Kahlan Amnell

From Free net encyclopedia

In the Sword of Truth fantasy series by Terry Goodkind, Kahlan Amnell is the Mother Confessor and the last Confessor, originally from the Midlands. She has green eyes, long, brown hair, and typically wears a flowing white dress when acting as the Mother Confessor. As every confessor she needs time to restore her power after it is been used. However, unlike most Confessors, she only needs a few hours to restore her power which is very rare among the confessors. Kahlan eventually marries the Seeker of Truth, Richard Rahl.

Physical Description

Kahlan is an attractive young woman. Her full, silky, and long brown hair complements the contours of her body. Her eyes are green, like her mother's, and are strong, unafraid and most of all, intelligent, overflowing with a distinct sense of integrity. Her voice is as attractive as the rest of her and matches the spark of intelligence in her eyes. Her lips are soft. She is almost as tall as Richard and about the same age (she starts the series in her mid-twenties). She typically wears the dress of the Mother Confessor that elegantly caresses her form and is almost white, cut square at the neck, and interrupted only by a small, tan leather pouch she carries at her waist. The weave of the fabric is fine and smooth, almost glistening, and bears none of the lace or frills of more conventional dresses, with no print or colors. She wears good boots of soft leather, the kind of boots worn by one used to traveling. Even when not dressed in her Mother Confessor garb, her hair, her face, her figure, and mostly her bearing speak of what she is and the power she has.

General characteristics

Kahlan Amnell is the Mother Confessor, the last of her kind. She has been known as a strong climber, and quick. Rarely does anyone need to slow on her account while traveling. She can speak every major language in the Midlands and most of the minor ones. She also has a gift for knowing and reading people and realizing why they do what they do (even if the person himself doesn't know why). Due to her authority (and power), Kahlan is a person who is used to getting answers when she questions others. She is courageous and determined, full of intelligence and wit. Nevertheless, she is terrified of the underworld and the boundaries, due to her time spent crossing one and the things she saw inside. She is also uncharacteristically afraid of snakes, and of the witch woman, Shota, although the latter is common of most people in the Midlands.

As a child, she always wore a necklace with a small bone on it, given to her by her mother. She buried this necklace with Dennee, the girl she called her sister. The necklace had been a gift from Adie while Kahlan was still in the womb to protect her and keep her safe so she could grow strong like her mother.

Kahlan can recover the strength of her power unusually fast, in about an hour or two after being released, as opposed to at least a day and night for most Confessors. Because of this, her power is also stronger than most others, and works more powerfully in the ones she touches. That is why some of the people she touches are able to perform far beyond their normal strength or even fall over dead at her request. It would not be so for a weaker Confessor.

Early life

Kahlan was born and raised in the Midlands of the New World. Due to her race and position she received very little comfort or friendship as a child. As a child, she was taught a great many things about war and sword-fighting by her father. However, girls in the Midlands were not meant to shoot a bow. Nevertheless, Kahlan took it up as a diversion when she was young, before she began taking confessions.

Before Kahlan became a woman, her mother was stricken with a terrible sickness, one no healer was able to turn back. She died all too quickly of the awful wasting disease. Dennee's mother took in Kahlan and comforted her. The two girls, best friends, had been thrilled that they were to be sisters, as they called themselves from then on, and it helped ease the pain of losing her mother. Dennee did not have the strength of power that Kahlan did, and over time, Kahlan became her protector, guardian, shielding her from situations that required more force than she could bring from within. Kahlan would often go to take confessions in Dennee's place, to spare her the torment of the task. Kahlan, too, disliked taking confessions, but she was stronger, wiser, and more reflective. She understood, and accepted, that being a Confessor was her power; it was who she was, and so it didn't hurt her the way it did Dennee. She recognized and accepted that she had no choice, her life was the life of a Confessor, she was born with it and could never give it up. Kahlan had always been able to put her head before her heart. For a long time, in the beginning, the confessions of those she touched would give Kahlan such nightmares she would fear sleeping. However, she would have done any dirty job in Dennee's place.

Dennee died to a quad shortly before the series began. She was discovered by Kahlan, discarded and moaning with mortal pain in the brush at the side of the road, her arms broken, laying useless at her sides, blood trickling from one ear, and her dress pulled up. It was the first time Kahlan had ever wanted to user her power to hurt someone, to kill someone. She had gone to the brink of feeling something she had never felt before, a terrible wrath, a force from deep within; her frightening birthright, the Con Dar.

The people of the Midlands were afraid of Kahlan, more than the other Confessors, because she is the Mother Confessor, and because she was long past the time when she should have chosen a mate.

In her mid-twenties, shortly before traveling to Westland (Sword of Truth), Kahlan herself was chased and attacked by a quad. However, the one she touched managed to kill the other three. After that, Kahlan left the Midlands for Westland to find the First Wizard in order to convince (or force) him to appoint a true Seeker of Truth that could defeat Darken Rahl. To do this, she used the help of five wizards who cast spells over her tracks so none could know where she went or follow, and that allowed her to cross the boundary without dying. They then killed themselves so they could not be made to talk. Once in Westland she was spotted by Richard, being followed by another quad. With his help, they were able to kill the members of the quad and travel to Hartland. Richard brought her to meet his good friend and mentor Zedd, who turned out to be the First Wizard and appointed Richard as the Seeker. Kahlan claims that Richard was her first friend, besides maybe Dennee.