The Seeker of Truth. Originally a woods guide from the mostly pastoral nation of Westland, Richard was drawn into the struggle against Darken Rahl when he met Kahlan and Zedd named him the Seeker to oppose the Prince of Lies. Since then, Richard has discovered himself to be The Chosen One, the first War Wizard born in 3000 years, and the next in line to the throne of D'Hara.
Accidental Marriage: Twice. Neither one was really more than a formality that Richard mostly ignored from that point on, but they caused some trouble in the long term by making it possible for Kahlan, as Richard's third wife, to summon the Chimes.
Agent Mulder: Particularly in Soul of the Fire and Chainfire.
A God Am I: When he uses the boxes of Orden. However, he does give the power up shortly after.
The Archer: He's established as having preternatural ability with a bow, explained as an expression of his Gift. It's important in the second book, but isn't mentioned much afterward until Confessor, when he sinks an arrow into Jagang's chest in the middle of a riot.
Character Filibuster: He makes some very long speeches. Very, very long speeches. Especially in Naked Empire, where he manages to become the first character to keep talking for more than a whole chapter.
Deus ex Machina: His unreliable magic suddenly working and allowing him to blast every problem out of his way, most notably in the eighth book where he recreates an antidote by apparently letting his gift guide him.
Either-Or Prophecy: With both options being bad. He manages to pick the one that's less bad and fulfill it in a manner that doesn't involve his death, however.
Heroic BSOD: During the Chainfire Trilogy, while Kahlan is missing and no one will believe him. Also during ''Faith of the Fallen," when he seems to realize how pointless it is to struggle against the dystopian Imperial Order, but he soon snaps out of it.
Hot Blooded: His main tool, the Sword of Truth, works through anger. This is sort of to be expected.
How Do I Shot Web?: Most of the time, he can't even use his magic. However, when he needs to, it snaps into working order and he becomes pretty much unstoppable.
I Just Want to Be Normal: He never wanted his magic, and denied he had the Gift until it was undeniable.
Instant Expert: The Dance with Death, using the Sword of Truth, lets him tap into the fencing knowledge of everyone who had used the sword.
Kick The Bitch: He kicks a 10 year old girl as hard as he can, shattering her jaw, knocking out her teeth, and severing her tongue. However, given what said girl was like, and the fact she was actively torturing him at the time, it's hard to blame him.
Last of His Kind: The last true Seeker, and the last war wizard.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Let's take a tally, shall we? Killed Darken Rahl in the wrong way and ripped the veil to the underworld, ripped the veil even farther and freed Darken's ghost by calling a gathering at the wrong time, destroyed the barriers that were keeping the Imperial Order at bay, etc. Pretty much every book's resolution leads directly into the next book's conflict.
Out-of-Clothes Experience: Going into the underworld. That said, he expected it. He didn't like it, but it's apparently what you have to do.
Self-Made Orphan: Though he doesn't find out until well after it's happened.
Screw Destiny: He hates prophecy and goes out of his way to avoid it, though he often ends up accomplishing what prophecy predicted in an entirely different way.
Sociopathic Hero: He can certainly come across this way, given his eagerness to slaughter all those who "choose death" rather than "life" in the later books.
You Will Know What To Do: Subverted in the first two books, played more straight in the later ones. Pretty much the basis for how his War Wizard powers work.
Kahlan Amnell:
The Mother Confessor, leader of the Confessors and final authority in the Midlands. After escaping the genocide of the Confessors at the hands of Darken Rahl, she fled to Westland, where she met Richard and Zedd and recruited them to help save the lands of magic from Rahl's grasp. She is Richard's primary love interest and one of the main characters, second only to Richard in importance.
Action Girl: Especially after Richard teaches her to Dance with Death.
Attempted Rape: Many, many times, by many different people, including, quadsmen, Demmin Nass, a red-haired man from Westland, Prindin, several D'Haran and Imperial Order commanders, Darken Rahl, Drefan Rahl, Oba Rahl, Emperor Jagang, and Samuel. No one actually manages to succeed, though, unless you count the time when Nicci linked herself to Kahlan and then got herself raped, forcing Kahlan to feel every sensation as if she were the one getting it.
Bullet Time: "Time was hers", usually used to describe when she uses her Confessor powers.
Can't Have Sex, Ever: Or the man she sleeps with will be Confessed. Sorry, Richard, none for you. Until he finds a way around that pesky problem, that is.
