History Headscratchers / LegendoftheSeeker

* In the episode ''Brannigan'', Zedd's told by an old flame that he's the father of her son. He denies this, saying he used "[[FantasyContraception magical protection]]" but later admits he didn't use it every time. Kahlan is judging the matter, and he tells her in private a secret he's kept [[spoiler: that he's Richard's grandfather.]] Somehow, she accepts this as proving he isn't the father, even though they have nothing to do with each other. Talk about your {{non sequitur fallacy}}.

** Zedd knows that he isn't the father because he ''did'' use his “magical protection” each time, at least with Allard's mother. The only time he didn't use was when he conceived Richard's mother.

* The previous episode, "Vengeance", has one of the [[StupidSacrifice most pointless sacrifices]] I can recall-Panis sees Zed is about to get Dakraa'd, so he steps in the way ''very slowly'' so that it will hit him instead. If he had that much time to react (seriously, he moves VERY slowly), then why didn't he shout a warning to Zed, or tried to bat it in the way, or AT LEAST tried to jump in so that it wouldn't hit him fatally? Even ignoring that, why didn't Cara bring him back immediately after?

** The eye thing is just special effects-Confession actually works through physical contact, which is why whenever Kahlan confesses someone, she grabs them first (the Con Dar being an acknowledged exception). This is something that might be better explained in the books, but using the Confessor power isn't a deliberate action so much as 'letting go' of the power that Kahlan is constantly holding in, so something like sex would, indeed, make her lose control and accidentally unleash that power on whoever she's in contact with. Other forms of sex that don't cause her to go into "the throws of passion" would be an idea, but are not brought up. [[http://eragon-sporkings.wikispaces.com/Wizard%27s+First+Rule Eragon Sporkings' review]] mentions that if the Confessor's power doesn't return after each use for days (or hours, in Kahlan's case) they could have sex during that time.

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* In the episode "Revenant" the dead wizard Amfortas muses how odd it was that Viviane death did not release Kieran from loving her. While it probably would've lengthened the episode a bit too much, it does irk me that no one mentioned the obvious reason. Kieran already loved her intensely and the confessing that happened was a redundant thing. If memory serves, something similar happens in the books with Richard. Also, why on Earth did Amfortas even bother with binding Kieran? I mean will Kieran stay as a vengeful ghost, or pass on and be with a loved one... Gee though choice.

*** Can you elaborate a bit on this? From what I've seen it's quite obvious Kieran and Viviane had strong feeling for each other even before magic entered the equation. Isn't it the same thing with Richard and Kahlan? I only read a tvtrope article on the latter book couple, so apologies if I got anything wrong.

*** It actually makes a weird kind of sense. Kieran wasn't affected by the Confession from Viviane like Amfortas thought he was. He was in love just like any other person might be, except it showed itself with him being simply off his game (he wanted his loved one to be safe, so he was unfocused in combat; Richard is just a bit more reasonable in that regard). And after she died, it wasn't magic that was preventing the spell from being broken, it was simple grief and rage at what had happened, which drove the Sword of Truth to amplify it beyond all reason. And because he never managed to remaster it like Richard did in ''his'' own rage issue incident, Amfortas killed him. Zed just wasn't willing to kill Richard, so they tried overcoming the Sword's power.

* Why would Kahlan ever use her power in battle? Sure, that one guy would become her meat puppet, but then she'd be completely vunerable to any other enemy for the rest of the fight. She's pretty damn good with those short swords, better off just using them the entire battle.

* How Nicci was handled in the season 2 finale.(Spoilers follow for those who haven't seen it.) Sure, it was awesome finally seeing her in a black dress, but there were too many quirky issues to overlook. First, she's changed to being an OmnicidalManiac who wants to let the Keeper destroy everything so she and Richard can be the last survivors in the world and create a new race in their image. Then, Cara manages to deflect a lightning bolt from her, despite that it was previously established that a sufficiently powerful sorceress can overwhelm a Mord'Sith, and Nicci is the strongest of all of them, plus she has Richard's Han, the most powerful seen in 3000 years. There was no way Nicci could have failed to destroy a Mord'Sith if what we were told previously was true. Plus, isn't anyone catching on to the idea that she is still carrying Richard's Han? That he hasn't gotten it back yet?

