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*** It is explicitly said in this episode that Shota's vision shows "possible" futures.
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*** It is explicitly said in this episode that Shota's vision visions shows "possible" futures.
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*** It is explicitly said in this episode that Shota's vision shows "possible" futures.
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Changed line(s) 269 (click to see context) from:
** Richard giving his han to Nicci, fully aware she's a Sister of the Dark, because he don't see another solution to flee the Palace of the Prophets. This is after he had convince sister Verna to help him put a Radar'han on Nicci. Why not simply give his han to Verna?
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** Richard giving his han to Nicci, fully aware she's a Sister of the Dark, because he don't see another solution to flee the Palace of the Prophets. This is after he had convince sister Verna to help him put a Radar'han on Nicci. Why not simply give his han to Verna?Verna instead of creating a new super-powered villain?
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Changed line(s) 269 (click to see context) from:
* Richard giving his han to Nicci, fully aware she's a Sister of the Dark, because he don't see another solution to flee the Palace of the Prophets. This is after he had convince sister Verna to help him put a Radar'han on Nicci. Why not simply give his han to Verna?
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* Richard giving his han to Nicci, fully aware she's a Sister of the Dark, because he don't see another solution to flee the Palace of the Prophets. This is after he had convince sister Verna to help him put a Radar'han on Nicci. Why not simply give his han to Verna?
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Changed line(s) 181,182 (click to see context) from:
* FrameUp: The plot of the episode "Confession", after Kahlen finds a man she had confessed to killing [[LaResistance resistance]] members somehow was not really guilty. Richard, along with another woman, also suffer this before it's over.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Arguable on funny, but in "Mirror", as a Mord-Sith goes to inspect a fake "Zedd" tied to a tree in the foreground, the real Zedd looses a blast of Wizard's Fire that throws nearby D'Haran soldiers dozens of feet away.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Arguable on funny, but in "Mirror", as a Mord-Sith goes to inspect a fake "Zedd" tied to a tree in the foreground, the real Zedd looses a blast of Wizard's Fire that throws nearby D'Haran soldiers dozens of feet away.
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* FrameUp: The plot of the episode "Confession", after Kahlen Kahlan finds a man she had confessed to killing [[LaResistance resistance]] members somehow was not really guilty. Richard, along with another woman, also suffer this before it's over.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Arguable on funny, but in "Mirror", as a Mord-Sith goes to inspect a fake "Zedd" tied to a tree in the foreground, the real Zedd looses a blast of Wizard's Fire that throws back nearby D'Haran soldiers dozens of feet away.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Arguable on funny, but in "Mirror", as a Mord-Sith goes to inspect a fake "Zedd" tied to a tree in the foreground, the real Zedd looses a blast of Wizard's Fire that throws back nearby D'Haran soldiers dozens of feet away.
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* GoodCostumeSwitch: Borderline example with Cara. She still wears the Mord-Sith's trademark red leather, but early in Season 2 she modifies the outfit, removing the chestpiece and showing some cleavage. Though this may be a "practical" GoodCostumeSwitch -- Cara isn't really allowed to torture people, and her secondary weapon is seduction, so it does make life easier when she shows off a bit. (Not to mention that red leather is not the most comfortable of outfits.) The other Mord-Sith also cut off her braid, so from then on she sports short hair. Also Discussed -- during the aforementioned chestpiece removal her sister offers a more normal dress. "I think this suits me better" is her response.
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* GoodCostumeSwitch: Borderline example with Cara. She still wears the Mord-Sith's trademark red leather, but early in Season 2 she modifies the outfit, removing the chestpiece and showing some cleavage. Though this may be a "practical" GoodCostumeSwitch -- Cara isn't really allowed to torture people, and her secondary weapon is seduction, so it does make life easier when she shows off a bit. (Not to mention that red leather is not the most comfortable of outfits.) The other Mord-Sith also cut off her braid, so from then on she sports short hair. Also Discussed -- during the aforementioned chestpiece removal her sister offers a more normal dress. "I think this suits me better" better," is her response.
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** In a season 2 episode, a young Confessor who doesn't have control of her power accidentally confesses a man who saves her life. She then is implied to have had sex with him while he's brainwashed into being her slave [[spoiler:and after the magic is released he rushes tenderly to her side]]. Potentially mitigated by his being clearly interested in her before he was confessed in the first place, but still.
** Pretty much true with every Confessor who takes a mate. They usually do it with a former enemy, and nobody thinks twice about it... except for the confessed after they are released. Kahlan's father, for instance...
** Pretty much true with every Confessor who takes a mate. They usually do it with a former enemy, and nobody thinks twice about it... except for the confessed after they are released. Kahlan's father, for instance...
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** In a season 2 episode, a young Confessor The Confessors father offspring by men who doesn't have control of her power accidentally confesses a man who saves her life. She then is implied to have had sex are "confessed", i.e. turned into the confessor's lifelong love slave. No one cares since sleeping with him while he's brainwashed into being her slave [[spoiler:and after the magic is released he rushes tenderly to her side]]. Potentially mitigated by his being clearly interested in her before he was confessed in the first place, but still.
** Pretty much true with every Confessor who takes a mate. They usually do it with a former enemy,any man would automatically confess them anyway and nobody thinks twice about it... except for the confessed after they are released. were usually enemy soldiers in their former lives.
** Deconstructed by Kahlan's father, who became an abusive parents to make up forinstance...the years he lost confessed to her mother. When Kahlan tries to justify her mother confessing him with the maxim that confessors don't take honorable men as mates, he relates his backstory of how his father drafted him into the D'Haran army to keep him from becoming a carpenter and his confession came right before he was due to leave from his tour of duty.
** Pretty much true with every Confessor who takes a mate. They usually do it with a former enemy,
** Deconstructed by Kahlan's father, who became an abusive parents to make up for
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* ExactWords: Used whenever Darken Rahl or a Dharen "give you what's coming to you" in regards to a bounty. Played with in Season 2 at Cara's trial.
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* ExactWords: Used whenever Darken Rahl or a Dharen D'Haren "give you what's coming to you" in regards to a bounty. Played with in Season 2 at Cara's trial.
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** As a point of fact, in the books the sword glowed white when he used it toward someone he ''loved'', not someone he ''forgave''.
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* ScriptWank: The ending of the episode "Cursed," particularly Kahlan's conversation with Cora about the episode's BeYourself message.
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-->'''Cara:''' Who would have ever dreamed that the Seeker could go twelve days without stopping to save helpless children from distressed farm animals.\\
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-->'''Cara:''' Who would have ever dreamed that the Seeker could go twelve days without stopping to save helpless children from distressed farm animals.\\animals!\\
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Changed line(s) 186,187 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Cara:''' I cannot believe we have gone a whole twelve days without the Seeker stopping to rescue children from rampant barn animals.\\
'''Zedd:''' Perhaps it is a sign that we are nearing our goal.
'''Zedd:''' Perhaps it is a sign that we are nearing our goal.
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-->'''Cara:''' I cannot believe we Who would have gone a whole ever dreamed that the Seeker could go twelve days without the Seeker stopping to rescue save helpless children from rampant barn distressed farm animals.\\
'''Zedd:''' Perhapsit is it's a sign that we are we're nearing our goal.the Stone of Tears.
