Sword of Truth Wiki
Register
Advertisement

If this is the end, all there is to be, then I will do with the rest of my life as I wish. It's my life to live, not yours to live for me. I'm going with you, and that is final.
―Cara, to Kahlan

Cara was a former personal Mord-Sith protector of Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell, as well as one of their closest friends. Following the defeat of Darken Rahl, Cara pledged her life to serving Richard as the new Lord Rahl. Through her years of service to the Lord Rahl and Mother Confessor she developed a strong friendship, and sense of loyalty, to both.

Cara proved herself an exceptional ally to the cause of the D'Haran Empire, serving throughout the Imperial Order War; saving the lives of Kahlan and Richard many times throughout. Cara also proved loyal during the events surrounding the Chainfire spell, during which she came close to death at the hands of the Blood Beast.

Following the end of the war, Cara remained loyal to Richard and Kahlan, and eventually wed General Benjamin Meiffert. She was, by this time, considered the "implicit authority" amongst the Mord-Sith.

Biography

Hesitation is a mistake that invites defeat. I would not be Mord-Sith had I not hesitated when I was young.
―Cara[src]

Early life

Cara was chosen to be trained into a Mord-Sith as a young girl. She vividly recalled her hesitation in not killing the men who tried to take her away (as her father had pleaded her to do). That hesitation changed her life forever.

Carabroken

Cara is broken.

Hence, as all Mord-Sith candidates she was subjected to the three breakings; first of herself being broken, then of her Mord-Sith trainer, who she referred to as Snake, breaking her mother, then of herself breaking her father, and finally killing him. Her early life left her with an immense fear of rats, as they would nibble and bite her in the room she was kept at night during her training, and hesitation, which caused her to get caught and turned her into what she was; and ultimately resulted in the death of her family. As with all Mord-Sith, she feared dying toothless and in bed of old age.

As a Mord-Sith, Cara was forced to be loyal to the reigning Lord Rahl of D'Hara, Darken Rahl. Rahl expected total obedience of his Mord-Sith, and was known to beat and rape Cara and her "sisters".

A new Lord Rahl

Darken Rahl's defeat

Cara's master, Darken Rahl, eventually sought to gain dominion over the entire world by gaining the power of Orden. However, he was opposed in this endeavour by Richard Cypher, the Seeker of Truth. Rahl had Cypher captured by his most gifted Mord-Sith, Denna, in the nation of Tamarang, and had her attempt to break him. As was routinue among the Mord-Sith, Denna allowed her sister Mord-Sith to participate in the torture of her "pet"; Cara among them. Denna ultimately fell in love with Cypher however, and allowed him to kill her so that he could escape. Cypher ultimately proved able to defeat Rahl, and in his place became the new Lord Rahl since he had been sired by Darken Rahl's years before when Darken Rahl brutally raped his mother. From then on, he was known as Richard Rahl. In "Legend of the Seeker," it was Panis Rahl, Darken Rahl's father, who sired Richard.

Having suffered at the hands of the Mord-Sith, Richard ordered that they cease to live as the Lord Rahl's personal torturers. However, through Denna he had come to understand the Mord-Sith in a way no Lord Rahl before him had, and as such, he refused to execute them and allowed them to have their freedom. In response, all remaining Mord-Sith, including Cara, pledged themselves to Richard as his foremost bodyguards and protectors.

Tear in the veil

Unfortunately, the spirit of Darken Rahl managed to escape through the tear in the underworld his attempts at gaining the power of Orden had caused, and as such, this prevented many D'Haran's from transferring their bond of fealty to Richard. The spirit of Rahl helped a fellow agent of the Keeper, the Sister of the Dark, Odette, fight her way into the People's Palace in the hopes that she could perform rituals in the Garden of Life that would allow the Keeper to be freed from the underworld. Hello people this is me the nameless one Sister Odette, Richard Rahl entered the People's Palace in D'Hara expecting to have to fight his way through to the Garden of Life. However, a large contingent of D'Haran's had still become bonded to him as the new Lord Rahl, despite the interference of Darken Rahl's spirit.

Mistress cara2

Richard and Cara

Cara and her fellow Mord-Sith were among those that had accepted Richard as their new Lord Rahl. Cara in particular aided Richard in breaking his way into the Garden of Life, to confront the spirit of his father, by protecting him from those D'Haran's not loyal to him. After successfully entering the Garden of Life, Richard defeated the spirit of Darken Rahl and repaired the tear in the veil he had caused.

