Line #154 Series/TheShannaraChronicles


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6	''The Shannara Chronicles'' is an American post-apocalyptic fantasy drama television series created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. It stars Creator/AustinButler as Wil Ohmsford, Creator/PoppyDrayton as Amberle Elessedil, Creator/IvanaBaquero as Eretria and Creator/ManuBennett as Allanon. It was filmed in New Zealand using many of the same crew as ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''.
7
8	It is a loose adaptation of the ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' books by Creator/TerryBrooks, taking place in a separate continuity. The first season retells the events of ''The Elfstones of Shannara'', chronicling the efforts of a group of heroes to save the Four Lands from the return of a demonic army from the dimension where they were imprisoned long ago. (''Elfstones'' is actually the second Shannara book, but the rights to the first, ''The Sword of Shannara'', are held by others; also, ''Elfstones'' is somewhat more popular). The second season continues the plot and diverges from the books. It also lifts characters from the novel ''First King of Shannara'', a prequel to the original book.
9
10	It premiered on Creator/{{MTV}} in the United States on January 5, 2016; the first four episodes were all released online at that time, and six more subsequently aired for a total of ten in the first season. It was subsequently renewed for a second season, [[ChannelHop which moved to]] [[Creator/SpikeTV Spike]] just a few months before its rebrand as the Creator/ParamountNetwork. In January 2018, Paramount Network opted to cancel the series.
11
12	----
13	!! This series provides examples of the following:
14
15	* AccidentalPervert: When Wil finds Amberle taking a WaterfallShower he actively attempts to avoid this by trying to get her attention from far away at first, but ends up slipping and making himself look like ThePeepingTom.
16	* ActionGirl: Amberle and Eretria can both kick some serious ass, as can Elven commander Diana. Season 2 adds Lyria, Mareth, and possibly Queen Tamlin.
17	* AbusiveParents:
18	** Cephelo, who became Eretria's adoptive father, was anything but a good parent, and Eretria really resents him:
19	--->'''Eretria''': I spent my days learning how to steal and my nights fending off his men.
20	*** She later reveals to Amberle that her birth parents sold her off early in her life. (In Season 2 it's discovered her mother actually left her with a friend.)
21	** There's also Bandon's parents, who kept him chained and muzzled in a tiny room in the family barn; though to be fair, [[BlessedWithSuck living with him when he can see everyone's future deaths would have been fairly stressful]]; plus, given his FaceHeelTurn later in Season 1, they may have had good reason to lock him up.
22	** While he wasn't as bad as the above examples, Shea's alcoholism and shaky mental health made him a very poor father, and he physically beat Wil on at least one occasion that we know of.
23	* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: ''The Elfstones of Shannara'' ends with Wil and Eretria getting together, following which they seem to have a quiet life until their daughter Brin and son Jair become the main characters of ''The Wishsong of Shannara''. At the end of the first season, Wil and Eretria are seperated, and while they are reunited in the second season, if anything the way the season plays out makes this ending even less likely.
24	* AdaptationDistillation / AdaptationExpansion:
25	** Various changes have been made to translate into the medium of TV, more drama has been added in places (such as making the selection of the Chosen a contest instead of just a matter of the Ellcrys touching those she wants), new characters have been created and relationships added, Eretria meets the other members of the main trio earlier than in the book, Amberle is more physically capable, Shea is now Wil's father rather than his grandfather, etc.
26	** The series also had to compensate for the fact the first book in the series, ''The Sword of Shannara'', could not be adapted, adding some additional exposition about the equivalent events in the backstory.
27	* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: The series never explains what it means that Wil is "a Shannara". In the books, it means he's descended from Jerle Shannara, a King of the Elves pre-dating the current Elessedil family and original wielder of the Sword of Shannara.
28	* AdaptationalNameChange: Lorin's name was spelled "Lauren" in the book, although he was still a guy. Presumably, they thought "Lorin" was more manly.
29	* AdaptationalDiversity:
30	** Eretria, a straight woman in the books, is bisexual here. In fact, she's with more women than men.
31	** The people of Leah are described as white-skinned in the books. They're all played by black actors on the show (although two of the show's characters are original).
32	* AdaptationalPersonalityChange:
33	** In this version, the Witch Sisters Morag and Mallenroh, while still evil and capricious, are co-guardians of the Bloodfire instead of being archenemies obsessed with destroying each other and locked into a pointless eternal war over who's more beautiful (it's pointless because they're identical twins - in the book). One actually looks upset when the other is killed.
34	** The Changeling and the Reaper: the former was described as spiteful and sadistic but never once spoke on-page and acted more like a loyal servant and the latter appeared as a stoic, voiceless but scarily competent tracker. In the series, the Changeling is much more talkative, while the Reaper turns into a roaring DumbMuscle that can be distracted by the smell of fresh blood like a beast.
35	* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Shea Ohmsford was Wil's paternal grandfather in the book, his father in the series.
36	* AdaptationalSexuality: Eretria is bisexual in the show, flirting with Amberle at one point and shown to have a past relationship with Zora, a CanonForeigner villainess. Later in Season 2 she is seeing Princess Lyria. She also had ([[BiggerIsBetterInBed satisfying]]) sex with Wil previously. In the books there was no hint of her being anything but straight.
37	* AdaptationSpeciesChange:
38	** A partial one in that the Dagda Mor is still a demon, however in this adaptation [[spoiler:he started off as an Elven Druid before he was corrupted by [[TomeOfEldritchLore the Ildatch]]]].
39	** Partial change with Shea and Wil. Shea is now a full Elf rather than a Half Elf, and since Wil is now Shea's son instead of his grandson, he is now the Half Elf, instead of 1/8. His greatly diluted Elven blood (despite which he still looked Elfy enough to be mistaken for a full Elf at various points of the novel) was what caused problems with the Elfstones in the first place in the book. This has been abandoned in favor of them simply messing up everybody who uses them.
40	** Furies: in the book they're described as half-cat half-woman demons who attack in packs, in the series Furies are grotesque four-winged bat monsters.
41	** [[spoiler:Eretria is now a descendant of a group of people who had Demon blood]].
42	* AdaptationalWimp:
43	** The Demon army in the book is described as a nearly-infinite tide of monsters of all shapes and sizes (including Ogres, Goblins, Imps, Demon-wolves, were-creatures, Gremlins, Ghouls, Harpies, Furies, bat-things and giant snakes) with even a lesser one being a threat to a standard soldier. While they're still powerful soldiers in the series, they're reduced to an army of FacelessMooks who only march towards Arborlon when every single leaf of the Ellcrys has fallen, while in the book they started the assault as soon as a big enough gap appeared, and in the show they have a much more uniform appearance as scary figures in dark armor.
44	** Morag and Mallenroth, the Witch Sisters, are easily dispatched by a blast of the Elfstones' blue flames each. In the book, they far outclass the protagonists and only fall in a MutualKill that destroys their domain.
45	** The Reaper in the series is still an ImplacableMan who can easily butcher anyone getting in his way, but is also much slower and dumber. [[spoiler: He's also destroyed by Wil right after the Pykon segment as soon as he figures out how to use the Elfstones, while in the book not only he's the FinalBoss for Wil's group, but also takes a lot more punishment from the stones before being vanquished.]]
46	** Trolls as a whole go from being a whole race of barbaric but noble and strong warriors of large size to a bunch of almost-feral brutes in post-apocalyptic outfits.
47	* AdaptedOut:
48	** The King of the Silver River, who aided Wil in ''The Elfstones of Shannara'', has his scene completely removed. Even though the climax of season 2 heavily involves the Silver River, he still isn't even mentioned, although there is mention of a historical human king associated with the river.