'''Zedd:''' Perhaps
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* ShootTheShaggyDog
** In the first season, Richard saves a male Confessor baby (it is believed that all the male Confessors are AlwaysChaoticEvil, and as such they are killed at birth), hoping that the baby can grow into a decent person. But we never learn whether his belief is right: in the second season the child is killed off-screen along with all the other Confessors.
** The son of Darken Rahl and Kahlan in the alternate reality of the season one finale indicates the belief was right.
** In the first season, Richard saves a male Confessor baby (it is believed that all the male Confessors are AlwaysChaoticEvil, and as such they are killed at birth), hoping that the baby can grow into a decent person. But we never learn whether his belief is right: in the second season the child is killed off-screen along with all the other Confessors.
** The son of Darken Rahl and Kahlan in the alternate reality of the season one finale indicates the belief was right.
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* ShootTheShaggyDog
**ShootTheShaggyDog: In the first season, Richard saves a male Confessor baby (it is believed that all the male Confessors are AlwaysChaoticEvil, and as such they are killed at birth), hoping that the baby can grow into a decent person. But we never learn whether his belief is right: in the second season the child is killed off-screen along with all the other Confessors.
** The son of Darken Rahl and Kahlan in the alternate reality of the season one finale indicates the belief was right.Confessors.
**
** The son of Darken Rahl and Kahlan in the alternate reality of the season one finale indicates the belief was right.
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** The most glaring example has to be the wizard Amfortas from the backstory. His meddling to try to prevent the Seeker Kieran from being confessed resulted in exactly that happening, followed by the confessor dying and Kieran going into a [[LoveMakesYouEvil frenzy of violence against innocents]] and forcing Amfortas to kill him, meaning that the Seeker failed his quest because of Amfortas's meddling. Then he trapped Kieran's spirit in his corpse, resulting in the possessions of Richard and Kahlan. He even planned to trap Richard in the tomb to prevent Kieran from escaping, nearly handing victory to Darken Rahl.
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** The most glaring example has to be the wizard Amfortas from the backstory. His meddling to try to prevent the Seeker Kieran from being confessed resulted in exactly that happening, followed by the confessor Confessor dying and Kieran going into a [[LoveMakesYouEvil frenzy of violence against innocents]] and forcing Amfortas to kill him, meaning that the Seeker failed his quest because of Amfortas's meddling. Then he trapped Kieran's spirit in his corpse, resulting in the possessions of Richard and Kahlan. He even planned to trap Richard in the tomb to prevent Kieran from escaping, nearly handing victory to Darken Rahl.
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Changed line(s) 268 (click to see context) from:
** Not to mention when Darken Rhal [[spoiler: destroys the Boxes of Orden in an attempt to stop Richard from using them and inadvertently tears the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead.]]
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** Not to mention when Darken Rhal Rahl [[spoiler: destroys the Boxes of Orden in an attempt to stop Richard from using them and inadvertently tears the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead.]] ]]
** The most glaring example has to be the wizard Amfortas from the backstory. His meddling to try to prevent the Seeker Kieran from being confessed resulted in exactly that happening, followed by the confessor dying and Kieran going into a [[LoveMakesYouEvil frenzy of violence against innocents]] and forcing Amfortas to kill him, meaning that the Seeker failed his quest because of Amfortas's meddling. Then he trapped Kieran's spirit in his corpse, resulting in the possessions of Richard and Kahlan. He even planned to trap Richard in the tomb to prevent Kieran from escaping, nearly handing victory to Darken Rahl.
** The most glaring example has to be the wizard Amfortas from the backstory. His meddling to try to prevent the Seeker Kieran from being confessed resulted in exactly that happening, followed by the confessor dying and Kieran going into a [[LoveMakesYouEvil frenzy of violence against innocents]] and forcing Amfortas to kill him, meaning that the Seeker failed his quest because of Amfortas's meddling. Then he trapped Kieran's spirit in his corpse, resulting in the possessions of Richard and Kahlan. He even planned to trap Richard in the tomb to prevent Kieran from escaping, nearly handing victory to Darken Rahl.
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* WellIntentionedExtremist:
** The Mother Confessor Serena, who [[spoiler: confesses Zedd and nearly kills Richard in her determined efforts to kill Dennee's Confessor son.]]
** The Prelate in Season 2, who [[spoiler: leaves Richard to die in the Valley of Perdition, almost kills Zedd, and tries to trap Kahlan in the Palace of the Prophets, all because of her interpretation of Prophecy.]]
** The wizard Amfortas in the past, who's attempts to stop Kieran from being confessed ended up [[spoiler: causing exactly what he was trying to prevent.]]
** The Mother Confessor Serena, who [[spoiler: confesses Zedd and nearly kills Richard in her determined efforts to kill Dennee's Confessor son.]]
** The Prelate in Season 2, who [[spoiler: leaves Richard to die in the Valley of Perdition, almost kills Zedd, and tries to trap Kahlan in the Palace of the Prophets, all because of her interpretation of Prophecy.]]
** The wizard Amfortas in the past, who's attempts to stop Kieran from being confessed ended up [[spoiler: causing exactly what he was trying to prevent.]]
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* SquishyWizard: Zedd
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* SquishyWizard: ZeddZedd, though he still occasionally manages to knock an enemy out with a blunt weapon from behind in cases where he can't use his magic.
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* EvilSorcerer: Darken Rahl, the BigBad of the first season, who has some magical abilities, not that we see many of those. The one we see several times is his ability to do an OffscreenTeleportation during sword battles to stab the opponent in the back. He also has many sorcerers serving him, including a Wizard of the Second Order named Giller. The BadFuture season finale also features Nicholas Rahl, the son of Darken Rahl and Kahlen Amnell, combining his parents abilities to become an even worse tyrant than his father.
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* EvilSorcerer: Darken Rahl, the BigBad of the first season, who has some magical abilities, not that we see many of those. The one we see several times is his ability to do an OffscreenTeleportation during sword battles to stab the opponent in the back. He also has many sorcerers serving him, including a Wizard of the Second First Order named Giller. The BadFuture season finale also features Nicholas Rahl, the son of Darken Rahl and Kahlen Amnell, combining his parents abilities to become an even worse tyrant than his father.
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* FireKeepsItDead: In season 2 the team starts having to burn the corpses of their foes as a matter of course because it keeps them from coming back as banelings, and keeps existing banelings from being resurrected. Zedd's Wizard's Fire gets a lot of use out of this.
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Doesn\'t fit the trope because it doesn\'t involve a breaking speech
* ColdBloodedTorture: Darken Rahl, while bathing, refuses to tell Nicci where Richard is taking the Stone of Tears, and then attempts to seduce her. Nicci responds by superheating his bath water, nearly boiling him alive, and forces him to tell her where Richard is taking the stone. He plans to do the same later in revenge.
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* HannibalLecture: [[spoiler:Cara, while tied up, tells Richard that they both know he doesn't have the stomach to actually kill her.]]
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* HannibalLecture: [[spoiler:Cara, while tied up, tells Richard that they both know he doesn't have the stomach to actually kill her.]]
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* ShutUpHannibal: Darken Rahl, while bathing, refuses to tell Nicci where Richard is taking the Stone of Tears, and then attempts to seduce her. Nicci responds by superheating his bath water, nearly boiling him alive, and forces him to tell her where Richard is taking the stone. He plans to do the same later in revenge.
