* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:Some fans question what took place in the alternate timeline of "Reckoning". Is it possible Darken Rahl actually began to love Kahlan for real? When his reluctant wife was shown pregnant and he mentioned that she made him happier than he ever was, was he gloating or showing genuine joy? Was his pinching his newborn son to make him cry to keep Kahlan from killing his heir for power or to keep the idea of having a family from falling apart? Kahlan mentioned he was going to kill her after their son's birth, but didn't. Was it so she could raise their son or did he truly start to love her? Of course, they both die and Richard averts this timeline, so it remains unclear to some]].
* ClicheStorm: The show is a fantasy cliche ''hurricane''. However, many of its fans cite this as why they love the show so much.
* CompleteMonster:
** [[EvilOverlord Darken Rahl]], the BigBad of season 1 and TheDragon to The Keeper in season 2, orders a [[WouldHurtAChild mass infanticide]], kills any he deems a threat, and tortures innocent peasants to keep his dark power. Rahl is also especially fond of blood sacrifices, using the blood as ink to pen notices and spells. Rahl also unleashes a plague on his own people in an attempt to [[FrameUp blame]] [[TheHero Richard]] and cause the people to turn against him. Throughout the series, Rahl is shown as nothing more than pure, unadulterated evil.
** "Reckoning": [[OverlordJr Nicholas Rahl]] is Darken's son in a BadFuture where the latter married Kahlan. Nicholas [[MindControl Confesses]] his [[EnfantTerrible childhood]] playmate and forces him to cut off his own fingers, just because the latter refused to play with the same toys and games as Nicholas. When Kahlan noticed what her son was becoming and pointed it out, Nicholas stopped his father from executing her, wanting to kill her himself. [[SelfMadeOrphan After executing his own mother, Nicholas proceeded to murder his father]]. He ordered his father's former servants to destroy the land and kill anyone who refused to be Confessed by him. When Richard Cypher arrives in the future, nearly the whole world has been either killed or Confessed by Nicholas, except for a few peasants who were hiding and regard Nicholas as even worse than his father.
* EngagingChevrons: When Kahlan uses her MindControl "Confession" power on a person the first time, the clouds part, the sky darkens, thunder rumbles, her eyes go black, and she passes out for nearly a minute. Averted, in that the production quickly tones it down for subsequent uses. By the second season, she barely breaks her stride.
* FanficFuel: The events of what Kahlan went through in "Reckoning" is a popular topic in fanfiction. [[spoiler:The wedding, the moment she choose to sleep with Rahl, the time of her pregnancy and whether or not she or Rahl ever developed feelings for each other is never shown so this gets featured]].
* GrowingTheBeard: The first two episodes are rather rushed, basically cramming the first third of [[Literature/SwordOfTruth the original book,]] ''Wizard's First Rule'', into an hour and a half of screen time. The rest of the episodes have a more relaxed pace, and are a substantial improvement. In the premiere of the second season, this trope took a literal approach as well (Richard actually grew a beard.)
** The second season marks a noticeable improvement. The series becomes darker and there is much more suffering for both the main cast and the people around them. The D'Haran army, now leaderless, has turned to pillaging and terrorizing villages and towns, each commander fashioning himself into a warlord. There is also some (very welcomed) character development, especially with regards to Richard: he no longer carries the IdiotBall all the time and at several points displays downright tactical genius (tracking the movements of invisible wizard-monsters by the tracks they leave in the mud; the way he both had the Sister of the Dark captured AND got out of the Sisters of the Light's monastery). The addition of Cara to the main cast also improved the series, since she is not only eye candy but has an interesting character development arc of her own.
* JerkassWoobie: Renn, in his first appearance. His upbringing as what amounts to a treasured slave has left him at once [[SpoiledBrat spoiled rotten]] ''and'' heartbreakingly resigned to the fact that no one ever cares about him as anything other than a means to an end. [[TookALevelInKindness He gets better]] from learning from the example of the heroes and later the Sisters of the Light.
* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Cara is frequently shipped with Richard, Kahlan, Denna, Dahlia, Nicci, Rahl and several other Mord'Sith. Sometimes, she'll be shipped with [[OneTrueThreesome two characters at once]].
