History YMMV / LegendOfTheSeeker

* CompleteMonster: Darken Rahl is an EvilOverlord who takes things as far as he can. Ordering a mass infanticide, Rahl kills any he deems a threat and preys on innocent peasants to keep his dark power. Rahl is also especially fond of blood sacrifices, using the blood for ink to work his journey book. Rahl also uses magical weapons of mass destruction and then a magical plague on punish people helping Richard, wiping out entire villages. Throughout the series, Rahl is shown as nothing more than pure, unadulterated evil.

* GrowingTheBeard: The first two episodes are rather rushed, basically cramming the first third of [[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.)

* CompleteMonster: Darken Rahl is an EvilOverlord who takes things as far as he can. Ordering a mass infanticide, Rahl 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 for ink to pen notices and spells. Rahl also unleashes a plague on his own people in an attempt to blame the hero Richard and cause the people to turn against him. Throughout the series, Rahl is shown as nothing more than pure, unadulterated evil.

** In the episode "Home," [[spoiler:Rahl, as part of a spell inflicting a LotusEaterMachine on Richard, ends up roleplaying as an old girlfriend of Richard's.]]
** And apparently the [[{{Satan}} Keeper]] and the [[{{God}} Creator]] were once lovers. Part of the reason he wants to end all life is he's jealous of the affection she shows to them. And in "Creator", he desperately tries to have her avatar dragged into the Underworld to be with her again.

* GrowingTheBeard: The first two episodes are rather rushed, basically cramming the first third of [[SwordOfTruth the original book]] 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.)

* 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 raising 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.

** 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 kill her own son.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The last episode 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: Care 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 do that to the mothers as well, and it happened to a number of her friends).

* CompleteMonster
** [[spoiler:Nicholas Rahl in the first season finale.]]
** Darken Rahl himself. Commits ''mass'' infanticide, murders for kicks and for ink, horribly tortures people to gain magical powers, etc. He has his own sister violently beaten, lies to her so she will betray her other brother and bring him the tools to take free will from every living thing in the world, he also unleashes a plague on his own people (killing hundreds of them including a meek looking boy we are shown) for the sole reason of trying to turn people against Richard, and when all of this fails to win him victory he [[KickTheDog ''kills a kitten with his BARE HANDS'' ]]. Bonus points come from that all of the above happens in ''one episode''.
** [[EnfantTerrible Princess Violet]] and her mother as well. Queen Melina is so horrible, that when Rahl kills her, you feel like it is his PetTheDog!
** Arguably they were ''even worse'' in the book.

* ClicheStorm or {{Troperiffic}}: YMMV.

** [[FetishFuel In leather.]] 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.
*** Not strictly speaking FanService, as the precedent for lesbian Mord-Sith is Canon in the Sword of Truth series.
*** But in the series there's no relationship and is in fact probably nonconsensual; it's played just for titillation. Cara was also completely heterosexual in the books.
*** 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".

** 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 Dark captured AND got out of the Sisters of Light monastery). The addition of Cara to the main cast has also improved the series, since she is not only FetishFuel eye candy but has an interesting character development arc of her own.

* WhatAnIdiot: Darken Rahl trying to seduce Nicci in ''Tears.''

** The two Mord-Sith with speaking roles in the second season opener, one of them played by CharismaCarpenter.

* TooGoodToLast: Because Tribune dropped the show and ABC couldn't find any takers, there will not be a 3rd season. There is, naturally, [[http://www.saveourseeker.com/ a fan-led effort to save the show]].

* TooCoolToLive: Care 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.

** [[FetishFuel In leather.]] 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 s1 finale might suggest more to that relationship in the show, especially in light of "Eternity" and Cara's canon relationship with Dahlia.

* 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, raising two young children, and finally meeting 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 two young children is...hard to watch.
* TheWoobie: Among the first things which happen 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.]]

* TooCoolToLive: Darken Rahl and [[spoiler:Cara]] had a child. Let that sink in for a moment. Possibly 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.

* ClicheStorm or {{Troperiffic}}: YMMV

* EngagingChevrons: When Kahlan uses her MindControl "Confession" thing on somebody 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.

** And apparently the [[{{Satan}} Keeper]] and the [[{{God}} Creator]] were once lovers.

* GrowingTheBeard: The first two episodes are rather rushed, basically cramming the first third of [[SwordOfTruth the original book]] 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.)

* {{Narm}}: The enchanted dildos Darken Rahl uses to torture Cara.
** Nicci's oddly repetitive RapeAsBackstory past, made worse by the show's insistence on having Nicci say "forced himself upon me" instead of the dreaded R-word.
** Richard and Kahlan wangsting about how they can't have sex because she might accidentally MindRape him.

