Follow TV Tropes

Following

Headscratchers / Legend of the Seeker

Go To

Be warned, spoilers ahead.

  • In the episode "Revenant" the dead wizard Amfortas muses how odd it was that Viviane's death did not release Kieran from loving her. While it probably would've lengthened the episode a bit too much, it does irk me that no one mentioned the obvious reason. Kieran already loved her intensely and the confessing that happened was a redundant thing. If memory serves, something similar happens in the books with Richard. Also, why on Earth did Amfortas even bother with binding Kieran? I mean will Kieran stay as a vengeful ghost, or pass on and be with a loved one... Gee tough choice.
    • Dunno about the binding, but I imagine the reason they were vague on Kieran already loving the Confessor was because of what happened in the books. Sort of setting up the Chekhov's Gun for the resolution of Richard and Kahlan's romantic feelings.
      • Can you elaborate a bit on this? From what I've seen it's quite obvious Kieran and Viviane had strong feelings for each other even before magic entered the equation. Isn't it the same thing with Richard and Kahlan? I only read a tv tropes article on the latter book couple, so apologies if I got anything wrong.
      • It is the same thing. For the entire first book, that's what keeps Kahlan and Richard from getting together romantically, even though it's clear they both really want it, and it's resolved when it turns out that Richard loved Kahlan soooooo much that her magic wouldn't change him. I'm saying that the backstory of Kieran and Viviane is there as a set-up for that same resolution in the series. Like, when/if Kahlan confesses Richard and he's unaffected, expect someone to say something like, "Oh, that's what happened with Kieran and Viviane." The difference is, in the books, Zedd knew it could happen the whole time, while here it appears he doesn't know. They're just dragging out the romantic tension a bit longer, is all.
      • It actually makes a weird kind of sense. Kieran wasn't affected by the Confession from Viviane like Amfortas thought he was. He was in love just like any other person might be, except it showed itself with him being simply off his game (he wanted his loved one to be safe, so he was unfocused in combat; Richard is just a bit more reasonable in that regard). And after she died it wasn't magic that was preventing the spell from being broken, it was simple grief and rage at what had happened, which drove the Sword of Truth to amplify it beyond all reason. And because he never managed to remaster it like Richard did in his own rage issue incident, Amfortas killed him. Zed just wasn't willing to kill Richard, so they tried overcoming the Sword's power.
      • The reason why Amfortas bound Kieran was explained in the episode. Amfortas was afraid Kieran's raging spirit would trouble other spirits in the underworld. Yes, it was a poor decision, but he'd just seen Kieran slaughtering innocent people. It's hard not to see why he thought this.
      • It's also possible that Kieran and Viviane didn't love each other as much as Richard and Kahlan do (Zedd says in the series finale "No magic is stronger than the love Richard and Kahlan have for each other," not "no magic is stronger than love [in general],"), so Kieran really was Confessed when they had sex, and that Confession works differently between Seeker and Confessor, lasting after Viviane died.
  • I understand that Kahlan's dress is the mark of a Confessor and all, but why the hell does she wear it all the time, as opposed to just when she's doing some Confessor-related duties, or at least only when they're visiting a town? Seriously, talk about Awesome, but Impractical. It's pure white and floor length, and she lives on the road, does a lot of running around, and gets in fights a lot, so it would get absolutely filthy in no time at all, and then it'd be really difficult to get the dirtstains out, because it's so white, so her official Confessor dress would be ruined. The floor-length and those long strips that hang from the sleeves would get in her way during the running around and fighting, too.
    • Uh, she doesn't wear it all the time. At least, she didn't in the first season, where she did only wear it while doing Confessor related things. I believe she still does sometimes wear that green dress, but maybe not as often. The main reason she stopped wearing it full time was to hide; with Darken Rahl gone, she doesn't need to hide her status as a Confessor anymore. Being a Confessor isn't just a job she can turn on and off; it's what she is, and part of that is wearing the dress. As for cleaning it, they're traveling with a Wizard of the First Order, remember.
      • This troper is only five episodes in, but so far, most of the time, she's been wearing that dress, whether she's doing Confessor-related things or not.
