking. He has straight shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes.On his upper left thigh, and across part of his hip and abdomen, he is covered in bumpy scars. His scars, inflicted by a ball of wizard's fire that had killed his father, Panis Rahl, are kept carefully hidden by his robes. He typically wears a white robe that goes down to within an inch of the floor, its only decoration being the gold embroidery in a narrow band around the neck and down the front. He wears no jewelry, other than a curved knife in a gold scabbard embossed with symbols warning the spirits to give way. The belt that holds it was woven of gold wire.
The curved knife at his belt was used carry out his executions. Darken Rahl was a practitioner of an ancient form of magic called anthropomancy, which he learned from his father. He divined the answers to questions by the inspection of living human entrails. It was of limited use, he could at most get a yes or no to a single question and sometimes, a name.
He hated the taste of meat, and never ate anything but plants (unless required to in order to perform a certain incantation). Darken Rahl hated fire, and outlawed it in all lands under his rule (although he approved or ignored its use in certain cases, like in his father's tomb). The most widely accepted reason for this was because fire had killed his father and thus it was a sign of disrespect to the house of Rahl. Darken Rahl had the ability to travel the underworld and used it to cross magical boundaries placed upon the Midlands and recover the boxes of Orden and undo the boundaries.
Darken Rahl was very particular in his likes and dislikes. He had strict rules about several things, including the situation of his father, Panis Rahl's, tomb. The white roses on the walls surrounding the tomb were to be replaced every morning. If this was not done, Rahl would order a man killed. Were any of the white petals to fall on the floor or the tomb, a man was killed. In this sense he was feared by those who worked for him in The People's Palace.
Darken Rahl had a single friend, if he could be called that, named Demmin Nass. Demmin Nass was essentially Rahl's right-hand man; Rahl trusted him not just as a staff member but also as a friend.
Death
Darken Rahl was killed when he was tricked by his son Richard Rahl, using the Wizard's First Rule, by breaking the 3 boxes of Orden, while being confessed and using the magic of the Agiel. Later, Richard unintentionally summoned him back to the living world (as a spectre). Darken Rahl's spectre attempted to tear the veil between the underworld and the living, releasing the Keeper of the underworld, but was stopped by Richard and sent back into the underworld where he continued to plot and scheme against Richard. In Temple of the Winds, it is revealed that Rahl escaped his fate into the Temple, when Richard enters the Temple, he finally banishes his father to his fate.
Legend of the Seeker
In the television adaptation of the books, several changes are make to Rahl's character. Although still evil, his particular eccentricites are omitted, such as his fondness for anthropomancy. His aversion to fire is also omitted entirely. Instead of being blond, he has black hair, and usually wears robes of blood red instead of white. Also, instead of being Richard's father, he is his brother; within the series, Panis Rahl was disturbed by the depths of Darken's evil and willingly fulfilled a prophecy that said his second son would destroy the first. Following his death, Darken Rahl becomes the chief agent of the Keeper, this time through the Keeper's own intervention and not Richard's.
References
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External links
- Official Terry Goodkind website
- Unofficial Terry Goodkind website (endorsed by Terry Goodkind)
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