Why Is Terry Goodkind Controversial? 

I don’t mean to start drama. This is just a detailed explanation of why I will not be reviewing his works on the channel.

"What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy." ...but, I thought you didn't write fantasy?

why is he called Goodkind, when hes Badrude

"It's either about magic or a world-building. I don't do either." What a hilarious self-own

“Because terry needed a dragon.” How dare you sir, we ALL need an emotional support dragon in these trying times 😂

Just a reminder, the main character in his books makes a statue so pretty it destroys communism.

My goodness, I had no idea he was like this.

Pratchett is too perfect, a bad terry had to exist to balance it out.

I’m confused. How can Terry have “irrevocably changed the face of fantasy” when he doesn’t write fantasy?

Terry is fantastic at inventing his own reality. Too bad he can’t do that in his books...

He sounds like the “not like the other girls” version of fantasy authors

The irony of him mocking Jordan's illness is that Terry himself died only a year after this video was published.

Terry: "I've changed the world of fantasy literature forever with my outstanding and remarkable writing! No other writer will ever be able to recreated something as great as my books, they'll only TRY to copy it, while everyone else carves for more of writing!" Me: I just literally found out this guy existed.

"if you notice a similarity, then you probably aren't old enough to read my books" So your target demographic is elderly people with Alzheimer's?

Terry: I don't write fantasy. Also Terry: I've changed the face of fantasy! 🤦🤦🤦

“I don’t write fantasy” “I’ve changed the face of fantasy”

"I refuse to learn a single thing about Fantasy, which is how I know I am the best the genre has ever seen."

Terry goodkind: I've changed fantasy. Raised the standarts... me: Who the hell is Terry Goodkind?

The irony of his last name.

Not gonna lie, I clicked on this video because the thumbnail made me think the title was: Why is Terry Goodkind?

"No one's slick as Gaston..." is all I can think about Terry.

Tywin Lannister: Any man who must say, "I am the King", is no true king. Any writer who must say he is great is no true writer. LOL

His attitude reminds me of Gilderoy Lockhart in a way. "Why yes I know a great author with loads of talent, me, I highly enjoyed my book." He probably has portraits of himself all over his house. God's gift to literature that one

My initial reaction was to defend Terry, as The Sword of Truth Series was one of my first (and most enjoyable) forays into fantasy novels, however, when I think about it (after your good point), he built his main character (Richard) into a legendary 'War Wizard' but, by the end of the series (dozen+ books) he never at any point was in control of his abilities bar one fleeting moment. I hung on to the series in the hope that he would at least realise his full potential towards the end (like Rand) but it never happened and I wondered why. Snobbery and the inability to create a magic system seems to be the answer. As for the rest of the video, quite shocked and disappointed to learn that Terry was like this. Dampens my thoughts on the series.

Based on the first three minutes of writing style review, it sounds like he promotes Ayn Rand's philosophy the exact same way Ayn Rand promotes it: writing novels where the characters randomly jump into a three chapter monologue about why it is the best.

_"My primary interest is in telling stories that are fun to read and make people think. That puts my books in a genre all of their own."_ The man is a living self-parody. He's a pure embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

I am aware of the existence of Terry Goodkind since 20 minutes ago, when I started watching this video. I hate Terry Goodkind.

Terry is the guy in your friend group that you try to like and help out but they always say cringy things at the worst possible time.

I heard he died in 2020. I went to the doctor in 2020 and my doctor told me that I have the heart of an alive person.

Wizard's First Rule is what you read when you have to know about twenty other fantasy books and the test is tomorrow.

Just say "ubermensch" already.

"Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It's either about magic or world-building. I don't do either." Goodkind did nothing but world-building in Wizard's First Rule, and Stone of Tears is literally about Richard (the main protagonist) learning to control his gift of magic before it kills him. Does he even write his own books?

There is an irony to a man claiming to have the heart of a 16-year-old dying at the age of 72.

He likes perfect characters with no flaws because he can relate.

When I clicked on this video, I was confused. "How is Terry Goodkind controversial?" Then I realized that I had mixed up T Goodkind and T Pratchett.

