These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
Author's Saving Throw: Of a sort. The last three books seem to be a deliberate effort on Goodkind's part to recapture the first few books' feel, while toning down the heavy handed Author Tracts.
Anvilicious: Goodkind does not believe in ambiguity. The heroes are (written as) Right, almost every villain is a pure evil, and, in later books, the series' Objectivist themes become far more prominent.
Badass Decay: Jennsen becomes much less formidable after joining up with Richard, almost to the point of being The Load.
Canon Sue: Richard is basically a perfect human being: strong, incredibly handsome, good at everything, chosen wielder of the Sword of Truth AND the first War Wizard born in the last 3000 years. He repeatedly wins over enemies with his unconditional love, including someone who tortured him for months. Taken to an even more ridiculous extreme in the last few books, when Richard, armed with only a regular sword (not his usual Infinity+1 Sword), kills almost a hundred armed soldiers by himself. Following that, he is conscripted into a Ja'La team, where despite being more or less new to the game (he played it with children in previous books), he takes the most important position on the team and becomes, to paraphrase a character, "the best point man we've seen in the last hundred years". Keep in mind, this sport is run almost exactly like current day sports, so the equivalent would be someone who's played a few Pop Warner games stepping onto an NFL field and becoming the greatest quarterback in the history of the sport in the space of a few months.
Even less Genre Savvy readers cannot ignore the absurd amount of times people say: "You are a very rare person, Richard."
Richard is not just good, but perceived, at least by Goodkind, as damn near perfect. Richard, and often by extension Kahlan or Zedd, as they always seem to agree with him, is always shown as being above reproach, no matter what he does, or how it is perceived by those around him. Richard can kick a child in the face, nearly killing her, and doom an entire nation to death because they disagreed with his moral standpoint (more than once), and numerous other clearly villainous acts, but it doesn't matter, because it was all somehow warranted. On the other hand, characters who are not on Richard's side cannot be forgiven the slightest of offenses, and most, if not all of them are revealed as rapists, even child molesters. If a formerly "good" character starts disagreeing with Richard, this is the beginning of that character's Face Heel Turn (even some of them may turn to rape). That is because Richard is a picture of all that is holy and good in the world, and can never be allowed to be wrong. If he kills someone, that person deserved to die. If a country refuses to join Richard's D'Haran Empire, that country is evil, even if they were only "evil" by virtue of opposing Richard. By the same token, a formerly evil character's Heel Face Turn will begin with them realizing Richard is right.
Cliché Storm: Everything from a common man of mysterious lineage, to a wise old wizard with robes and white hair, to a character that was turned into a small, fanatical creature when deprived of the artifact that was precious to him.
Ensemble Darkhorse: Gratch is awesome, which is sad because he's absent from the later books. Or maybe fortunate that he doesn't get caught up in the Author Tract.
Memetic Mutation: "This looked like a chicken, like the rest of the Mud People's chickens. But this was no chicken. This was evil manifest."
Moral Event Horizon: At least three or four acts in Demmin's resume, any one of which could be taken as the final crossing for any other character.
Sebastian arranging the death of Jennsen's mother, along with four of his own soldiers, in order to ingratiate himself to Jennsen and fool her into trusting him.
Narm: Richard comparing a Mord Sith's lesbianism to steamed peas: "I might not like what you like, but that doesn't mean I don't like you anymore for liking it."
Never Live It Down: The chicken thing is pretty much all people remember about the Chimes of Death. A lot of people overlook them killing women and children via drowning, burning, and falling off cliffs.
Michael's usually remembered for his speech against fire.
Listening to some critics you'd get the impression that killing peace protesters is all Richard does in the later books.
Nightmare Fuel: Chickens aside, the idea that the Chimes of Death can just suddenly show up and make you drown yourself can be frightening.
The Chimes, demonic entities that exist to choke the world of magic, eventually almost causing the end of the world, are first introduced to the main characters... in the form of a chicken.
When Naked Empire's Big Bad is introduced, all attempts by Goodkind to make him seem terrifying are undermined by his name: Nicholas the Slide. Just try not to imagine him as a brightly-coloured, anthropomorphic piece of playground equipment.
Only The Author Can Save Them Now: Jagang, Darken Rahl and Nicholas the Slide would have had no problems achieving their goals if it wasn't for Deus ex Machina. This is most blatant in the case of Nicholas and the vial of antidote.
Seasonal Rot: The books see a general decrease in quality as the series goes on, although there remain a few good books later in the series.
Snark Bait: There are many websites and forums that mock passages from the books.
Strawman Has a Point: Several. The most obvious is probably Shota, the witch woman. Towards the end of the series, Richard comes to her demanding her help. She explains to him that, by his own principles, she has no obligation to help him, and really just wants to be left alone. How does Richard react to being called out on his hypocrisy? He ends up steamrolling her and accusing her of "posturing". Eventually, he has to trade his sword for the information he wants.
Tear Jerker: Raina's death in Temple of the Winds.
Warren's death in Faith of the Fallen, seriously sucky timing there.
Also Cara's Wedding, the juxtaposition of what they used to be, to what they have now is incredibly moving.
And this exchange in Stone of Tears:
V: What about my wrinkles?
W: Someday, when you get wrinkles, I'll love them, too.
The Untwist: Zeddicus is the great wizard, of course.
