Annalina Aldurren
From Sword of Truth Wiki
- "Ann, you're more fun than any woman I've ever met."
- — Nathan Rahl
Annalina Aldurren was the Prelate of the Sisters of the Light for nearly eight hundred years, before faking her own death and handing over the title to Verna Sauventreen. She was close to one thousand years old and was the most powerful woman in the Old World for much of that time. She was often referred to as Ann and although she acted as his warden for most of his life, was deeply in love with Nathan Rahl. She was killed by Sisters Armina, Greta and Julia.
Contents |
[edit] Attributes
| Preceded By | Title | Succeeded by |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown (819 BWFR) | Prelate | Verna Sauventreen |
Ann was a short, stout woman with gray hair that was often pulled into a loose bun on the top of her head. Although she was close to one thousand years old, Ann appeared to be in her seventies, due to living under the spell on the Palace of the Prophets, that slows aging, for most of her life.
Despite her short stature Ann was quite capable of dominating Sisters, novices and young wizards much taller than her with a single look. She was generally a kind-hearted woman and despised liars, though she herself was not adversed to lie for the cause of the Creator. Ann believed that prophecy should be followed to the letter and sometimes forge about freewill.
However, over the course of the series, Ann began to realize the importance of Richard's free will and her meddling, though always good intentional, became less frequent. Much of this was due to a scolding lecture delivered to her by Kahlan.
[edit] Appearances
First Appearance
Latest Appearance
- Confessor: Chapter 20
[edit] History
[edit] Early Life
Ann was taken to become a novice of the Sisters of the Light at a young age. After half a millenia as a Sister, she was elected as their Prelate and took over the position as Nathan Rahl's warden. Nathan confided in her the dangerous prophecies he had unravelled about a future war. Together they went on many journies to ensure that events proceeded in a fashion that favoured magic and lifes victory. During her centuries as Prelate, Ann also created a large network of spies for herself.
Mere monthes after the birth of Richard Rahl, Ann and Nathan contact his step-father, George Cypher and with him retrieve the Book of Counted Shadows from the Wizard's Keep, defeating the dangerous magic monster stationed there by the evil Darken Rahl to protect the book.
[edit] Current Role
Ann appears in the following books of the Sword of Truth series; Stone of Tears, Blood of the Fold, Temple of the Winds, Soul of the Fire, Faith of the Fallen, Naked Empire, Chainfire, Phantom and Confessor.
[edit] Stone of Tears
After twenty years of searching Ann receives word, through her journey book, from Sister Verna that she had discovered the whereabouts of Richard Rahl and that rather than being a young boy, he is a fully grown man. Ann feigns surprise at this as she had known Richard since birth and sent Verna on such a long quest purely so she would learn things those Sisters at the Palace never would. After Verna is able to convince Richard to put a Rada'Han on his neck, Ann orders her to never use her power or the Rada'Han to control Richard.
When Verna and Richard arrive at the Palace, Ann denies requests to see either Verna or Richard. Her reason for not seeing Richard was to test how long it would take him to break into her office, though her reason for not admitting Verna was to delay the pain of the lies she would have to tell Verna to invoke prophecy.
As Ann suspected, Richard eventually breaks into her office, using two student wizards to distract the two Sisters that guarded the Prelate's quarters, demanding to see her. Ann gives Richard the impression that she is simply one of the Palace staff, but he eventually realizes the truth. Richard speaks with the Prelate about his concerns that the Stone of Tears has been released into the world of the living and that the release of the Keeper of the underworld is imminent. Ann helps to quell Richards fears, though not completely and reveals that she helped his step-father, George Cypher, to recover the Book of Counted Shadows. Ann tells Richard that he has the gift for Subtractive Magic as well as Additive. She then informs Richard that she also knows Adie and that he was drawn to a certain artifact that Adie safe-guarded, the Skrin Bone, while he was at her home.
When Richard learns of the spell that slows the aging of those living in the Palace he barges into the Prelates office and demands an explanation. Ann feels much sorrow for Richards suffering, but also knows that if she has invoked prophecy correctly, that Richard would soon leave the Palace.
