Denna

Denna
Alias	Mistress Denna
Characteristics
Species	Human Mord-Sith
Gender	Female
Hair Color	Auburn
Eye Color	Blue
Personal Information
Birth Place	New World, D'Hara
Death	40 ACB, People's Palace
Chronological and Political Status
Affiliation	House of Rahl Richard Rahl
Debuts
Book Debut	Wizard's First Rule
TV Debut	"Denna"
Portrayal
Actor	Jessica Marais

“I wish to die as I was born. Denna. Nothing more.”

―Denna

Denna was a Mord-Sith under the rule of Darken Rahl. Denna was considered the best of all the Mord-Sith at her profession, and as such, was assigned by Darken Rahl to break Richard Cypher. However, Denna fell in love with Richard, and sacrificed her life to free him by allowing him to kill her.

Biography

Early Life

“We all have our own little bits of insanity. Some more than others. My life was a darkness of it. ”

―Denna

Denna was taken to become a Mord-Sith at a very young age. She was chosen, like all potential Mord-Sith, for being an uncommonly compassionate girl.

Denna suffers at Rahl's hands.

Denna was almost deemed a failure and killed because her training took so long.

The training of a Mord-Sith occurs in three parts. In the first, the girl is broken in the same way Mord-Sith break all their pets — with the Agiel — in order to break her spirit. In the second, the child is forced to watch as her mother is broken and killed by another Mord-Sith, or her Mord-Sith trainer, with the aim of ridding her of empathy and compassion. Lastly, in the third, the girl must break and kill her own father to purge the fear of hurting another, and in turn, develop the Mord-Sith trait of finding pleasure in hurting men.

Denna's mother was strong, and took considerable time to break, in trying to save her daughter from becoming a monster she actually had the opposite effect. Making it harder for Denna to give in and in turn insuring the process would be more painful. Denna was eventually broken by Darken Rahl himself, an event that also resulted in Denna being left unable to bear children.

Final pet

“I want you to learn. Learn that I can do whatever I want, and there is no way for you to stop me. You must learn that you are totally helpless, and that if you enjoy any time without pain, it is only because I choose it. Not you.”

―Denna, on training Richard

Denna captured Richard Rahl near Tamarang with help of the magician and artist James, shortly after Richard had stolen the final box of Orden and sent it to Westland. Denna was ordered by Darken Rahl to train Richard because she was a Mord-Sith who enjoyed administering pain, and never grew tired of it.

Denna captured the magic of the Sword of Truth when Richard tried to use it against her, and used it from then on to cause him excruciating pain if he ever did anything that she did not command him to do.

Denna subjected Richard to most brutal training a Mord-Sith could possibly give a pet, including putting her Agiel in his ear. Richard was tortured by her Agiel, and kept collared, chained, unfed, and sleep deprived. He was also forced to say devotion to Darken Rahl as was D'Haran custom. When he failed to do so he was given a brutal training session. Denna killed Richard many times over the course of his training, only to bring him back with the Breath of Life every time. Despite the fact that he partioned his mind, Richard always had a hint of madness in him after his time with Denna.

Denna was touched by the compassion and understanding that Richard showed her when she told him how she had been made into a Mord-Sith, and also by the care he gave her when she was beaten by Darken Rahl. Denna took Richard for her mate, and protected him from the brutality of the Mord-Sith Constance.

Eventually, Denna fell in love with Richard and wished to be free of the curse of Mord-Sith. She therefore allowed him to kill her by turning the blade of the Sword of Truth white with forgiveness. She bequeathed her Agiel to Richard before dying; he (and subsequently his wife, Kahlan Amnell) wore it around his neck as a gesture of respect and remembrance.

Post mortem

“One way or another, you will always be in my heart.”

―Richard, to Denna

After the second tearing of the veil of the underworld, Denna returned as a spirit to save Richard from both his own gift and from the mark of the Keeper placed on him by Darken Rahl. She removed the mark by taking it on herself, meaning that she will suffer for eternity at the hands of the Keeper of the underworld. However, her act of sacrifice on Richard's behalf "disgusted" the Keeper and he refused to take her, thus allowing her to join the ranks of the good spirits. When Richard and Kahlan were later separated and sought to know if the other is alright, Denna appeared and caused a rift in time to briefly reunite the lovers.

After Richard entered the Temple of the Winds, he was visited by many spirits. Denna was one of them. She helped Richard finally decide to leave the temple and return to world of the living. She did this by forcing Richard to remember the events and emotions of what it was like to be under her control as the pet of a Mord-Sith, so he could understand that pain may be an expression of love and the comfort one in a dark place can gain from the smallest cares.

Denna appeared as Richard's guide of the Underworld, when he traveled there to obtain what he needed to use the power of Orden to reverse the chainfire spell and to vanquish the beast, sent by Jagang's Sisters of the Dark.

Behind the scenes

The television portrayal of Denna is slightly different from the Sword of Truth books. Denna is portrayed as having blond hair while the books state she had auburn hair, and what took 3 weeks in the book version was condensed in the television episode to happen within two days. The main difference between the two versions was that unlike the book incarnation, Denna did not die to safeguard Richard even though, like her book incarnation, she was openly attracted to him. Instead, Richard killed her to save Kahlan, whom Denna had also caught and intended to train. Denna was revived by fellow Mord-Sith Constance with the "Breath of Life" a form used to retrieve a person from the edge of death. She later reappeared to capture Richard's half sister Jennsen, before being allowed to flee with her life by Richard; from him and Darken Rahl. She again appeared in season two, taking the compass and later capturing Zedd. While in captivity, Zedd tried to convince Denna that she could be a better person. Just as it seemed Zedd was getting through to Denna, Cara and Kahlan caught up with them and Cara killed Denna with an arrow in the back.

Actress Jessica Marais portrayed Denna in the episode of the same title. She later reprised the role for the episodes "Bloodline", "Resurrection" and "Light".

Personality and traits

Denna was considered special by Darken Rahl as she was so difficult to break. When she first meets Richard, she is completely twisted. She finds delight in torturing Richard and sometimes held back out of a twisted caring for him and other times felt she was sharing her feelings by doing her worst to Richard. In the end she shows compassion, love and loyalty when she lets Richard kill her so he can escape.

Appearances

Books

• Wizard's First Rule (First appearance)
• Stone of Tears (Appears as spirit)
• Temple of the Winds (Appears as spirit)
• Confessor (Appears as spirit)
• Warheart (Appears as spirit)

Legend of the Seeker Episodes

• 1.08: Denna
• 1.16: Bloodline
• 2.07: Resurrection
• 2.08: Light