Following this, Richard left the palace swiftly so that he could return to Aydindril, and though Cara and her entourage, her fellow Mord-Sith Raina, Berdine and Hally, and, Ulic, and Egan of the First File, left within an hour of him, he gained an entire day on them. However, they arrived in Aydindril in time to rescue him before he was killed by soldiers of the Blood of the Fold. Indeed, Aydindril presented a great threat to Richard as D'Haran's in league with the Imperial Order, and unbonded to the new Lord Rahl, had captured the city.

Imperial Order War

Aydindril

Cara and her fellow Mord-Sith helped Richard to bond the D'Hara soldiers in Aydindril, however, it cost Hally her life when mriswith attacked while they were confronting General Reibisch. Cara and her sister Mord-Sith protected Richard so vigorously they even disobeyed his orders when they thought it was necessary to protect him. Cara and her sisters found enjoyment in teasing Richard until they could get an irritated response from him; something which always took a while. At one point, Richard began to distrust Cara and her sisters because of the way Berdine talked to him like he was her pet, but all was forgiven when it was discovered that Berdine was under a spell cast by Lunetta Brogan; a sorceress in league with the Blood of the Fold. Cara was forced to stay in Aydindril when Richard used the sliph to go after his betrothed, Kahlan Amnell, in the Old World. Cara and her sisters were very worried that Lord Rahl was lost while they fought the Blood of the Fold and the mriswith; however, they were overjoyed when he returned and helped defeat the enemy with some help from Gratch and the other gars.

Marlin Pickard Attack

While Cara protected Kahlan, the Mother Confessor and betrothed to the Lord Rahl, she and Kahlan went to question Marlin Pickard, a wizard who had informed guards that he was in Aydindril to kill Richard. During this, Cara and Kahlan bonded as sisters of the Agiel. During Marlin's questioning Cara captured Marlin's magic and Kahlan, proceeded to put him in the pit. While questioning him, they discovered there was a woman who came with him and they thought it was Nadine Brighton, who had also asked to see the Lord Rahl. When they went to question Nadine they found out she was an old friend of Richard and she was there looking for him, hoping the Lord Rahl would tell her where Richard Cypher was and that she was not Marlin's accomplice. Richard met up with Cara and Kahlan, and after sorting out Nadine's confusion, he asked Kahlan not to go back and question Marlin. He also ordered Cara to wait for him and that they would go question him when he got back.

Kahlan and Cara disobeyed Richard and went to question him. They discovered that Jagang, Emperor of the Imperial Order, whom Richard's D'Haran Empire was at war with, was in Marlin's head, and after informing them that he had unleashed a plague on them, he attacked, using the link between Marlin and Cara against her. This incapacitated Cara and allowed Marlin to escape the pit. After Kahlan stopped Jagang by killing Marlin she went back to the pit to save Cara with the help of Nadine. However, Cara was ultimately healed by Drefan Rahl who had just arrived at the Confessor's Palace. Richard "punished" her because she nearly caused Kahlan's death, by making her feed chipmunks. She saw this as very unfair because she believed that she deserved death. 

The Plague

Later, as Jagang had told Kahlan it would, the moon rose red for several days. Following a train of thought based on his repeated encounters with "the winds", Richard researched ancient texts written by Koloblicin and eventually found an interesting passage mentioning the Temple of the Winds. It was also learnt that the Temple was often referred to as simply the winds and that the rising of the red moons was a warning sent by the Temple that indicated that it had been violated. It soon became clear that the woman that had accompanied Marlin, the Sister of the Dark Amelia, had entered the winds and used magic from that place to unleash a deadly plague, just as the prophecy told to Kahlan by Jagang said would happen.

The plague proved disastorous, with thousands of people across the New World falling victim to it, including Cara's sister of the Agiel, Raina. Shortly after Raina's death, a group of Andolians lead by Legate Rishi came to Aydindril claiming to carry a message from the winds. When Rishi attempted to use his magic against an angered Richard, Cara rushed to his defence and used her ability as a Mord-Sith to capture his powers. With the Legate's magic under her control, Cara herself also became privy to the message sent by the winds.

Unfortunately, the message revealed that Richard could only enter the Temple and repair the damage done by Sister Amelia under the condition that he marry Nadine and that Kahlan marry his newly found half-brother Drefan.

Temple of the Winds Parkinson

Cara and Richard standing before the Temple.