Combat Pragmatist: Her approach to combat and war. She advises others to take this approach as well, on the logic that an enemy is just as dead if you kill him in his sleep as if you kill him in battle.
Cunning Linguist: Being that she, like other Confessors, are diplomats and are expected to travel the Midlands to settle disputes, she can speak almost every language in the Midlands, including Nicobarese, Mud Person, Bantak, the common language also spoken in Westland and D'Hara, etc. The only language she hasn't been able to understand and translate so far is High D'Haran, likely because it's been out of common use for centuries.
Cute Bruiser: She is so strong that she can snap a metal sword in half over her knee, and possesses nearly superhuman stamina that is sufficient to keep up a traveler's pace for three days without food or rest, and still set a hard pace, use her power (which exhausts her more when she does), and hold a conversation.
Deuteragonist: Definitely in the first five books and in the eighth. Debatably in the sixth book and the final three, where she could be considered the tritagonist.
Dress Code: She wears a white dress and keeps her hair long as a symbol of her rank.
Emotionless Girl: Her Confessor's face, which serves as her public image. Averted in her actual personality and interactions with Richard.
Full Frontal Assault: She leads an attack on an army of Imperial troops completely in the nude, partly on the basis that a beautiful naked woman on a horse is, at the very least, going to be a bit of a distraction for the enemy.
General Ripper: She was apparently raised by one, if her father's quotes about warfare are any indication. She has quite a few traits of this herself.
Groin Attack: What she does to Demmin Nass . . . isn't pretty.
Heroic BSOD: When Shota prophecizes that Kahlan will use her power against Richard, she becomes severely depressed and repeatedly tries to kill herself. It takes a lot of time and effort on Richard's part to bring her out of it.
I Just Want to Be Normal: There are times she really doesn't like having her Confessor magic. Particularly since they get in the way of her being with Richard.
Line In The Sand: Everyone loyal to her goes on one side. The ones who question her authority go on the other. Later, the ones on the first side have to kill all the ones on the other side, on Kahlan's order, based on the (eventually proven correct) assumption that the dissenters were going to sell them out.
Sociopathic Hero: If anything, she's even more bloodthirsty and willing to Shoot the Dog than Richard is, and that's saying something, considering that she isn't using a magical sword that draws on her anger. Except in Faith of the Fallen.
World's Most Beautiful Woman: As stated by Richard in the first book. She gains some competition from Stone of Tears onwards, when Merissa and Nicci appear.
Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander:
The former First Wizard of the Midlands, who led the battle against Darken Rahl's father Panis when he tried to invade the Midlands years ago, earning himself the nickname, "The Wind of Death." After the war, he became furious with the Midlands council for their actions, and decided to go into hiding, erasing everyone's memories of his name and posing as a harmless but eccentric old man in Westland. When Kahlan comes to Westland seeking the aid of the great wizard of legend, he returns from retirement to help in the struggle against Darken Rahl. He is also Richard's grandfather on his mother's side.
The Archmage: As the First Wizard, he's the most powerful magic user in the Midlands and one of the strongest Additive wizards alive. However, his powers are later surpassed when users of Additive and Subtractive magic, such as Darken Rahl, Richard, and Nicci start to show up.
Blood Magic: Some magic requires blood, which as the First Wizard, he is familiar with.
Bullying a Dragon: Zedd points out to a an angry mob attacking them that they must be extremely brave to attack a person they believe commands vast magical power.
Burn the Witch!: An angry mob figures he has magic and tries to do this. They fail, obviously.
Person of Mass Destruction: Would you believe that this skinny old man earned the title, "The Wind of Death" and was feared even by his own side during a previous war? Or that he is almost singlehandedly responsible for the death of several hundred thousand Imperial Order troops?
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the Midlands council began mishandling the boxes and naming Seekers on their own, Zedd went off to Westland and left them to "suffer the consequences of their own actions."
Cold-Blooded Torture: It's her area of expertise. She also volunteers to do this to an Imperial Order assassin who knifed one of their wizards. They hear his screams all night long.
Happiness in Slavery: She decided to stay in Richard's service, even though he had publicly disbanded the Mord-Sith, because she thought he was a leader worth serving.
Taking the Bullet: In Temple of the Winds, she throws herself in front of an attack directed at Richard. This worked out to her favor due to her immunity to magic.
