"Wizard's First Rule: People are stupid" - Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander

Wizard's First Rule has been, by far, my favorite book of all-time since reading it back in high school. And even though I always laughed at what the first rule was from the Sword of Truth novels - this project has helped me think back on what it really means for me.

The past nine months have been interesting for me. I'm in my mid-late twenties trying to figure out things, I'm also getting married to the man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with and learning to face all the things I didn't in my past. Lastly, I recently learned that my body cannot breakdown certain vitamins - vitamins that are important to helping with building happy chemicals, helping with my nerves and mood, etc. At the end of it though, even with super supplements and counseling, it's me that will come out of this with who I want to be and doing what I want to do. But one of my biggest lessons from this has been that I can get in my own way. That sometimes I try to sabotage my good things because the thought of losing something good is worse than actually trying, having something great, and potentially never losing it save death. I need to believe more in myself and learn to knock down the past and pop culture expectations, even if it tries to rear it's head.

So this quote actually has come back in a more meaningful way than I remember back then. And I'm so grateful for this exercise!

Excerpt from Book:

"Wizard's First Rule: people are stupid." Richard and Kahlan frowned even more. "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.

"Because of Wizards First Rule, the old wizards created Confessors, and Seekers, as a means of helping find the truth, when the truth is important enough. Darken Rahl knows the Wizard's Rules. He is using the first one. People need an enemy to feel a sense of purpose. It's easy to lead people when they have a sense of purpose. Sense of purpose is more important by far than the truth. In fact, truth has no bearing in this. Darken Rahl is providing them with an enemy, other than himself, a sense of purpose. People are stupid; they want to believe, so they do."

—Chapter 36, p.560, U.S. paperback edition

Brainstorming (10/17):

When I think of Wizard's First Rule, I think of what people will believe when they want to. Rose colored glasses and their head stuck in the clouds. I went through my first brainstorm today, but will take another stab at it.

Reference Material (10/17):

Working on mood boards and thinking about the feeling, I've been working through a few mental blocks. I have a lot of directions I want to go in, but am currently working on whittling it down.

I love the mob mentality feel for this idea. The uniting as one even if it's something someone wants to believe in when they don't. I remember the scene from Beauty and the Beast vividly and included that as a reference image.

I also thought about the Old World, the land that the Sword of Truth novels work in (Westland, D'hara, and the Midlands). Somehow my mind has gone to maps and old bound books from going in that direction and I'm currently thinking of designing my piece around park patches.

Lettering Warmups (10/17):

I'm really in love with the more ornate lettering and the thicker examples I worked on in my warmup. But I want to continue working on warmups. I want to try a curved example, not there yet!

Erin Ali

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