Naked Empire is the eighth book in Terry Goodkind's epic fantasy series The Sword of Truth.

They find an ancient boundary protecting the Bandakar Empire from outside invaders came down two years past and now the Imperial Order has occupied this nation of frail-minded people.

In the middle of the night, a shadow of a man could be seen with the ravens, his outline betrayed by the swirling sand and grit.

Arriving in the Bandakar lands, he finds them stunted intellectually and culturally, embracing a philosophy of aggressive passivity, allowing themselves to be dominated entirely by the Order.

Richard discovers that the Bandakar are the long lost descendants of the House of Rahl's pristinely ungifted children, banished across the boundaries to the Old World three thousand years ago.

Richard demands to meet their leader and is shocked to discover that the Wise One is merely a blindfolded child indoctrinated in their beliefs, as they believed that innocent children could not lead them astray.

(Translated from "Talga Vassternich" in High D'Haran, a literary fictional language)It is explained in the novel as follows: "Be justified in your convictions.