The time comes for Ann to speak with Verna and she finally admits her to her office. Ann tells Verna a fabrication of how she thought of Verna as expendable and that that was the reason she sent her on the mission to discover Richard, with two Sisters Ann knew to be Sisters of the Dark. In truth Ann trusted Verna above all the other Sisters and thought her quite exceptional. Ann knew that if prophecy was correct that Verna would choose to side with Richard and help him escape. Ann voiced her concerns of the Sisters of the Dark to Verna so as to force, Sister Ulicia, who Ann believed to be a Dark Sister to attack her and play her hand. Ulicia does this and almost kills the Prelate, but is interrupted and forced to flee by Sister Verna and Richard. Verna and Richard then leave Ann with Nathan to attempt to heal her of her previous wounds.
[edit] Blood of the Fold
A funeral rite is held for the long time Prelate of the Sisters of the Light, when she and the prophet, Nathan are found dead in the prophets chambers. It seems that the Prelate's injuries were too grevious for the prophet to heal and that the strain of attempting had cost him his life. Though it is usually only the Prelate who is allowed the sacred funeral rite, the Sisters had voted to allow Nathan, who had tried so gallantly to save Ann's life, to be offered to the Light during the funeral rite, along with the Prelate.
When the Sister's return to the Palace of the Prophets after the funeral, a stool is found in the middle of the great hall. On the stool is a letter, along with the Prelate's ring of office. Around the stool there is a powerful light shield that proves impenetrable.
Each Sister tries, and fails, to pass through the shield, until Sister Verna is called. She passes easily through the shield unharmed and picks up the note. It is from Prelate Annalina. The note states that Ann had exercised her prerogative as Prelate to choose her successor; Verna.
As Verna looks over reports in her new capacity as Prelate, she begins to see a pattern. When she is told the last thing Ann had to say to her old friend, Millie, Verna is struck to go into her new private garden, in particular the Prelate's private sanctuary.
Within the sanctuary, Verna finds her old journey book. Realizing that either Ann was still alive or the Sisters of the Dark, were planning to trap her somehow, Verna wrote to Ann that if it was really her she would be able to tell her the reasons why Ann had chosen her for the twenty year journey she was sent on.
Ann, still alive and well, in an inn near Aydindril with Nathan, repeated, through the journey book, the awful things she had been forced to say to Verna, so as to initiate prophecy. She then proceeded to tell her the truth. That she was the one Sister that she trusted above all, because she had been mentioned in prophecy to be the one that would help Ann.
Verna, her faith restored in the former Prelate, and Ann speak of prophecy and the duties of a Prelate, for the entire night. However when Verna tells Ann that Warren had given his first prophecy, she and Nathan, both agree that she must help smuggle Warren out of the Palace, lest he fall into the hands of the Sisters of the Dark.
Ann and Nathan then continue to Aydindril. Once in the city, Ann, following a prophecy that says she must be captured, before being saved and in turn capturing a wizard of the first order, sets off on her own, but not before being told by Nathan to be sure to get something to eat.
As she walks up a street, Ann sees a young girl at a honey cake stand. Ann buys one and then makes her way towards the Wizard's Keep, feeling increasingly disorientated. At the Keep, Ann can barely keep herself up right in a chair. It then occurred to her that it had never made sense that she should be taken captive by force, after all she was a sorceress of rare power. She then knew the honey cake had been poisoned.
- "It had never occurred to her that it could come this way. She had been wondering how one could overpower her; she was not without her Han, after all, and it was strong in her, stronger than nearly any other sorceress"
- — Annalina Aldurren
Then entered the young girl and a squat old woman. The woman was not familiar to Ann, but the voice, was the same as ever. It was Valdora, a former novice of the Sisters, who Ann had banished for the crime of casting glamours. Valdora had pledged to have revenge on the Prelate one day and it seemed that her chance had finally come, as the honey cake had not only subdued Ann, it had been spelled to cut her off from her gift.
