Second of the two main characters in
Terry Goodkind's novel series,
The Sword of Truth. Kahlan first meets Richard Cypher while running away from a
quad, a special team of four
assassins used in
D'Hara to kill Confessors. Kahlan is the last Confessor, the
Mother Confessor, because of
Darken Rahl's attack on the Midlands where he attempted to eliminate all Confessors and all wizards. Kahlan comes to the Westland in an attempt to find the
First Wizard, the only one left who can stand up against Darken Rahl.
Kahlan inherited her Confessor ability from her mother. She is able to destroy a man's mind and fill it only with love for her, a weapon that saves her life and Richard's life many times throughout the series. She was raised by a father who didn't really love her, because he was taken by her mother's power and only had love for her mother. The unfortunate side effect of the confessor's power is the inability to have sex except with her mate because it would destroy the mind of the man she's having sex with. The Confessor chooses a mate, and all men in the Midlands fear that it will be them because it means that their mind will be destroyed. The power must be constantly "held", and the use of the power is more like a "release", so during sex a Confessor is so filled with passion that she loses her hold on her power and destroys the mind of the one who she is having sex with. The power was created by the wizards of old not as a weapon, but rather as a method for getting criminals to confess to the crimes they committed. If a criminal has been judged guilty of committing murder, before he is sent off to death they bring a Confessor in to make sure that he really did it. Mainly this is to make sure that they found the right person and the guilty one isn't still out there, because once an innocent is taken by a Confessor's power it's as if he died anyway. The only relief an innocent taken by the confessor's power can get is if a wizard transforms him into an animal, in which case he still loves the Confessor, but it isn't his only priority.
In addition, when the Confessor becomes enraged she has the power to call upon the Con Dar, or Blood Lust. As her love power is additive magic, the Con Dar, or the hate power, is subtractive. It allows Kahlan to create blue bolts of lightning, but she only seems to be able to use it if it is in an effort to protect Richard. Her mother was supposed to instruct her on the use of the Con Dar, but died before the chance arose, so Kahlan was surprised in the first book, Wizard's First Rule, when she discovered this new power. Having both sides of magic, Kahlan is able to travel through the sliph, a transportation device created by the wizards of old.
A male with a Confessor's power takes no time at all to charge between uses, whereas females take various amounts of time. Kahlan is the Mother Confessor because she takes about 1 to 2 hours, a very low amount of time. Because of this, all male Confessors are killed when they are born. Unfortunately, Shota, the witch woman, has prophesied that Kahlan will have a boy, and that Shota will come and kill it rather than let its evil be unleashed on the world. Richard and Kahlan insist that they shouldn't kill it and instead raise it to be a good and just person.
On a final note, Kahlan is quite kinky when she discovers the secret to having sex as a Confessor.