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* VirtualRealityInterrogation: "Home" is driven by this. Darken Rahl has his pet wizard trap Richard in a dream about his home. Inside the dream, Rahl takes on several different characters to try and convince Richard that the goings-on of the series so far was [[AllJustADream all just a dream]] to learn the location of one of the boxes of Orden from him. Ultimately, [[ThePowerOfLove the power of love]] combined with Rahl pushing too hard breaks the spell at the last moment.
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Trimming.
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* RaceLift: Chase is Maori and General Trimack is black in the adaptation. Interesting in that the latter is nearly ''always'' described in the books (as in, every time he shows up) as having fiery red hair. Commander-General Trimack doesn't get much of a physical description, but the most prominent D'Haran redhead would have been General Reibisch, the military governor of Aydindril and Richard and Kahlan's right-hand-man for most of the series until the first major battle with the Imperial Order. [[FridgeLogic Which is in itself interesting]], as in the books Darken Rahl had a hard-on for only allowing pureblooded D'Harans into his elite PraetorianGuard and in positions of high rank. D'Haran purebloods are almost universally blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan phenotypes, which would have made Reibisch (and Trimack, if true) very much exceptions to the rule. Reibisch, at least, was explicitly noted as being ''half''-D'Haran in his first appearance, which is why Richard had to win him and his troops over. The First file is explicitly stated to be all pure D'Haran, Trimack at least has the blue eyes, we can assume the hair as well.
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* RaceLift: Chase is Maori and General Trimack is black in the adaptation. Interesting in that the latter is nearly ''always'' described in the books (as in, every time he shows up) as having fiery red hair. Commander-General Trimack doesn't get much of a physical description, but the most prominent D'Haran redhead would have been General Reibisch, the military governor of Aydindril and Richard and Kahlan's right-hand-man for most of the series until the first major battle with the Imperial Order. [[FridgeLogic Which is in itself interesting]], as in the books Darken Rahl had a hard-on for only allowing allowed pureblooded D'Harans into his elite PraetorianGuard and PraetorianGuard--the First File which Trimack commands--and in positions of high rank. D'Haran purebloods are almost universally blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan phenotypes, which would have made Reibisch (and Trimack, if true) very much exceptions to the rule. Reibisch, at least, was explicitly noted as being ''half''-D'Haran in his first appearance, which is why Richard had to win him and his troops over. The First file is explicitly stated to be all pure D'Haran, Trimack at least has the blue eyes, we can assume the hair as well.phenotypes.
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Changed line(s) 214 (click to see context) from:
** Also, this is the only way to truly kill a baneling, torching its body so it can't rise from the dead yet again. You could also freeze it and then [[LiterallyShatteredLives break it]] {which is how he killed another undead creature).
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** Also, this is the only way to truly kill a baneling, torching its body so it can't rise from the dead yet again. You could also freeze it and then [[LiterallyShatteredLives break it]] {which (which is how he killed another undead creature).
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Changed line(s) 15 (click to see context) from:
* AcquittedTooLate: In "Confession" a man is proven to have been [[FrameUp framed]] by FakeMemories only after he was hanged for murder.
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* AcquittedTooLate: In "Confession" a man is proven to have been [[FrameUp framed]] by using FakeMemories only after he was hanged for murder.
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* AcquittedTooLate: In "Confession" a man is proven to have been [[FrameUp framed]] using FakeMemories only after he was hanged.
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* AcquittedTooLate: In "Confession" a man is proven to have been [[FrameUp framed]] using by FakeMemories only after he was hanged.hanged for murder.
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* AcquittedTooLate: In "Confession" a man is proven to have been [[FrameUp framed]] using FakeMemories only after he was hanged.
* AGodAmI
** In Season 2, a woman shows up and claims to be the Creator reborn in [[PhysicalGod a mortal body]]. Later in the episode, [[spoiler:it is revealed that she got her powers from ''all'' of the Sisters of the Light transferring their Han to her. She disappears at the end of the episode, and it is intentionally left ambiguous as to if she has any sort of connection to the actual Creator, though she knows things which are inexplicable otherwise.]]
** In the Season 2 finale, the [[TheDevil Keeper]] enters the mortal realm in the body of a boy.
** In Season 2, a woman shows up and claims to be the Creator reborn in [[PhysicalGod a mortal body]]. Later in the episode, [[spoiler:it is revealed that she got her powers from ''all'' of the Sisters of the Light transferring their Han to her. She disappears at the end of the episode, and it is intentionally left ambiguous as to if she has any sort of connection to the actual Creator, though she knows things which are inexplicable otherwise.]]
** In the Season 2 finale, the [[TheDevil Keeper]] enters the mortal realm in the body of a boy.
* FakeMemories: Used to frame people and fool Kahlen in "Confession."
* FrameUp: The plot of the episode "Confession", after Kahlen finds a man she had confessed to killing [[LaResistance resistance]] members somehow was not really guilty. Richard, along with another woman, also suffer this before it's over.
Deleted line(s) 181,183 (click to see context) :
* AGodAmI
** In Season 2, a woman shows up and claims to be the Creator reborn in [[PhysicalGod a mortal body]]. Later in the episode, [[spoiler:it is revealed that she got her powers from ''all'' of the Sisters of the Light transferring their Han to her. She disappears at the end of the episode, and it is intentionally left ambiguous as to if she has any sort of connection to the actual Creator, though she knows things which are inexplicable otherwise.]]
** In the Season 2 finale, the [[TheDevil Keeper]] enters the mortal realm in the body of a boy.
** In Season 2, a woman shows up and claims to be the Creator reborn in [[PhysicalGod a mortal body]]. Later in the episode, [[spoiler:it is revealed that she got her powers from ''all'' of the Sisters of the Light transferring their Han to her. She disappears at the end of the episode, and it is intentionally left ambiguous as to if she has any sort of connection to the actual Creator, though she knows things which are inexplicable otherwise.]]
** In the Season 2 finale, the [[TheDevil Keeper]] enters the mortal realm in the body of a boy.
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* MemoryGambit-In a season 1 episode, a spy of Darken Rahl uses a magical orb which implants memories from other people to fool Richard and Kahlan.
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* MemoryGambit-In a season 1 episode, a spy of Darken Rahl uses a magical orb which implants memories from other people MiscarriageofJustice: In "Confession" FakeMemories are used to fool [[FrameUp frame a man]] for murder, who Kahlan confesses, and then is hanged for it. Another miscarriage is [[AvertedTrope averted]] later when Richard and Kahlan.Kahlan figure out who really did it.
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* MemoryGambit-In a season 1 episode, a spy of Darken Rahl uses a magical orb which implants memories from other people to fool Richard and Kahlan.
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* CatFight: Between Cara and Triana. The fact it takes place at a bath house (while Cara is bathing, no less) increases the {{Fanervice}} by a couple orders of magnitude.
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* CatFight: Between Cara and Triana. The fact it takes place at a bath house (while Cara is bathing, no less) increases the {{Fanervice}} {{Fanservice}} by a couple orders of magnitude.
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* BiTheWay: Cara, who in all fairness comes from an order with a reputation for being [[DepravedBiSexual Depraved Bisexuals]] even in the source material.
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* BiTheWay: Cara, who in all fairness comes from an order with a reputation for being [[DepravedBiSexual Depraved Bisexuals]] {{Depraved Bisexual}}s even in the source material.