* It just now occured to me that Darken Rahl's entire scheme from "Walter" was completely redundant- If he had Walter in his custody for 6 monthes, then why the hell did he wait until that point to execute his whole plan for ressurection? The way the show portrays it, it's as if he's waited until: A) He got his hands on the scroll Richard and co. needed (which he didn't even know existed until the previous episode) and B) For Walter to escape. Of course, this makes no sense, as logically, Rahl would have all the means to ressurect himself (Mord-Sith, Sisters of the Dark) long before this episode. Maybe he had to wait until Kahlan confessed a sister? Since normally ressurecting himself would go against the Keeper's agenda, so the sisters probably wouldn't agree to it so readily, so he had to wait until he had a bargaining chip to convince the Seeker and co. to help him do it? Still, counting on a sister to be confessed ''and'' to have the means to force Richard's hand is one hell of a GambitRoulette...
** Rahl ''wasn't'' planning to be resurrected at first. He might have had Walter kept around as a contingency, but up until the Creator episode, he was perfectly okay with remaining in the Underworld serving the Keeper. It was only after he received the YouHaveFailedMe punishment from the Keeper that he decided it was in his best interests to GTFO--and Walter and the confession of the sister provided that opportunity. He hadn't ''planned'' for it, he was just seizing the chance.
* The previous episode, "Vengeance", has one of the [[StupidSacrifice most pointless sacrifices]] I can recall- Panis sees Zed is about to get Dakraa'd, so he steps in the way ''very slowly'' so that it will hit him instead. If he had that much time to react (seriously, he moves VERY slowly), then why didn't he shout a warning to Zed, or tried to bat it in the way, or AT LEAST tried to jump in so that it wouldn't hit him fatally? Even ignoring that, why didn't Cara bring him back immediately after?

* Incoherence : In one of the last episodes we learn that Darken Rahl was the first baneling, hence his endless bloodlust. But then, we have the events of ''Unbroken'' : Suddenly, Darken Rahl has been able to survive a whole year without, presumably, killing anything or anyone, and certainly not killing on a daily basis the way he used to. Does not compute.

** The eye thing is just special effects--Confession actually works through physical contact, which is why whenever Kahlan confesses someone, she grabs them first (the Con Dar being an acknowledged exception). This is something that might be better explained in the books, but using the Confessor power isn't a deliberate action so much as 'letting go' of the power that Kahlan is constantly holding in, so something like sex would, indeed, make her lose control and accidentally unleash that power on whoever she's in contact with. Other forms of sex that don't cause her to go into "the throws of passion" would be an idea, but are not brought up. [[http://eragon-sporkings.wikispaces.com/Wizard%27s+First+Rule Eragon Sporkings' review]] mentions that, if the Confessor's power doesn't return after each use for days (or hours, in Kahlan's case) they could have sex during that time.

* In the episode ''Brannigan'', Zedd's told by an old flame that he's the father of her son. He denies this, saying he used "[[FantasyContraception magical protection]]" but later admits he didn't use it every time. Kahlan is judging the matter, and he tells her in private a secret he's kept [[spoiler: that he's Richard's grandfather.]] Somehow, she accepts this as proving he isn't the father, even though they have nothing to do with each other. Talk about your {{non sequitur fallacy}}.