Valdora tortured Ann all night long, exacting payment for her lost youth. As daylight approached, her young granddaughter, Holly tried to petition her grandmother on Ann's behalf, but to no avail. Holly then left, to return a short time later, with an unconscious man she claimed to be a wizard.
Valdora decided the time had finally come for Ann to die. As she lifted her knife high to savior her long awaited revenge, Nathan slipped into the room and impaled her upon his sword, something Ann had scoffed at him owning.
Nathan then helped Ann to close a Rada'Han on the unconscious wizard's neck before, healing both Ann and the newly collared wizard. Ann also pledged to take in Holly as a novice to the Sisters of the Light.
When the wizard awoke, it turned out to he was none other than Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, First Wizard and grandfather to Richard Rahl. He created quite the show, when he realized that he was held by a Rada'Han and pledged to Ann that he would journey to the Old World and lay the Sister's Palace of the Prophets to waste.
Zedd was capable of getting remarkable spells past the block Ann had set on the Rada'Han. This caused her a great deal of trouble. She pleaded with him to stop and just go along with her as she was fighting on the same side as he, but he would not comply.
After some time, Ann, Nathan and Zedd arrived at the Palace of the Prophets. In fact Emperor Jagang, himself, had nearly reached the Palace and would soon have his hands on the priceless books of prophecy stored there.
This turned out to be Ann's reasons for capturing Zedd. She needed him to ignite a light web within the vaults of the Palace and ignite it, so as to destroy the Palace of the Prophets, preventing Jagang from having the prophetic books.
Though Zedd is at first reluctant to destroy what he realized to be a remarkable spell that slowed the aging of those within the Palace, he soon realized he had no choice. he sets the light web, but finds he is unable to ignite it. Ann and Zedd quickly leave the Palace, hoping that a Sister of the Dark would accidentally set off the dangerous spell.
When they are safely clear the Palace explodes, though at the hands of Richard himself, not a Sister of the Dark. Ann and Zedd then try to find Nathan, who had been waiting safely clear of the Palace for them.
However, Nathan had somehow linked his Rada'Han to the bifurcated web around the Palace so that when it was destroyed, his Rada'Han was blown off of his neck. Ann and Zedd then set off to find him.
[edit] Temple of the Winds
Ann and Zedd arrive at a less than reputable looking inn, known as Jester's Inn. At the end of the name there was a pair of womens legs pointing up in the shape of a V. However, both Ann and Zedd had sensed the magic tracer, Zedd had placed on Nathan and it lead them here. Zedd felt that something was wrong, but Ann thought that Nathan was probably at the inn for female companionship, after all he had been locked up for close to a thousand years. Zedd then informed Ann that he was beginning to believe that Nathan had influenced prophecy so as to lead to the day where he would be free of his Rada'Han. They also talk about the possible meaning of the strange red moon in the nights sky.
An unusually powerful sorceress though she might be, Ann knew she would be unable to force a Rada'Han back on a wizard of Nathan's skills. Therefore it was up to Zedd to do it. The plan was for him to go into the inn, find Nathan's room and surprise him. Should he get past Zedd, he had placed a light web, that would kill Nathan twenty heart beats after he had walked through it, unless he has a Rada'Han on his neck.
- "Zedd, Nathan is a wizard; I'm only a sorceress. If he had his Rada'Han around his neck I could easily control him, but he is without it."
- — Annalina Aldurren
Ann waits outside for Zedd to return with Nathan. However, instead of Nathan running out the door a stranger, named William, was attempting to flee, with Sister Roslyn, bounding after him. Roslyn soon realities that she and William had been caught up in a light web and attempts to use Subtractive Magic to undo it. Ann runs for her life and is just out of harms way when the light web ignites, its power enhanced by the Subtractive Magic employed by Roslyn.
Ann enters the room she had thought had been hired out by Nathan, to find an injured Zedd on the floor. He tells her that Nathan had somehow placed the tracer magic on William and given him a message for the two of them, however he had been forced to destroy it to deprive, the now deceased, Sister Roslyn of it.
