Keep to defend it against Emperor Jagang's Sorceresses. However, they are overwhelmed by intruders who enter the Keep, unaffected by any of the protection spells placed. A sister enters the Keep after Zedd and Adie are tied up and Rada'Hans are placed around their necks. Richard was poisoned by Owen, a man from the Bandakar Empire, in order to force Richard to save the Bandakar people from the Order. Like Jennsen, Owen is pristinely ungifted, meaning immune and invisible to magic. Arriving in the Bandakar lands, he finds them stunted intellectually and culturally, embracing a philosophy of aggressive passivity, allowing themselves to be dominated entirely by the Order. Given their complete lack of ability to do violence, Owen brought Richard, believing he could drive the Order away. Richard discovers that the Bandakar are the long lost descendants of the House of Rahl's pristinely ungifted children, banished across the boundaries to the Old World three thousand years ago. Once in the Old World, a great wizard then placed them in isolation to prevent their ideas from infecting the rest of the world. Using the Bandakar as hostages, Jagang sent them into the Wizard's Keep to rob it, as the pristinely ungifted Bandakar were totally immune to magic. Richard demands to meet their leader and is shocked to discover that the Wise One is merely a blindfolded child indoctrinated in their beliefs, as they believed that innocent children could not lead them astray. After proving through debate that this is nonsensical, Richard is nearly killed by a Bandakar still dedicated to their passive beliefs, and the horrified Bandakar realize that despite their ideology, they are also capable of violence. After raising an ad hoc army from the newly converted Bandakar, Richard kills Nicholas the Slide, the creature created by the Sisters of the Dark, by tricking Nicholas into leaving his body vulnerable. Characters Wizard's Eighth Rule The Wizard's Eighth Rule, revealed in Naked Empire, is: It is explained in the novel as follows: "Be justified in your convictions. Be completely committed. Earn what you want and need rather than waiting for others to give you what you desire." References External links Official Terry Goodkind website 2003 American novels 2003 fantasy novels American fantasy novels The Sword of Truth books Tor Books books