Post by Cara Mason on Aug 18, 2014 21:32:39 GMT
How She Became a Mord-Sith
Cara was 9 years old, fishing with her father and her elder sister Grace Mason when she was kidnapped by the Mord-Sith and trained to be one of them, who was posed as a school teacher to target young girls. Cara's father was also taken by the Mord-Sith and beaten with the Agiel, in an attempt to force him to tell Cara that he had sold her and had come to sell her older sister. Cara's father would not break though, so the Mord-Sith burned his throat and told Cara that her Father had betrayed her. Cara fell for it and in a fit of rage, killed her father. After she did this, the Mord-Sith welcomed her as one of their own and told her that they were her true family. It was a long time before Cara found out about the truth. Cara was a favorite of Darken Rahl for a long time. She was believed to have been born and lived out her early years near the woods of Stowecroft.
All Mord-Sith candidates were subjected to the three breakings; first of herself being broken, then of her Mord-Sith trainer, who she referred to as Snake, breaking her mother, then of herself breaking her father, and finally killing him. Her early life left her with an immense fear of rats, as they would nibble and bite her in the room she was kept at night during her training, and hesitation, which caused her to get caught and turned her into what she was; and ultimately resulted in the death of her family. As with all Mord-Sith, she feared dying toothless and in bed of old age.
As a Mord-Sith, Cara was forced to be loyal to the reigning Lord Rahl of D'Hara, Darken Rahl. Rahl expected total obedience of his Mord-Sith, and was known to beat and rape Cara and her "sisters".
Cara's master, Darken Rahl, eventually sought to gain dominion over the entire world by gaining the power of Orden. However, he was opposed in this endeavour by Richard Cypher, the Seeker of Truth. Rahl had Cypher captured by his most gifted Mord-Sith, Denna, in the nation of Tamarang, and had her attempt to break him. As was routinue among the Mord-Sith, Denna allowed her sister Mord-Sith to participate in the torture of her "pet"; Cara among them. Denna ultimately fell in love with Cypher however, and allowed him to kill her so that he could escape. Cypher ultimately proved able to defeat Rahl, and in his place became the new Lord Rahl since he had been sired by Darken Rahl's years before when Darken Rahl brutally raped his mother. From then on, he was known as Richard Rahl. In "Legend of the Seeker," it was Panis Rahl, Darken Rahl's father, who sired Richard.
Having suffered at the hands of the Mord-Sith, Richard ordered that they cease to live as the Lord Rahl's personal torturers. However, through Denna he had come to understand the Mord-Sith in a way no Lord Rahl before him had, and as such, he refused to execute them and allowed them to have their freedom. In response, all remaining Mord-Sith, including Cara, pledged themselves to Richard as his foremost bodyguards and protectors.
A Second Chance...
Cara and Richard Cypher had to work together in order to get back to their own time when the boxes exploded sending only Cara and Richard 58 years into the future. During that time Richard helped her see what would happend if Rahl won. When they got back to their own time, Cara betrayed Rahl and helped to kill him. The other Mord-Sith learn about Cara's betrayal and beat her then left her for dead, cutting off her braid and denying her an honorable death, a tradition broken by her. Richard finds her and agrees to help her kill her sisters if she would help save the girls they took. After this, Cara decides to join Richard, Kahlan and Zedd on a journey to find the stone of tears. A little while later, Kahlan finds out that Cara was responsible of the death of her sister, Denne and goes into the Condar and attempts to kill her. Richard sends Cara away, and left without a goal, she goes home. She was soon recognized by Grace, her sister who gives her a meal, but Grace's husband tells the town guard about her and she is arrested. They then send for Kahlan to confess her but Richard convinces Kahlan to give her a fair trial. It is during this that Cara finds out that her father had loved her and Cara asks Kahlan to confess her because she feels she deserves it, but Kahlan is convinced that she has changed and spares her life.
Cara falls in love with Leo who was a temporary Seeker of Truth while Richard was away. Cara was not sure what to do with her feelings though and pushes him away. Kahlan tells Cara to not worry and to tell Leo the way she feels but before she can, he dies, saving Kahlan from Nicci. During a battle with a caravan driver who was abducting people, her throat was slit and she dies from the wound, and accepts the Keeper's offer of a second life as a Baneling to continue serving Richard. She bore the weight of her secret alone before finally being cured by the shadow water. At the end we find out that Cara is a mother. The boy is Darken Rahls', who killed his own son but still tricks Cara by using the lie that her son is in danger. Rahl then takes the Agiel and tries to gain control of Cara again but Cara does not break. Rahl then multiplies the power of the Agiel and breaks Cara with it. Richard ,Kahlan and Zedd save her by casting the spell of undoing.