* LesYay
** The two Mord-Sith with speaking roles in the second season opener, one of them played by Creator/CharismaCarpenter.
** Cara's [[GoodFeelsGood emotional growth]] through season 2 has centered mostly on her growing friendship with Kahlan, and generated a strong [[SlashFic femslash following]].
** After several teasing shots of the Mord-Sith giving each other sponge baths, the two in question kiss in a later scene. Can also qualify as FanService. Cara's reaction to Triana's death in the Season One finale might suggest more to that relationship in the show, especially in light of "Eternity" and Cara's canon relationship with Dahlia. Let's just say the Sisters of the Agiel are all really close "friends".
* OneTrueThreesome: Richard/Kahlan/Cara. Sometimes Dahlia will either replace Richard or be added to make the trio a quartet.
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Young Zedd is [[Series/{{Revenge}} Nolan Ross]].
** The season one episode “Confession” was Creator/CarenPistorius' acting debut before she became an indie actress.
** Before ''Series/IZombie'', Creator/RoseMcIver played Alice, the nurse maid to Kahlen and Darkhen's child, and a member of the resistance, in the alternate timeline when Richard disappeared into the future.
** Before his starring roles ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast2012'' and ''Film/ItChapterTwo'', Creator/JayRyan made an appearance in the episode "Eternity" as the owner of the other amulet outside of the valley.
* TearJerker: The end of the first part of the second season finale. We've gotten to know Cara as a tough, no nonsense Mord-Sith who had nearly all her kindness and compassion beaten out of her. Then we're introduced to a Cara who got to live the peaceful life of a schoolteacher and has two young children with the man of her dreams... seconds before Zedd needs to turn back time and give her back the life she used to have as a Mord-Sith. Seeing Cara, bound, confused, panicking, and pleading for the sake of her children is... hard to watch.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: While there are legitimate grievances to be had, some of the earliest complaints were along the lines of "They changed Rahl's hair color! SAM RAIMI MUST DIE!"
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Nicholas Rahl, the alternate timeline son of Darken Rahl and [[spoiler:Kahlan Amnell]]. Partially due to his story being spliced with the story of Richard and Cara trying to return home, and partially because he's an original character who wouldn't exist due to obvious reasons. [[spoiler:If he had at least appeared in more than one episode, maybe trying to ensure his birth in some way, that would at least be acceptable]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The last episode of season one features two stories that connect. One of Richard and Cara in the future trying to return home, the other is an alternate timeline where [[spoiler: Kahlan marries Rahl so she can give birth to an heir that will help Richard return home.]] The last episode felt like it crammed two episodes together. Both sides might have worked better if they were their own episodes. Especially [[spoiler: Kahlan's marriage to Darken Rahl]], which seems to be popular with fanfiction writers.
* TooCoolToLive: Cara bore Darken Rahl a son, whom he had killed at birth. Just let all of that sink in for a moment. It may be a nod to a scene in the books, where Cara notes that Darken Rahl had taken her to his bed several times, but she was lucky enough not to get pregnant (in the books he tended to kill the mothers as well, and it happened to a number of her friends).
* TheWoobie:
** Among the first things which happens to Jennsen Rahl are getting kidnapped and then watching her mother die. It tends to get worse from there, and in the first half of the Season Two finale, in an alternate timeline, she's [[spoiler:kidnapped by Sisters of the Dark, who drain her blood and leave her to bleed slowly to death.]]
** Kahlan Amnell, even more so in the alternate future of Season 1's finale, Reckoning. [[spoiler: After seeing her friend Zedd killed and her love seemingly vaporized in an explosion, she's captured by Rahl and is given a marriage proposal so that he can end the resistance and have a powerful heir. She refuses and gets sent to a dungeon, where she learns Richard has been sent to the future and needs Confessor magic to return to his own time. With no other option, she accepts Rahl's proposal to ensure Confessors will survive. So, to save the world and the man she loved she had to marry the man she had nothing but hate for and let him impregnate her, raising a son she knew might one day become corrupt by his own power and be killed when she realized he had become too corrupt to help Richard and tried to kill her own son.]]
----