      • The 'long strips that hang from the sleeves' would actually be very helpful in a fight, distracting the opponent in the same way the strips or fur tails tied to spearheads did (e.g. the first fight in Hero). If, y'know, the opponent wasn't already distracted by the tasteful cleavage.
      • Also, regarding the stains, she's travelling with a wizard who can clean things the same way he can heal people.
  • Why would Kahlan ever use her power in battle? Sure, that one guy would become her meat puppet, but then she'd be completely vulnerable to any other enemy for the rest of the fight. She's pretty damn good with those short swords, better off just using them the entire battle.
    • Watch the fight scenes a little more closely. She mainly uses her power as a last resort; she starts every fight just using her knives, and most of the time she doesn't use her power; she mainly seems to do it if she's looking to be in trouble, or if they need one of the other soldiers for a specific purpose.
  • In "Resurrection" if the Mord-sith's magic doesn't work when the Lord Rahl is dead how come the breath of life still works? Also in the books I'm sure they could only resurrect somebody killed with the Agiel which makes sense, but they seem to be able to bring back anyone here. And if the Keeper gets pissy about the magic to bring the dead back in that ep, why hasn't he been pissy about the mord-sith breath of life ability?
    • The Mord-Sith's agiel loses its power. The Breath of Life is a separate thing. In the books, the Breath of Life was just mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
  • After spending the whole episode telling a woman the Margrave's laws are wrong so she'll help her escape, Kahlan and co. leave the Margrave, oppressor and enactor of intensely misogynistic laws woman can be killed and imprisoned for disobeying, in charge.
    • To be fair, what could they have done? In his castle, it would be Richard, Kahlan, Cara, and Zedd against every guard he has, without the benefit of the magic of the Sword of Truth, Cara's agiel, Kahlan's Confessor powers, or Zedd's magic. Sure, you could just kill him, but that would probably just complicate matters more, being that there doesn't seem to be an heir and all.
      • Yes. It would be truly tragic to get rid of one misogynistic tyrant and not be able to replace him with one groomed to replace him. They escape without note and kill dozens of guards in the prison, no problem.
      • Remember what happened when Rahl died and nobody was around to take control? Power struggles, people dying, all sorts of unpleasantness. It'd be a considerably smaller scale in this case, sure, but it's still not the sort of situation Richard et al would want to leave behind. Just killing the guy on top isn't going to solve all the problems.
      • Cara knocked him out anyway, and he seems to have only woken up after they escaped; I don't think it would have gone differently if she killed him instead.
      • Well, yes it would for the simple reason that dead people don't wake up...ever. Here's the thing about doing what you're suggesting: they kill the evil tyrant, that's all well and good but then what happens next? As another troper pointed out, there didn't seem to be an heir ready to take over, so now they've created a power vacuum. Now, assuming they've all got away (and that's a big if) and none of them are taking responsibility to fill the vacuum themselves, power vacuums tend to create a specific kind of leader to fill them - specifically, one that's not worried about having blood on their hands as long as it means power. So essentially all they've done is trade one tyrant for another. Or maybe you think that now the society is free from the tyrant they'll automatically rebuilt things in a better way...which almost certainly isn't happening. The fact is, people get stuck in their ways of life, even when they're demanding change. It's why so many revolutions fail or they ultimately become indistinguishable from the regime they overthrew. If they'd killed the Margrave without a foolproof plan on what would happen next and been ready to instantly implement said plan, the overwhelming likelihood is that nothing would have changed and it probably would have just made things worse.
  • This may have been explained in the books, but in the show it seems to go without saying that everybody, regardless of who they are, goes to an eternal writhing naked pile of misery when they die. Everybody seems to be aware of this, yet nobody has a problem with this in a world supposedly created by a benevolent god, and they've still treated going to the underworld as a peaceful and natural end to life.
    • According to the books, when a person dies, they can end up anywhere from down in the Keeper's clutches to being one of the "good spirits" close to the Creator, and the latter are not under the Keeper's influence; he rejects one particular spirit sent to him, and she was freed from him to join the good spirits. This, however, doesn't seem to be honored in the series, where even super-pious Sisters of the Light seem to end up in the Keeper's clutches.