** The eye thing is just special effects--Confession actually works through physical contact, which is why whenever Kahlan confesses someone, she grabs them first (the Con Dar being an acknowledged exception). This is something that might be better explained in the books, but using the Confessor power isn't a deliberate action so much as 'letting go' of the power that Kahlan is constantly holding in, so something like sex would, indeed, make her lose control and accidentally unleash that power on whoever she's in contact with. Other forms of sex that don't cause her to go into "the throws of passion" would be an idea, but are not brought up. [[http://eragon-sporkings.wikispaces.com/Wizard%27s+First+Rule Eragon Sporkings' review]] mentions that, if the Confessor's power doesn't return after each use for days (or hours, in Kahlan's case) they could have sex during that period.

** The eye thing is just special effects--Confession actually works through physical contact, which is why whenever Kahlan confesses someone, she grabs them first (the Con Dar being an acknowledged exception). This is something that might be better explained in the books, but using the Confessor power isn't a deliberate action so much as 'letting go' of the power that Kahlan is constantly holding in, so something like sex would, indeed, make her lose control and accidentally unleash that power on whoever she's in contact with. Other forms of sex that don't cause her to go into "the throws of passion" would be an idea, but are not brought up. [[Eragon Sporkings' review http://eragon-sporkings.wikispaces.com/Wizard%27s+First+Rule]] mentions that, if the Confessor's power doesn't return after each use for days (or hours, in Kahlan's case) they could have sex during that period.

** The eye thing is just special effects--Confession actually works through physical contact, which is why whenever Kahlan confesses someone, she grabs them first (the Con Dar being an acknowledged exception). This is something that might be better explained in the books, but using the Confessor power isn't a deliberate action so much as 'letting go' of the power that Kahlan is constantly holding in, so something like sex would, indeed, make her lose control and accidentally unleash that power on whoever she's in contact with.