Reluctantly the pair agreed to this and as such, Cara and Legate Rishi guided them to Mount Kymermosst where the two weddings were held. The winds also demanded that the marriages be consummated; however, Cara arranged events so that Kahlan and Richard would sleep with each other unknowingly. However, this act of kindness was also an important part of the prophecy enacted by Jagang; Richard felt betrayed by Kahlan's enjoyment of sleeping with who she believed to be Drefan, and was as such able to enter the Temple through the Hall of the Betrayed, furious with his beloved.

As the Temple was a part of the underworld, Richard's bond to his subjects as the Lord Rahl was severed, and despite not being gifted, Drefan took his place as ruler of the D'Haran Empire. With Richard gone, Drefan revealed his true persona as a sadistic murderer and after she aided Kahlan to avoid him, he begun to torture Cara, using her greatest fear: rats. However she was ultimately saved by the sliph, who killed Drefan, though Kahlan feared her mind might not recover from the incident, though this fear ultimately proved incorrect, as Cara made a full recovery after Richard healed her.

Kahlan was also able to save Richard, who had returned from the Temple and ended the plague by absorbing it into himself, by learning from Nathan Rahl, how to heal him. The pair also reconciled over Kahlan's perceived betrayal. Cara, through her control of Legate Rishi's Additive and Subtractive Magic, later learnt she was able to travel in the sliph to the village of the Mud People, where she acted as a witness to Kahlan and Richard's marriage (along with his grandfather First Wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander and friend Prelate Annalina Aldurren).

Death of Magic

Cara was in the village of the Mud People with Richard and Kahlan when they discovered that something was wrong with magic. She went with them when Zedd sent them back to the Wizard Keep on a false lead in order to protect Richard. On the way they met up with Du Chaillu (Richard's first "wife" and spirit woman of the Baka Tau Mana), Jiaan and other Blade Master of the Baka Tau Mana. When Du Chaillu said she was Richard's wife Cara attacked her thinking it was another situation akin to the one Nadine had caused, but Richard stopped her and explained the situation. It was at this time Richard noticed that Cara's Agiel was not working because she used a knife to attack Du Chaillu, something no Mord-Sith would do if she had access to her Agiel. This helped Richard to discover that Zedd had misled them, before he realized that Kahlan had inadvertedly released the chimes when she had saved his life from the plague. Richard then sent Cara to Aydindril to retrieve the Sword of Truth which he left there because he could not travel in the sliph with it. He asked Cara to do what Zedd told them to do just in case it was important, even though it was likely part of Zedd's scheme to keep them out of harm's way. On the way Cara went to the D'Haran army and sent men to protect Richard, Kahlan and Du Chaillu before they headed to Anderith to banish the chimes.

Before Cara left Richard, Du Chaillu was attacked by a chime. She drowned and was not breathing, but was saved with the Breath of Life by Cara. This served as a lesson to Richard, who was retaught by Cara what Denna had taught him about the Breath of Life.

When Cara got to the Keep in Aydindril she discovered that the shields protecting the Keep had come down and that Fitch and his friend Morley were stealing the Sword of Truth. At first, she tried doing things Richard's way by reasoning with them, but when they did not listen she gave up on that and did things her own way. After killing Morley, who attacked her, she went after Fitch, who fled back to Anderith. When she caught up with him he was at a guard station at the border of Anderith trying to explain his dire situation to his friend Beata. The Imperial Order soldiers attacked the station, killed Fitch, and took the Sword of Truth. Before Cara went after them she saved Beata and one of her friends. Cara was captured by Stein's soldiers but they were foolish enough not to take her Agiel from her; so when Richard banished the chimes, she easily killed her captors and rejoined Richard and a gravely injured Kahlan.

Kahlan's recovery

Cara followed Richard to Westland so that Kahlan could heal. She also helped him to take care of Kahlan. When they were attacked by Tommy Lancaster and his group of twenty other Westlanders, Cara protected Kahlan while Richard drew them away, but Tommy Lancaster stayed behind to try to kill Kahlan, which Cara made him suffer for later. Cara believed Richard about having a vision that they should not take the Empire Order Army head on. Richard also taught Cara how to blaze a trail and bird calls while they were helping Kahlan recover. When Nicci attacked Kahlan, Cara was taking a bath, so she did not get there in time to stop Nicci from putting a spell on Kahlan. By the time she came rushing out, the spell had been cast. When Cara attacked Nicci with her Agiel, Kahlan felt it, so Richard tried to stop her. Cara was so enraged that she attacked Richard before she realized who was trying to stop her. Richard had to hold her back so she would not attack Nicci again. After Richard left with Nicci because of the spell that now connected Nicci to Kahlan, Cara stayed with Kahlan to protect her as Richard had told her to. As he left after Nicci, Cara yelled out that she loved him (not as a lover but as an older brother ).

