Temple 14

Chapter 14
We rejoin Richard, who is pondering the best punishment for the Dominatrices (sans Cara) and the Aryan Boys for their flagrant disobedience. When Raina and Aryan Boy #2 “sauntered into camp the night before,” Richard had ordered them all to be back in Aydindril before dawn.
We get a description of the Aryan Boys, including their armor: “The thick leather plates were molded to fit like a second skin over the conspicuous contours of their muscles.” That sounds extremely uncomfortable, not to mention restrictive. I bet they creak when they so much as breathe. We're also reminded of their stupid spiked armbands which they have somehow not stabbed themselves to death with. Yet, anyway.
Richard tells them there will be no punishment, but he's disappointed in them.
Yeah.
That . . . um . . . doesn't have quite the effect you were probably going for. “I'm not mad, just disappointed” only works when it comes from someone whose good opinion is meaningful, and who has, for lack of a better term, sufficient social presence to make it a crushing condemnation. Richard's social presence is best described as “Who is he going to savagely murder, and when?” Consequently, it's less like Fred Rogers expressing disappointment, and more like the Punisher. All things considered, disappointment is the best possible option there.
Berdine points out that she and Aryan Boy #1 went by his command. He counters by asking if they would have stayed in Aydindril had he ordered it, to which she is silent. Way to shoot yourself in the foot there, Berdine. Berdine says they would all die for him, and Richard says that means nothing to him if they would let Kahlan die. He says he doesn't need people he can't trust, he won't need Berdine's help translating stuff from High D'Haran any more, and forget about feeding chipmunks. Crushed, they all leave.
I actually have to side with Richard here. These people work for him, he gave them a specific order, and they willfully defied it. They need to be punished and/or fired. A ruler cannot afford to have underlings, much less bodyguards, who ignore direct orders and do whatever the hell they feel like.
I feel dirty.
Richard dismisses them, and they leave. Moments later, Cara enters in her red leather, because the Dominatrices wear nothing but fetish outfits. Richard chews her out for, once again, willfully defying his direct order. Cara says she understands, and she has only one request: she wants to be executed with a +5 riding crop of pain.
Richard denies her request and tries to talk sense into her, but as Cara sees it, she has failed her Lord Rahl and therefore must die, and if Richard won't kill her, she'll kill herself. Richard then orders her to kneel and “look into my eyes when I kill you.”
He draws the Sword of the Homicidal Hobo, cuts his arm with it (I wonder how many unnecessary infections Richard has had?) and works himself into a fury over how Cara endangered Kahlan, magic dancing in his eyes, etc. Finally, he screams in rage and swings at her head, but the sword stops dead an inch from her face.
Cara is amazed, and Richard says that “the magic decided otherwise. We can't question its judgment. We must abide by it.” The sword's magic is, once again, being treated as a sapient thing that has self-awareness and can make decisions.
Hey Terry! Any time you feel like picking one rule and sticking with it, that'd be great. The magic can be an intelligent force that makes decisions, or it can be a nonsentient force that reacts to the wielder's perceptions – LIKE YOU TOLD US IT WAS – but it can't be both. \~/
“But there had been doubt. Cara had brought Kahlan within danger's grasp, though not intentionally. [Richard] wasn't entirely sure that doubt wouldn't cause the blade to take her. That was the way with the Sword of Truth's magic – one wasn't always entirely sure.”
Say it with me everybody: ONLY PERCEPTION MATTERS.
If Richard saw Cara as a threat, he could cut her down. If not, he couldn't touch her. A or B. Black or white. Yes or no. 1 or 0. There are no doubts. There are no shades of gray. This is a binary system.
Yes, I've ranted about this before, but for the love of all things holy, it's such a basic flaw. Goodkind established this, the very foundation of the title artifact's nature, early in Book 1. He has since trampled all over it at almost every single opportunity since. One single rewrite would have fixed this. One single editing pass. Instead, it is a fatal flaw that renders every element of the Sword, not just suspect, but laughably self-contradictory. As such, I will continue to mock it every time it comes up. \~/
Richard tells Cara her punishment is to learn to feed chipmunks, and to bring the other Dominatrices as well, and the chapter ends.
Drinks: 2
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