A Sister of the Dark who served as one of Richard's instructors while he was at the Palace of the Prophets in the Old World. Nicci was the daughter of one of the members of the Fellowship of Order, and thus was indoctrinated from an early age in their ways, and experienced a very unpleasant early life. She has served the Fellowship of Order, the Sisters of the Light, the Keeper, and the Imperial Order at different points in her life. She eventually took Richard prisoner by casting a maternity spell on Kahlan, in an attempt to learn from him. Ultimately, being with Richard changed her mind, and she renounced her previous affiliations(including to the Sisters of the Light) and became one of Richard's primary supporters.
Affably Evil: How she appears at first. Even when she's working on behalf of the Imperial Order, rending Mooks with violent magic, casting dangerous spells on Kahlan, and taking Richard prisoner, she maintains a calm and polite presence, never raises her voice, and in general acts like she's dealing with old friends. Richard finds her friendly and respectful exterior to be much more disturbing than the arrogant, sneering ones of the villains he's faced in the past.
Badass Boast: Several, to Richard, in Faith of the Fallen, driving home the point that she is not like any enemy he's faced before and is not going to be outsmarted easily.
My dear boy, I was born into this wretched world one hundred and eighty-one years past. You know that. Do you suppose I have not learned a great deal of patience, in all that time? Though our bodies may look about the same age, and in many ways I am no older than you, I have lived near to seven of your lifetimes. Do you honestly believe that you would have patience to exceed mine? Do you think me some young foolish girl for you to outwit or outwait?
Badass Bookworm: She was a Sister of the Light for well over a hundred years before she appeared in the series, and it shows.
Berserk Button: Nicci is somewhat . . . touchy regarding matters of sex. On one hand, men "assuming they had a right to her body" really, REALLY pisses her off.(Though she doesn't ever complain, seeing it as her duty to sacrifice herself for others.) On the other hand, she also explodes in anger when she makes an advance on a male character and he refuses her.
Also lice. She hates lice, to the point where upon seeing a peasant girl with lice on the side of the road, she had to stop and scrub the little monsters off of her.
Pink, Nicci's least favorite color. Just seeing it usually provokes mutters of "I hate pink" at the least. On one occasion, being put in a pink nightgown annoyed her so much that she used Subtractive Magic just to get rid of the color.
Black Magic: She is one of the few who actually wields Subtractive Magic.
Character Filibuster: Aside from Richard, there is no one in the series who can go on a filibuster like Nicci can. Her particularly specialty is deconstructing the Imperial Order inside and out.
Cunning Linguist: She can speak multiple languages, including High D'Haran. Not surprising, since in the Chainfire Trilogy, she's pretty much replaced Kahlan in every way that matters.
Deal with the Devil: She joined the Sisters of the Dark, but not out of a desire for power, or immortality, or rewards. She hated herself so greatly that she actually wanted to be damned for all eternity, and didn't think she deserved anything more. This turned out to work to her advantage, as she renounced the Keeper, getting out of that "eternal torment in the underworld" bit, while still getting to keep the Subtractive Magic that she got as part of the bargain.
Deuteragonist: In Faith of the Fallen and the Chainfire Trilogy, though it can be argued that she is actually the protagonist of Faith of the Fallen and the tritagonist during the Chainfire Trilogy.
Distracted by the Sexy: When she locks her eyes with Richard, he has difficulty remembering how to breathe. Imperial Order troops have the same problem when Nicci uses a slightly more . . . obvious invokation of this trope.
The Dreaded: As Death's Mistress, she's more feared than Emperor Jagang himself. An entire town of hundreds of people committed mass suicide at the news of her approach, the children taking poison first, then the adults. Even after her Heel Face Turn, her reputation still frightens many of the people who are now on her side.
Expansion Pack Past: Nope, she wasn't just some Sister of the Light who Richard met. Turns out she is a lot more conflicted and has a lot more backstory than the previous books would indicate.
Extreme Doormat: Her ideology requires her to selflessly sacrifice herself for the needs of others, so this is a given. She gets better.
For the Evulz, For the Lulz: Subverted. She tends to deflect questions about her motives as "It amuses me," and Annalina gives "because she is evil!" as an explanation for why she would kidnap Richard. The truth is quite a bit more complicated.
Love Redeems: Defied and doubly subverted. Even though she is in love with Richard from almost the moment she first sees him, she doesn't let her feelings get in the way of her mission and goals, and keeps in mind that she will still likely have to kill him eventually. However, in the end, she decides on her own to switch sides when his actions help her figure out what was missing in her life, and her love for him becomes the driving force of her loyalty for the rest of the series.
