History Creator / TerryGoodkind

* HighFantasy: Although Goodkind himself expressed distaste for the fantasy label (he felt his works avoided escapism and dealt with more "important" and complex themes), most of his novels fit into the high fantasy subgenre; for example, ''Sword of Truth'' takes place in [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy pseudo-medieval]] {{constructed world}} and involves a seemingly ordinary peasant finding out he's TheChosenOne and going on an epic quest to defeat a SorcerousOverlord threatening the safety of the world, with lots of other elements of the genre (such as wizards, demons, a magic sword, artifacts of doom, an evil chicken and so on).

Terry Lee Goodkind (born May 1, 1948, died September 17, 2020) was a novelist best known for writing the best-selling ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series.

Terry Lee Goodkind (born May 1, 1948, died September 17, 2020) was a novelist who has written the best-selling ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series.

* SciFiGhetto: They are ''not'' HighFantasy books, they are ''Stories that have important human themes'', as Terry Goodkind repeatedly insisted.

Terry Lee Goodkind (born May 1, 1948, died September 17, 2020) was a novelist who has written the best-selling ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series. In his final years, he was working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he was obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he continued his ''Sword of Truth'' series with a new trilogy, starting with ''The Omen Machine'' in 2011, ''The Third Kingdom'' in 2013, and ending with ''Severed Souls'' in 2013. A prequel novella, ''The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus'' was published in 2012. A final installment, ''Warheart'', was published in 2015, before Goodkind began a SpinOff series centered around supporting character Nicci; the series lasted four books with the last book, ''Heart of Black Ice'', being published in January 2020, seven months before Goodkind's death.

* HighFantasy: Although Goodkind himself expressed distaste for the fantasy label (he felt his works avoided escapism and dealt with more "important" and complex themes), most of his novels fit into the high fantasy subgenre; for example, ''Sword of Truth'' takes place is [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy pseudo-medieval]] {{constructed world}} where a seemingly ordinary peasant finds out he's TheChosenOne and goes on an epic quest to defeat a SorcerousOverlord threatening the safety of the world, with lots of other elements of the genre (such as wizards, demons, a magic sword, artifacts of doom, an evil chicken and so on).

Terry Goodkind (born May 1, 1948, died September 17, 2020) was a novelist who has written the best-selling ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series. In his final years, he was working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he was obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he continued his Sword of Truth series with a new trilogy, starting with ''The Omen Machine'' in 2011, ''The Third Kingdom'' in 2013, and ending with ''Severed Souls'' in 2013. A prequel novella, ''The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus'' was published in 2012.

!!''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series:

* ''Wizard's First Rule''
* ''Stone of Tears''
* ''Blood of the Fold''
* ''Temple of the Winds''
* ''Soul of the Fire''
* ''Faith of the Fallen''
* ''The Pillars of Creation''
* ''Naked Empire''
* ''Chainfire''
* ''Phantom''
* ''Confessor''
* ''Debt of Bones'' (A prequel novella)
* ''The Omen Machine''
* ''The Third Kingdom''
* ''Severed Souls''
* ''The Law of Nines'' (A spinoff novel)
* ''The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus'' (Another prequel novella)

Goodkind liked to consider himself a [[SmallNameBigEgo philosophical novelist rather than a fantasy author]]. His later books in the ''Sword of Truth'' series have a strong [[AuthorTract Objectivist slant]].

Terry Goodkind (born May 1, 1948, died September 17, 2020) was a novelist who has written the best-selling ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series. In his final years, he was working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he wass obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he continued his Sword of Truth series with a new trilogy, starting with ''The Omen Machine'' in 2011, ''The Third Kingdom'' in 2013, and ending with ''Severed Souls'' in 2013. A prequel novella, ''The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus'' was published in 2012.

Terry Goodkind (born May 1, 1948, died September 17, 2020) wass a novelist who has written the best-selling ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series. In his final years, he was working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he wass obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he continued his Sword of Truth series with a new trilogy, starting with ''The Omen Machine'' in 2011, ''The Third Kingdom'' in 2013, and ending with ''Severed Souls'' in 2013. A prequel novella, ''The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus'' was published in 2012.

Terry Goodkind (born May 1, 1948) is a novelist who has written the best-selling ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series. He is currently working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he is obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he continued his Sword of Truth series with a new trilogy, starting with ''The Omen Machine'' in 2011, ''The Third Kingdom'' in 2013, and ending with ''Severed Souls'' in 2013. A prequel novella, ''The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus'' was published in 2012.

Goodkind likes to consider himself a [[SmallNameBigEgo philosophical novelist rather than a fantasy author]]. His later books in the ''Sword of Truth'' series have a strong [[AuthorTract Objectivist slant]].

Terry Goodkind is a novelist who has written the best-selling ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series. He is currently working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he is obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he continued his Sword of Truth series with a new trilogy, starting with ''The Omen Machine'' in 2011, ''The Third Kingdom'' in 2013, and ending with ''Severed Souls'' in 2013. A prequel novella, ''The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus'' was published in 2012.