He sounds like the Steven Seagal of novelists. I can imagine him announcing to people that he's just finished reading the greatest book he'd ever read, and when they ask who wrote it he would reply dramatically, "I did!"

"Now let's look into Terry Goodkind's ego." Looks at video and there's only 15 minutes left. That is not enough time to go into his ego.

"Leave Terry Goodkind alone. Who he is is punishment enough."

I seen somewhere someone called him “Terry Badmean” 😂

I'm convinced Goodkind has never read a fantasy-book in his life. At most he has read the wikipedia pages of the genre-definiction and most popular series. You can just smell the narcisism from his answers.

Terry: idolizes Ayn Rand’s work Terry: writes unlikable characters who give long hectoring monologues Yup, checks out

Goodkind's ego aside, props to you for spotlighting an amazing artist who definitely deserved better. Artists don't have it easy, and this sort of situation could honestly have hurt him career-wise

That thumbnail makes him look like the weekly villain in a Highlander TV episode.

Years ago now, the artist who did the cover for his book that he then dragged online, actually reached out to me on GR to ask questions about another author's books. Her books didn't happen to have very many reviews at the time and of the few there were I had written several. He didn't have the time to read the book he was designing the cover for (not uncommon, deadlines are pain for all creatives if we're honest), but it was important to him to include imagery relevant to the story so he reached out to me to ask for some synopses. I was delighted to help and it really underpinned that he took the story seriously and had respect for both the author and the readers. I absolutely believe that he worked diligently with the publisher to create the cover for that book and Goodkind was wildly out of line with his nonsense post.

My "favorite" use of magic to just make things happen that Goodkind wanted to happen was a scene where he had Kahlan stuck in a pit full of rapists. She took one of them over with her power, and then for something like 12 hours straight she had to rely on him alone to protect her from getting raped and it was very harrowing and scary. But... her powers were supposed to regenerate every hour. She should have been able to take over 12 more dudes. Goodkind conveniently forgot about this just to make the story more rapey. The way his magic worked conveniently changed all the time.

"the man who must brag for himself knows no one else will"

Why did you even include the word 'controversial'? "Why is Terry Goodkind" would have sufficed. Answer: "There is no good reason for Terry Goodkind".

When I was a kid I used to read all kinds of fantasy. I read hundreds of fantasy books between the ages of 10-15, and there were only two authors I disliked so much that I recoil from the name. One of them was Terry Goodkind. As far as fantasy goes, reading his books is like eating raw oats.

A person to rate his own book the highest is exactly the type of person you’d expect to adore Ayn Rand

I got my room mate who likes Ayn Rand to read Wizard's First Rule and even he didn't like it. Also, when I showed him the picture of Terry on the back cover of the book he said he looks like the kind of person who legitimately believes that you need a high IQ to understand Rick and Morty.

Just to add insult to injury, it's likely Robert Jordan's Amyloidosis was related to his service in Vietnam. So, a Combat Veteran (whether you endorse the war or not) who served his country honorably, was likely exposed to toxic levels of Agent Orange that may have ultimately led to his succumbing to Amyloidosis, the disease that took his life. And...Terry Goodkind thought he'd let everyone know he had the heart of a sixteen year old. Thanks for the update there, Terry.

Lmao he even admitted he can’t world build!

He is right that ayn rand is also a fantasy author. She imagined that libertarians did anything, which is quite the fantasy.

Entitlement, *check* Delusions of Grandiosity, *check* Believing the rest of the world is lame, and he is the "Chosen One", *check* Lack of empathy, *check* *Narcissistic Personality Disorder intensifies*

I always love a good roast on terry goodkind Edit, after watching: Daniel, you’re SO respectful! It’s why we love you so much. Even when you’re dragging Goodkind through the dirt you do it ....politely? And calmly. It’s very nice and entertaining to watch. And thank you for standing your ground in not giving this douche any more spotlight than he already has.