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** The Mord-Sith generally; also DepravedBisexuals.
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** The Mord-Sith generally; also DepravedBisexuals.{{Depraved Bisexual}}s.
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Moving to Namespace.
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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LegendOfTheSeekerImage_2075.JPG]]
'''''Legend of the Seeker''''' is a LiveActionTV adaptation of the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series of books. Executive produced by Creator/SamRaimi (who also served as an executive producer for ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''), Robert Tapert, Joshua Donen, Ned Nalle and Kenneth Biller.
The first season roughly follows the plot of ''Wizard's First Rule'': There's an [[BigBad evil wizard]] named [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Darken Rahl]], [[EvilOverlord who wants to use the Boxes of Orden to take over]] [[EvilIsSexy the world]], and opposing him are Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, [[TheSmartGuy wise and sarcastic wizard of the First Order]]; Kahlan Amnell, [[LadyofWar a powerful, determined and idealistic]] Action Girl belonging to the mighty order of the Confessors; and Richard Cypher, [[TheMessiah a kind woodsman full of compassion]] [[BigDamnHero who is also an extremely capable fighter]] [[ChosenOne prophesized]] to become the True Seeker, using the mighty Sword of Truth to kill Rahl and save the world.
While the characters, setting, and central conflict are the same as the book, other aspects of the story were changed in adaptation. The series was cancelled after its second season, but a [[http://www.saveourseeker.com fan campaign]] is going strong to [[SendingStuffToSaveTheShow try and bring it back]].
It is notable for (despite insane amounts of [[MrFanservice Fanservice for]] [[MsFanservice both genders]], sometimes quickly developed and impulsive plotlines and a lot of slowed down sequences) treating the matters of free will, extremism and responsibility very extensively. It is one of the rare works which has an undisputed place on the most equal level of the [[SlidingScaleofGenderInEquality Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality]].
Now has [[Characters/LegendOfTheSeeker a character sheet.]]
----
!!''Legend of the Seeker'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* ActingForTwo
** Bridget Regan when she is [[LiteralSplitPersonality split]] in "Torn".
** Craig Parker plays both Darken Rahl and his [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals lookalike]] in "Walter".
** Bridget Regan and Craig Horner play themselves and disguised hapless thieves in "Mirror".
** Also Zedd for a few hilarious scenes
* ActionGirl: Many, many. Most notably Kahlan, Cara, Nicci, all the Mord-Sith and Sisters of the Dark
* AdaptationDyeJob
** Darken Rahl and Nicci [[spoiler:Well Nicci-ish... now she's blond again in her new body]], among others.
** Panis Rahl and Walter's white hair is possibly a nod to the original hair color of Darken Rahl in the novels.
** In the books, Kahlan's eyes are green. However, Bridget Regan's eyes are such a stunning shade of blue, they decided to make use of them.
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: In the [[SwordOfTruth first book]], the title of ''The Book of Counted Shadows''[[note]]an in-universe book that serves as the instruction manual for the Boxes of Orden[[/note]] refers to how the boxes each cast a different number of shadows when they're in direct sunlight. In the series, the boxes display no such quality, but the book keeps its title.
* AdamAndEvePlot
** [[spoiler:Defied by Richard and Kahlan in "Eternity".]]
** [[spoiler: Also turns out to be Nicci's plot in "Tears".]]
* AgonyBeam: The Agiel. Though it leaves some ''nasty'' welts.
* 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.]]
* AlternateRealityEpisode
** The result of MagicMisfire, when Zedd uses a spell to undo Cara's conditioning. Just as he warns, it has unpredictable consequences, meaning Cara never became a Mord-Sith, resulting in her never stopping Richard from using the Boxes of Orden to force Rahl's obedience. Zedd, being the caster, has RippleEffectProofMemory and is dumbfounded when he realizes he is the best man at Richard and Kahlan's wedding... with Rahl marrying them, since Richard controls him with the power of Orden. Zedd then hits the ResetButton by using the same spell on another Mord-Sith.
** Also in the last episode in the first season, in which [[spoiler: Richard and Cara are sent into a future where Rahl won, and his and Kahlan's son, a male confessor, took over the world by confessing ''everyone'', the sort of thing the other Confessors had warned Richard about earlier in the series.]]
* AlwaysChaoticEvil
** In-universe, it is believed that all the male Confessors become monstrously evil. Richard defies this belief... but we never learn whether he is right or wrong, as the male Confessor in question gets killed offscreen before he can grow up to show it either way. However, played straight in the alternate universe son of Darken Rahl and Kahlen.
** The Keeper of the Underworld
** The Boxes of Orden would always corrupt the user unless the power is tempered by a Confessor.
* AntiMagic
** Jenssen
** The Mord-Sith can deflect wizard magic, making Zedd virtually helpless when confronted by them.
* ArmorIsUseless: Richard and Kahlan wear no armor whatsoever yet suffer hardly a scratch while fighting dozens of enemies. The D'harans, on the other hand, almost always show up in chainmail or plate armor and [[RedShirtArmy get mowed down by the dozens]]. D'harans dying to Kahlan's knives are particularly egregious since chainmail is designed specifically to withstand edged weapons.
* AutobotsRockOut: The second season's battle theme has much more electric guitar to it than the first season's.
* BackFromTheDead: The Mord-Sith can do this by using the [[KissofLife Breath of Life]]. It seems to heal the fatal wounds suffered, but it won't save you if your windpipe was severed, or if your body was too badly damaged, and it has to be used within a short amount of time after the death.
** [[spoiler: Zedd tries to bring a woman back in the episode "Wizard" and appears to succeed. However, it is revealed that it was the Keeper who brought her back as a baneling. Apparently, even wizards of the First Order are not strong enough to defeat death.]]
** Combined with an unwilling GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Dennee.]]
** And again in "Princess", combined with a ''willing'' GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler: Nicci.]]
** [[spoiler:Not to mention Richard himself in "Resurrection".]]
** [[spoiler:And both Cara and Thaddicus in "Hunger".]] Really, Legend of the Seeker seems to ''love'' this trope.
** [[spoiler:And then again in "Walter", this time, Darken Rahl.]]
** [[spoiler:Darken Rahl reveals to Richard that he has been a baneling for decades, slaughtering thousands to appease his master, the Keeper]]. By now it's pretty safe to say DeathIsCheap in this show.
** Once more for the finale: [[spoiler: Cara, Dahlia, Leo, Nicci, and Richard!]]
** Potentially justified by the fact that the second season revolves around the barrier between the world of life and the underworld breaking down, so it fits with the overall theme.
* BackToBackBadasses: Happens a lot. One notable example is Richard and Darken Rahl in "Extinction".
* {{Badass}}
** Chase, Kahlan, and Richard all qualify.
** And Cara, definitely Cara.
** [[spoiler:Nicci too, particularly when she took on three Han-powered up Sisters of the Dark by herself, killed two of them and absorbed their Han, then decapitated Merissa and took hers.]]
* BadassGrandpa: Zedd
* BadFuture: The first season Finale shows one where Rahl won, and the future is ruled over by his [[spoiler: and Kahlen's]] son.
* BattleCouple: Richard and Kahlan, even if they can't consummate their relationship. [[spoiler: Until the series finale, that is and earlier in "Torn", when she was split apart.]]