Lust: Subverted. According to Richard (right after meeting her for the first time), Nicci is "the embodiment of pure, unadulterated lust." However, Nicci herself is not a particularly lustful person at all. She has little in the way of personal ambitions and desires, and doesn't even particularly like sex.
Mundane Utility: Subtractive Magic is not just useful for combat, but also for getting that nasty pink color she hates so much out of the nightdress they put her in.
Too Kinky to Torture: She likes being in pain, being punished, and feeling agony, because she's so emotionless and depressed most of the time that being in pain is the only way she can feel anything at all.
The Unfettered: She is like this in operation, willing to do just about anything to accomplish her goals.
Villain Protagonist: In Faith of the Fallen she is given a comparable number of her own chapters as Richard and Kahlan, and her personal development is about one half of the story of that book, the other half being the continuation of the war against the Order. At this point, she is still very much a villain.
Workplace Acquired Abilities: "I used to teach young wizards how to behave at the Palace of the Prophets. I know how to create locks that can't be picked."
World Half Empty: How she views the world. Until Richard changes her mind.
World's Most Beautiful Woman: She is described as absolutely, completely, 100% physically perfect, and even Kahlan seems awed. Towards the end of the series, there seems to be some dispute over whether she or Kahlan is more beautiful.
Secondary Characters
Dell "Chase" Brandstone:
The leader of the boundary wardens in Westland, and an old friend of Richard Cypher and his father. He is the husband of Emma Brandstone, and the father of several children. Chase and his men serve the Westland government publicly, but their true loyalty is only to the true Seeker.
With My Hands Tied: Kills a quadsman, someone who would give most characters trouble at their best, while beat up and tied.
Rachel:
An orphan in the Midlands who was taken by the government to be Princess Violet's "playmate", which pretty much meant she was a punching bag to be bossed around and abused. By a combination of guile and help from the wizard Giller, Rachel escaped her position, delivered the third Box of Orden to Richard and Kahlan, and became Chase's adopted daughter.
Badass Lolita: Considering that she was adopted by Chase, it's no surprise.
Badass Normal: No magic, no powers, no antimagic, no magic weapons, and still a major piece in the overall plot.
Geometric Magic: She had no magical training or upbringing, but managed to learn how to use the written magic of Tamarang by listening to Six and Violet talk about it.
She Is All Grown Up: Well, not all the way, but it's invoked, in a non-romantic way. When Zedd is captured, he sees a girl who looks like her, only a little older. He chalks this up to his mind playing tricks on him...until he spots the "guard" with her, recognizes him as Chase, and realizes it is Rachel a couple years older, since he hasn't seen her in that long.
A trader with a soft spot for children, who was framed for murder by Demmin Nass, Darken Rahl's right-hand man. He submitted to a Confessor, Kahlan, to prove his innocence, and after it was done, was turned into an animal by Giller to give him back some measure of free will. He choose to live his life out as a wolf.
Berserk Button: If anyone thinks they can cheat a trader, they had better stay away from Brophy. Also, just the thought of Demmin Nass. And the claim he might have hurt a child.
Honest John's Dealership: According to Kahlan, he was once a trader who dealt with things at the gray edges of law.
Noble Demon: He cultivated a tough-guy image before being Confessed, and hated the idea of any softness being attached to his image, but was squarely a good person who donated money to orphanages.
A sorceress from the Midlands who know lives at the mouth of the pass of the Narrows, right on the boundary. She is blind as a result of being tortured by the Blood of the Fold when she was young, but still manages to see but use of her gift.
Super Senses: Though missing her eyesight, she's learned to compensate using her other senses, including some magical ones.
Chandalen:
One of the most skilled hunters and warriors of the Mud People, who later becomes the acting "general" of his people and an honorary elder. He initially dislikes Richard and Kahlan, blaming them for the trouble brought to the Mud People, but eventually relents in this policy after journeying with Kahlan for a time.
The Archer: He's a professional marksman and hunter among the Mud People, and can make shots that most people think are borderline impossible.
What the Hell, Hero?: He repeatedly calls Richard and Kahlan out on what happens.
Berdine:
Another Mord-Sith, and Richard's bodyguard along with Cara. She was one of Darken Rahl's advisors, and knows some High D'Haran, so she serves as a translator for Richard when they find old records. Of the Mord-Sith, she is by far the cheeriest and most amiable.