49	** Stee Jans and the Border Legion's Free Corps never show up to help the Elves.
50	* AerithAndBob: Sprinkled among characters with very fantasy sounding names such as Amberle, Eventine and Eretria you have others with more conventional ones like Wil and Diana.
51	* AfterTheEnd:
52	** Various ruins encountered in the show as the characters travel from place to place hint at the world of the Four Lands having been, at one time, present-day Earth. The Space Needle's appearance in the opening and first shot confirm this, as do the opening credits that suggest nuclear war or some other catastrophe wiped out civilization. We later get confirmation of exactly how long after the end it's been.
53	--->'''Crispin''': Three thousand years have passed and humankind's weapons are still claiming lives!
54	** We get more information about this in "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS01E07Breakline Breakline]]", when Amberle and Eretria fall through a hole and find themselves in the remains of a human high school. Amberle explains that most human structures were sealed beneath the Earth when human society was wiped out, which [[RagnarokProofing kept them from rotting into dust.]]
55	** The human settlement Utopia, which appears in the episode of the same name, has technology from "before", including electric lighting and guns, with the goal of restoring what the human race achieved.
56	** Safehold, the target of the trio's quest, is revealed to be the former San Francisco.
57	* AintNoRule: It's not technically against the rules for a woman to compete to be Chosen, but social convention has made it unthinkable until Amberle did it.
58	* AllTrollsAreDifferent: The adaptation takes the fact that Trolls are human {{mutants}} who survived on the surface during the Great Wars and runs with it. Their outfits match more with a ''Film/MadMax'' post-apocalyptic film than the future-fantasy of the human and Elven characters, including their [[PostApocalypticGasMask Post-Apocalyptic Gas Masks]].
59	* AntiMagicalFaction: The Crimson, an Elven group that wants to wipe out all magic and magic users.
60	* AnyoneCanDie: Let's put it this way. At the end of Season 2, out of the twenty-odd named characters introduced throughout the entirity of Season 1, ''four'' remain alive, and that includes one that appeared in a single episode and was then PutOnABus.
61	* ArrangedMarriage: Between Ander and Lyria in Season 2, to cement the alliance between Arborlon and Leah. It's clear it's purely a political match, albeit between people on friendly terms, and neither will be expecting the other to be monogamous. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, the Crimson crash the wedding ceremony and Ander is slain]].
62	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The Four Lands are littered with recognizable remains of the present day human civilization, even though 3,000 years are stated to have passed since TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. After that long most of those remains would've either rusted away into nothing or been so eroded as to be unrecognizable.
63	* AttemptedRape: [[spoiler:Cephelo]] tries to rape [[spoiler:Amberle]] and is only stopped by [[spoiler:Eretria]]'s timely rescue.
64	* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning
65	** In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS01E08Utopia Utopia]]", [[spoiler:Ander is crowned as the new elven king after both Eventide and Arion die. Ander does need some encouragement from Allanon to actually go through with it, though]].
66	** In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS02E010Blood Blood]]", [[spoiler:Lyria is crowned as Queen of Leah after the Warlock Lord is defeated. Her mother had died several episodes prior and everyone had already been calling her the queen, but this made it official]].
67	* BarrierMaiden: The Ellcrys shows itself to Amberle as a female Elf (indeed a doppelganger of herself), and her existence is what keeps the demons trapped in the Forbidding. [[spoiler: Replacing her as this turns out to be Amberle's destiny.]]
68	* BelligerentSexualTension:
69	** No matter how much Wil knows he shouldn't trust [[ConMan Eretria]], he continues to be oddly vulnerable to her charms. And no matter how much she claims that he's [[IdiotHero a naive fool]], she seems to enjoy using her charms against him a little too much...
70	** Wil and Amberle are generally more straightforwardly affectionate to each other, but she still seems to spend an awful lot of time aiming {{Death Glare}}s at him and holding swords to his throat, a lot of it due to the jealousy she feels over his relationship with Eretria.
71	** Eretria also gets this with Amberle as the two slowly become friends and Eretria reveals she is bisexual to the princess by coming on to her.
72	* BettyAndVeronica: While Amberle's Betty certainly has a rough streak, she is at her core a way more demure character than Eretria's Veronica. Poor Wil.
73	* BigDamnHeroes:
74	** Eretria, [[AntiHero of all people,]] makes a habit out of appearing out of nowhere to save another character from some danger, always with a lot of swagger and a snarky one-liner. Not only is it [[EstablishingCharacterMoment how she enters the story in the first place,]] but in episode five she [[spoiler: saves Amberle from Cephelo, then saves Wil and his Elven escort from a monster not five minutes later.]]
75	--->'''Eretria:''' I leave you alone for a couple of hours, and look what happens!
76	** Allanon frequently turns up just when someone is about to get killed by one demon or another and deals with it.
77	** In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS01E07Breakline Breakline]]", when Amberle and Eretria are in some trouble, they both predict that Wil is going to swoop in at the last moment and save them. [[spoiler: They're right.]]
78	* BigBadEnsemble: In season 2 our heroes have to deal with two serious villains:
79	** General Riga, leader of the Crimson, an Elven extremist group that seeks to destroy all magic and exterminate all magic users.
80	** [[spoiler: Bandon]], who seeks to [[spoiler:resurrect the Warlock Lord. He eventually succeeds and is DemotedToDragon, while the Warlock Lord becomes the new BigBad and also [[EvilerThanThou gets rid of his competition]] by brutally killing Riga.]]
81	* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Wil is apparently well-endowed, as Eretria comments "I'll never call you 'short tips' again" after they have sex, with a satisfied look on her face.
82	* BisexualLoveTriangle: Eretria claims that there is one between her, Wil and Amberle as well, something both Wil and Amberle try to deny, while obviously pining for one another. Eretria meanwhile denies that what she feels for Wil is anything but lust, or that she actually cares what Amberle thinks of her, while flirting heavily with both.
83	* BlessedWithSuck:
84	** Every time Bandon touches someone, he gets a vision of how they are going to die. As if that wasn't bad enough in itself, his abilities apparently scared his family enough that they kept him chained up in the barn.
85	** Amberle is blessed with the ability to see the future (thanks to the Ellcrys), swordfighting skills, and she is the first woman in ages to compete to become a Chosen. Plus she's a princess for heaven's sake. ''And'' she has not only a half-Elf boyfriend but, if she wants it a human girlfriend. Unfortunately, her destiny is to [[spoiler: become a tree for the next untold number of centuries]].
86	** Just generally, magic in the series always seems to be CastFromHitPoints, require a HumanSacrifice, bind you to a harsh and life-long ([[WhoWantsToLiveForever at least]]) duty, be prone to cases of PowerIncontinence, make you vulnerable to [[GrandTheftMe possession]]... or just [[TheCorruption turn you evil,]] if you mess around with the wrong kind. "Magic always comes with a price," indeed.
87	* BloodierAndGorier: The violence in the show is quite more graphic than in the source material, with copious amounts of blood and people being literally torn apart by demons onscreen.
88	* BrokenPedestal: Amberle does not take it well when she finds out that the Elves used to torture prisoners of war during the War of the Races, especially since her beloved grandfather was already King back then and must have been the one to order it.
89	* CallForward: Allanon mentions the Ildatch in connection to the Dagda Mor's origins. The first season of the show is an adaptation of the second book in the ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' series. The Ildatch is a TomeOfEldritchLore that is central to the plot of the third one.