Terry Goodkind is a novelist who has written the best-selling ''Literature/TheSwordOfTruth'' series. He is currently working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he is obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he continued his Sword of Truth series with a new trilogy, starting with ''The Omen Machine'' in 2011, ''The Third Kingdom'' in 2013, and ending with ''Severed Souls'' in 2013. A prequel novella, ''The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus'' was published in 2012.

!!''Literature/TheSwordOfTruth'' series:

Terry Goodkind is a novelist who has written the best-selling ''SwordOfTruth'' series. He is currently working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he is obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he continued his Sword of Truth series with a new trilogy, starting with ''The Omen Machine'' in 2011, ''The Third Kingdom'' in 2013, and ending with ''Severed Souls'' in 2013. A prequel novella, ''The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus'' was published in 2012.

!!''TheSwordOfTruth'' series:

Not to be confused with TerryBrooks.

Terry Goodkind is a novelist who has written the best-selling ''SwordOfTruth'' series. He is currently working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he is obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he is obligated to continue his Sword of Truth series with a new trilogy. The first installment of the trilogy, ''The Omen Machine'', was released in early 2011.

* ''Debt of Bones'' (A novella prequel)

* ''The Omen Machine Sequel''
* ''Another Sequel to The Omen Machine'' (This will be the fifteenth book in the series, and the final one Goodkind is contracted to write)

Goodkind likes to consider himself a [[ScifiGhetto philosophical novelist rather than a fantasy author]]. His later books in the ''Sword of Truth'' series have a strong [[AuthorTract Objectivist slant]].

Goodkind has exhibited some of the following tropes:

* {{Anvilicious}}: One could easily argue that Goodkind and subtlety have never met. He feels the best way to get his point across is to have a heroic character deliver a long speech to a crowd of [[StrawMan straw men]], who will respond with phrases the character can easily rejoin. Or have a villainous character be made entirely out of qualities Goodkind finds abhorrent.
* [[FanMyopia Author Myopia]]: In a rare example of the ''author'' seeing his work in a way the rest of the world does not, Goodkind frequently talks about his books as if they are something unprecedented; that he has re-invented the fantasy genre by doing things that no one has ever done in this genre before. He does this, of course, by "not writing fantasy" but writing "deep philosophical works" that happen to use fantasy as a medium to get their message across. Fans who read nothing but Goodkind often parrot this idea. Of course, anyone who reads fantasy, as Goodkind [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch says he does not]] will quickly and easily see that not only are Goodkind's books pretty standard examples of the genre, almost to the point of being stereotypical, but he's far from the first one to insert [[AuthorTract author tracts]], nor is he the only one still doing it.
* {{Jerkass}}: Just ask anyone unfortunate enough to criticize something about his work to his face, or people who would like to him to lighten up on the Objectivism and start writing straight fantasy again. Goodkind does ''not'' suffer these people gladly, and will usually respond with an all-out attack on not only the person, but fantasy fans in general. He seems to have no tolerance for fantasy as a genre at all, considering it "tired and empty" and "bereft of thought". One wonders why he chose to write in that genre.
* UnfortunateImplications: Goodkind creates a race of people obviously based on Aboriginal people. Richard, the Great White Hero, comes along and teaches them civilization. They begin to see him as a god. Their name? Mud people. Yeah...
* WriterOnBoard: ''In spades''. He may be the trope codifier. Early works perhaps weren't as {{Anvilicious}} as his later works, but once he became a hardcore disciple of Ayn Rand, he decided to have long breaks from the action so that his lead characters could deliver long speeches that were transparently Goodkind yelling at his audience. He also created two characters who were meant to represent Bill and Hilary Clinton. Needless to say, they were hideous, corrupt people. His description of a group of pacifists in one novel includes the phrase "armed only with their hatred of moral clarity."

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* AerithAndBob: In a world that includes characters with names like "Zeddicus Z'ul Zorander", "Shota", "Kahlan Amnell", "Darken Rahl", "Drefan", etc. there are just as many people, often from the same city, or even small town, with names like "Richard Cypher", "Bradley Ryan", "Edwards", "Jenssen Daggett" (the name of a real life actress), Dalton Campbell, etc.

* {{Anvilicious}} One could easily argue that Goodkind and subtlety have never met. He feels the best way to get his point across is to have a heroic character deliver a long speech to a crowd of [[StrawMan straw men]], who will respond with phrases the character can easily rejoin. Or have a villainous character be made entirely out of qualities Goodkind finds abhorrent.

Terry Goodkind is a novelist who has written the best-selling ''SwordOfTruth'' series. He is currently working under contract for two different publishers, Putnam and Tor. Under his contract with Putnam he is obligated to write three novels, the first of which, ''The Law of Nines'', was released in Summer 2009. Under the contract with Tor, he is obligated to continue his Sword of Truth series with a new trilogy. The first installment of the trilogy, ''The Omen Machine'', has a tentative release date of early 2011.

''TheSwordOfTruth'' series:

The series has a TV adaptation, called {{Legend Of The Seeker}}.