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. Kahlan and Richard are both suitably dirtied after most battles, and Jensen gets one ''hell'' of a black eye after she's attacked in "Fever". Cara also looks suitably beaten and dirty [[spoiler:after the other Mord Sith turn on her.]] Finally, Nicci gets some real injuries and bruises in "Bound".\\
However, despite being on a long-ranging quest through the woods almost constantly, everyone always has fantastic hair. Well, they're in pretty wet climates -- after all, most fantasy worlds take place in forests, and this one seems to have a decent amount of rain. So they can probably wash every few days. Not to mention that magic probably helps a bit...
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe
** The Mord-Sith's slave Mika rescues Walter in his eponymous episode because, when he was posing as Lord Rahl, he ordered the Mord-Sith to be gentle with her.
** Cara in the latter episodes of season 2 for Richard, Kahlan, and Zedd.
* BiTheWay: Cara, who in all fairness comes from an order with a reputation for being [[DepravedBiSexual Depraved Bisexuals]] even in the source material.
* BlackShirt: Marianna, who was "waiting all her life" to help the Keeper tear the veil.
* BlessedWithSuck: The king in "Cursed" who was given, by Shota, the power to defend his kingdom forever [[spoiler: which involves [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting transforming into a monster by night]].]]
* BlondesAreEvil: [[spoiler:Nicci is blonde after coming BackFromTheDead.]]
* BlondGuysAreEvil: Panis Rahl... sort of. Panis Rahl is nowhere near as evil or sadistic as his son, Darken. Panis may have been corrupt, but not to an extent that is unusual of a stereotypical king. Also, he seems to be genuinly looking for redemption when he finds Richard. [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsDeath He gets it]]]].
* BloodMagic
** The Journeybooks need to use blood as ink to work. Rahl apparently likes to use the blood of people [[YouHaveFailedMe who've failed him]].
** The Keeper also uses it to create banelings, who stay alive only if they kill someone every day.
* {{Bowdlerization}}: Some of the darker things from the books have been toned down, mostly stuff that just wouldn't make it onto TV.
** Most notably, there's considerably less nudity (though still some for {{Fanservice}}), the [[UnfortunateImplications potentially offensive]] Mud People are nowhere to be seen, and while [[RapeAsDrama rape]] was a common tool of pretty much every villain in the books, it's only been alluded to a few times.
** In a Season One episode, Darken Rahl claimed that his father raped Richard's and Jennsen's mother. However, this was a part of an attempt to deceive Jennsen, so it is unknown if this is true. General Trimack later offers a slightly different story, that Panis had seduced their mother in disguise. This could possibly still be considered rape, since she consented to sleeping with a young shepherd, not an old man in the form of one.
* BulletTime: The series ''loves'' this one. It shows up about 30 seconds into the pilot, and is present in nearly every fight scene, of which there are a lot.
* BusCrash: We learn from Cara that [[spoiler:Dennee and her son were killed by order of Darken Rahl.]] Technically, [[spoiler:Dennee killed her own son so that Rahl does not get him, and then Cara killed Dennee, leading to a HeroicBSOD from Kahlen, Dennee's sister.]]
* ButIWouldReallyEnjoyIt: Richard and Kahlan would love to sleep together, but [[spoiler:if they do, Richard will essentially become a mindless slave, and would be unable to save the world.]] They manage to find a few ways around it (i.e. the anti-Confessor potion, the painter-world where magic doesn't work) but it always gets snatched away before they can take advantage of it. Kahlan does get the chance to do this when [[spoiler:Richard is confessed by Annabelle]], but she realizes that he is not doing this out of love for her and stops him. But then [[spoiler:they sort of do, when an amulet splits Kahlan into two beings -- one that embodies her sense of duty along with her Confessor power, and one that does not have the Confessor power or reasoning abilities]]. The interesting thing is, all throughout Season 2 they seem to be in a relationship anyway, hugging, kissing, holding hands, etc. at every opportunity. They just can't have sex.
* CanNotSpitItOut
** Cara refuses to admit her feelings for Leo [[spoiler:until after he dies]], believing love to be a weakness.
** Also Kahlan from the beginning of the series until either "Identity" or "Denna".
* CanonDiscontinuity: [[spoiler:Darken Rahl]] claims he was the first baneling. However, in the AlternateRealityEpisode, he has somehow survived without killing for nearly a year. The most likely possibility is that he simply lied. Supported by the earlier statement that banelings cannot use magic. Alternatively, as the First Baneling, and as a direct conspirator with the Keeper, it could be that his deal works differently from the usual "kill one person a day or you die" Banelings. Also, it's not stated that banelings can't use magic; just that [[spoiler:Cara]] couldn't use the Breath of Life specifically, which ''would'' kind of conflict with that "kill to live" deal.
* TheCasanova: Richard has to impersonate one in "Princess". Zedd notes "[[BiggusDickus his reputation]] isn't the only thing that precedes him into the room."
* CatFight: Between Cara and Triana. The fact it takes place at a bath house (while Cara is bathing, no less) increases the {{Fanervice}} by a couple orders of magnitude.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Oh, ''very'' subverted.
** First, there's Princess Violet, who's just as much of a royal bitch as she was in the books, at about 10 years old.
** In the first season finale, we meet [[spoiler:Nicholas Rahl]], who Confesses a playmate and forces him to cut off his own finger because the boy didn't want to play the same games as him. Later Nicholas kills his own mother and then confesses Darken Rahl's trusted general and has him kill his father.
** Then in the second season, we meet a young boy whose mother became a Baneling in order to stay around and take care of him. After she dies (again), the boy is taken in by a monk. The kid then reveals himself as a Baneling, kills the monk, and cheerfully walks to the settlement he was just told has lots of other kids his age...
** The Listener from Season 1 plays with this. He can Read thoughts and is sold to different people, he even sees himself as an aversion until the PowerOfFriendship from Richard causes a HeelFaceTurn.
* TheChooserOfTheOne: Zedd
* ChosenOne
* CliffHanger: Unless the show gets renewed, we can only wonder what [[spoiler:Rahl will do to Nicci.]] He made it clear she was going to get a ''very'' hot bath at minimum.
* ClipShow: Once per season: "Home" and "Creator".
* ClingyJealousGirl: [[spoiler: Heart!Kahlan]] in "Torn".
* ColorCodedCharacters: In several cases. D'Haran soldiers wear dark red & black, and the Sisters of the Dark wear brighter red. (Of course, Sisters of the Light do too, as Sisters of the Dark are rogues). Additionally, Kahlan wears white up until Denna appears in white, then she switches colors to a dark scheme.
* ContinuityNod
** General Egramort's questions in "Walter" to determine if the lookalike is the real Darken Rahl are both references to Season One episodes.
** In Season 2 "Broken", Zedd uses the magical mirror he gained in Season 1 "Mirror" to disguise himself.
** In one episode, Richard is forced to fight a D'Haran captain whom he had befriended; one who had his family in a nearby village and is generally shown to be a sympathetic character. At one point, the Sword of Truth is shown to be glowing white, which in the books occurred when Richard fought someone whom he forgave despite being his enemy. Scenes which immediately followed made it unclear whether the glowing white was genuine or a trick of the sunlight.
** As a point of fact, in the books the sword glowed white when he used it toward someone he ''loved'', not someone he ''forgave''.
* CoolSword: Guess.