90	* CantBatheWithoutAWeapon: Wil finds Amberle taking a WaterfallShower and ends up slipping and rolling down to where she is. By the time he gets himself up, a [[FullFrontalAssault stark naked Amberle]] is holding a knife to his throat.
91	* CastFromHitPoints:
92	** The spell Allanon casts to find the Codex in "Chosen" seems to cause him great pain and leaves him with some very nasty burns on his left hand.
93	--->'''Allanon:''' Magic always comes with a price.
94	** Using the Elfstones tends to leave Wil feeling, in his own words, like he's "been set on fire and beaten with a shovel."
95	** The way to the Bloodfire needs to be opened by a [[spoiler: half-demon]] bleeding into a magical contraption in front of it, and it only stays open as long as more blood is added.
96	* TheChainsOfCommanding: Seems to be a recurring theme, where those granted the most power tend to be the least interested in actually having it.
97	-->'''Allanon''': Only a king knows the weight of a crown.
98	* ChekhovsGun: In "Breakline", Amberle finds some old blue dice while exploring the human school and keeps them because they remind her of Wil (they vaguely resemble the Elfstones). They come in handy in "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS01E08Utopia Utopia]]" when Cephalo once again tries to swipe the Elfstones and ends up with the dice instead.
99	* ChildByRape: Mag, whose father lobotomized her mother to make her his "wife".
100	* ColdBloodedTorture: Remo, the caretaker of Pykon, plans to torture the group after he captures them, just for fun. He straps Amberle to a torture device that [[{{Fingore}} starts to pull off her nails]], but she's rescued by Wil before they're torn off.
101	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Demon magic usually comes with a red light. Allanon's magic and that of the Elfstones tends to come with a blue light - except sometimes Allanon's magic is red too, showing that it's no different from the Dagda Mor's.
102	* CompositeCharacter:
103	** Shea Ohmsford of the series is mainly based on his book counterpart, but also take on some of the traits of Jerle Shannara [[spoiler: in that he was the one originally meant to kill the Warlock Lord but failed the test of the Sword of Shannara and so only partly succeeded, with his descendent - Shea in the books, Wil in the series - being forced to finish the job.]]
104	** Mareth is about 70% CanonForeigner, but gets her name and some of her backstory from a character in ''First King of Shanarra'' (500 years before the main trilogy) and her illusion magic seems to be based on Wil's ''son'' Jair and his wishsong.
105	* ContrivedCoincidence: The odds of Wil and Amberle both crossing paths with Eretria within a day of one another are extremely low.
106	* ConLang: Noalath, the language of the Druids that is spoken by Allanon, the Dagda Mor and the Changeling, was created for the show by linguist Creator/DavidJPeterson.
107	* ConMan: The Rovers' bread and butter is straight up robbery, but they can spin a con with the best of them if the situation calls for it.
108	* CoolOldLady: Amberle's Aunt Pyria, who defied her brother the King and [[RebelliousPrincess left a life as a Princess]] to go live on her own in the wilderness. When things go bad, she's the first person Amberle thinks to go to for help. [[spoiler: [[WeHardlyKnewYe Shame about that Fury.]]]]
109	* CoolSword:
110	** The Warlock Lord's sword is big, spiky and [[PowerGlows glows with a menacing]] [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience red light]] when used.
111	** Allanon's fold-up blade is pretty sweet as well.
112	** Subverted with the Sword of Shannara, at least [[InformedAttribute according to Wil]]. He was expecting the ultimate weapon to be a lot more impressive-looking.
113	* DarkMessiah: Tye leads a village of humans devoted to reclaiming the lost technology of the Age of Man and living free from the Elves. He is intelligent, charismatic, and clearly cares greatly for his people, but his rhetoric has more than a hint of FantasticRacism to it. [[spoiler: And every month he makes a HumanSacrifice to the local Trolls as part of a peace treaty between them and his village.]]
114	* DeaderThanDead:
115	** Necessary for dealing with the Changeling in a permanent fashion. It can be killed, but unless it's [[KillItWithFire burned to ashes]] and the ashes placed in a sealed jar, it will eventually come BackFromTheDead.
116	** The Warlock Lord can only be permanently killed by having his heart pierced by the Sword of Shannara, which must be wielded by a Shannara who is able to "face his truth" by accepting the visions the Sword gives him. [[spoiler: Shea was not able to fully do so, and so only killed the Warlock Lord temporarily - in Season 2, Bandon succeeds in bringing him back.]]
117	* DeathByAdaptation:
118	** While he didn't actually appear in the book, Shea (Wil's grandfather and hero of the first book) was still alive at that time. In this series, he is Wil's father, and is established as having died young.
119	** [[spoiler:King Eventine]] is murdered halfway through the first season, while in the book he lives almost to the end.
120	** [[spoiler:Ander Elessedil]] dies in Season 2, whereas in the books he survived to live a full life and had children.
121	* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler: in Episode 6. Mag dies in a HeroicSacrifice to save Wil from her crazy father.]] Also several times during Season 2, as various villains prove that they WouldHurtAChild.
122	* DemotedToExtra: The role of the Witch Sisters Mallenroh and Morag is reduced to little more than a cameo as "guardians of the Bloodfire", and they don't even get named onscreen.
123	* DepravedBisexual: {{Downplayed}} at first. Eretria starts out as a ruthless bisexual thief who flirts with or seduces people regardless of gender solely to rob them blind, but doesn't do anything worse. However, over time her being with Wil and Amberle (who both appeal to her) transforms Eretria into a much nicer woman, subverting it. She has a lover in Season 2, Lyria, whom she's genuinely caring and loving to.
124	* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: In the test to become the Chosen, a contestant already ahead of Amberle tries to trip her. Not only does he fall doing this, but she trips him when he tries to get back up, and two contestants cross the finish while they're struggling. This leads to her become one of the Chosen, but not him. Had he just kept running, they both would've made it.
125	* DidNotGetTheGirl:
126	** In season 1, [[spoiler:Wil loses Amberle when she performs a HeroicSacrifice to restore the Ellcrys]].
127	** In season 2, [[spoiler:paralleling the above, Mareth loses Wil when he performs a HeroicSacrifice to purify Heaven's Well. However, he is apparently still alive in the Forbidding (basically a Hell dimension), leaving open the possibility that they can be together. Also, Eretria turns down Lyria's proposal because she is worried about her own demonic heritage]].
128	* DisappearedDad: It turns out that Allanon is one to his daughter Mareth, whom he never knew existed.
129	* DownerEnding:
130	** Season 1 did not end on a happy note; [[spoiler: Amberle became the new Ellcrys, Tilton is dead, Bandon has fully fallen to the dark side, Eretria is captured, and Wil goes to search for her in what he knows is the calm before an even bigger storm.]]
131	** Season 2 is not much cheerier. [[spoiler: Allanon is dead, Wil has ended up in what is either the Forbidding or somewhere equally as nasty, and Eretria has decided she can't be with Lyria until she has found a way to keep Lyria safe from her own demonic heritage.]]
132	* DrowningMySorrows:
133	** Ander resorts to this after [[spoiler: the apparent death of his brother Arion and the realisation that his father Eventine has been dead for a long time, with the Changeling posing as him without Ander noticing it.]] He's stated to have spent much of the time after the death of his eldest brother doing the same thing, too.
134	** Wil's father Shea drank altogether too much to try to get over his experiences in the War of the Races.
135	* DueToTheDead: After finding some gnomes massacred by demons, Prince Ander unchains the imprisoned Slanter so he may give them the proper rites. It later proved to be a critical gesture to the Elf and Gnome alliance.
136	* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:Arion shows up in the season 1 finale having ComeBackWrong and kills Commander Tilton. He manages to recover himself enough to tell Ander to kill him.]]