    • One possible explanation is that the rift means that spirits that otherwise might go to the creator are being dragged down to the Keeper instead. In "Creator", the Creator (or the woman claiming to be her) does say the Keeper is getting stronger because of the rift.
    • The book's explanation was implied in "Extinction" when Rahl talked about the possibility of sealing the rift and returning to "The Creator's Light" when he eventually died.
    • In one of the later episodes Darken Rahl explains it. It seems that this is a temporal thing: every dead person goes to the Keeper due to the Keeper screwing around with the Veil or something like that. Rahl hopes that after the Veil is repaired, all the good souls of the dead (including, eventually, himself) will be going to the Creator, not the Keeper.
  • How Nicci was handled in the season 2 finale (spoilers follow for those who haven't seen it). Sure, it was awesome finally seeing her in a black dress, but there were too many quirky issues to overlook. First, she's changed to being an Omnicidal Maniac who wants to let the Keeper destroy everything so she and Richard can be the last survivors in the world and create a new race in their image. Then, Cara manages to deflect a lightning bolt from her, despite that it was previously established that a sufficiently powerful sorceress can overwhelm a Mord'Sith, and Nicci is the strongest of all of them, plus she has Richard's Han, the most powerful seen in 3000 years. There was no way Nicci could have failed to destroy a Mord'Sith if what we were told previously was true. Plus, isn't anyone catching on to the idea that she is still carrying Richard's Han? That he hasn't gotten it back yet?
    • Was it ever shown that a sufficiently powerful Sister could get through a Mord-Sith's defenses? I remember it being speculated on, but I don't remember it actually happening. As for that last bit, well, the series got canceled. Presumably they were planning to resolve that later on.
    • She didn't... Nicci faked it so Kahlan would try to confess her... That was kind of the point of half the episode.
    • As to Richard's han, well, I've got an impression that Richard simply doesn't want it back. As far as I can remember, they never tried to take it back (even Sisters of the Light never did... perhaps they just haven't got around to it?).
  • Now, I could overlook the rest of Nicci's issues as minor, but what really bugged me was the ending. Nicci is killed and brought back to life, again, and then captured by Darken Rahl. It was already seen in "Princess" that she retains her Han after coming Back from the Dead, even when coming into a different body. Therefore, she must have still had Richard's Han when was brought back, along with all the other sorceresses she'd killed and stolen Han from. She should have been able to crush Rahl and his Mord'Sith easily after they'd revived her, but she didn't even resist! Plus, Darken Rahl is still alive at the end! A much better ending would have been for Rahl to think he'd won, but then for Nicci to just blast the sonuvabitch away like he deserves. Of course, since it cut off there, that might have been what happened, but we didn't see it . . .
    • If you look carefully, you'll see a Radahan around Nicci's neck when she stands up and stares at Rahl... Not that I disagree with the complaint in general. Just saying...
    • You'll have to blame the series getting canceled for that. Presumably they were planning for a third season.
  • Shouldn't Darken Rahl be dead in the alternate reality in which Cara never became a Mord-Sith? Being that he was the first Baneling, I doubt Richard would have been fine with him killing someone every day just to keep him around. Why bother keeping him around at all? Because it would show your followers, who had to serve under the evil tyrant for a generation, that you were merciful? The bastard was evil! Man this show has a lot of plot holes.
    • As I've mentioned elsewhere, it's possible because Rahl was the first Baneling, and a direct collaborator with The Keeper rather than just a grunt, his deal might have worked differently. As for why Richard didn't kill him, um, did you miss the part of the episode where Zedd asked Richard that exact question and Richard told him exactly why? Maybe before you declare the show is full of plotholes, you should pay a little more attention to it.
  • It just now occurred to me that Darken Rahl's entire scheme from "Walter" was completely redundant. If he had Walter in his custody for 6 months, then why the hell did he wait until that point to execute his whole plan for resurrection? The way the show portrays it, it's as if he's waited until: A) he got his hands on the scroll Richard and co. needed (which he didn't even know existed until the previous episode) and B) for Walter to escape. Of course, this makes no sense, as logically, Rahl would have all the means to resurrect himself (Mord-Sith, Sisters of the Dark) long before this episode. Maybe he had to wait until Kahlan confessed a sister? Since normally resurrecting himself would go against the Keeper's agenda, so the sisters probably wouldn't agree to it so readily, so he had to wait until he had a bargaining chip to convince the Seeker and co. to help him do it? Still, counting on a sister to be confessed and to have the means to force Richard's hand is one hell of a Gambit Roulette...
