Mord-Sith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mord-Sith are a fictional class of people in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.
Contents |
[edit] Description
A Mord-Sith is a woman who can wield a person's magic against them, even the magic of the Sword of Truth. If a magic user attacks a Mord-Sith with magic, she can take full control of it and cause the wielder immense, crippling pain. While under a Mord-Sith's control, a victim is brutally tortured and questioned in an effort to break their will.
[edit] Mord-Sith Training
Mord-Sith are chosen at a young age. Only the most gentle and caring girls are chosen, as it is believed the most innocent and loving are capable of the most torture and cruelty. The Mord-Sith training consists of three tests:
First Test
The girl is confined to a small dungeon and kept there, locked away. While not locked in the dungeon they are tortured with the same Agiel they will soon hold as their own. By this seclusion and constant torture the girl's will shall be broken and she will lose a part of herself.
Second Test
The girl is forced to watch her mother being tortured. Between torture sessions she is brutally raped and degraded before her daughter. When her mother finally dies from the abuse, another part of the girl is broken.
Third Test
With her will sufficiently broken and ability for compassion gone, she is given the Agiel she was trained with and must torture her father to death. This is the most difficult test and the final training for the future Mord-Sith. After killing her father her training is complete. She is now a heartless killing machine incapable of reasoning, compassion, or mercy.
[edit] Outfits of The Mord-Sith
The Mord-Sith have three outfits. The first, and most common, is a red leather suit. The leather covers their entire body and the gloves are armored to assist in their torturing. The leather is red since red will not show the blood of their victims. Because of the power of the Agiel and the pain inflicted on their "pets", their training is very bloody. The second outfit consists of brown leather and is seen as casual wear, worn by a Mord-Sith when not training her pet. The last, and most uncommon, is white leather. This is only worn when a pet is completely trained and broken, devoted entirely to his Mistress. It signifies the training is complete and she no longer has to draw blood from her pet. It is also worn when a Mord-Sith has chosen her mate. However, a Mord-Sith's mate does not live very long.
[edit] Use of The Mord-Sith
During the time of the books, Mord-Sith are used by Darken Rahl as a means of getting answers. He sends one, along with a group of D'Haran soldiers, to capture the victim. The hope is that they will use their magic and be captured. Once captured, they are tortured until they are broken and will confess whatever it is Father Rahl wants to hear. After that, Darken Rahl either executes them himself or turns them back over to the Mord-Sith to be used as she sees fit.
[edit] Richard Rahl
Richard Rahl was captured by the Mord-Sith Denna in Wizard's First Rule. Richard was captured so he could be broken and tell of his knowledge of The Book of Counted Shadows. However, being the Seeker and gifted with magic, he was able to partition his mind; separating his most valued memories, ambitions, and morals from the rest of his mind. While he was broken by Mistress Denna, Darken Rahl was unable to get the information he wanted from Richard. This partioning was also the reason he was able to kill two of the D'Haran guards and severely wound Princess Violet.
Richard was later able to escape Mistress Denna. By unlocking the Sword of Truth's true poential and turn the blade white, he killed his Mistress and escaped. Richard is the first and only man to ever escape from a Mord-Sith. After the defeat of Darken Rahl Richard ordered all the Agiels, uniforms, and paraphenilia of the Mord-Sith be destroyed and the Mord-Sith retrained in an attempt to bring their humanity back. However, as a result of Richard's new status as The Lord Rahl and his freedom for the Mord-Sith they chose to keep their status and serve as his personal guard. As a result of this respect, they serve Richard.
[edit] Weaknesses
While a Mord-Sith can take control of a wielder's magic, they are not immune to physical damage. A Mord-Sith can be defeated by weapons or bare handed fighting, however they are trained fighters and not easily overcome. As long as a person has no magic in them, the Mord-Sith cannot take control of them. This is why a Mord-Sith is always accompanied by a group of D'Haran soldiers, to ensure they are not killed before the capture can be made.
While a Mord-Sith's powers lies in her ability to control magic, even that of a Wizard or Sorceress, there are some they cannot take.
- First Wizard: The First Wizard has protection against their ability.
- Confessors: They fear Confessors as their magic will also work on them.
- Dream Walkers: Dream Walkers cannot invade the minds of any D'Haran as they are bonded to their Lord Rahl and protected. However, if the Mord-Sith takes control of one who is under the Dream Walker's influence, the result is excruciatingly painful and possibly fatal.
[edit] Known Mord-Sith
The following a list of known Mord-Sith:
- Vicki
- Denna (deceased; Wizard's First Rule)
- Constance (deceased; Wizard's First Rule)
- Cara
- Berdine
- Raina (deceased; Temple of the Winds)
- Hally (deceased)
- Rikka
- Hania (deceased; Faith of the Fallen)
- Galina (deceased; Faith of the Fallen)
- Solvig (deceased; Faith of the Fallen)
- Nyda
- "Snake" (nick-named by Cara, her trainer)
[edit] Pets
When a victim is captured, they will endure months of painful "training" and torture until they are broken. Mord-Siths will usually call their victims pets, for they can do whatever they want with them, and the pet will do anything asked of them. Pets cannot do anything unless the Mord-Sith grants them permission to do so. Among other thing pets cannot sleep, they cannot eat, or sit or stand without permission. As mentioned before, it is the Mord-Sith's goal to make their pet be so afraid of the pain caused by the Agiel that they will do anything asked of them. Anything. Lord Rahl will then demand answers from the pet once the pet is broken, and the pet will answer them, fearing the wrath of the Agiel.
A Mord-Sith's pet is usually humiliated. They are made to wear collars that are attached to a chain, which hooks on to the Mord-Sith's uniform. When Richard was a Mord-Sith's pet he was ordered to eat gruel off the floor, using only his mouth, in front of people attending Queen Milena's feast.
Known Pets:
-Richard Cypher (Mord Sith- Denna)