137	* EatingTheEyeCandy: Eretria and Amberle both get an eyeful of Wil's bare chest on separate occasions, but it's Eretria who ogles the most.
138	* EmbarrassingNickname: Eretria refers to Wil as "short tips", as his PointyEars are slightly shorter than those of a full-blooded Elf.
139	* EnclosedExtraterrestrials: Technically mutants, not extraterrestrials, but still alien-like, the Trolls are all covered in SteamPunk clothing.
140	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Amberle's ability [[spoiler: to communicate with the Ellcrys]] warns her that her homeland will be doomed.
141	* EnemyMine:
142	** Eretria is initially brought along to the journey to Safehold due to her necessity to the quest there being [[BecauseDestinySaysSo prophesised,]] even though she has absolutely no interest in going and Amberle, for her part, would rather leave her to rot in a cell.
143	** Ander enlists the Gnome who killed his brother as a guide to the lands where the demons are believed to be massing, and later forms an alliance with the Gnome tribes to fight the demons.
144	** Cephelo and the heroes find themselves on the same side when the Reaper comes after them all.
145	* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
146	** Wil hurries home with [[TheMedic new medicine]] to cure his mother, but [[FailureHero she dies despite his best efforts]] and he is [[TheWoobie heartbroken.]]
147	** While it's technically his second scene, Allanon's UnflinchingWalk into the Elven palace during which he effortlessly [[FoeTossingCharge flings a guard aside]] before striding up to the royal family and ordering them around tells just about all you need to know.
148	** Eretria saves Wil's life by killing a Troll with a single thrown knife and proceeds to snark mercilessly at him. [[spoiler: In the next scene, she tricks him into [[BelligerentSexualTension stripping down]] before [[CombatPragmatist drugging]] and [[TheArtfulDodger robbing]] him, all of which also turns out to be par for the course.]]
149	** The Dagda Mor gets one when he enters Allanon's mind in Paranor and freaks him out. Anything that [[TheDreaded Allanon is terrified of]] is bad news.
150	* EternalEnglish: By all appearances, English is still being spoken and read ''three thousand years'' AfterTheEnd (though it is not the only language). The shot of the fallen Space Needle in the Pilot indicates that this area is a futuristic version of the Pacific Northwest, where English would have been the dominant language during the Age of Man. It's possible TranslationConvention is also in effect.
151	* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Over the course of Season 2, three different characters manage to take one look at Mareth and realise how she feels about Wil. [[ObliviousToLove None of those three characters is Wil himself.]]
152	* EvilerThanThou: Season 2 has two main villains - Riga, a zealot who [[AntimagicalFaction persecutes magic users]] for their supposed culpability in the demon invasion and who is himself immune to magic, and [[spoiler:Bandon]], a bitter magic user who has been both persecuted and exploited for his gifts and wants revenge on normal people because of it. While they avoid each other for most of the season, they eventually face off and [[spoiler:Bandon's newly resurrected master, the Warlock Lord, is far more than Riga can handle and kills him without much difficulty]].
153	* FantasticRacism: The different races that populate the Four Lands do not get along, to put it mildly, but of particular importance to the plot is the profound animosity between the Elves and the Rovers.
154	** Elves also don't like Gnomes - Arion initially believes that they, not the demons, are to blame for [[spoiler: the murder of the Chosen]] (he is basing that belief partly on the fact that ten years ago, his brother was killed by a group of [[ScrewYouElves Elf-hating]] Gnomes).
155	** Also as shown in Episode 6, the Elves did themselves no favors by [[spoiler:using the city of Pykon as a torture site during the War of the Races, then covering it up (allegedly by slaughtering those stationed there) instead of admitting any wrongdoing]].
156	** Some of the Elves still resent humankind because of their role in TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, even though it has been 3,000 years since that happened.
157	** The humans of Shady Vale fear Gnomes ''and'' Trolls ''and'' Rovers, if Flick is anything to go by. They also gave Wil a hard time growing up, but it's unclear if it's because he was half Elven in particular or if it was just because he was [[AllTheOtherReindeer different]].
158	** In fact, the only race that is known to exist without anyone being known to hate them is the Dwarves - and that may be because we never really find out anything at all about them except that they exist.
159	** The humans of Utopia are happy to trade with "Elf hunters" and hiss when they see an image of the Elf-like [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Mr. Spock]] on a screen.
160	** Season 2 shows that many of the Elves have developed a widespread prejudice against magic users (of all races, including their own), whom they associate with the demons that attacked them last season. This is also not entirely a new thing, as shown by Bandon having been kept locked up by his parents for having inherent magic.
161	* FashionDissonance: For a show playing in an AfterTheEnd MedievalStasis society, somehow the main characters are managing to find jeans and other clothing that could have come straight from a modern mall. And are somehow stain resistant, no matter how battered the characters are.
162	* FighterMageThief: The trio as they set off on their quest. We have Amberle (fighter), Wil (mage), and Eretria (thief).
163	* FireForgedFriends:
164	** Eretria becomes close to Wil and Amberle as they battle Demons, Rovers and mad Elves.
165	** Ander hopes that a battle against the demons is what will finally end all the strife between the races. Sure enough, Season 2 shows that a lasting alliance has been formed between the Elves of Arborlon and the Gnomes who were previously their sworn enemies.
166	* FlatEarthAtheist: Prince Arion doesn't believe in magic or demons and thinks the problems the Elves are facing is the work of Gnome assassins and that Allanon is a charlatan, despite the good evidence otherwise. He finally accepts they're real when it becomes just too strong.
167	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
168	** The first thing Dagda Mor does upon being released from the Forbidding is to recite the same words that Allanon does when he wakes up from his Druid's sleep. This is the first indication that [[spoiler:Dagda Mor was once a Druid himself]].
169	** A FiveSecondForeshadowing example: Eretria warns Wil that a Rover would take one look at him and steal both the clothes off his back and the Elfstones. [[spoiler:That's exactly what she does moments later when it turns out ''she'' is a Rover.]]
170	* FreudianTrio: The three younger members of the main cast in Season 1. Amberle is the Superego, idealistic and high-minded, but also sometimes cold and unforgiving. Eretria is the Id, all passion and self-interest, motivated by primal things like anger, pleasure and survival. Wil is the Ego, thoughtful and capable of seeing different sides to an issue, but also lacking in drive and caught in an eternal tug-of-war between the other two.
171	* FutureImperfect: Most of the history of the Age of Man has been lost in the last 3,000 years, but even those who do remember have some things mixed up, like thinking ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' was history and Humans used to travel through the stars.
172	* GreatOffscreenWar: The War of the Races, wherein the Warlock Lord tried to take over the Four Lands, which took place over thirty years ago and was the last time magic was wielded openly. It gets repeatedly mentioned by several characters and Wil's father played a key role in its outcome.
173	* HalfBreedDiscrimination: Cephelo tries to capitalize on the discrimination that Wil has endured all of his life as a half-Elf to get him on his side.
174	* HalfHumanHybrid: Three half-Elves appear in the series: Wil (Elven father, Human mother), Mag (a ChildByRape with an Elven father and Human mother), and Mareth (Elven mother, Human father). [[spoiler:Eretria is also revealed to be a descendant of a group called Armageddon's Children who were part-Demon]].
175	* HeroicSacrifice:
176	** In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS01E10Ellcrys Ellcrys]]":
177	*** Eretria [[spoiler: goes back to get a stuck gate to shut, trapping herself on the same side of it as a group of hostile Trolls to keep them from pursuing Wil and Amberle. She survives but ends up captured.]]