    • Rahl wasn't planning to be resurrected at first. He might have had Walter kept around as a contingency, but up until the Creator episode, he was perfectly okay with remaining in the Underworld serving the Keeper. It was only after he received the You Have Failed Me punishment from the Keeper that he decided it was in his best interests to GTFO-and Walter and the confession of the sister provided that opportunity. He hadn't planned for it, he was just seizing the chance.
  • The previous episode, "Vengeance", has one of the most pointless sacrifices I can recall: Panis sees Zed is about to get Dakraa'd, so he steps in the way very slowly so that it will hit him instead. If he had that much time to react (seriously, he moves VERY slowly), then why didn't he shout a warning to Zed, or tried to bat it in the way, or AT LEAST tried to jump in so that it wouldn't hit him fatally? Even ignoring that, why didn't Cara bring him back immediately after?
    • Possibly because Panis Rahl felt guilty about killing Zedd's father and wanted to atone for it. Perhaps he figured that Death Equals Redemption.
  • Incoherence: In one of the last episodes we learn that Darken Rahl was the first baneling, hence his endless bloodlust. But then, we have the events of Unbroken. Suddenly, Darken Rahl has been able to survive a whole year without, presumably, killing anything or anyone, and certainly not killing on a daily basis the way he used to. Does not compute.
    • This troper just put that down to the power of Orden being strong enough to overwhelm the baneling status. Orden was, after all, the only thing capable of tearing the veil in the first place, so it repressing Rahl's baneling side seems reasonable.
  • I admit that I have not seen every episode, but why can't Kahlan have sex with Richard without Confessing him? Whenever she confesses someone, she simply stares at them with super-dilated eyes. Is she worried that she'll lose control over her powers during the throes of passion, and Richard can't get aroused if she's wearing a blindfold? Can she also confess people with her vagina, and if so does she do it involuntarily? Is oral sex out? What about handjobs?
    • The eye thing is just special effects-Confession actually works through physical contact, which is why whenever Kahlan confesses someone, she grabs them first (the Con Dar being an acknowledged exception). This is something that might be better explained in the books, but using the Confessor power isn't a deliberate action so much as 'letting go' of the power that Kahlan is constantly holding in, so something like sex would, indeed, make her lose control and accidentally unleash that power on whoever she's in contact with. Other forms of sex that don't cause her to go into "the throes of passion" would be an idea, but are not brought up. Eragon Sporkings' review mentions that if the Confessor's power doesn't return after each use for days (or hours, in Kahlan's case) they could have sex during that time.
      • You can't be sure what would bring the throes, especially with someone very unaccustomed to it.
  • In the episode Brannigan, Zedd's told by an old flame that he's the father of her son. He denies this, saying he used "magical protection" but later admits he didn't use it every time. Kahlan is judging the matter, and he tells her in private a secret he's kept that he's Richard's grandfather. Somehow, she accepts this as proving he isn't the father, even though they have nothing to do with each other. Talk about your Non Sequitur Fallacy.
    • Been a while since I've seen the episode, but as I recall, Kahlan's logic is that she can tell that Zedd is hiding or lying about something, and in the context of the supposed son, that's what she deduces, that his "I'm lying about something" body language means that he's lying about not being the kid's father. Zedd tells her about being Richard's grandfather to explain why he's acting like he's hiding something. Kahlan believes him about not being the father because she accepts that being Richard's grandfather is the reason for his odd behavior.
      • He could've just said that he used it every time with her.
    • Okay, that makes sense, but his being the father still isn't disproved. Magical DNA tests, anyone?
    • Zedd knows that he isn't the father because he did use his “magical protection” each time, at least with Allard's mother. The only time he didn't use it was when he conceived Richard's mother.
  • If the Calabrans held the Boxes of Orden, then why not just use them against the invaders?
    • It was only one box.

Top