Boobs of Steel: Of Richard's personal bodyguards, she's noted as being the bustiest.
Cunning Linguist: She can read High D'Haran, and thus ends up working more closely with Richard than the other Mord-Sith while he's around.
The Glomp: On seeing Richard return toward the end of Blood of the Fold, she's described as divetackling him like an excited squirrel.
Plucky Girl: Despite being as much of a Torture Technician as her Sisters of the Agiel, she's by far the most cheerful.
Jennsen Rahl:
Also known as Lindie, Jennsen is the illegimate, pristinely ungifted daughter of Darken Rahl, and half-sister of Richard, Oba, and Drefan Rahl. Due to Darken's policy of eliminating all ungifted offspring of the House of Rahl, Jennsen has spent her life running and hiding from quadsman. As a pristinely ungifted one and Pillar of Creation, Jennsen cannot be harmed by magic. She is convinced by the Imperial Order that Richard, as the new Lord Rahl, is out to kill her just as Darken Rahl was, and as such, plans against him. After meeting Richard in the flesh, she realizes she has been deceived, and becomes his ally.
Unwitting Pawn: Of Emperor Jagang's plan. She manages to escape his plan for her at the last moment, though.
Walking the Earth: She and her mother have been traveling all their lives, and she continues to do it with Sebastian after her mother is killed.
Annalina Aldurran:
The Prelate, leader of the Sisters of the Light. Ann is a major political player who carefully watches and enforces prophecy to ensure events turn out the way she wants them to.
Flanderization: She becomes more and more fanatical as the books progress, until she mostly just shouts, "Prophecy demands it!" and "There is no way you could know such things!" at random intervals.
What the Hell, Hero?: Kahlan eventually brings her to task for what she's been doing, and actually manages to dent her conviction a little.
Would Hurt a Child: Including an unborn child, just because the mother happened to be in the way and could "possibly" have been a Sister of the Dark.
Nathan Rahl:
The prophet held prisoner by the Prelate Annalina and the Sisters of the Light, delivering prophecies to them. He is also a descendant of the Rahl family, and a distant relation of Richard's.
Adult Child: At times. When he first buys a sword, Annalina mentions in a Journeybook entry that he is busy fighting imaginary monsters, calling him a thousand-year-old child.
The Chessmaster: Because he can see events, he's also exceptionally good at influencing them. On one occasion, he simultaneously started one war and prevented an even bigger one while imprisoned by whispering something to a consort.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Given his usual cheerful, bright demeanor, it's easy to forget that he's a wizard and just as capable of throwing fire and lightning around as any of them.
A powerful witch in the Midlands, greatly feared by everyone who has heard of her. She has prophetic visions, and often works to enforce or prevent them. She is both a powerful ally and a dangerous enemy, and can be either at the drop of a hat.
The Master of D'Hara, heir to the throne of the House of Rahl, Prince of Lies, and the Player for the power of Orden. Darken Rahl seeks to rule the world, and intends to use the Boxes of Orden to this end. He appears as a benevolent man promising peace and security between all the nations. In secret, however, Darken Rahl is a rapist, a sadist, a cannibal, a child molester, a tyrant and a demon workshipper. He secretly serves the Keeper.
Animal Wrongs Group: This is the man who protests that he doesn't approve of slaughtering helpless animals and consuming their flesh, but will also kill a horse and drown a soldier in its guts for daring to eat meat in the People's Palce, or ritually consume the organs of a sacrificial victim.
The Casanova: A very dark version of this trope. He takes numerous women to his bed, and the ones who bear ungifted offspring or laugh at his scars are killed.
Character Tics: Licking his fingers and rubbing his eyebrows, as a result of being horribly burned as a child.
Dystopian Edict: Fire is bad. Fire was used against Darken Rahl's father. Fire is a sign of disrespect to the house of Rahl. Fire is outlawed. Except, oddly, for the candles in his father's tomb, which have to be kept lit or else.
Ephebophile: His appetites have been known to include teenaged girls as well as adult women. Jennsen's mother, for example, was fifteen when her daughter by him was born.
Eunuchs Are Evil: Not quite a eunuch, but Darken Rahl is implied to have a serious scarred, nearly burnt-off penis. But it's damn close.
False Flag Operation: His soldiers dress up as Westlanders, committ horrific atrocities against his own people, and Darken Rahl gets to make himself look like the savior.