178	*** Amberle [[spoiler: has to give up her physical existence to rejuvenate the Ellcrys and banish the demons. While this isn't quite death - her spirit lives on within the tree, and Allanon claims that she will eventually be able to communicate - her life as a regular person is definitely over.]]
179	** In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS02E010Blood Blood]]", [[spoiler: Allanon]] dies to hold back the Warlock Lord and give the others a chance to escape, and towards the end [[spoiler: Wil lets himself bleed out in Heaven's Well, knowing that his Shannara blood will undo the effects of the Warlock Lord's BloodMagic. However, the viewer sees him alive in the Forbidding at the episode's end]].
180	* HighDiveEscape: In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS02E02Wraith Wraith]]", Wil and Mareth escape the Mord Wraiths by jumping off a cliff into a lake.
181	* HollywoodTactics: When facing [[spoiler:demons in battle]], elves seem to think it's a sound military tactic to take the perfectly good shield wall that's been marched into place to take advantage of a shallow but serviceable defensive ditch and, at the first sign of the enemy, [[spoiler:have the elves in the unit jump into the ditch to fight individually against demons whose knees are now at the elves' eye level]].
182	* HotterAndSexier:
183	** The series adds a lot of sexual innuendo and even minor sex scenes that were absent from the source material (though Creator/TerryBrooks reportedly insisted the series not be an adults-only affair like ''Series/GameOfThrones'').
184	** Zigzagged in the second season. The sex is all offscreen, the romances are uncomplicated C-plots, and there are barely a handful of onscreen kisses, but it also featured Allanon and Wil getting tortured by the Crimson in a BDSM-style dungeon, with tons of tension between Allanon and the leader of the Crimson. And with Wil shackled, sweaty, panting, stripped naked except for his leather pants, and enduring a rather... penetrative sort of torture - all aimed at getting ''Allanon'' to talk, just like in the standard "we'll rape / kill your girlfriend in front of you" man-pain scene. And the next episode, Wil got assaulted by a [[AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage tentacle monster]] that sprayed a white goo in his face.
185	* HowDoIShootWeb: Wil's ability to trigger the Elfstones is a bit hit-and-miss at first.
186	* HumansByAnyOtherName: Averted. In the book series, the Races are sometimes called human collectively and the ones who are like ordinary modern humans are referred to (as in Tolkien's legendarium) as Men. Here, what would be called Men in the books are called humans.
187	* IAmAHumanitarian: Trolls are often mentioned to eat humans and Elves if they can catch them. The entire village of Utopia only survives by sacrificing foreigners to the local Trolls.
188	* IHaveYouNowMyPretty:
189	** Cephelo makes it clear what Amberle's fate will be as his captive. [[spoiler: He probably shouldn't have been so open about it while [[EvenEvilHasStandards Eretria]] was still within earshot.]]
190	** This was also the fate of Mag's mother at the hands of the warden of Pykon after lobotomizing her, and what he intended to do to Amberle as well.
191	* ImplacableMan: The Reaper is silent, steady and absolutely relentless in its pursuit of the heroes, surviving crossbow bolts, sword blows, and at least one giant explosion. In the end it takes [[spoiler: a point blank shot from the Elfstones followed by a fall from great height]] to get it to stay down.
192	-->'''Wil:''' [[WhyWontYouDie Just die already!]]
193	* InformedFlaw: Commander Tilton describes Ander as having spent the last ten years "lost in booze and anger and doubt." Yet with one exception [[spoiler: - a single episode when he is seen [[DrowningMySorrows Drowning His Sorrows]] after the loss of his father and brother -]] there is no onscreen portrayal of him having a drinking problem or anger management issues, and he probably does the most to galvanize others into action against the demons.
194	* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: Cephelo's original plan to get Wil on his side involved a fight to the death between Eretria and Amberle... with Amberle wearing a leather bikini.
195	* ItsQuietTooQuiet: In episode 5, Eretria is suddenly alarmed and asks the group if they hear something. They reply no, and she clarifies that's her point, she can't hear the birds anymore. They then encounter what appears to be a radioactive hotspot.
196	* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne:
197	** Allanon admits early on that even if Wil succeeds perfectly at a very dangerous, very difficult quest he is woefully unprepared for, using the magic of the Elfstones will likely fry his brain. No wonder he tries to leave at every opportunity in the beginning - though of course [[YouCantFightFate he never succeeds]] and eventually he decides to [[ResignedToTheCall just go along with it.]]
198	** This is backed up by what happened to his father Shea, who saved the Four Lands but ended up a drunken wreck whose heroism was all but unknown. Allanon indicates this was at least in part the cost of Shea using magic.
199	** Amberle is told in no uncertain terms by the Ellcrys that being the last of the Chosen means that she has to do whatever it takes to save the Four Lands, no matter what it costs her. [[spoiler:It turns out that the cost is her own existence as an Elf woman - she has to become the new Ellcrys, living out the following millenia as a sentient tree.]]
200	* {{Jerkass}}: Crown Prince Arion is a complete dick to almost everyone he interacts with, including members of his own family.
201	* LaserGuidedKarma: Tye and his blonde companion try to feed the heroes to the nearby tribe of Trolls to keep Utopia safe and try to gun them down when they make an escape attempt. By the time the Trolls show up to claim their sacrifices, they end up taking Tye and his girlfriend as food.
202	* LastOfHisKind: A lot of the characters, in one way or another.
203	** Allanon is the last of the Druids, so the responsibility of dealing with magical threats lays squarely on his shoulders. [[spoiler: Except there's an ex-Druid running around too... Cogline. I guess because he left the order he can't pick up the slack?]]
204	** Wil is the last living descendant of King Jerle Shannara.
205	** Amberle is the last living member of the Chosen.
206	** At the end of Season 2, Mareth is [[spoiler: the last of the Druids after Allanon's death, and also the last living heir to the Elven throne.]]
207	* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: Amberle proposes this to Eretria while she and Wil are Eretria's captives. Eretria responds by dismounting her horse and [[CombatPragmatist headbutting Amberle without loosening her restraints]].
208	* LoveTriangle: At the start of the first season, Commander Tilton is with Prince Arion but used to have a thing with Prince Ander, who Amberle notes is still "pining" after her, although he denies it. It gets "resolved" at the end of season 1 with [[spoiler:Arion and Diana both dying.]]
209	* TheMagicComesBack: Magic is widely believed to have completely disappeared from the Four Lands by the time the series starts, but the imminent death of the Ellcrys triggers its sudden resurgence.
210	* MagicKnight: While powerful combat magic exists, almost none of the characters rely on it exclusively but use it interchangeably with regular fighting skills. Even characters who start out as [[SquishyWizard straight casters]] eventually make sure to pick up some training with a sword. The stated reason is that "[[ArcWords magic always comes with a price]]" and so trusting in it completely is too risky.
211	* MasculineFeminineGayCouple: {{Tomboy}} Eretria is with GirlyGirl Lyria in Season Two.
212	* MetaphoricallyTrue: Wil’s description of how [[spoiler:Eretria stole the Elfstones from him]] in the Royal Palace ''is'' accurate... from a certain point of view.
213	-->'''Amberle''': He said you broke into his room. That he struggled, but you knocked him out.\
214	'''[[spoiler:Eretria]]''': That's one way to put it. But you should know that the "struggle" was mutual and lasted about an hour.
215	* MoleInCharge: The Changeling eventually [[spoiler:[[KillAndReplace murders and replaces]]]] King Eventine himself, and tries to sabotage the Elves' efforts against the demons with the king's authority.
