Confessor (novel) - Wizard's Eleventh Rule

Wizard's Eleventh Rule

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The eleventh and final rule that appears in The Sword of Truth series is revealed in Confessor to be an unwritten rule. The reason is explained through the character Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander:

The rule of all rules. The rule unwritten. The rule unspoken since the dawn of history... But Barracus wanted you to know that it's the secret to using a war wizard's power. The only way to express it, to make sure that you would grasp what he was intending to tell you, was to give you a book unwritten to signify the rule unwritten. —Chapter 65, p. 592, U.S. hardcover edition

Richard goes through great struggle to obtain a book left for him by Baraccus, a great wizard from the past. The book entitled Secrets to a War Wizard's power is a means for him to understand how to use his gift and therefore is in essence the solution to major problems. When he obtains the book, its pages are blank and Zedd informs him that Baraccus left it blank to illustrate the meaning of the phrase "rule unwritten". Using this knowledge Richard reasons that the Book of Counted Shadows could not be the key to the boxes of Orden, and that the Sword of Truth was the only way to harness Orden's power. As far as the knowledge within the book was concerned, there was "nothing in it", much like Richard's Secrets to a War Wizard's Power. The Sword of Truth, representative of its namesake, was key to life.

The secret to Richard's power is that he seeks the truth. In seeking truth he turns a blind eye to corrupt ideas and embraces the essence of life itself. The Sisters of the Dark assumed the truth to be what they had always been told by others and never thought to verify it themselves, and died for it; but would never have been able to access the power by reason of acting in hate. Richard, on the other hand, intended to use the power to help those he cared about and thus had the ability to harness the power.