Defending against the Imperial Order

Cara went with Kahlan to join the D'haran Army. They joined the army with reinforcements. Just after, the army had an incredible battle where they lost and they lost most of their officers. Cara joined Kahlan in a raid to the enemy camp to injure the enemy and bolster the morale of the soldiers who had just lost the battle.


This section of the article is a stub. You can help the wiki by expanding it.

Personality and traits

Hurry up and torture me before I fall asleep and miss it.
―Cara[src]

Cara was a tall, blond haired woman with piercing blue eyes. She was said to be one of the most beautiful women one could possibly see. Her long blond hair was usually pulled back into a single braid, indicating her profession as Mord-Sith. She had a lean figure, visible because of the skin tight red leather she almost always wore. Along with her red leather, Cara always had her Agiel, a thin red rod, at the ready hanging on a thin gold chain from her wrist.

Mistress cara mord'sith

Mistress Cara.

Fierce in her protection of her Lord Rahl, as well as his wife, Cara was quick to speak her beliefs in regards to their protection. She was lethal in battle and quick to dispose of anything and anyone she perceived as a threat to her charges. Cara respected power, though she also enjoyed witty banter with Richard. If Cara believed an order from either Richard or Kahlan would interfere with her protection of them she would simply disregard it.

Cara feared only three things; magic, failing in her duty to protect the Lord Rahl and his wife, and rats. She believed it was her duty as Mord-Sith to lay her life down if need be for her Lord Rahl, though Richard had tried to curb her of this belief, feeling that she was family before she was his protector. Her fear of rats was a result of her early training as a Mord-Sith. When she was locked up in her cell rats would constantly gnaw at her feet until she learned to sleep with her feet curled up. When she got her next meal she believed that if she left food for the rats they would stop bothering her. Unfortunately for her, it was not the case and they pestered her more. So she concluded that she must eat her meal and endure the rats.

Cara posed to kill

Cara, poised to kill.

Cara also had a strong belief in a no hesitation policy, because when she hesitated as a child it resulted in her becoming a Mord-Sith. Darken Rahl would only pick the sweetest, nicest girls for Mord-Sith; the nicer the girl, the better she would be as a Mord-Sith, but likewise the harder to break. Her family knew that Darken Rahl was recruiting in their area so they moved away. However, a recruiting Mord-Sith still found them. When her father saw them he held off some of the men and told her to get the knife and stab them. She hesitated, proving that she was a kind child so the Mord-Sith took her away.

Unlike other Mord-Sith, Cara was able to travel in the sliph as she used her Mord-Sith abilities to capture the magic of an Andolian named Rishi. Andolians were man-beasts that apparently possessed an element of Subtractive Magic in addition to their other powers. Because Cara was in command of Rishi's magic, she possessed the required elements of Additive and Subtractive Magic to travel in the sliph.

Behind the scenes

  • In Legend of the Seeker, a television series based on the events of the Sword of Truth series, Cara is portrayed by actress Tabrett Bethell. The character underwent a few changes for the screen:
    • Cara has a son with Darken Rahl while serving him as his Mord-Sith. The boy was killed at birth.
    • Cara loses her braid in Marked when, under the orders of Darken Rahl's spirit, her fellow Sisters of the Agiel turned on her. Triana was the one to cut her braid off and take her agiel.
    • After the second season starts, Cara uniquely dual-wields a pair of agiels in combat, giving her a fighting style distinct from her sisters and lethal to her opponents.
    • Cara is retroactively established as the best and most capable of the Mord'Sith, possibly even better than the TV version of Denna.
    • TV-Cara is openly bisexual: she had a romantic relationship with fellow Mord'Sith Dahlia and is implied to have coerced Triana into a sexual encounter. She later begins to form a relationship with Leo, Richard's temporary replacement as Seeker.
    • The plot of the TV series was changed so that Cara is initially the only Mord'Sith who is aware of Richard's status as the Lord Rahl, and thus, is the only Mord'Sith loyal to him (after a brief attempt at seizing D'Hara for herself).

Appearances

Trivia

Cara's braid is very similar to Street Fighter character Cammy.
Cara's last name has never been revealed in the book series. In the TV adaptation, she is given the last name "Mason".

Advertisement