Personality
Cara is a strong-willed young woman who seems to be around the same age as Richard and Kahlan. She is seen as being reserved, and slightly angry, but has moments of weakness, and fear. Cara is a Mord-Sith and was raised to be cold and unfeeling, as well as cruel, and vindictive, however during their time spent in the alternate future, Richard inspired Cara to become more open. When it was discovered that Richard was the new Lord Rahl, rather than uprise like the other Mord-Sith did, she decided to keep her oath to Lord Rahl, and stay with Richard as a protector. Cara, is shown to be amused by sarcasm, and also have a sense of humor about beliefs that she find contradictory to her nature. Cara is also one of the few characters shown to be sexually voracious and desireable. She is shown forcing a lesser Mord-Sith to kiss her, as well as taking advantage of a young man, and having intense attraction to the temporary Seeker of Truth, Leo but later admits after his death that she was in love with him but never told him as he was killed by Nicci.
Richard loves Kahlan but he admires Cara. He knows he can trust and depend on her no matter what.
Cara is stuborn, and often gets into arguments on how to accomplish tasks. She has a good friendship with Richard Rahl, to whom she is bound to serve as a Mord-Sith, and who is the one most willing to give her a chance. She is often at odds with Kahlan, not only because of her perceived relationship with Richard, but also by the nature of their powers, Kahlan as a Confessor has powers based on love, where Cara as Mord-Sith has powers based on hatred and Pain. With Zedd, her relationship seems to be that of an father(ish), or family friend, they are not very close, but she does respect his power, as does he hers & by the end they seem to be very close friends.Even though Cara & Kahlan start out hating each other while trapped in a tomb the both admit that they think of each other as a friend. We asume that by this point Kahlan has forgiven Cara for what happend with the other Confessors. Of course when they are saved by Richard Cara claims that she only said that because she was delusional from the lack of air & for Kahlan to forget she ever said it but we gather from her expression that she ment what she said to Kahlan in the tomb. Towards the end, it is shown that Cara also had a relationship with her former best friend (from Stowecroft), and fellow Mord-Sith Dahlia.
One of Cara's more characteristic functions is her comic relief, through her sharp wit and sense of humor, that manifests itself in quick-witted remarks of sarcasm and wryness. Cara is often quick to state the obvious nature of their predicament and lament the fact that if Richard had listened to her, "none of this would ever have happened." As with most Mord-Sith, Cara usually wears her red leather, as she seems to always be expecting trouble. On one occasion Cara tries to conceal that she was one of the Mord-Sith that had tortured Richard when he was held captive by Darken Rahl; she is crushed to find he already knew.
She often risks her life and almost dies in multiple attempts to save Richard, most notably being tortured in a horrific way involving rats that brings out her unbridled terror in Temple of the Winds. She cares deeply for Richard as his bodyguard, and would die for him, not simply because he is the Lord Rahl, but because he is her friend and she understands and agrees with what he stands for and why he fights. Having earned that respect and trust from Richard, she has become the closest protector to Richard, due to her ability to travel in the sliph after taking the magic of the messenger, and is considered the unofficial leader of the Mord-Sith.
Cara, having proven her loyalty and sincere respect not only for Richard, but for Kahlan as well, has come to be considered not so much a friend as a member of the family. She carries great respect for Kahlan, who wears the Agiel of Denna, Richard's former Mord Sith mistress. She is the only Mord-Sith at Richard and Kahlan's wedding, and unreservedly moves to Westland in Faith of the Fallen when Richard gives up hope. Cara is among the most affected by Richard's new rule, in that she has learned to truly love others and to be willing to openly show her affection - after a lot of trial and error by using Richard and Kahlan as practice.
Powers and Abilities
Cara is an athletic young woman, with considerable strength for her build. As Mord-Sith she has the ability to wield an Agiel with skill, as well she has the ability to turn any magic against the person using it. She is shown to be a capable fighter taking on several armored soldiers, often wielding two Agiels simultaneously. She is shown turning a wizard's power against him on several occasions, in this sense, it seems that her ability to turn a wizard's magic is limited to bouncing attacks back upon the user. She is also capable of stopping thrown dacras and reversing them back towards the attackers. One of her most useful powers is the "Breath of Life", a Mord-Sith power used to bring back recently killed people to life. There are circumstances in which this power doesn't work, such as if the body is too damaged to save, if their wind-pipe has been severed, or if it has been too long and the body grows cold. Cara is also one of the most agile and able fighters there is. She can quite easily dodge arrows and push other people out of harms way, and she is very quick to kill others in battle.
