The Sword of Truth

For five years now, maybe more, I’ve been following a series of books by a certain author - Terry Goodkind. His series is called The Sword of Truth. So far, it has ten books in it, all of which I have except one, which I will acquire the moment I see it. If you ever see his books on the shelves, the first thing you’d probably think to yourself is, "No freaking way!" Why is this? First of all, the books are impossibly thick. Intimidating even to the most voracious of readers. One more thing, if you’re not a fan of the fantasy genre, you’d probably not give it a second thought. So why have I been following them religiously? For oh, so many reasons, the best of which is this - they tell the truth.

The story revolves around a character named Richard, the Seeker. Equipped with the Sword of Truth, he lives a very unexpected life - one fraught with terrible hardships and tribulations, as well as glorious accomplishments. Ah, you’d say, not another sword-weilding macho-man hero come to save the world and all that blah-blah-blah. How different is this from any other cliche fantasy flick? We are all fed up with all that dungeons and dragons business that can be seen everywhere. It’s all the same.

Well, this one is not the same. First of all because it is brutally, startlingly honest. The characters are never stereotyped. They are simple, normal people who are faced with unique and extraordinary circumstances. They don’t aspire to "save the world" and be noble, or go around seeking glory. They just want to live their lives - as simple as that. Around this simple, ordinary goal, an entire universe is spawned. Life as they see it is suddenly not as simple as they thought it to be. And so, as they move on with their lives, meet their problems, make their choices, face the consequences, they learn so much about how the world works and how people play a part in it. They learn about Life. Hey, wait a minute… that’s sounds eerily familiar… it sounds like… Real Life!

This is what I love about the story. It’s not solely a glamourized preaching about the battle between good and evil, nor is it about the glory of doing noble deeds and being heroic by vanquishing dragons and monsters. It’s about trying to get by with life, trying to find its truths, and learning from it. In the end, that for me is the most important - that I learn something from it. This is what makes any story valid and beautiful: learning.

(posted elsewhere 26 Dec 2005)