Terry Goodkind is the embodiment of the "don't ever meet your heroes, they will disappoint you". I enjoyed the Sword of Truth and the subsequent Nicci books more or less for what they were. Admittedly, Terry was on a single track after writing Faith of the Fallen, which for me was his best book. After that, he seemed to delve into just constantly hashing out the same things over and over and over again. I will not deny that it was a struggle to read the last 5-6 books from the main Sword of Truth series. Still, I appreciated his writing for what it was, even if it got worse over time. Somehow I missed that he passed away back in September, which is sad. Then again at 72, he wrote a ton of books, raced a lot of cars and enjoyed his life. It is sad to think that his perpetual "foot in mouth" is what so many will remember him for. He is hardly the first author that was a pretentious jerk and he will not be the last. He just had the misfortune of being so in the social media age where his words were magnified and followed him everywhere. RIP

The only thing i knew about Terry Goodkind was his books were all but guaranteed to be found where second hand books were sold, and they were usually the thickest ones on the shelf, almost obnoxiously so. And it looks i now have even more reason to skip them

Honestly he has a ponytail and he insulted Robert Jordan so that's just about enough for me.

Petition for his name to be changed to Terry Badrude.

Oh god, I confused Terry Goodkind with Terry Pratchett (I’m making my way through Discworld now) and I got really scared for a minute.

I had no idea that he was such a horrible person. Mocking Robert Jordan was the last straw for me. Pathetic.

I guess when Malfoy told Harry to stick with the Goodkind, Harry made the right choice to decline...

7:50 that "nevermind" is probably one of the most authentic moments I've seen in a long time.

I watched this video over a year ago now and I still scowl at his books when I see them in any bookstore. I'm always standing there thinking "he is neither good nor kind"

I think it's neat that Terry Goodkind took time from his writng schedule to hit the dislike button 675 times.

My eyes have never rolled so far back into my head good GOD. Terry Goodkind is the Onision of authors.

Guys, if you gonna recommend the man a Terry in the future, please recommend him Terry Prachett instead. That's the good Terry, that's the Terry who deserves all our love and respect. Not only was he a really good writer but back when he was alive, he was some of the most wholesome writers around. This Terry though, this Terry's an insult. Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna bleach my brain with The Other Wind by Ursula K.LeGuin.

It was when reading a Sword of Truth book that I had the thought "Of course things went badly, you didn't do what the maguffin man told you to do..." And that was when I went from "Perhaps it gets better as they gain experience" to "I'm done"

Terry Goodkind : They have elements of romance, history, adventure, mystery, and philosophy. Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It's either about magic or world-building Me: Erm... isn't history and philosophy technically PART of world-building?

"What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy." My dude, the Inheritance Cycle has done more for the genre of fantasy than you ever will, but you probably don't even consider that literature because it was written by someone under the age of 25.

Terry: ”Most characters today are pathetic and reprehensible and I don’t write like that” Also Terry: writes the human equivalent of a trash can and frames them as a hero

The worst part about his books is how many war crimes his characters commit. They aren't even presented as necessary evil, Terry goes out of his way to glorify them

I'm glad he explicitly said his works aren't fantasy. If they were, they'd be a disgrace to the genre.

“If you notice a similarity, you’re probably not old enough to read my books.” Ok boomer.

"Most fantasy stories focus on worldbuilding" EVERY STORY HAS WORLDBUILDING ITS A FUNDAMENTAL OF WRITING UNLESS YOUR BOOK TAKES PLACE IN THE WHITESPACE VOID

I only just finished the Mistborn series a month ago, and that is my first introduction to fantasy, I am planning on reading more of the Cosmere and if I enjoy it, I hope to try out other fantasy series. I can’t really talk for other books, so I will only compare it to Mistborn, but when you read the bit about Terry Goodkind saying that his books have “romance, history, adventure, mystery and philosophy,” I noticed that you could literally tick every one of those for Mistborn. •Romance (Vin and Elend, Sazed and Tindwyl, Spook and Beldre, Breeze and Allrianne). •History (come on, everything to do with the Lord Ruler, Alendi, Ruin and Preservation and the Terris people). •Adventure (taking over an ‘immortal god’, killing an army of big blue giants, finding the Well of Ascension, travelling to find storage caches to find out a way to defeat Ruin). •Mystery (Kelsier, the Lord Ruler, Ruin and Preservation, everything about the Kandra, Zane and Inquisitors). •Philosophy (literally everything about Ham, and Sazed with his great advice and knowledge on religion, as well as the Crews ideals and ways of helping and dealing with things). Magic and word building is just an added bonus.