Using his skills as the First Wizard however, he is able to restore the message. It tells them that they must find the Jocopo treasure. Neither Ann nor Zedd have any ideas what this is, but Ann insists that Zedd would have to remain collared for now and help her find it. Zedd reaches up and removes his Rada'Han. It turns out he had known since the second day she had held him captive how to take it off, but had gone along with her because he knew she was doing it for the good of all.
Ann would later write to Verna through the journey book, asking whether she had ever heard of the Jocopo treasure. Verna would say that on her journey through the Midlands, she only ever heard of one reference to the Jocopo. Apparently they were a now extinct tribe of the wilds.
Ann and Zedd would travel deep into the wilds, searching for the remnants of the Jocopo. While searching, Zedd decides to use his wizard's rock to find help from the spirit world. While he is doing this, Ann casts sensing webs, to detect if anyone was about. As she does so, she suddenly loses contact with her Han. Zedd's attempts to make contact with the spirit world, also fail.
Zedd realizes that it is likely a people of the wilds known as the Nangtong. The Nangtong have the ability to leech the strength of other peoples magic. Having skirted their lands by a wide margin, Zedd believes it to be one of their spirit parties, come to find a sacrifice to give to the spirits. Ann and Zedd quickly try to escape, but are later captured by the Nangtong.
They are taken to the Nangtong hunting parties village and placed in a pen with pigs. They soon realize that they are to be sacrificed to the spirits, as the Nangtong believed them to be angry, due to the red moon.
Ann makes a passing comment about "mucking about with a crazy man"[1], which gives Zedd an idea. He knows that without their magic they could not escape the Nangtong, but if they convince them that they are crazy, they may be less willing to sacrifice them to their respected spirits.
Ann is at first both dubious and reluctant to try acting like a lunatic, but after some encouraging from Zedd, finally gives in. Ann and Zedd are soon taken from their pen and traded to another people the Si Doak, by the Nangtong.
The Si Doak forced Ann and Zedd into slavery, having put magic wristbands on them that prevented their escape, but soon decided that Ann was unsatisfactory in some way and decided to sell them to cannibals. These cannibals were none other than the Mud People, whose spokesperson, Chandalen, knew Zedd and freed the captured wizard and sorceress.
The Mud People would then tell Ann and Zedd they knew of the Jocopo treasure. Ann and Zedd then discovered a large number of prophecies at the Jocopo treasure and burn them to prevent Jagang, whose army was to the west, from getting their hands on them. During this, their magic wristbands lose their power and fall off.
After arriving back at the Mud People's village, Ann and Zedd are soon met by Richard, Kahlan and their Mord-Sith guard Cara, who had all been under the impression that the two were dead. Zedd and Ann are then told of Richard and Kahlan's own troubles, with the Temple of the Winds and the plague started by Sister Amelia.
When Ann and Zedd hear of how Kahlan was forced to call on the aid of the chimes, to save Richard's life from the plague, that he had taken on himself to save everyone else, they are both deeply disturbed by this.
However, they decide to reserve their worries for tomorrow and are witness to the wedding of Richard and Kahlan, as well as Shota's short appearance after the ceremony.
[edit] Soul of the Fire
The day after their wedding, Richard and Kahlan would go and spend the day at a hot spring. However, one of their guards, a Mud Person, known as Juni, mysteriously dies. The Mud People's healer, Nissel, tells them that he died at the hands of evil spirits. They then decide to go and see Zedd and Ann and have them examine the body with their gift.
When they reach Zedd and Ann's cabin, they find symbols written in blood on the floor and walls. Zedd and Ann then decide to explain what a Grace, an important magical symbol, is to Richard. He is at first cautious and wonders why Ann and her Sister's didn't teach him about the Grace when he was at the Palace of the Prophets. Ann says it was simply because they were taking precautions with him, due to the fact he possessed Subtractive Magic.
Richard then asks what a Fatal Grace is and both Ann and Zedd are perplexed as to what this means. Richard also asks Ann, who had spent her life in the Old World and had most knowledge of Emperor Jagang, if he was able to take over the mind of animals as well as humans. Both Ann and Zedd agree that he is unable to do this.