* CourtroomEpisode
** Two of them. One where Cara is put on trial for her crimes as a Mord-Sith, and one where Richard is put on trial by a woman claiming to be the [[{{God}} Creator]] herself.
** Also in the episode Torn, where Head!Kahlen takes over Aydindril and dispenses "justice".
* CurseCutShort / SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: Cara, who'd been forced to speak in rhyming couplets while posing as a Princess, delivers this gem to the Margrave in "Princess":
-->''Dear Margrave the sight of your face makes me sick.\\
You decadent, pompous, self-satisfied--''(socks the Margrave)''''
** Partially subverted -- if you listen "very" carefully, you can hear her say "dick" as she punches.
* DarkActionGirl
** Nicci
** The Mord-Sith.
* DarkAndTroubledPast
** Nicci; Cara; Kahlan; Denee...
** And Zedd has that "I fixed Panis' penis" guilt. Really, everyone in the show except Richard.
* DarkMagicalGirl: Cara, for the entire series, but especially [[spoiler: after she's "rebroken" by Darken Rahl and arguably before she follows Richard]]. She even comes to full blows with [[MagicalGirl Kahlan]]
* DealWithTheDevil: Rahl has long ago made a deal with the Keeper. After his death, he offers deals to recently deceased in Keeper's name. Those who accept (most do) become banelings, having to kill someone every day to stay alive.
* DeadpanSnarker: Zedd and Cara get in on it at times. And Denna. And Sister Verna. And Nicci, particularly in ''Bound.''
* DeathIsCheap: Just about every main character has died at least once in the series.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Cara
* DemotedToExtra: Adie is a prominent character in the books, who at varying points is even a love interest for Zedd. So far, she's shown up only in the pilot, and is probably trapped in Westland beyond the boundary.
* DesignatedGirlFight: Completely averted. The characters regularly fight enemies of both genders, with no indication that they try to focus on their own. Helps that there's no shortage of [[DarkActionGirl women who are]] just as dangerous as any man. And when there ''is'' a girl on girl fight, it's no less brutal than any other.
* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:Cara manages to keep fighting despite having her throat cut. Sure, she dies a few moments later, but she still holds on a lot longer than you'd expect. ''And'' she then comes back from the dead to keep fighting.]]
* DeusExMachina: In the final episode [[spoiler:all seems lost, Richard was tricked into giving the [[MacGuffin Stone of Tears]] to the Keeper, and Kahlen kills him while under the control of Nicci. However, her tears turn into another Stone of Tears for some reason and they are able to seal the rift after Cara revives Richard with the breath of life. Apparently it was the PowerOfLove that made the Stone of Tears, that was pretty out of the blue to say the least]]. Justified somewhat, by a prophecy saying that as long as the Mother Confessor lives, the keeper will fail.
* DevilButNoGod: Unlike in the book series, the Creator ''does'' show up.... Maybe. And like in ''TheSalvationWar'', ''everyone'' who dies goes to FireAndBrimstoneHell. However, Darken Rahl implies at one point that it's only because the veil has been torn that everyone who dies goes there -- in the normal course of things, only bad people go there, while good people go to some unspecified but presumably much nicer place.
* DistractedByTheSexy
** At the beginning of "Elixir", Richard sees Kahlan bathing by a river and fails to notice his horses getting stolen less than 10 feet away from him.
-->'''Richard:''' I was... distracted.\\
'''Zedd:''' What on the Prophet's good earth could have distracted you?!\\
''(sees Kahlan walking up in a state of undress, hair still wet)''
** In "Mirror", Richard again gets distracted by "Kahlan" (a thief disguised by a magical mirror which gave her the appearance of Kahlan) when "Kahlan" [[DressHitsFloor takes her clothes off]] and swims in a lake with Richard.
-->'''Kahlan:''' Someone stole the Sword of Truth? How did that happen?\\
'''Richard:''' I was distracted!\\
'''Kahlan:''' [[DeadpanSnarker By a naked woman you went swimming with..]]\\
'''Richard:''' I thought it was you.\\
''({{beat}})''
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In the sixth episode, "Elixir", the heroes with [[DrugsAreBad potion peddlers]].
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale
** In a season 2 episode, a young Confessor who doesn't have control of her power accidentally confesses a man who saves her life. She then is implied to have had sex with him while he's brainwashed into being her slave [[spoiler:and after the magic is released he rushes tenderly to her side]]. Potentially mitigated by his being clearly interested in her before he was confessed in the first place, but still.
** Pretty much true with every Confessor who takes a mate. They usually do it with a former enemy, and nobody thinks twice about it... except for the confessed after they are released. Kahlan's father, for instance...
* TheDragon: General Egremont to Darken Rahl; Darken Rahl himself to the Keeper in Season 2.
* DualWielding
** See also: KnifeNut.
** Cara has also been seen wielding two Agiels.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Though the seasons have been based roughly on the first and second [[SwordOfTruth books]], they've used characters and plot points from much later in the series.
** Notably, [[AntiMagic Jennsen]] and [[PropheticDreams the Priestess of Casca]].
** Triana is first seen in the season 1 finale -- as a ''skeleton''. Cara identifies her in the BadFuture.
* EmotionsVsStoicism
** [[spoiler: Heart!Kahlan vs Head!Kahlan in "Torn", with both displaying negative extremes.]]
** Cara versus Richard, Kahlan, and Zedd.
* EnemyMine
** Defied. Darken Rahl ''tries'' to talk Richard into one when he [[spoiler:is killed]], but Richard flat out refuses.
** However, Darken Rahl tries this strategy again in "Vengeance" and "Extinction", with quite a bit more success.
* EnfantTerrible
** [[spoiler:Nicholas Rahl]] who, among other things, has a playmate's finger cut off because he didn't want to play the same games as he did.
** And taken to an extreme in the finale, when the little boy Richard is protecting turns out to be [[spoiler:[[{{Satan}} The Keeper]]]].
* EstrogenBrigadeBait: Richard
* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Bad Men Love Their Daddies]]: Throughout "Vengeance", Darken Rahl is trying to get Zedd and his brother to kill Panis Rahl. When [[spoiler:he is killed by a Sister of the Dark and goes to the underworld, Darken...gives him a hug, and asks if he forgives him. We don't get to hear the answer, but Panis is clearly moved.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Rahl and the Mord-Sith are completely caught off guard by just how ''bad'' [[spoiler:Nicholas Rahl]] is. Well, they didn't seem surprised at what he'd do, just the fact that he did it to ''them''.
* EvilGenius: Giller to Darken Rahl, later Nicci and then Marianna to the Keeper.
* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Panis
* EvilSorcerer: Darken Rahl, the BigBad of the first season, who has some magical abilities, not that we see many of those. The one we see several times is his ability to do an OffscreenTeleportation during sword battles to stab the opponent in the back. He also has many sorcerers serving him, including a Wizard of the Second Order named Giller. The BadFuture season finale also features Nicholas Rahl, the son of Darken Rahl and Kahlen Amnell, combining his parents abilities to become an even worse tyrant than his father.
* ExactWords: Used whenever Darken Rahl or a Dharen "give you what's coming to you" in regards to a bounty. Played with in Season 2 at Cara's trial.
-->'''Elders:''' She [Cara] has shown no remorse. It is our will that she also die by Confession.\\
''(later)''\\
'''Kahlen:''' I have looked into this woman's eyes and I see now that she is truly remorseful.
::Of course the rest of the town didn't see things the same way...