Gone Horribly Right: He spent a lot of time and effort trying to get a gifted, male heir. He does. It's Richard, so things don't quite work out how he'd wanted.
Heir Club For Men: He has had quite a bit of trouble getting just the right gifted heir, and he has plenty of bastard children as a testament to his efforts.
I'm a Humanitarian: He's normally a vegetarian, and he considers eating meat distasteful, but when the ritual calls for it, he'll still devour the organs of a child.
Lie to the Beholder: He can cause this effect by casting “enemy webs” on others.
Pragmatic Villainy: He may be evil, but he's not entirely unreasonable. To one Mord-Sith's surprise, he doesn't have her executed after her pet breaks free, because he realizes that the failure was not her fault, as the task was, in hindsight, impossible, and it would be pointless to get rid of his best Mord-Sith because of it.
Red Right Hand: His body is scarred in embarrassing places.
Straw Misogynist: From his point of view, women are just the dirt that a man's seed grows in, unworthy of higher recognition. Those that don't bear gifted heirs are barren soil, and done away with.
The commander of the quads, right hand of Darken Rahl, the lightning of the Master's dark thoughts. His loyalty and devotion to the house of Rahl is matched only by his dedication to cruelty and sexual sadism. He has a weakness for young boys, and definitely not in the good way.
Abusive Parents: It is not-so-subtly implied that he was sexually abused by his father as a boy.
Depraved Homosexual: He mockingly tells Kahlan, about the most beautiful woman imaginable, that she isn't his type. His preference seems to be for young boys. He claims to have molested and killed somewhere between 80 and 120 boys in his life, but can't remember the exact number. The dead ones, according to him, are the minority.
Dumb Muscle: He isn't very smart, particularly in matters of magic, so Darken Rahl keeps him around mainly for their twisted friendship and this purpose.
Karmic Death: He is confessed by Kahlan, leaving him utterly consumed with devotion to a woman. Kahlan than castrates him and makes him eat it, then bashes his head in with a mace.
Kick the Dog: While he does plenty of puppy-kicking all through Wizard's First Rule, the moment that stands out is when he kills Brophy in a fight.
Large and in Charge: One of the biggest men in D'Hara, and the highest ranked servant of the house of Rahl, giving orders to all but Darken Rahl himself.
Murder, Inc.: He's the leader of the quads, D'Hara's professional hitmen and anti-Confessor units.
Nigh Invulnerable: Darken Rahl put webs around him that block all magic and attack, making him immune to Additive Magic and Confession. But not to the Con Dar.
Would Hurt a Child: Oh, yeah, about a hundred of them or so. Fatally. More than that non-fatally.
Denna:
Darken Rahl's favored Mord-Sith and one of the most skilled and relentless Torture Technicians in D'Hara. She is charged by the Lord Rahl to trap Richard and torture him into insanity so that he will reveal the secrets of orden to Rahl. She does.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Part of the reason she ends up redeemed. Richard, though he's brainwashed and tortured into submission, is the first person in her whole life since becoming Mord-Sith who is selflessly nice to her.
To clarify, at first he just asks that another Mord-Sith (Denna's friend/rival) train him without explaining why. She beats the tar out of him because she thinks her "pet" likes the other Mord-Sith better. It's only afterward that she asks why Richard made the request and he explains, which puts her into a minor Villainous BSOD and is the start of her redemption.
Dark and Troubled Past: One of the darkest and most troubled in the series. When she reveals some of it to Richard, he simultaneously feels sympathy, and an increased sense of hopelessness as he realizes just how profoundly messed up a madwoman he is dealing with.
Dying as Yourself: Right before Richard kills her, she strips herself naked. She explains then, that all of her clothing and possessions are those of a Mord-Sith, and she wishes to die the way she was born, simply as Denna, not a Mord-Sith.
Freudian Excuse: She was abducted as a young girl and forced to become a Mord-Sith, repeatedly broken, forced to watch her mother die and kill her own father, and eventually became the twisted Torture Technician that she is today.
Hell-Bent for Leather: Red leather, like other Mord-Sith. She briefly puts on white leather to show that she has such power over Richard that she doesn't need to make him bleed. Shortly after, she stains the entire outfit with his blood.