Remembering the business with the chimes earlier, Richard asks Zedd and Ann if they were able to take care of them. They tell him that they had come to the conclusion that there was nothing to take care of, as the chimes were a work of three. Among many other safeguards, Kahlan would need to be Richards third wife for the chimes to be in the world of the living. Anna and Zedd then explain to Richard and Kahlan what the chimes are.
The chimes are soulless creatures from the underworld, who's presence in the world of life will absorb magic. During the discussion about the chimes and the impact they could have on the world, they hear the wail of a child. As one everyone leaves the room and runs out into the rain.
They find a mother and her child, who had been hurt by a chicken. Richard becomes convinced that something is wrong with one of the chickens in the Mud People's village. While out in the rain, Zedd and Ann decide to go and examine Juni's body.
Zedd and Ann discover that Juni's neck had not been broken as some had suspected and that he had probably drowned. Nissel then enters with a dead baby, born stillborn. He then tells Zedd, Ann, Kahlan and Cara that he was beginning to think that one of the Mud People's chickens was possessed by something.
Richard has the Mud People round up all of their chickens. As he has this done, Ann and Kahlan have a talk. Ann asks that Kahlan please try to understand that though they might not understand what Richard is doing, he is the Seeker and they must have faith. They are then witness to Richard snuffing out a fire, still burning during the rain. He says a single word, Sentrosi, the chime of fire.
Later when Kahlan is attacked by a chicken that addresses her as "Mother", Ann and Zedd inspect the arrow used to subdue the creature. Kahlan and Richard argue that the chimes were indeed unleashed upon the world, but Ann and Zedd tell them that the creature was a Lurk, created by the Sisters of the Dark on behalf of Jagang.
Later Nissel comes to Kahlan and Richard informing them that Ann and Zedd had fallen gravely ill. They enter their room to find them lying head to toe, asleep. They open their eyes and inform them that casting the webs to discover what the Lurk was had cost them their strength and now the runaway degeneration of magic caused by the Lurk was sapping them and soon everybody else of magic.
Ann and Zedd tell Richard, Kahlan and Cara to go to the Wizard's Keep and stay there, as it is there they they would be safe. They tell Richard to go the First Wizard's private enclave and break a bottle there with the Sword of Truth. They leave immediately, though not through the sliph as its magic was contaminated also.
After Richard, Kahlan and Cara had left, Ann and Zedd wake back up and it is revealed they had been lying. They were not ill, but their magic was being drained by something; the chimes. Somehow they were present in the world of life. They sent Richard to the Wizard's Keep as that is where the chimes were released and could not return and reclaim his soul, that they had been called forth on behalf of, by Kahlan.
Zedd and Ann then part ways; Zedd to go see if he could banish the chimes and Ann to go and release the Sisters of the Light that had been captured by Jagang. Now that Jagang could no longer enter their minds, she would be able to free them without his knowledge.
By the time Ann had infiltrated Jagang's camp, in the disguise of a begger, her gift was completely absorbed by the chimes. It took her a long time to find the Sisters, but by chance she ran into Sister Georgia Cifaro. Georgia is astonished to find that Ann was alive, having been at her funeral herself. Ann tells the captured Sister that the chimes were loose and that she must take her to the other Sisters so they could escape.
- "Rattling her three copper coins in her cup, Annalina Aldurren, former Prelate of the Sisters of the Light, the most powerful women in the Old World for over three-quarters of a millenium, moved on to beg from the soldiers gathered round the next fire."
- — Chapter 44
Georgia takes her to the captured Sisters tent and Ann is a welcome sight to their eyes. However, it soon becomes clear that none of the Sisters believe Ann about Jagang's inability to enter their minds. Georgia tells Ann that she and three other Sisters will go round up the rest of the Sisters, before escaping. However, they return with two soldiers and Ann is quickly captured and chained.
Then a long awaited meeting takes place; Prelate Annalina Aldurren of the Sisters of the Light finally comes face to face with Emperor Jagang of the Imperial Order. Jagang informs her that he intends to find a use for her as he knows her to be an especially valuable prisoner. He then knocks her out.
