What are Mord-Sith?

updated July-8-2004

In short, Mord-Sith are a group of women who selflessly devote their lives to protecting their Lord Rahl as personal bodyguards. They are experts at torturing and killing, and have been trained for all their teenage years in this skill. They are rigid, tough and seemingly cold-hearted, and they possess a mean sense of humor.

The Lord of the Mord-Sith, the Lord Rahl, is their Master. They are completely subservient to the Master Rahl, through a magical psychic bond, a bond which was created by a wizard with much magical power. The Lord Rahl orders his Mord-Sith to do his bidding, usually to capture an individual and torture him for information.

When a Mord-Sith tortures someone, it is called 'training.' They 'train' their pets to completely obey them, and 'train' them to talk. A Mord-Sith is responsible for the training of their pet for however long it takes.

A Mord-Sith is able to absorb the magic from someone (wizard, sorceress, etc.) and use it against them to cause them pain. In order to do this, the attacker must use magic against the Mord-Sith, so that the Mord-Sith can take the magic and make the magic-user their pet.

Once a Mord-Sith has control of their pets' magic, they can read their thoughts. If a Mord-Sith does not like what they think, if it offends them in any way, she can give them intense and unbearable physical pain. The pain stops when the pet stops thinking unpleasant thoughts of the Mord-Sith. An unpleasant thought towards the Mord-Sith usually involves wanting to kill her.

If the pet tries to bring harm to her in any way, the pain will begin again.

The Mord-Sith can bring much pain to the pet, through the pain of the bond she has captured from him (she can send pain to him at will), and through the pain of the Agiel, a foot-long thin rod, made of the same blood-red leather of her clothing. The Agiel is made with the same magic a Mord-Sith possesses, and the mere touch of an Agiel to the someone's skin causes unimaginable pain. The Agiel is the only physical weapon a Mord-Sith needs.

All Mord-Sith are given the title 'Mistress', for instance Mistress Denna or Mistress Berdine. It is mandatory, by all Mord-Siths, that their pets refer to them as Mistress. Of course, everyone else need not refer to them as Mistress, unless they are a pet of a Mord-Sith. All pets must address all Mord-Siths as Mistress.

Once the person has been captured, they are taken below the palace of the Lord Rahl, the People's Palace, to a plain, stone cell, designed for torture. Chains are usually found in them; they are used to hold up the pet when they have gotten too weak from the torture. A chair and table may be in the cell. The cells have cold stone floors, and are lit by torchlight. The walls are also stone and have no windows.

If a Mord-Sith chooses, she may take her pet as a mate. Being a mate takes the next step in the torture - sexual torture. A pet is mate for life, until they die from it. It is not a marriage, but a sort of expectation that the pain will be more intense and it will involve pain in different places.

Mord-Sith take great pleasure in training their pet. They look forward to the pet showing stubbornness towards them, because it only means they get to take more time and effort in training them.

Most Mord-Sith do not let their pets talk when in training, or to ask questions.

Sometimes Lord Rahl's soldiers are to accompany Mord-Sith on a capture. They are only used for capture, and to hold the captive until he uses the magic on her, then they are no longer needed.

A pet may hold on to their knife or sword, because they are no danger to a Mord-Sith, and one day they may be used by the pet to protect his Mistress. Keeping the weapon is a constant reminder that the pet is helpless against the Mord-Sith.

The purpose of the training, according to Mord-Sith, are - to teach the meaning of pain, to teach the pet that their life is not their own, that it is the Mord-Sith's, and she can do anything she wants with it. She can hurt her pet in any way she wants, for as long as she wants, and no one is going to help the pet but her. Every moment the pet has without pain is a moment only she can grant him. The pet will learn to do as she says without question, without hesitation, no matter what it is. The pet will learn to beg for anything he gets. After a time of training, where the pet makes enough progress, a Mord-Sith may take the pet to another place, where there are other Mord-Sith, and the Mistress will continue to train there no matter how long it takes. She will let some of the other Mord-Sith 'play' with him.

Some Mord-Sith hate men, because it is always men that train a Mord-Sith from a young age to become Mord-Sith.

When the Lord Rahl is done questioning the pet, and when he is done with the pet, the Mord-Sith may keep her pet for life.