216	* MrFanservice: The pilot shows Wil in a BathtubScene and a ShirtlessScene. He continues to have other scenes where he's shirtless and thus shows off his chest throughout the series.
217	* MsFanservice:
218	** In the pilot Amberle has a WaterfallShower with ShouldersUpNudity and ToplessnessFromTheBack.
219	** "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS01E06Pykon Pykon]]" has Amberle and Eretria [[BathtubBonding bathing together]] in the castle, with Eretria flirting with Amberle, although it doesn't shown more than their [[ShouldersUpNudity bare shoulders]] and bare legs.
220	* {{Mutants}}: Trolls, Dwarves and Gnomes are actually mutated humans named after their resemblance to the Faerie creatures. Elves, on the other hand, actually ''are'' the Faerie creatures, having survived our present-day era before the Great Wars by hiding from humanity.
221	* MyEyesAreUpHere: Amberle tells Wil as much in no uncertain terms when he [[ShowerOfAwkward comes across her bathing]]. Later gets an IronicEcho when he strips down to swim and [[{{Hypocrite}} she starts]] EatingTheEyeCandy.
222	-->'''Wil:''' What happened to "eyes up here"?
223	* MythologyGag: In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS02E04Dweller Dweller]]", Allanon claims that Mareth can't be his daughter because he was told that the Druid sleep would prevent him from fathering children. Wil suggests that those who told him that might simply have been wrong. [[spoiler: Which turns out to be the case - Mareth is eventually proven to be Allanon's daughter.]] In the books, Mareth initially believed Bremen to be her father, but he told her that it wasn't possible for that same reason, which in the books was true.
224	* NakedFirstImpression
225	** Allanon first meets Wil when he finds him passed out naked in a bathtub after being drugged and robbed by Eretria.
226	** Wil first meets Amberle when he happens upon her taking a WaterfallShower. He ends up [[AccidentalPervert making it look like]] he was [[OutdoorBathPeeping peeping on her]] which [[NakedFreakOut infuriates her]] and starts their BelligerentSexualTension.
227	%% This is actually a ZCE. Just referring to an event that happened before the series started is not the
228	%% NoodleIncident by default - the trope requires that it's something that seems bizarre without an explanation.
229	%% Please provide some more context.
230	%%* NoodleIncident: As a consequence of the series deciding to skip straight to adapting the second %%Literature/{{Shannara}} novel, all the references in the show to the events of ''The Sword of Shannara'' become
231	%%this by default.
232	* OfficialCouple: While Season 1 centers on a threeway LoveTriangle between Wil, Amberle and Eretria without committing to any of the possible pairings, Season 2 has the two official couples of Wil/Mareth and Eretria/Lyria.
233	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Eretria [[spoiler: disabling the dozen or so guards outside Cephelo's tent quickly and quietly enough that none of them even managed to raise the alarm. And then she has a second one almost immediately after, killing a monster that was menacing a whole party of soldiers from the shadows. She was clearly in the zone that day.]]
234	* OffTheRails: The first season is a more or less straightforward adaptation of ''The Elfstones of Shannara'', but the second one breaks with the book series and takes the story in a different direction, most likely because the following novel, ''The Wishsong of Shannara'', takes place a generation after the previous one and shares almost no characters with it.
235	* OneHeadTaller: Wil is considerably taller than Eretria. It becomes most obvious when they're riding a horse together.
236	* OohMeAccentsSlipping:
237	** Several of the FakeAmerican characters slip into their New Zealand accents on occasion, as does British Caroline Chikezie.[[invoked]]
238	** One particularly amusing incident happens when Erroll Shand's Valcaa starts a scene with what seems to be a Texan drawl, then halfway through switches to a more "regular" Midwestern one.
239	* OurElvesAreDifferent: The Elves seem to basically just be like humans with pointy ears (although Wil mentions differences in the placement of vital organs), subject to all the regular mortal frailties and follies. On the other hand, they are the dominant people in the Four Lands, having a rich and powerful kingdom with royalty and a standing army while all the Humans, Gnomes and Trolls we see in the first season are farmers at best, scavengers and outlaws at worst.
240	* OurGnomesAreWeirder: Much like the Trolls, the Gnomes are visibly some form of [[{{Mutant}} mutants]] with a definite AfterTheEnd aesthetic to them.
241	* ParentalAbandonment:
242	** Eretria's mother died in her childhood, killed by a demon, and her father is unknown. She was adopted by Cephalo after that, who's a terribly abusive father to her.
243	** Lyria's father [[AmbiguouslyAbsentParent isn't mentioned or seen]], while her mother [[spoiler:kills herself [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled rather than be killed by Riga]]]].
244	* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: Wil asks this of Amberle when she's interrogating him at knifepoint while completely naked.
245	-->'''Wil''': This conversation would be much less awkward if you were dressed.
246	* {{Polyamory}}: Wil finds himself in a situation of being attracted to both Amberle and Eretria; Amberle and Eretria both are in love with Wil; Eretria is also sexually attracted to Amberle; Amberle also grows to become very attached to Eretria. As the three's relationship as a team deepens it is ''strongly'' implied that they're headed in this direction if not already there.
247	* PostApocalypticGasmask: Trolls wear stylized gas masks, likely a cultural leftover from surviving on the surface after the Great War.
248	* PosthumousCharacter: Shea Ohmsford is dead by the start of the series, but he gets mentioned a lot for his actions in the War of the Races and the impact he had on Wil's life, making him a tangible presence throughout the series. In Season 2, he shows up repeatedly in flashbacks, visions and [[spoiler: one incident of TimeTravel.]]
249	* PowerNullifier: [[AntimagicalFaction The Crimson]] use special collars that make it impossible for the person wearing them to use magic. They are said to be relics from the Great War, which would make them LostTechnology.
250	* PracticallyDifferentGenerations: Inverted. Amberle, the daughter and only child of King Eventine's late eldest son Aine, is Practically the Same Generation as her uncles Arion and Ander, especially the latter.
251	* PreClimaxClimax: In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS01E10Ellcrys Ellcrys]]", [[spoiler: Wil and Amberle]] [[TheirFirstTime make the most]] of their last hours together before going to face the demons.
252	* PreserveYourGays: By the end of season 2,[[spoiler: bisexual Eretria is pretty much the ''only'' named character from season 1 still alive (and not trapped in an existence as a tree or banished to a hell dimension for the time being). Almost every other character introduced in the first season - except a couple really minor one-episode characters that were never mentioned again, and the Gnome leader, who barely gets any lines - died a graphic onscreen death. Her LoveInterest Lyria, introduced in season 2, also survives, unlike many other major characters introduced in that season. Only her ex-girlfriend Zora is killed, and she only appears in two episodes.]]
253	* PrisonDimension: The Forbidding, an alternate dimension where all the demons were banished by the Elves' magic.
254	* PromotedToLoveInterest:
255	** Amberle and Lauren (Lorin) were not a couple in the book.
256	** A downplayed example: in the book, Wil and Amberle were only {{Implied Love Interest}}s rather than explicit.
257	* PsychoLesbian: Zora, Eretria's old girlfriend who is now an obsessive and brutal Elf Hunter. She still clearly shows attraction to Eretria, which comes off as creepy under the circumstances because she's hunting her, but has zero hesitation at harming or capturing Eretria to sell her as a slave either.
258	* PuppyDogEyes:
259	** Amberle's big, dark eyes ensure that any scene where she's in pain is ''sheer heartbreak.''
260	** Wil's baby-blues aren't far behind them when it comes to projecting beautiful misery.
261	* QueerEstablishingMoment: Eretria tells Amberle (after having previously slept with Wil) that she also likes women before starting to flirt while they're taking a bath together.