Each day Ann is locked in a small wooden crate and when the army makes camp is chained to the pole of the small tent she is kept in. She is fed by soldiers. However, after while, Sister Alessandra a Sister of the Dark, becomes her feeder.
Ann and Alessandra talk about many things. Ann tries to convince Alessandra that the chimes are free and that she must turn back to the Light. Alessandra reacts violently to this, however Ann clearly sees that their is a struggle going on within her former disciple.
During their discussions, Alessandra asks what Ann had intended to do should the Sisters of the Light refused to escape with her as they had. Ann said she would have killed them had she not been captured, so they could no longer use their magic to harm innocents, under the direction of Jagang.
In her cramped little box, Ann becomes convinced that she would go insane. However it eventually comes to an end. Unexpectedly, its Alessandra who opens her crate, not her guards. Alessandra asks Ann to forgive her and to help her return to the Light.
Ann listens to Alessandra beseech the forgiveness of the Creator and has her swear loyalty to Richard, when Jagang enters her mind and attempts to take control of her. Alessandra is successful and then she and Ann ride as far away from the Imperial Order army as possible.
[edit] Faith of the Fallen
After hearing that Richard has decided to give up his position as ruler of D'Hara, because of his betrayal by the people of Anderith, who willingly surrendered to the Imperial Order, Ann and Alessandra make their way to the mountains of Westland, where they are told, through Ann's journey book, by Verna, that they will find Richard and his wife, Kahlan, who had been gravely injured, during a failed assassination attempt.
However, when Ann and Alessandra arrive at Richard and Kahlan's temporary abode, they find that Richard has been captured by Ann's former disciple, turned Sister of the Dark, Nicci. Ann tries to assure Kahlan that everything is going to be alright, however, Kahlan has come to the conclusion that the war against the Imperial Order, Richard's capture and virtually everything else connected to these events are completely Ann's fault.
Kahlan informs Ann that if it were not for her meddling, then the Imperial Order would never have been able to breach the Towers of Perdition and enter the New World. After heatedly scolding Ann, Kahlan and her Mord-Sith guard, Cara, disappear into the night, but not before Kahlan throws Ann's precious journey book into a fire.
When Kahlan and Cara are out of sight, Ann immediately throws her hands into the fire and retrieves the journey book, which is badly damaged. Alessandra uses her gift to heal Ann of the burns, reaching into the fire caused her and the two discuss the matters at hand.
Alessandra asks Ann to send her to deal with Nicci and try and return her to the Light, because it was she who originally brought her to the Palace of Prophets to become a Sister of the Light and later turned her to the Sisters of the Dark. After a great deal of discussion, Ann agrees to allow Alessandra to try and fix her mistake and decides that she must find away to fix her damaged journey book.
After some time, Ann reluctantly visits the Healers of Red Cliff, a strange people who heal objects rather than people and who she had only bad memories of. The Healers are able to heal Ann's journey book and she is once again able to converse with Verna.
[edit] Naked Empire
Ann eventually makes her way to the People's Palace in D'Hara, with the intention of recapturing the prophet, Nathan. Unfortunately, the Power Spell that the Palace is constructed in the form of saps her and all other gifted, other than those of the House of Rahl, of their power.
While sitting on a bench, Ann begins talking with a woman. Ann subtley probes her for any information she might have on the whereabouts of Nathan. She fabricates a story of having had her fortune told and that a man named Nathan, who was tall, had shoulder length white hair and azure eyes, was the man she was meant to be with. The woman has no idea about any such man, but does offer to show Ann to a place she can make accomodations.
However, before this can be achieved, Ann and the woman are confronted by D'Haran guards and a Mord Sith named Nyda. Nyda informs Ann that she knows she is a sorceress with bad intentions towards one, Wizard Nathan Rahl. Nyda has the woman Ann had befriended go on her way and encourages Ann to use her power against her. Ann recognises that the little power she had at her disposal at the People's Palace would be of little use in this situation.