When a Mord-Sith places a collar on her pet, it is intended for the pet to stay attached to her, when she roams the castle or goes elsewhere. A chain attached to the collar can keep the pet in one spot, which is helpful in training the pet to stay put. The collar is made of the same red leather as a Mord-Sith's uniform. At the end of the chain is a loop of metal, in which a Mord-Sith can attach to various things, like a chair or a post.

If a pet tries to end his life with his own weapons, the magic will prevent it.

In the cell are also wrist manacles, which can attach to the wall to keep the pet from falling down during training.

When a pet is done being trained, they have become 'broken'. All their self-respect and dignity will have left them, and they will become completely obedient pets.

If the Agiel drags lightly across flesh, it raises fluid-filled welts, and if it is pressed a little harder, the welts fill with blood. A favorite spot with some Mord-Sith is placing the Agiel inside the ear. If the pet holds completely still, they can remain alive, but if they jerk, they will suffer irrevocable disability, such as blindness or becoming mute, or not being able to move anything on one side of their body, or lose the ability to walk. Placing it in the ear still causes pain, but they must not jerk from the pain or they permanently suffer disability.

Sometimes a Mord-Sith won't allow their pet to sleep for the night, after training. To them, sleep is a privilege the pet has to earn. Sometimes when a pet does sleep, the Mord-Sith will awaken him with her Agiel, a terror all its own.

Each Mord-Sith has their own room in the People's Palace.

An Agiel won't cause anyone pain just by holding it or touching it. In order for someone to feel any pain from an Agiel, that Agiel had to have been used on them in the past. Once that specific Agiel was touched to them directly with an intent to cause pain from the Mord-Sith, that person will forever feel the pain of the Agiel used on them.

There is hardly ever a moment when a Mord-Sith is ever without pain. A Mord-Sith is trained for years so that she will  handle the pain of the Agiel. Only women are trained as Mord-Sith, because they are stronger than men in that respect. The gold chain around her wrist attached to her Agiel allows her to let it hang; it doesn't hurt as much when it hangs. But whenever she uses it on someone, it causes constant pain. By holding it in her hand, the pain is felt in the hand, and will spread to the arm and into the shoulder, but Mord-Sith are quite skilled at masking that pain in their face with a stone-cold expression.

If a pet does not want to sacrifice the rest of his mind, his sanity, to the torture of a Mord-Sith, and if he has the magical ability to do so, he can "partition" his mind. By doing so, he protects the core of his mind. A Mord-Sith cannot break a partitioned mind. Punish, yes. But break, no.

When a pet is being trained, they sometimes call out the name of a loved one, like their wife or their mother.

At the end of Book 1, Wizard's First Rule, when Richard escaped the torture of his Mistress, and took the title of Lord Rahl, he ordered that all Mord-Sith were to be collected, their Agiel's destroyed or locked away, their Mord-Sith clothing burned, and to be given jobs helping people. But because Mord-Sith are stubborn and wise, they refused, and became Richard's personal bodyguards by choice and free will.

About the bond of the D'Harans to their Lord Rahl, as described by Ulic:

"Long ago... in the beginning times of D'Hara. I believe several thousand years ago...where the bond originated.. In the beginning times, the first Master Rahl cast his power, his magic, over the D'Haran people, in order to protect us. It was a covenant. The House of Rahl would be the magic, and the D'Haran people would be the steel. We protect him and he, in turn, protect us. We were bonded... The covenant, the magic, links the people of D'Hara to the Master Rahl. When the Master Rahl dies, the bond can be passed on to his gifted heir. The bond is the magic of that link. All D'Harans feel it. We understand it from birth. We recognize the Master Rahl by the bond. When the Master Rahl is near we can feel his presence. That's how we found you. When we're close enough we can sense you... You see, first of all, we must recognize the new Master Rahl. BY that I mean we must recognize and accept his rule in a formal manner. This acquiescence is not formal in the sense of ceremony, but more in the sense of an understanding and acceptance within our hearts. It does not have to be an acceptance we desire, and in the past, with us, anyway, it was not, but acceptance is implicit, nonetheless... Once we acquiesce to his dominion, and as long as the Master Rahl lives, we are bonded to him. When he dies, the new Lord Rahl takes his place, and we are then bonded to him. At least that's the way it's supposed to work."

Mord-Sith have a popular reputation for being wholly unhealthy to those with magic who opposed them. Some have tried to acquire the services of these women, but all know they serve only the Master Rahl. They are not indulgent of anyone making offers of any kind. Mord-Sith cannot be bought for any price.