Heterosexual Life Partners: With Constance, another Mord-Sith. The "heterosexual" might only be on Denna's half of the relationship, however, as Constance hates men and generally acts like a Psycho Lesbian.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: She was torturing Richard worse than anyone, hoping he'll be the one to kill her.
Kick Them While They Are Down: She does not show Richard any mercy, regardless of whether he is standing up, lying down, or passed out at her feet and unable to move.
Mutilation Interrogation: Her attempts to get Richard good and ready to answer Darken Rahl's questions involve slowly breaking his ribs one by one, dragging her Agiel across his flesh to raise blood-filled welts, an implied Groin Attack, sticking the Agiel inside his ear, and a lot of other things, all described in excruciating detail.
Pet the Dog: During his torture by and virtual slavery to her, Richard still seems to care for her and want to keep her from being in pain. Denna is extremely confused by this for awhile, but afterwards Pets The Richard several times.
The Power of Love: Richard, while his magic is held by her, finds out he can still use the magic through love. He later uses it to kill her, using his own sympathy and forgiveness for her as the fuel.
Rape Is Love: Richard being the victim, and Denna being the rapist.
The leader of the Imperial Order, and the first Dreamwalker born in 3000 years. His goal is to enforce the doctrine of the Imperial Order by conquering the world with his massive armies and placing himself as the leader of it.
Blood Sport: Ja'la is his favorite sport, and he likes the bloody aspects of it.
Casanova: Either the darkest version of this imaginable, or a horrible subversion. As the emperor, Jagang has a whole army of women who would be all too happy to be with him, but instead of sleeping with any of them, he deliberately chooses women who are slaves or unwilling captives, because being a serial rapist is more fun.
The Chessmaster: It turns out being able to read the minds of most of the planet really helps in this regard.
Forced to Watch: He's rather fond of his tactic for people he knows won't break from being tortured themselves. Once, in an attempt to get Zedd to divulge important information, he brought in a group of children captured from the Midlands, and made him listen while his best torturers went to work on them. He also used a similar tactic as a threat on Kahlan, to keep her in line; since she more or less does stay in line, he never has to go through with it.
Genius Bruiser: He appears heavily muscled, with arms thicker than some people's waists, and an enormous bull neck. However, he's a scholar and a tactician as well as a warrior and a leader, and as Kahlan admits, he is far from being just some stupid brute. "He was a very smart brute."
Green-Eyed Monster: Towards Nicci. The first thing he said after reencountering her in Confessor was, “So, do you love him?” referring to Richard.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Like most of the other villains, he's prone to murderous rages at the drop of a hat, but can also be calm and polite and even forgiving at other times.
Hypocrite: When Richard sends his armies to ravage the Old World and deprive Jagang of supplies, Jagang rants in anger and talks about Richard as if he's a Complete Monster for doing this, despite that this is exactly what Jagang has been doing to the New World since the early books of the series.
Knight Templar: According to several characters, he honestly believes he's doing the right thing.
Last of His Kind: The last Dreamwalker in the world, the only one in 3000 years.
More than Mind Control: Even when the Chimes deprive him of his ability to control the captured Sisters of the Light, they still don't rebel out of fear.
Names To Trust Immediately: Jagang the Just, taken on Nicci's suggestion because it made him sound more heroic and less evil.
The Napoleon: Of average height, small compared to most of the characters in the series, but plenty mean.
Obviously Evil: He still thinks he's on the side of good, though.
Pragmatic Villainy: He's willing to listen to others, particularly when they know more about magic than he does, rather than just asserting his opinion.
We Have Reserves: Millions of soldiers, and he expects to lose a lot of them. That being said, he is still severely pissed when he loses hundreds of thousands.
A bastard son of Darken Rahl, though not pristinely ungifted, who works as a healer for the Raug'Moss order. He, like his father, is a sexual sadist and servant of the Keeper.
Brother-Sister Incest: Hilariously discussed by Oba himself. He thinks about how hot Jennsen is and is implied to be getting turned on, but then reminds himself that they have the same father. "Oba was too principled to consider her as a lover. Despite her ravishing looks and the way thinking of her made his groin wake, his integrity wouldn't allow such a breach of decency. He was Oba Rahl, not some rutting animal."