262	* RaceAgainstTheClock: The Ellcrys is dying, and there is only so much time before a very one-sided war will break out, leaving only [[spoiler:demons who have been bent on revenge for a very long time]].
263	* RaceLift:
264	** The books describe Eretria as "dusky", from a people based on the Roma. Here, she's played by a white Spanish actress.
265	** Allanon, described as white, is portrayed by part-Maori actor Creator/ManuBennett.
266	** While Tamlin and Lyria have no book counterparts, in the books people of Leah are described as white. On the show they are played by black actors, along with Garet Jax.
267	* RageAgainstTheMentor: Wil and Bandon both spend most of Season 2 being absolutely furious at Allanon. Wil resents him for [[spoiler: not revealing the fact that Amberle's quest would end with her having to make a HeroicSacrifice to restore the Ellcrys]], while Bandon blames him for pushing him too far and too fast in his magic studies and thereby [[spoiler: getting him spiritually captured by the Dagda Mor, resulting in him being corrupted by demon magic - which in itself is implied to fuel his anger.]] In both cases, Allanon's defense is that [[IDidWhatIHadToDo He Did What (He Thought) He Had To Do.]]
268	* RagnarokProofing: Several artifacts from the Age of Man are shown to still be operational after three thousand years, such as light-bulbs, film projectors and [[spoiler:guns and ammo]].
269	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Cephelo stays to cover Eretria's escape in "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS01E08Utopia Utopia]]" and is killed. Subverted in that he only did it because he was mortally wounded anyway, meaning that [[PragmaticVillainy he chose redemption because it didn't actually cost him anything.]]]]
270	* RedShirt: Almost everyone who isn't one of the four main characters will die shortly after introduction.
271	* ReforgedBlade: The Sword of Shannara, after it shatters in the fight between Wil and Bandon and is taken to the Ellcrys.
272	* RescueRomance:
273	** While "romance" might be an overly... [[ShapedLikeItself romantic]] word for [[BelligerentSexualTension what's between Wil and Eretria]], there's clearly ''something'' there, and it all started with her saving his life.
274	** [[spoiler: Bandon and Catania]] have a more straightforwardly romantic one, with her beginning to show interest in him after he saves her life from the Changeling.
275	* ResignedToTheCall: Wil Ohmsford comes in for this as he has no idea that he is, in fact, [[spoiler:the last known living descendant of magic users]] until he is informed that he is very necessary to saving the world by Allanon. His reaction is decidedly less than wholeheartedly enthusiastic, given the obvious dangers he will have to dodge.
276	* TheReveal: Not that the characters particularly care, but Safehold turns out to be the 3000 year old remains of San Francisco
277	* RevolversAreJustBetter: So much so that they still work perfectly after 3,000 years.
278	* RousingSpeech: Alannon, Ander, and the Dagda Mor all give one in the first season finale.
279	* SchizoTech: As part of the AfterTheEnd nature of the setting, there are a number of modern-day gadgets to be found even though the overall tech level is medieval. Most commonly, all Trolls seem to wear gas masks, though it's unclear if they still work or if they're just ornamental at this point.
280	* ScrewYouElves: The Rovers' general outlook, which is also shared by Slanter and his Gnomes. In fact, when Wil is leaving Shady Vale, Flick warns him that this sentiment is just about the only thing the other races all have in common.
281	* SealedEvilInACan: Dagda Mor and his army of demons are sealed away by the Ellcrys. The tree dying is slowly unleashing them on the realm.
282	* {{Seers}}: Bandon was born with the ability to see a vision of the death of anyone he touches. [[BlessedWithSuck This has not led to a very happy life for him.]]
283	* SelfDefeatingProphecy: Bandon sees visions of people's deaths, but it is possible for him to keep them from coming true. [[spoiler: In episode four he sees Catania being stabbed to death by the Changeling, but when the time comes he pushes her out of the way of the knife and she lives.]]
284	* SequelHook:
285	** At the end of the last episode of the first season, [[spoiler:Eretria has been captured by Trolls and brought before... ''someone'' whom she apparently recognises, Wil is heading back to Safehold to look for her, Allanon predicts that while the Dagda Mor is gone his actions have unleashed many unrelated evils, and Bandon has stolen the Warlock Lord's sword and is looking over the Dagda Mor's abandoned camp with scary all-black eyes]].
286	** At the end of the second season, Wil is stuck in [[spoiler:the Forbidding, or a similar place]], and clearly needs saving.
287	* SexualKarma:
288	** Good people tend to have healthy relationships and satisfying sex lives while villains are either perverts (Cephelo), sexual deviants (The Dagda Mor), or romantically frustrated (Bandon).
289	** PlayedWith in the BettyAndVeronica LoveTriangle in season 1. "Bad" girl Eretria flirts and seduces Wil early on and they go at it for [[ExtremeLibido around an hour of great sex]] and he is completely spent the following morning, showing she's [[SexGoddess great in bed]], but the scene is portrayed in a non-romantic manner as it happened [[SexyDiscretionShot almost entirely off-screen]] and she only did it to trick him, [[NotStayingForBreakfast leaving him in the morning after]] while taking the Elfstones with her. Meanwhile, when "good" girl Amberle has her PreClimaxClimax with Wil, this is portrayed in a romantic IdealizedSex manner, with the scene showing them making love while triumphant music plays and followed by them happily cuddling under the [[ModestyBedsheet bedsheets]] in the aftermath.
290	* ShapeshiftingSeducer: The Changeling turns into Amberle and kisses Lorin to make him drop his guard before killing him.
291	* SherlockScan: Amberle and Eretria both do a quick one on each other. Amberle notices that Eretria doesn't have a wedding band, so she cannot be meeting her husband as she claims. Eretria returns the favour by noting that Amberle bears the royal crest of the Elves, which could be worn by a princess but not the simple teacher she claims to be.
292	* ShirtlessScene: [[MrFanservice Wil]] constantly finds himself in situations that require him to take off his shirt, roughly OnceAnEpisode. Bandon's shirt also comes off a lot, though the circumstances tend to be a lot less sexy.
293	* ShoutOut:
294	** In "Chosen", Allanon warns Wil that "[[Series/OnceUponATime Magic always comes with a price.]]"
295	** In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS01E08Utopia Utopia]] some of the characters use an ancient movie projector to watch ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. (Paramount, owners of the ''Star Trek'' franchise, also owns MTV.)
296	** The big man with the burned face that Eretria meets in the Utopia infirmary looks suspiciously similar to [[https://www.sideshowtoy.com/collectibles/game-of-thrones-sandor-clegane-the-hound-threezero-902836/ Sandor "The Hound" Clegane]] from ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
297	** The ''Shannara'' books are considered archetypes of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' role-playing game-style fantasy (people of different races with different abilities coming together for a quest). The blue objects Amberle recovers from the school that resemble the Elfstones are in fact the same type of multi-sided dice that RPG players use.
298	* SigilSpam: The griffin is the symbol of the Elven royal family, and the Elves put it absolutely ''everywhere'', to the point that there's hardly a scene set in Arborlon where one isn't visible in the background. Same with the capital of Leah in S2; their archer statues are all over the place.
299	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The series can generally be found somewhere on the middle. Most people genuinely mean well or at least have sympathetic motivations for what they do. However, good intentions definitely do ''not'' always lead to good results, and heroic characters frequently make mistakes or let themselves be deceived by their passions. On the flipside, trying to be cynical and look to the greater good can ''also'' backfire terribly on you, making it never quite clear what the right thing to do is in any given situation.