* As mentioned in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'''s JustBugsMe page, the Sword itself has received a power-down for the purposes of showing cool sword fights. Whenever I, a big fan of the books, although I readily admit that ''Pillars Of Creation'' needs to [[KillItWithFire DIAF]] and Goodkind has a stick up his ass about it not being a "Fantasy" series, see scenes such as the slicing of crossbow bolts from midair, say "Now ''that'' is the Sword of Truth!"
* Why did Sam Raimi feel the need to power everyone down so much? If you're curious as to what I mean, apart from the obvious sword-that-cuts-through-anything part.
** Let's see, the effect of a Confessor's power goes away after her death? Um... no. The entire point is that it is absolute and eternal and it utterly destroys the personality of the one touched. Why say that? Just so that Kahlan can have had some childhood trauma of her hands being bound? Seriously.
*** This makes Kahlan sending the confessed away with instructions to find honest work quite troubling. If she dies, they're no longer confessed and who knows what they'll do then.
*** Wizard's First Rule, p. 565, Kahlan is distraught after Confessing Richard (he'd been disguised by a spell as [[BigBad Darken Rahl]]) and poised to kill herself:
-->'''Richard''': "Don't do that," he whispered.
-->'''Kahlan''' "I must. I love you." Kahlan moaned in misery. "I have touched you with my power. I would rather die than be your mistress. It is the only way to release you."
** Zedd seems to only know a few tricks in the series and is waaay too fond of using Wizard's Fire, which is also a lame version of itself. Wizard's fire is supposed to be practically living, liquid fire that clings to everything it touches and cannot be extinguished unless the original caster cuts it off...and even then that's not a guarantee. Wizard's fire also draws a nice amount of attention. They don't ''want'' to be found, and Zedd is supposed to favor much more devious magic than just "throw a fireball at it".
*** Zedd also favored nonmagical means to solve problems whenever possible. He believed cunning and wit were better than any magic spell and that the reliance on magic was a crutch.
** Chase...if the Chase in the books saw a guy holding his daughter hostage with a knife to her throat, the situation would be resolved within a moment. He'd give a subtle signal to his daughter, who'd acknowledge it subtly...and the D'Haran soldier would've found a knife through his eyeball before he suspected communication. Y'know, if Chase's wife hadn't already dispatched him before her hubby got home.
** I understand trying to reduce Richard's MarySue-ness from the books, since that is one of the things that annoys most of the complainers, but does he have to carry the IdiotBall 95% of the time? Ooh, I've been caught in a rabbit trap and my sword fell out of it's scabbard. Um...knife? You're an f*ing woods guide, pull out your knife and cut yourself down. Oh, hey, look Kahlan kicked your sword up to you...reach up and cut yourself down...please...it'll take less time and be less dangerous than trying to swordfight upside down while a targeting-challenged wizard in a stressful situation tries to burn you down.
* Ok...what was with the VerySpecialEpisode about drugs? I'm talking about "Elixir" if you're wondering. There are so many many other social messages contained within the pages of the books, why did you need to hit that one so early? The thought doesn't show up until ''late'' in the third book, and that's with a bit of an addiction to the invisibility cloak of the Mriswith, which is specifically designed to be addicting. In the same episode, you introduce the Quillan...probably one of the darkest, most disgusting pieces of magic in the entire series...as a simple sort of magic-sucker. Do you know how one takes the magic away from a Wizard? It's not a simple matter of killing him with that thing near, nor any sort of incantation. No...you need to skin him alive...slowly. What does a Rada'Han do? It enables the one who put it on you/made you put it on to suppress your magic and give you pain...sometimes enough to kill you and is almost impossible to get off on your own, although Zedd figures out how in the books. With these two truly horrendous things introduced in this episode...the bad part is the drugs? Puh-leaze.
* AdrenalineTime and BulletTime are all well and good, but there is such a thing as overuse of it. There are times that I want to just punch Sam Raimi (whom I do like) in the face and say, "PICK A F*ING SPEED."
** The answer to a good number of those is: "It is not the books." If you can accept that they're going to change things for practical reasons (animating Wizard's Fire as it's described in the books would be ''very'' expensive, for one example), that solves a lot of problems. As for Elixir, it wasn't that magic was physically "addicting," it was that people were relying on it to solve all their problems. As for Zedd...watch "Puppeteer." As for Richard not reaching up with his knife, do you know how hard it is to do a sit-up while you're hanging upside down? How about folding yourself completely in half, which is what he'd have had to do to cut that rope with a knife. It's a lot harder than you'd think.\\
I think I have to agree with you on the AdrenalineTime[=/=]BulletTime thing, though. It's a bit overused.
** And on the subject of death ending the Confessor's spell, toward the end of the first book, Kahlan says, when she thinks she's confessed Richard, that her death is "The only way you'll be free." I don't recall whether the later books specifically say otherwise, though.
*** I was also under the impression that death of the confessor released the spell on the confessed. I'm sure there was a musing on this when the previously confessed guy she had turned into a wolf turned up. Plus it doesn't actually destroy the person, just adds an overriding love of the confessor, the guy who hid his confessor daughter should show that. The thing that bugs me about Kahlan is that she is only supposed to call the Con Dar in defense of Richard, but in the show i'm sure she's done it when she was just angry.
*** Nope. Every time she's called on the Con Dar has been in the defense of Richard.