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Cara in "Eternity", although she grows out of it.]] The ending was surprising.
* {{Fanservice}}: In the first five minutes of the pilot, we have Dennee's heaving bosom as well as a shirtless Richard chopping wood and hauling logs and planks around. The Fanservice continues throughout the series with sexy backs and {{Shirtless Scene}}s all around.
* FateWorseThanDeath
** Characters in Season 2 that die are shown/implied to enter the underworld, which is described as waking up in "a pit of unimaginable suffering".
** Though it may depend on the person, being a baneling and having to kill others every day to stay alive. As time runs out, a baneling's body begins to rot and feels a gnawing hunger before death. Before dying, a baneling said she found going to the Keeper's domain preferable to continue what she had become.
* FlashStep: [[BigBad Darken]] [[TheStarscream Rahl]] demonstrates this ability at least twice. He disappears and then reappears right behind his enemy (Richard in "Deception", and three Sisters of the Dark in "Unbroken".) He then proceeds to [[CurbStompBattle kick some serious ass]] on both occasions.
* FountainOfYouth: Zedd is turned into a young man by [[spoiler:Shota]] in "Wizard", so that he can do her bidding. Doesn't work out as intended, when it all goes to his head. Both Zedd and [[spoiler:Shota]] can make anyone, including themselves, young, which means that they can live forever if they wished.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Arguable on funny, but in "Mirror", as a Mord-Sith goes to inspect a fake "Zedd" tied to a tree in the foreground, the real Zedd looses a blast of Wizard's Fire that throws nearby D'Haran soldiers dozens of feet away.
* GambitPileup: The season 2 finale has just about every named villain's plans colliding, with nearly disastrous results.
* GenreSavvy:
-->'''Cara:''' I cannot believe we have gone a whole twelve days without the Seeker stopping to rescue children from rampant barn animals.\\
'''Zedd:''' Perhaps it is a sign that we are nearing our goal.
** Also, Darken Rahl in the second season finale. He seems to have caught onto the fact that Richard is the hero, so he's content to just sit back and wait for him to save the world.
* AGodAmI
** In Season 2, a woman shows up and claims to be the Creator reborn in [[PhysicalGod a mortal body]]. Later in the episode, [[spoiler:it is revealed that she got her powers from ''all'' of the Sisters of the Light transferring their Han to her. She disappears at the end of the episode, and it is intentionally left ambiguous as to if she has any sort of connection to the actual Creator, though she knows things which are inexplicable otherwise.]]
** In the Season 2 finale, the [[TheDevil Keeper]] enters the mortal realm in the body of a boy.
* GoodCostumeSwitch: Borderline example with Cara. She still wears the Mord-Sith's trademark red leather, but early in Season 2 she modifies the outfit, removing the chestpiece and showing some cleavage. Though this may be a "practical" GoodCostumeSwitch -- Cara isn't really allowed to torture people, and her secondary weapon is seduction, so it does make life easier when she shows off a bit. (Not to mention that red leather is not the most comfortable of outfits.) The other Mord-Sith also cut off her braid, so from then on she sports short hair. Also Discussed -- during the aforementioned chestpiece removal her sister offers a more normal dress. "I think this suits me better" is her response.
* GrandTheftMe
** In "Resurrection", [[spoiler:Dennee is brought back and possesses the body of a recently deceased woman]], and then later in the same episode, [[spoiler:the same thing happens with Richard and a D'Haran commander.]]
** In "Princess", [[spoiler: Nicci possesses the body of another Sister of the Dark.]]
** Then, in "Walter", [[spoiler: Darken Rahl steals the body of the title character, while Walter survives in the body of a D'haran warrior.]] Interestingly enough, each is also an example of BackFromTheDead.
* HannibalLecture: [[spoiler:Cara, while tied up, tells Richard that they both know he doesn't have the stomach to actually kill her.]]
* HairpinLockpick: Used by Lily in "Bounty". On a D'haran dungeon door no less.
* HeelFaceTurn: Cara -- HeelFaceRevolvingDoor untill a settle on Good.
* HeroicSacrifice
** [[spoiler:Leo diving in front of Nicci's lightning to save Kahlan.]]
** Also an example of a ''villainous'' sacrifice in "Princess". Sister Portia, a Sister of the Dark, willingly gives her own life in a ritual in order to bring Nicci BackFromTheDead. For the rest of the show, [[GrandTheftMe Nicci is using Portia's body as her own, and the appearance now matches hers in the book.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Zedd in the first season finale, when he tries to use wizard's fire against a Mord-Sith, who simply deflects it back at him, [[spoiler:killing the old man.]]
* IAmSpartacus: In the episode "Brennidon".
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: After drinking a potion that renders him immune to Kahlan's confessor touch, Rahl takes advantage to admire her beauty and strokes her hair and brings up how she and Richard can never have intimacy, all in front of Richard. Then there's the alternate future where [[spoiler:he marries Kahlan to have a confessor son.]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All of the episode titles are one word.
* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Though not used directly, it's somewhat lampshaded by Lily in "Bounty".
-->'''Lily:''' The D'harans don't need to send an army. All they need is a few tears and an ample bosom.
* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Richard at one point uses the Sword of Truth to parry arrows out of the air. In fairness, it ''is'' a super magic sword. It gets even worse when he gets a case of TemporaryBlindness in the last episode. He still fights as well as he does normally, killing enemies and parrying thrown daggers. [[HandWave Magic of the sword, apparently...]] Possibly a CallBack to a season 1 episode in which Richard learns to fight things he can't see.
* ImprovisedWeapon: When the Sisters of the Dark blow Zedd and Richard's cover in "Princess", a fight naturally breaks out. Richard grabs a knife from the table, while Zedd starts hurling plates at the Sisters.
* InNameOnly: The series has little in common with the book aside from the characters, setting, and central conflict. This was made clear by WordOfGod(s) before the show premiered, as the writer and the director believe that they could not completely adapt the novels to the screen. A few episodes adapt the plots of later books, without the [[AuthorTract politics behind them]], such as "Fury", which has a lot of parallels with ''Naked Empire'', but excises the mind-boggling bits.
* InfantImmortality: Played straight with [[spoiler:Dennee's son, at least until he's killed offscreen]], but averted in "Deception," which opens with several children finding a mysterious device. The next we see of them is their dead bodies having fallen around that device, along with everyone else in the village.
* InfiniteSupplies: No matter how many Sisters of the Dark are killed, there are always more that show up out-of-nowhere. It must be why they always wear [[RedShirt red]].
* KickTheDog
** After he finds out that [[spoiler:Richard has all three boxes of Orden]], Rahl responds to this bad news by killing a kitten with his bare hands.
** Actually, Rahl and his men do it several times an episode.
* KillItWithFire
** Zedd ''loves'' torching things with Wizard's Fire, though he does have other tricks. Especially starting in season 2.
** Also, this is the only way to truly kill a baneling, torching its body so it can't rise from the dead yet again. You could also freeze it and then [[LiterallyShatteredLives break it]] {which is how he killed another undead creature).
* KnifeNut
** Kahlan uses two for double the fun.
** Richard tends to use a knife whenever the Sword is unavailable for whatever reason, especially in Season 2.
* KnightTemplar
** [[spoiler:Richard ''quickly'' goes down this route when he first uses the magic of Orden, but snaps out of it.]]
** Also note: Darken Rahl, a little more so than he was in the books, and [[spoiler: the cold-hearted Kahlan created by the amulet.]]