* AuthorsSavingThrow - When Nicci originally appeared, she didn't look at all like her book incarnation and did not wear black. Then she [[spoiler:was resurrected in a blonde body]]. Then she became {{Badass}}. Then, for the season finale, she put on a black dress.

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Nicholas Rahl in the first season finale]]

* FoeYay: In the episode "Home," [[spoiler:Rahl, as part of a spell inflicting a LotusEaterMachine on Richard, ends up roleplaying as an old girlfriend of Richard's.]]

* LesYay: The two Mord-Sith with speaking roles in the second season opener, one of them played by CharismaCarpenter.

* TooCoolToLive: Darken Rahl and [[spoiler: Cara]] had a child. Let that sink in for a moment.
** Possibly 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.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Nicci, even more so than in the books.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Nicci, even more so than in the books.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Denna takes an arrow in the back from Cara [[DisneyVillainDeath and falls off a cliff]] literally seconds after it seems Zedd has talked her into leading a better life and letting him go.]]

*** Let's just say the Sisters of the Agiel are all [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean really close "friends"]].

** Darken Rahl himself. Commits ''mass'' infanticide, murders for kicks and for ink, horribly tortures people to gain magical powers, etc. He has his own sister beat violently, lies to her so she will betray her other brother and bring him the tools to take free will from every living thing in the world, he also unleashes a plague on his own people (killing hundreds of them including a meek looking boy we are shown) for the sole reason of trying to turn people against Richard, and when all of this fails to win him victory he [[KickTheDog ''kills a kitten with his BARE HANDS'' ]]. Bonus points come from that all of the above happens in ''one episode''.

** 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 Dark captured AND got out of the Sisters of Light monastery). The addition of Cara to the main cast has also improved the series, since she is not only FetishFuel eye candy but has an interesting character development arc of her own.

* AlasPoorVillain - [[spoiler:Denna takes an arrow in the back from Cara [[DisneyVillainDeath and falls off a cliff]] literally seconds after it seems Zedd has talked her into leading a better life and letting him go.]]
* ClicheStorm or {{Troperiffic}} - YMMV
* CompleteMonster - [[spoiler:Nicholas Rahl in the first season finale]]

* FoeYay - In the episode "Home," [[spoiler:Rahl, as part of a spell inflicting a LotusEaterMachine on Richard, ends up roleplaying as an old girlfriend of Richard's.]]

* GrowingTheBeard - The first two episodes are rather rushed, basically cramming the first third of [[SwordOfTruth the original book]] 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.)

* LesYay - The two Mord-Sith with speaking roles in the second season opener, one of them played by CharismaCarpenter.

* {{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, raising two young children, and finally meeting 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 two young 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!"
** WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings - Apparently part of the reason it was canceled was that these people were ''so'' vocal about their displeasure that networks didn't want to advertise the show and were reluctant to pick it up. [[SarcasmMode Way to go]], [[FanDumb guys]].
* TooCoolToLive - Darken Rahl and [[spoiler: Cara]] had a child. Let that sink in for a moment.

* TooGoodToLast - Because Tribune dropped the show and ABC couldn't find any takers, there will not be a 3rd season. There is, naturally, [[http://www.saveourseeker.com/ a fan-led effort to save the show]].
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds - Nicci, even more so than in the books.

* FetishFuel - The Mord-Sith roll HellBentForLeather, HotChickWithASword and AbsoluteCleavage together, and Cara has a bit of FemmeFatale thrown in for good measure.
** They're basically a group of bisexual dominatrices who torture and fight with dark magic dildos. The FetishFuel is limitless.
** Two [[spoiler:Kahlans]], one the ultimate [[spoiler:Emotionless Girl]] and the other [[spoiler:quite the opposite.]] If that weren't enough, we have [[spoiler:[[EmotionlessGirl Kahlan]]]] confessing [[spoiler:''herself!'']]

* YourMileageMayVary - Some feel that the TV series is an improvement on the book series, as the TV series features a lot less gratuitous rape and Ayn Rand fanboying. Others dislike it for those very same reasons.

* CharacterDerailment: Giller is evil and serves Rahl, exactly the opposite of his book incarnation's characterization.
** Also worth mentioning is that Cara's sexual orientation is [[BiTheWay changed completely]] from book to adaptation, probably as a result of her being something of a CompositeCharacter of herself and [[LesYay Berdine]] from the books.