More to come as others add and I finish watching what's out of the show.
* So, what's with Richard? He's a MemeticBadass in the books, and is afflicted with ThouShaltNotKill syndrome here. In fact, it seems they've changed the political bias pretty much completely, making it an {{Anvilicious}} liberal story rather than the conservative one presented in the books. I can get making things more family-friendly since they're airing it on WGN and not HBO (though that's a WallBanger in and of itself), but complete and utter emasculation of all the main characters ''and'' the story itself is not the way to go here.
** "ThouShaltNotKill"? Richard kills easily a dozen or so people every time he pulls out his sword, for starters. And what are you talking about "complete and utter emasculation"? Are you watching the same show I am?
*** If you're talking about {{Mooks}}, it doesn't count. But when the ''main'' VillainOfTheWeek is just allowed to escape alive, considering how slowly he would have died had Terry Goodkind been in charge, it's a WallBanger.
*** Again, are we watching the same show? I can remember once or twice when Richard's "allowed" the main villain to escape, and one of those times was when he'd spent the whole episode getting to know him and his family. Other times, they escape because Richard's simply not in a position to finish them off. And before that part where he met the commander's family, he was perfectly willing to use those magic devices to wipe out the whole base.\\
\\
Hell, let's go through the episodes:\\
1+2, Prophecy and Destiny: He pretty clearly kills the villain, after trying to do so for the whole time.\\
3, Bounty: Traps the bounty hunters in a cave with a monster that he knows will kill and eat them.\\
4, Brennidon: Richard participates in killing every D'Haran in the town.\\
5, Listener: Dunno if he specifically kills the captain, but he does do his best to kill as many as he can, and he's got the added concern of taking care of the kid as mitigating circumstances if the guy did get away.\\
6, Elixir: The wizard doesn't die, no, but he is depowered, and he's also an old friend of Zedd's. If it was an old friend of Zedd's who was still a threat, that's one thing, but at that point, you're executing some guy who can no longer defend himself.\\
7, Identity: The only reason Nass gets away is because the whole place started exploding at an inopportune time.\\
8, Denna: Richard clearly and graphically stabs Denna through the stomach, killing her. Just because she didn't stay dead doesn't matter.\\
9, Puppeteer: Richard doesn't see Rahl face to face. Zedd was focused on getting the box, and couldn't have tipped his hand in attacking Rahl without getting killed himself.\\
10, Sacrifice: The villain dies here too, sure, not by Richard's hand, but that's not for a lack of trying.\\
11, Confession: The bad guy is run through by Richard, if I'm not mistaken.\\
12, Home: It's a clipshow, Richard doesn't really have an adversary to face.\\
13, Revenant: The villain's already dead, and possessing Richard most of the time.\\
14, Hartland: The villain is confessed, which renders him as good as dead, and useful to boot.\\
15, Conversion: Rahl escapes, but again, not for lack of trying on Richard's part. If he'd been a split second faster, this would've been a shorter season.\\
16, Bloodline: Okay, Richard ''does'' let Denna go here, on to a life of hiding, knowing that if she ever surfaces again, Rahl will have her killed. Plus, he was feeling (understandably) remorseful after his experience with Orden.\\
17, Deception: The aforementioned magic devices. He lets the villain live because he met his family, and learned he's not a dog raping bastard, and some guys on the other side are NotSoDifferent.\\
18, Mirror: They don't kill the "villains," but tell me that letting a two-bit thief be tortured to death by D'Harans because she looks like Zedd isn't a little bit harsh.\\
19, Cursed: The villains are torn apart by the Calthrop, and Richard was quite earnestly trying to kill them before he's capture.\\
20, Sanctuary: Priority here is getting the copy of the Book of Counted Shadows, and therefore, the goal is to escape, not generate a body count.\\
21, Fever: No 'main' villain, except Rahl, whom Richard never sees up close. He does kill a dozen soldiers though.\\
22, Reckoning: Richard kills Rahl (after a fashion). He lets Cara go because they came to an understanding. Also, because he was ''still'' outnumbered by Mord-Sith, and attacking them would be suicide.\\
\\
So, let's review...22 episodes, and in the majority, the villain is either killed, confessed, or is Darken Rahl, who obviously can't be killed until the last one. If the villain gets away, it's because of circumstances beyond Richard's control, or because he's come to an understanding with that person in particular.
** The Objectivist stuff doesn't show up until the fifth or sixth book in the series. ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'' is based on the first book, which was written, you know, ''before'' Goodkind got high on Ayn Rand.
*** Richard's still far more willing to ShootTheDog in the first book than he is in the first season of the TV series. And Kahlan even moreso.

* Can they get rid of the slow motion? This troper prefers sword fights without the slo-mo to emphasize how very cool they are, thanks.

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