300	* SlipperyMacGuffin: Wil ''cannot'' seem to hold on to the Elfstones for any amount of time without him dropping them or them becoming stolen. He does develop some [[GenreSavvy Genre Savviness]] about this fact over the course of Season 1, though.
301	* SlippingAMickey: Eretria's favorite trick is to offer her marks a goblet of wine or water with drugs in it, and rob them blind at her discretion while they're unconscious. [[spoiler:Amberle doesn't fall for it and [[FoodSlap throws it on her instead]].]]
302	* SmallGirlBigGun: This trope is unexpectedly played straight when [[spoiler: petite Eretria is given a massive 3,000 year old revolver, which she proves very adept with]].
303	* SpikesOfVillainy: Very much present among the demon army.
304	* SwissCheeseSecurity:
305	** The Royal Palace of Arborlon has serious security problems. Leaving aside the admittedly shapeshifting demon that is able to infiltrate it, the Gnomes have successfully carried out assassinations in its halls in the past and [[spoiler: Eretria]] is able to waltz in with little effort.
306	** The Royal Palace of Leah isn’t any better. [[spoiler:Eretria]] also has little trouble getting in and [[spoiler:the Crimson are able to kidnap Allanon right off the royal stables without ''anyone'' being the wiser.]]
307	** [[spoiler: Queen Tamlin and her head guard]] had dealings with the Crimson so it's not hard to think the Crimson could kidnap Allanon.
308	* TaughtByExperience: After being robbed of the Elfstones numerous times by Cephelo and Eretria, Wil switches them out for dice and let's Cephelo see where he put the pouch, so when Cephelo inevitably steals it, he ends up stealing the worthless dice.
309	* TimeSkip: One year passes between the end of season 1 and the start of season 2.
310	* ThreesomeSubtext: Both Amberle and Eretria are in love with Wil, who himself loves and cares deeply for both, though he can't seem to decide which one he wants to be with. Meanwhile Amberle and Eretria slowly but surely become very good friends, which added with Eretria's bisexuality has earned them their own form of BelligerentSexualTension.
311	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Eretria, who's a tough ActionGirl in masculine clothes, vs her girlfriend Lyria, an elegant princess who wears beautiful dresses.
312	* TortureTechnician: [[spoiler: Remo]]. He claims to have once served King Eventine in this capacity, but at the time of the series, he just does it [[{{Sadist}} for his own amusement.]]
313	* TownWithADarkSecret: Utopia. The people there are happy, idealistic, productive, fun-loving and have all sorts of neat scavenged technology... [[spoiler: and make a monthly HumanSacrifice to the local Trolls as part of a peace treaty with them.]] They also [[FantasticRacism hate Elves]] an awful lot, but they don't make a secret of that part.
314	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: In Episode 6, [[spoiler:Allanon]] is apparently killed and his body burned to ash. It's a powerful moment, but it would be more convincing if the trailer for the season as a whole hadn't featured him prominently.
315	* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: It's not clear how much time has actually passed between Amberle leaving her home and later returning. Several times in both seasons characters will need to get from one place to another... and usually arrive quickly in what should have taken a day or several.
316	* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Most episodes have two or three plot threads taking place in different locations, usually being resolved or at least coming to a head by the end of the episode. It crosses into ThirdLineSomeWaiting at times when one or more characters are off one their own doing things that don't immediately affect the main plots.
317	* TheUnfairSex: At one point, Eretria accuses Wil of being a typical man by [[spoiler: seducing her and then throwing her aside after he got what he wanted.]] What actually happened was that [[spoiler: [[FemmeFatale she seduced him]] by claiming she wanted to change her ways (and implying strongly that [[SexFaceTurn having a good guy like him in]] [[LoveRedeems her life would make that possible for her]]), then stole the Elfstones and [[NotStayingForBreakfast sneaked out while he's still sleeping.]] When she got caught, she rubbed their night together in Amberle's face in front of Wil, ensuring that Wil's and Amberle's already rocky relationship got even rockier.]] She's ''probably'' just doing it to mess with his head, though. There's also an undertone of her being [[GreenEyedMonster genuinely jealous]] of whatever's between Wil and Amberle and resentful of being treated like "the other woman" in that Wil lied to Amberle about [[spoiler: how Eretria got hold of the Elfstones,]] as if he were hiding an infidelity from his girlfriend... but regardless, she ''really'' doesn't have the moral high ground in the situation.
318	* UniquenessDecay: In Season 1, magic is so rare that most people don't think it exists anymore. In Season 2, it's so common that there's a fanatical crusade going on to stomp out its use. [[note]]Possibly justified in that it may be only the ''public perception'' of magic's uniqueness that's changing, and it's possible that there was always more of it around than people wanted to believe in Season 1, and that the fear and paranoia brought on by the war against the demons then caused people in Season 2 to [[BurnTheWitch persecute]] perfectly normal people as "magic users."[[/note]] Lampshaded by Jax at one point.
319	-->'''Jax:''' Ever since the demons showed up, everybody with a party trick is coming out of the woodwork.
320	* UnnecessaryRoughness: During the test to become one of the Chosen, some of the participants will try to take out the competition by assaulting them.
321	* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The Four Lands are confirmed to be Western North America 3,000 years AfterTheEnd, but the precise locations aren't made clear. The ruins of the Space Needle are visible at one point, placing Arborlon and Shady Vale near Seattle, but later episodes indicate Safehold is located in the ruins of San Francisco, even though the characters haven't been traveling long enough to cover the 850 miles between the two places. This is justified by [[AllThereInTheManual the Great War having caused massive tectonic shifts, reshaping the world drastically]].
322	* WhiteAndGreyMorality: While there are a few truly black-hearted fiends around, most of the major characters have sympathetic motivations but also often conflicting opinions and desires.
323	* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Using the Elfstones during the War of the Races apparently gave Wil's father Shea some sort of brain damage. We don't get any details on what was wrong with him, but Flick says he was "never the same" afterward, and the general opinion in Shady Vale was apparently that he had become a lunatic. This later gets subverted in Season 2, where it turns out that what really drove Shea crazy was the guilt of having failed to kill the Warlock Lord DeaderThanDead.
324	* WonTheWarLostThePeace: Season 2 shows that while the Elves won the war against the Dagda Mor, a year later they're still suffering the effects in the form of an empty treasury and hordes of refugees whose homes were destroyed by the demon army. The crown's weakness and the widespread suffering has also caused the rise of a rebellious faction that persecutes magic users as scapegoats for the war and is plotting to overthrow the government.
325	* TheWorfEffect: Used quite extensively in "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS02E02Wraith Wraith]]" to show off the prowess of the new seasonal villains (and one new AntiHero).
326	** If Jax defeating a bunch of Rovers effortlessly wasn't enough to establish him as a seriously tough customer, him laying Eretria out with a single punch should do the trick. She makes a slightly better showing of herself when they meet the next time, but he still proves able to get the better of her even when he starts out with her knife at his throat.
327	** Riga turns out to be skilled enough to take out Allanon on his own in only a few seconds. True, being [[AntiMagic immune to magic helps]], but Allanon has always been shown to be a great fighter even without magic.
328	** [[spoiler: Bandon]] deflects Wil's attacks with the Elfstones almost contemptuously. In this case, however, it's possible that WorfHadTheFlu, since [[spoiler: Bandon]] comments that Wil has gotten "rusty."
329	* YourEyesCanDeceiveYou: The competition to become one of the Chosen involves racing through the forest between the Royal Palace and the Ellcrys blindfolded and with your hands tied behind your back, so the participants must rely on their other senses to complete the course. You might also have to fight the other competitors while you're at it.

Context Series / TheShannaraChronicles