Jennsen Rahl

From Sword of Truth Wiki

Jennsen Rahl was pristinely ungifted and the half-sister of Richard Rahl. She served as the House of Rahl representative in Bandakar and later voluntarily became part of the parallel world created by Richard.

[edit] Biography

Jennsen was the half-sister of Richard Rahl, and spent her whole life fleeing from her father Darken Rahl with her mother knowing that if captured she would be tortured and killed. She was what ancient texts referred to as a "pillar of creation" or "a hole in the world", meaning that Jennsen was completely ungifted. Unlike everyone else who had at least a spark of the gift, Jennsen did not have that spark and so therefore was not affected by any magic or spell. In addition, she could not see magic being used.

After finding a dead D'Haran soldier, she encountered a man named Sebastian who revealed he was the strategist for Emperor Jagang of the Imperial Order. After the murder of her mother, Sebastian lead Jennsen through D'Hara to the Old World to meet the Emperor Jagang and help defeat Richard Rahl, whom she believed was seeking to kill her just as her father, Darken Rahl, had been before his death. Jennsen Rahl eventually met up with Richard Rahl who asked her not to blame him for his father's actions. Jennsen learned the dead D'Haran she encountered before the murder of her mother was really an Imperial Order soldier who was disguised and then murdered by Sebastian. Furthermore, she learned that Sebastian sent the quad, also dressed as D'Haran soldiers, to kill her mother, as a means of securing Jennsen's trust and cementing her hatred for Richard. After losing Jennsen's love, Sebastian killed himself.

After realizing that the Imperial Order was the real enemy and that Richard Rahl was nothing like her father, Jennsen joined Richard and Kahlan Amnell in their fight against Jagang. Jennsen Rahl also had another half-brother, the equally ungifted Oba Rahl, who believed that he was Darken Rahl's rightful heir.

Jennsen travelled with Richard and Kahlan and their group north out of the Old World, but when Richard was forced to go to Bandakar, she followed him there and helped to free those people from the Order and Nicholas. After Richard and Kahlan left, her romance with Richard's guard, Tom continued, until Nathan Rahl asked him for his service to use his bond to find Richard.

Toward the end of the war, Jennsen was captured by the Order while guarding the catacombs in Bandakar, and taken to Jagang along with the original copy of The Book of Counted Shadows.

[edit] Personality and traits

Jennsen was a twenty year old woman, with brilliant red hair. Her eyes were a spectacular blue and she had the hooded raptor glare of a Rahl. Jennsen was very attractive and it was clear that she was a relative of Richard. Her red hair often led people to make the assumption that she was a witch, however this was impossible as she was immune to magic and could not possess it herself.

Unlike her father, Jennsen was quite kind hearted, though she did not trust easily. Sometimes rash in her decisions, Jennsen was still quite intelligent and capable with a knife. Having been on the run all her life, Jennsen was knowledgeable in how to detect when someone was around her location. She demonstrated this by spreading sticks and gravel around the perimeter of her home or campsite so that any intruders would make noise when they walked on them.

[edit] Appearances

• Pillars of Creation (First appearance)
• Naked Empire
• Chainfire
• Confessor