Nyda escorts Ann to the most secure cell posessed by the House of Rahl, as she is considered a most dangerous prisoner. Ann asks Nyda to have Nathan brought to her, but her demands are not met. While sitting in her dank cell, Ann begins to realize what an awful thing she had done having kept Nathan locked up most of his life.
After some time, Nathan agrees to visit Ann. Ann pours her heart out to Nathan. She apologises for the terrible things she had done to him and asks that he take the Rada'Han she had intended to recapture him with and lock it away somewhere she would never see it again.
Nathan, having finally received the apology he had wanted for so long, releases Ann and informs her that he needs her help. Nathan tells Ann that Richard had somehow gone down a path of prophecy that a Slide is on. Ann is shocked but immediatly denies that it is possible, as Slide's died out during the Great War, due to being sterile. However, the prophecy was somehow active.
Ann and Nathan immediatly leave the People's Palace, along with a D'Haran protector of the Lord Rahl, Tom, who could use the D'Haran bond to the Lord Rahl, to lead them to Richard.
After some time, Ann, Nathan and Tom come to the Empire of Bandakar. Though they are unable to find Richard, they do find his half-sister Jennsen Rahl, who asks them to desperatly help them as Richard's wife Kahlan had been captured by Nicholas the Slide, while Richard was about to engage a large Imperial Order force with a small force of the local Bandakar.
Ann and Nathan arrive, just as the battle is about to begin and use the power of their gift's to almost single handedly annihilate the Imperial Order force. Ann and Nathan then together try to set Richard's gift to rights, as it had gone faulty. However, for some reason they are unable to do so.
Richard, who is also poisoned, leaves to try and rescue Kahlan, before he dies. Ann and Nathan later learn, through Jennsen who remains in the Bandakar Empire as the representative of the House of Rahl that he is successful in saving Kahlan, as well as solving the mystery of why his gift had gone faulty. He is then able to use his gift to create an antidote for the poison he had consumed.
Ann and Nathan remain in the Empire, with Jennsen so as to aid with their gift's should the Imperial Order, return to the pristinely ungifted people's homeland.
[edit] Chainfire
Returning to her room, Ann has the intention of writing via her journey book to Verna. The two talk of Verna's efforts to defend the passes into D'Hara against the Imperial Order. Ann is very disturbed when Verna tells her that because he has been unable to break through the passes into D'Hara, Jagang had split his army.
Verna explains that she must divide up the Sisters, though there are few left due to so many deaths in the war, to help hold the passes against the portion of Jagangs army remaining there and the rest to move on to face the bulk of Jagang's horde at the People's Palace.
Just as Ann and Verna end their conversation, Jennsen comes to Ann's room. She tell's Ann that Nathan is calling for her. However, the disturbing thing is that he is in a graveyard.
Ann and Jennsen make their way down to the graveyard. They meet Tom there, who is standing guard for Nathan. Ann also notices that the cicadas had finally begun to emerge from their burrows. Ann is then directed by Tom down the steps of a big stone monument in the graveyard, along with Jennsen. She eventually meets Nathan and Jennsen then goes back up to be with Tom.
Nathan then informs Ann that the room that they are in, below groundlevel, is built in the form of a concealment spell. He also tells her that there are a number of people entombed there, as well as there being a great deal of valuable books of prophecy.
Many are among Ann's favourite books, however, she soon realizes that she cannot remember much of their wording. She also realizes that the wording she cant remember has been replaced by blank spaces within the books. Nathan ifnroms her that he had come to the same conclusion.
When Ann tells Nathan that Jagang had split his army and that the cicadas had begun to emerge, he is horrified as he had discovered a prophecy that stated that when those two things happened, it would signal that the final battle was upon them. They then immediatly leave Bandakar to find Richard, brigning Tom with them so as to track Richard with his bond.
They eventually arrive at the Wizard's Keep, where Ann is suprised to find Richard in the company of Nicci. Ann and Nicci have a breif arguement about whether Nicci remained a Sister of the Light or not. The company then discuss the issues to do with prophecy.