Reader: "I noticed a similarity...." TG, against all natural philosophy: "NOTICING SIMILARITIES IS FOR CHILDREN, NOT A NATURAL HUMAN FUNCTION. I WRITE ABOUT IMPORTANT HUMAN STORIES AND KNOW ALL ABOUT WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN, WHICH IS WHY MY CHARACTERS DO NOT NOTICE SIMILARITIES OR PATTERNS IN THE LITERATURE THEY READ, NOR SHOULD YOU."

"That puts my books in a genre all their own" Who wants to tell him sub-par to middling fantasy is common enough to be its own sub-genre already? Terry, buddy, you ain't some author blessed with divine inspiration. You're just a writer with an ego that far outstrips your talent

To be fair having a character stop the plot to serve up the author's political diatribes is very representative of Ayn Rand.

I appreciate how much time you spend describing how you’re trying to give an objective description but you just can’t avoid how much you hate this guy.

"What I have done with my work has irrevocably changed the face of fantasy." ... wait, does he think he's J.R.R. Tolkien? Or maybe J.K Rowling? (I know she's actively creating her own downfall now, but that doesn't change what she did in the past for the MG & YA fantasy genre with the original HP series.) But seriously, who the hell does he think he is?

For a second I thought you were talking about Terry Pratchett... but thankfully your talking about the thief of ideas

3:04 oh and that red dragon’s name is Scarlet. We’re on that level of creativity.

He is the Steven segal of book writers.

Dude, I went to his Facebook page and read his backpedaling apology (for insulting that cover artist), and he claims it was all a misunderstanding. The comment section is roasting him 😂😂

Because his entire work is copyright infringement of Robert Jordan.

Many artists will very proudly recognize the works that inspired them, good artists will even humbly admit that their inspiration is better than their own work. Terry very proudly says that his inspiration is for ignorant children.

Despite being a total tool, there are two things I would positively attribute to Goodkind. He was really good at dealing with publishers, and his example resulted in a lot of people who would otherwise never have been published finding an "in," and the guy had Sanderson-esque work ethic. There was never any question that he was going to finish his series in a timely manner.

"That puts them in a genre all in their own." WOW, TERRY!!!!!!!!!!

"All in all, he's just another guy who likes to hear himself talk. Despite what he says, nothing separates his work from the average modern fantasy author, and like them, his greatest failing is the complete lack of self-awareness that overwhelms his themes, plots, and characters."

I NEVER knew he was so terrible. My first exposure to how vile he was happened to be the cover incident. Wow.

Terry was neither good nor kind that I could tell.

It's pretty hilarious how he'd copy elements of Wheel of Time, then say "If you noticed a similarity, you're not old enough to read my book" lol

Sooooooo I'm guessing brandon sanderson won't be finishing the sword of truth series??? 😅

By Goodkind's logic, Dostoyevsky is probably the worst writer to ever live.....

Wow, that comment about having the heart of a strong 16 year old boy didn't age well.

Terry is a good source material for an antagonist that I am building in a sense that he preaches moral values of mankind all the while keeping his immoral attitude held high. In other words, the guy is a jerk.

4:06 "It would be profitable for me to dive deeper into Sword of Truth... I'm not going to." That's some integrity, there. Good on you. Sincerely.

So what your saying is that Terry Goodkind is neither good nor kind

Loved a lot of The Sword of Truth series. But then it goes on repeat mode. Save rescue save rescue. But my friends met and bonded on these books and he mailed the first one to him w/ their story asked for an autograph and he did that and wrote a special note of congratulations to them.