Evil Counterpart: To Jennsen. They are both pristinely ungifted bastard children of Darken Rahl, and are the two main characters of The Pillars of Creation, and are repeatedly contrasted. Jennsen's mother was seduced by Darken Rahl when she was fifteen, while Oba's mother intentionally seduced Darken Rahl as a plan to increase her status.(It didn't work.) Jennsen is horrified and shocked when her mother is murdered by quadsman, while Oba kills his mother personally and shows no remorse. They both visit Lathea and Althea, Jennsen getting information and help from them while Oba tries to kill them. However, it is Jennsen, not Oba, that the Keeper chooses to play the pivotal role in his master plan.
Evilly Affable: He doesn't have a single redeeming trait compared to his numerous Kick the Dog moments, but his self-righteous and blatantly disturbed way of thinking still makes him incredibly amusing.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: He was originally fairly well-behaved, if obviously weird and with traits of the potential sociopath, before he began dealing with the Keeper.
Self-Made Orphan: He kills his abusive mother after joining the Keeper, with a shovel.
Smug Snake: He likes to think of himself as a cunning Warrior Poet with a healthy curiosity who likes to learn things, and thinks he's got the whole cast wrapped around his finger and will become the ruler of D'Hara in time. In reality, he's a blundering, sociopathic idiot who's being manipulated by the Keeper.
Straw Misogynist: His favorite thing about women? Raping and torturing them to death.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He is very similar to Drefan and goes a similar path, and he isn't introduced until Drefan is already dead.
Anti-Villain: He's well-intentioned, Affably Evil, seemed to genuinely be in love with Jennsen, and is still utterly devoted to the Imperial Order and willing to commit any number of atrocities in its name.
Big Damn Heroes: He appears and kills the last men of a quad and saves Jennsen from them, though not in time to save her mother. It turns out, they weren't a quad, but Sebastian's own men, disguised so that he could eliminate Jennsen's mother, make himself look like a hero to her, and turn her against Richard.
Evil Genius: He's one of Jagang's primary advisors and tacticians, and the strategist for the Imperial Order as a whole.
Evil Will Fail: The conflict between his love for Jennsen and his loyalty to the Imperial Order's beliefs is one of the primary factors that leads to him killing himself.
The Unfettered: He isn't as sadistic as most other villains, but he is still very much on the Imperial Order's side and has little compunction to "sacrificing" numerous innocent people in the name of winning the war.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: He consumes a certain plant in a dangerous quantity to give himself a fever, so that Jennsen will be encouraged to offer him shelter for the night.
Princess Violet:
The Princess of Tamarang. Though only a child, she already orders beheadings, keeps a "playmate" who she regularly slaps and punishes for no reason other than her own enjoyment, enjoys torturing prisoners, and makes plans to have women she does not like gang-raped by the castle guard.
For the Evulz: Many of her horrific deeds are done just because she was feeling spiteful or because she thought it was fun.
G Eometric Magic: Although it takes so long to teach her, that Rachel gets the hang of it just from listening.
Kick The Bitch: The kickee in this case. In any other book, the hero knocking the teeth out of a 10 year old girl's mouth would be a horrible thing to do. But in any other book, said 10 year old girl probably wouldn't have been torturing him at the time while threatening to have his love interest gang-raped and executed.
Dystopian Edict: To prepare the Westlanders for when Darken Rahl takes over, he makes a speech about the dangers of fire. To his credit, though, he never says outright that fire should be banned, only that mishandling of fire is a very real trouble that needs to be corrected somehow.
A Slide, a creation of Emperor Jagang and the Sisters of the Dark. He was once a wizard, but was transformed into a Slide through horrific magical experiments. He now serves Jagang, and secretly plots to rule as Emperor himself.
Character Tics: Running his fingers through his oiled hair.
A soulless, demonic force that destroys magic, beginning The End of the World as We Know It. They take different forms and kill their victims through either wind, water, or fire. One of those forms happens to be a chicken that is not a chicken.
Anti-Magic: While they're in the world of the living, Magic just stops working.
The ultimate evil force of the universe, the antithesis to the Creator, imprisoned in the underworld. The Keeper of the Underworld torments the dead who do not earn their place with the good spirits, and wishes to exterminate all life.
Deal with the Devil: He often makes pacts and agreements with his mortal servants.
Devil but No God: The Keeper takes an activate role in trying to exterminate the living. Aside from sealing him away in the first place, the Creator doesn't seem to do much at all.
For the Evulz: He hates that you live. Your life is the crime.
The Dreaded: The Keeper served as an in-universe example of this when a young Kahlan heard a poem about him. "The Screelings are loose and the Keeper may win, his assassins have come to rip off your skin!"