Zedd concludes that it is a prophecy worm that has caused the blank spaces in prophecy. Ann also demands that Richard take his place as the leader of the D'Haran Empire, as prophecy dictates he must and stop chasing the phantom of the mysterious "Kahlan", that he insists they all knew, despite not remembering her.
- "Prophecy demands it!"
- — Annalina Aldurren
Because Richard uses his gift to read prophecy, the Blood Beast, that has been hunting him, suddenly appears and engages the company in battle. Ann, Nathan and Zedd all use their gifts to help fight off the best, but due to being an underworld creature, their powers have little effect.
Richard barely survives the attack of the beast. Later, Ann, Nathan and Zedd summon Nicci to meet them. The four discuss Richard's strange delusions about "Kahlan". Ann and the others ask Nicci to use her Subtractive powers to erase his memories of "Kahlan" from his mind. However, Nicci is unable to bring herself to do so and she, Richard and Cara flee the Keep through the Sliph.
After sometime, the three return to the Keep, with evidence that Richard's phantom wife, Kahlan, is an actual person. However, Ann and everybody else had been forced to forget her, due to the Chainfire spell that had been cast by the free Sisters of the Dark, who had captured her. Ann, Nathan and Zedd then pledge to help Richard reclaim his wife from those evil women.
[edit] Phantom
Finally having accepted the truth about Chainfire, Kahlan and the free Sisters of the Dark, Ann, along with Zedd, Nathan and Nicci immediatly begin to attempt to discover how Chainfire operates and if it is at all possible to reverse it. Using the orthodox exterior verification webs, it at first appears that there is no flaw to the Chainfire spell, however, Nicci then, with the aid of her Subtractive magic, invokes an interior verification web. It immediatly becomes obvious to Ann, Nathan and Zedd, that something is not quite right with Nicci, within the confines of the verification web.
Richard and Cara soon enter the room that the four gifted individuals are occupying. It is a special kind of room within the hardened section of the Wizard's Keep that is protected from exterior manipulation by a containment field. Richard notices a flaw within the spell-form that is surrounding Nicci. He soon realizes that it is the contamination of the chimes, though Ann disputes how that is possible and furthermore how Richard could possibly know anything about spell-forms.
Richard begins to panic as he realizes the danger that Nicci is in and begins to use his gift to disable the spell-form surrounding her, a feat impossible to any but those who posess Subtractive magic. However this attarcts the attention of the blood beast, which immediatly appears within the room. Zedd, Nathan and Ann all use the power of their gifts to barrage the beast with unimaginable power, however, as it is of the underworld, it does little but buy Richard more time. Nicci after having recovered from being within the spell-form, re-activates it around her, knowing a way to save Richard, though it means sacrificing her own life. Nicci is successful in driving the blood beast off and Ricahrd is only just able to free her from the spell-form before she slipped into the world of the dead.
Shortly after, Shota arrives at the Keep with another woman, the Seer; Jebra Bevinvier. Jebra tells a sickening tale of the plight of the people of Galea after having been conquered by the Imperial Order. This causes Richard to leave for D'Hara via the sliph as he had come to the conclusion that he must disperse the D'Haran army into small contingents to cause havoc among the homelands of the Imperial Order.
Nicci and Cara soon arrive back at the Wizard's Keep without Richard. It turns out the blood beast had attacked them in the sliph, while Richard was simulataneously attacked by foreign magic and suddenly disappeared, the bond to him having also failed. Jebra is also almost struck down by the same foregin magic, which Zedd identifies as that of a witch woman. Nathan is then temporarily named Lord Rahl and Ann reluctantly swears loyalty to him. She then accompanies him back to the People's Palace in D'Hara to help him co-ordinate its defence.
[edit] Confessor
(coming soon)
[edit] Behind the Scenes
- The scene in Faith of the Fallen, in which Ann ventures to Red Cliff was actually placed in the book only at the insistence of Terry Goodkind's editor. However, when they parted ways, Goodkind had the scene removed from all proceeding editions of the book.
