Wizard 44

**Chapter 44**

Richard, having killed the torturer/rapist he loved, is wandering around. Suddenly Constance appears and attacks him with her +5 Riding Crop of Pain. She seems to somehow know that Denna is dead, since she taunts Richard about using his magic on her. How does she know this? Dominatrix hivemind? \~/

Richard remembers how Denna had taught him ways to tolerate pain, so she could torture him even more. I'm...not sure that's how torture works. I'm admittedly no expert (not do I wish to become one), but it seems as if teaching your torture-victim how to tolerate pain would be counterproductive.

Anyway, Richard ignores the pain and bear-hugs Constance. He then jabs her with Denna's +5 Riding Crop of Pain, telling her that, to kill her with the sword, *“I would have to forgive you everything. I could never bring myself to forgive you for betraying a friend. I could forgive your deeds against me, but not those against your friend Denna.”*

So...the power of the White Sword of Innuendo is forgiveness. The magic is pure rage, but the “other half” of the magic is forgiveness. And the forgiveness half is apparently distinct from the “Hulk smash!” half, because Denna had captured *that* half with her Dominatrix magic. And it appears *both* halves of the magic are used only to kill. Death by forgiveness.

That's worth a drink, I'd say. \~/

But wait! Apparently the forgiveness half of the magic doesn't come with the safeguards that prevent the Seeker from killing innocents (even though those safeguards pretty much exist to be ignored). Richard had to have known Denna wasn't a threat to him; he had escaped her magic with the White Magic that he liked to fondle, but he stabbed her to death anyway.

Oops, my fault. I just realized I was expecting logic or consistency. My bad.

But! Richard is able to forgive Denna for keeping him prisoner and torturing and raping him repeatedly for weeks...but he can't forgive Constance for reporting her to her boss and earning her a beating. Despite the fact that the Dominatrices seem to view pain as a twisted form of affection. Despite the fact that Constance's training had to have been every bit as brutal and vicious as Denna's. She's the ugly, man-hating one so she's not worthy of forgiveness.

\~/

So Richard kills her with raw pain, because he's the hero. \~/ And it occurs to me – Denna raped Richard repeatedly while he was her prisoner. Constance was repulsed by the thought of sex with a man. Denna was worthy of forgiveness. Constance was not. Am I reading to much into this, or is this more of the Sex Equals Love trope creeping through?

Richard leaves, and the guards give him a horse in a scene that's not worth repeating. We learn that it's about five days hard ride to where Richard thinks Michael's army is. The guards warn him to take the left road when it forks, because the right leads to *“Master Rahl's dragon.”*

Richard rides away. He takes off his collar and flings it away, vowing never to wear a collar again. Believe it or not, this is a plot point. We learn that, while killing with the Sword of “Truth” is horrible (not that this has ever been shown...quite the opposite, really), killing with the White Sword of Forgiveness is *“beyond horror.”* Angst, angst, angst. Richard muses about how either Zedd or Kahlan has to be the traitor who sold him out, and he'll probably have to turn the sword white and kill one of them. Why he has to turn the sword white to do it is beyond me, since neither (as far as we know) can steal his magic like a Dominatrix. If he considers them a threat, should the sword just hack them down like weeds?

Oops. Logic again. Sorry.

Richard takes the right-hand road, because he's the protagonist in a bad fantasy novel. The dragon pops up, the horse throws Richard, and the dragon eats the horse. Richard and the dragon have a chat, the dragon having *“a decidedly female voice.”* Her name is Scarlet.

The red dragon's name is Red. \~/

Christopher Paolini wrote some truly dreadful prose, but at least he didn't name his blue dragon Blue. Scarlet's name could have been Ruby, or Blood, or Sunset or something. But, instead, it's Red.

Blah blah. Red threatens to eat Richard. Richard says he wants to kill Rahl. Red laughs at him. Richard says, fine, kill me then. He then tries flattery, which works. Red speaks exactly like a human, with no unusual terms or idioms or inflections. It's disappointing, but not unexpected. \~/

Richard somehow intuits that Rahl is holding Red's egg hostage. His logic? *“I know that a proud creature such as you would not subject herself to such demeaning duties, except for one reason. To protect something important. Like her young.”*

Naturally. She couldn't be mind-controlled by Rahl, the *wizard.* Or have some sort of betray-me-and-you-die spell set on her by Rahl, the *wizard.* Or be evil and be in an alliance with Rahl. Or have been raised from the egg by Rahl. Or, hell, just respect Rahl and be friends with him. He's got her egg. Only possible explanation. \~/

Furthermore, Richard says he knows where her egg is. Red believes him, and proves herself an idiot by saying, *“Like dragons, real Seekers have honor.”* \~/ They strike a bargain: Richard will help Red retrieve her egg, and Red will fly him around for six days.

Meanwhile, Zedd is screaming, which wakes Kahlan and Chase up. He's not breathing (*then how is he screaming?* \~/), but this is normal. What? Yes, *“He still wasn't breathing, but that much was normal; he hadn't breathed in the past when he sought the night stone.”* Um...yeah. Did Zedd turn into a lich when I wasn't looking?

Zed whispers to Kahlan to touch him with her power. She refuses and angsts about it for a while, but finally does so. This brings him back to normal (he even starts breathing again) and, amazingly, doesn't mindslave him. Kahlan is astonished, but Zedd explains that he didn't get mindraped *“Because of where I was...And because I'm a wizard of the First Order. I used your Confessor's power as a lifeline, to find my way back. It was like a beacon of light in the darkness. I followed it back without letting it touch me.”*

In other words, he got *deus ex machina's* out of the utterly pointless trap. In the process, Mr Goodkind has violated what we know about the Confessor's power: that it's utterly unstoppable, and that it can only be used to mindrape. Why does this scene even exist? Why did Rahl set a trap on the night stone? Why was Zedd scrying for Richard through the night stone? What does any of this have to do with the plot, or characterization, or anything else of interest? \~/\~/\~/

That was an utter waste of three pages.

Zedd says the night stone was in the underworld, but that doesn't mean Richard is! Everyone angsts about this for a bit, and are determined to rescue Richard. They know he is (or was) in the People's Palace in D'Hara, presumably because Zedd has been scrying on it (*and not helping Richard as he gets tortured and raped, you worthless Gandalf rip-off!*).

And the chapter ends.

Drinks: 11

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