the importance of siblings

Richard really loved his brother Michael, and it pained him greatly to be betrayed by him... then he found Drefas his half brother, again this brother brings him terrible pain... having experienced the pain a brother can bring why do you suppose he always wondered if he would ever be able to find any of the other childrend his father Darken Rahl had fathered? and why do you suppose he always wondered if he could have a good relationship with them?

I think he always want to meet his half relatives (brothers and sisters) 'cause he trust people and even if three of his half brothers (there is also Oba do you remember him?) bring him a lot of pain he knows that in the world there is at least one of his relatives that isn't tainted by the keeper and finally he find Jennsen his half sister and he loves her a lot. He always wondered if he could have a good relationship with them 'cause his family is all in the "other world" but Zedd and he wants to have a real family whit him not only his wife but also his relatives. This is my opinion but what is yours?

richard is a good person and as such aways wanted to believe that some of his step brothers and sisters might also have goodness in thier hearts... you are right... richard values family and family life but most of all i think he was looking for a relationship sort of like the one he had with michael as they were growing up... of course michael ended up betraying him... but while richard thought michael love him as much as he loved michael, richard thrived in this love... i think richard wanted to find a brother or sister that would love him as much as he knew he would be capable of loving them...

You are right and your vision is more complete than my it's always very interesting exchanging opinions with people that love this series like me

but what do you think made jensen so different from the other rahl offsprings?

Well I think that jennsen is the only one who had a good mother that gave her the right life's teachings. In fact Drefan thinks his mother was a bitch and Oba thinks his mother was a bastard and a stupid person. What about you?

yes drefan did not see his mother as a good person... but he was raised by rag mos (sp) and was taught right from wrong, he was taught to respect life and care for it... so why did he turn out so evil? the priests gave him a good foundation... he should have been a good person... but instead was very evil and twisted... why???

Uhmmm..... the question is great.
Well Goodkind didn't say it yet. But I think that the situation was like that:

The priests was very severe in their teachings so the only one who can understand our little Drefan was the voice in his head (the keeper). He one time gave up to the voice and later he hasn't the strength to rebel against it.

This is my opinion about what really happened to him what do you think about it?

i knew it would come back to hunt me... i believe there's a little evil in every one... the trick is never giving in to it... although the easiest path in life is to give into evil and run free and with out caring about your actions... and to only derive pleasure from them... ~that's why we have so much crime in the world~

drefan, because he saw his mother as evil -- a bitch, a hore -- gives in to the voice of the keeper because he believes that because his mother was evil that is the only way he can be. he is one that gave in to the little evil inside him...

please remember that this is only my opinion...

The human mind is very complicated and no one could know exactly what are other people think and it's the reason we cannot know why Jennsen was the only good (after Richard of course) person in that very strange family and the others were so bad people....

you make a good point that keeps you safe... why not make some suppositions... run free with some ideas that might have influenced these people's actions... don't always take a safe stance... go out an a limb...

well I think the case of Oba talk by itself and it's useless to talk about it.

The other two case (jennsen and Drefan) are very different each other.
jennsen grew up with the love of her mother and I think it helped her to not give in to the voice and of course her mother teached her the right things of the life like respect,love, justice and so on...
Drefan instead grew up without his mother's love,and I think it is the worst thing that could happen to a child, or at least he understood this (I think his mother loved him a lot and that's why she left him with the priest: to offer him a better life), and in the difficult periods of his life (like adolescence) without anybody (familiars) taking care of him he found a friend in the voice and gave in to it only to feel better than before.

yes jensen did have a good mother that taught her right from wrong, but hatred could have taken over when her mother was killed by the imaginary quad... -- sebastian and his men -- there are plenty of people in the world that have good mothers and are taught right from wrong, but they chose evil... what is it that made jensen so different and made her stay on road of good? was it only the teachings of her mother or was there something else? after all the voice was with her since she was a very small child... why did she not listen to it once her mother was killed?

uhmmmm.... I think she was similar to Richard. I explaine it better, well living with her mother she, one way or another, came to love her own life and loving it, she recognize that gave in to the voice was like let others live your life instead of you. what do you think???

i like your explanation... but many times jensen became so tired of running, always running for fear of getting killed by her father darken rahl... didn't she sometimes wish for death to catch up with her? doesn't this contradict the recognition of loving ones own life and wanting to live it?

if you remember also Kahlan in "Wizard's first rule" in an occasion wanted to die. Does kahlan love her life or not????
There are sometimes period in that someone wants to die but I think it means that they don't love their life

ok, we can call it a moment of weakness... but how was she similar to richard?

I think that everyone who recognize, as Richard himself, the importance of Life and want to fight against who tried to rule him/her is similar to Richard

but is richard always fighting for the right things?

Oh I didn't say it. He fighted for what he believed right. The perception of what is right and what is wrong is absolutely subjective. IMO i think that gather all the people of the New World under the same flag is the right thing to do in this situation

so you agree with his self appointed dictatorship? you agree with him forcing the people to do as he wishes? you agree with all the sactions and other rules he imposes on the people? don't you see him bit as a power hungry person?

I only think that the law is necessary to human beings and his own is better than the Order's one

yes laws are important for order... and possibly his is better initially, but do you see how power hungry he is? power feeds him

I think power feed every ruler but in a way he seems less power hungry than Jagang or Darken

so you agree that he is power hungry?

yes but it isn't a wrong thing (of course it becomes wrong when someone exaggerates) IMO everyone in his mind is power hungry do you agree with me???

no... i've never had hunger for power... any kind of power... so right there is one exception... why is power hunger not wrong?

Because I think that sometimes one can,being power hungry, do the things to be done in a better way

give me at least two examples... because i'm not convinced that any power hungry person has done good... except better himself/herself at the expense of others

well in works if you aren't a little power hungry you work badly, and in school if you aren't a little power hungry you remain in the crowd