* LadyOfWar: Kahlan all the way.
* LandmineGoesClick: One unfortunate Sister of the Dark finds this out in "Bound" and has just about enough time to [[OhCrap realize it]] before she goes boom. Richard explains a moment later that these types of mines only go off when you step off them, which is what saves [[spoiler:Nicci]] from the same fate. This also holds for many RealLife land mines.
* LaResistance: There's an ongoing underground resistance in the Midlands, though a few are shown to go a little overboard in their fight against Rahl.
* LastOfHisKind
** Kahlan, eventually. At least, until [[spoiler:Dennee is brought back from the dead]].
** Zedd is the last wizard of the First Order alive. Kahlan killed Rahl's wizard in a fit of "blood rage", and Rahl killed another one years ago.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Touched upon. [[spoiler:When Cara died, Darken Rahl said that time could not be built up to live week to week. The clock reset with every kill.]]
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to the book, which got pretty damn dark.
* LightIsNotGood
** In Season 2 Denna changes her leathers and Agiel from the usual Mord Sith red to white. But she's still evil.
** Nicci tries to invoke this against the Sisters of the Light, in order to trick Richard into giving up his powers to her.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: How the Screeling is killed in "Marked".
* LiteralSplitPersonality: Kahlan in "Torn" gets split into two bodies, representing her "heart" (i.e., [[LoveMakesYouCrazy love for Richard]]) and her "head" (i.e., [[LawfulStupid her powers]] and [[KnightTemplar duty as a confessor]]).
* LotusEaterMachine: The episode "Home"
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Kieran, a previous Seeker, went mad with grief and started killing innocent people after his Wizard ordered his Confessor to kill herself, forcing his wizard to kill him with his own sword and trap his spirit in his remains. Worse, he possessed Richard's body and got his Confessor's spirit to possess Kahlan's, obviously not caring what either of them thought.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:According to Rahl, Richard is his brother, but it's unclear if he was telling the truth.]] And before that revelation, Richard learns, [[spoiler:Zedd is his grandfather]]. Confirmed at the start of season 2 by a former servant of Panis Rahl and Darken Rahl's ghost. [[spoiler:Also confirmed by the fact that Cara's Mord'Sith powers fail when Richard dies and return when he is resurrected (Mord-Sith only have their powers as long as a Rahl is alive).]]
* MacGuffin: The Stone of Tears drives the entire plot of Season 2.
* MagicKnight
** Zedd becomes this after becoming young again and naming himself the Seeker in "Wizard".
** Darken Rahl may also qualify, as he possesses magical powers and is an experienced sword fighter. He used both to defeat Richard during their first encounter.
** Also Nicci, who is a capable combatant [[spoiler: as well as the most powerful sorceress in the series.]]
** The Mord-Sith, who are elite women warriors, have magical powers, including the ability to ressurect recently dead people.
* MagicMap: One episode had a mapmaker selling maps to bounty hunters that revealed Richard's location as a glowing point of light.
* MarshmallowHell: Richard gets this from the Margrave's (rather large) sister in "Princess".
* TheMedic: Bizarrely enough, [[TokenEvilTeammate Cara]], the [[ColdBloodedTorture Mord]]-[[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique Sith]], whose [[KissOfLife Breath of Life]] has saved at least one plot-important extra from death.
* MegaManning: Nicci, to great effect. So far, she has stolen [[spoiler:Richard's Han, Sister Ulicia's Han, Sister Merissa's Han, Kahlan's Confession powers, and the Han of well over a hundred other magic users, due to killing and stealing the powers of several Han-buffed Sisters of the Dark.]]
* MoralDissonance: One season 1 episode has a secondary character who steals Richard's identity and leaves Richard behind to take his place, despite knowing that he can't use the Sword of Truth, he can't read the Book of Shadows, he isn't the Seeker and therefore, by prophecy, cannot save the world and is therefore dooming it. And then he tries to sleep with Kahlan wearing the identity of the man she loves. And we're supposed to root for him and his implied romance with the actually heroic secondary heroine of the episode.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Over the course of Season 2, a couple characters express regret that they ''hadn't'' killed Darken Rahl, or allowed him to be killed, when he was a child. One of these people happens to be Zedd, who in the books has a brief inner monologue on the subject, before realizing he couldn't have wished for the death of a child, even one who would grow up to be Darken Rahl. Much the same feelings are expressed in the show.
* MutualKill
** In the season 2 finale, Kahlen goes into Con Dar and instantly confesses four Mord-Sith. She then orders them to kill each other. They do so by touching each other's heart with the agiel simultaneously.
** Also happens in Richard's nightmare in the Fields of Perdition with Kahlan and Cara. And earlier in the first season when he uses the power of Orden.
* MySensorsIndicateYouWantToTapThat: In "Listener", a young mind-reader rescued by Richard and Kahlan informs them both that yes, their to-date undiscussed feelings for each other are mutual, which opens an important can of worms.
* MythologyGag
** The first time you see Jennsen is her tending to her goat, and previews of the second season show Richard developing a beard, like he wore during the second book.
** In the first part of the season 2 finale, Sister Marianna is naked when she hears the voice of the Keeper in her dreams and rises to serve him. In the books, the Sisters of the Dark were always naked when they sat in the circle to speak with the Keeper in their dreams.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Like in the book, Zedd is introduced stark naked.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Darken Rahl is a baddy? No shit.
* NeverSplitTheParty: Meta version, by way of PragmaticAdaptation: In the books, while Richard and Kahlan were nearly inseparable after the second book, they often went two or three books without seeing Zedd, who was off doing other plot-important things elsewhere, and it was rare to have all the main protagonists in one place for an extended period of time. In the TV series, though, they're never separated for more than a two-parter episode at a time.
* NewSuperPower
** When entering Con Dar (the blood rage), Kahlan gains the ability to confess anyone she wants without even touching them. When applied to Mord-Sith, they no longer die within minutes but remain loyal slaves.
** Nicci also gains a host of new powers after absorbing Richard's Han.
** Subverted in that neither needed to learn how to use these.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero
** After realizing what his oldest son would become, Panis made sure to fulfill his part in the prophecy to stop him. Problem is, after doing so, he gloated to Darken about everything. Darken responded by killing him. This also led to the deaths cited in the next entry.
** Not to mention when Darken Rhal [[spoiler: destroys the Boxes of Orden in an attempt to stop Richard from using them and inadvertently tears the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHerod / GenocideBackfire: As soon as he learns of the prophecy, Rahl orders every first-born son in the town where the Seeker is to be born killed. Turns out he missed one...
* NoPronunciationGuide: The series clears up the pronunciation of Kahlan's name (previously believed to be "KAH-lan" or "ka-LAN") to be "KAY-lin".
* NotSoDifferent: Quite a few episodes illustrate that the Resistance against Rahl can be a little extreme.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Kahlan. Mord-Sith. A fair number of female characters. Mocked by Zedd during his brief magical disguise as a woman in "Mirror".
-->'''Zedd:''' How anyone gets around with these... things on is entirely beyond me.
* OffingTheOffspring
** As in the books, the Confessors kill male confessors at birth out of fear of them growing to abuse their powers. In the first season, Richard successfully convinces the Confessors to spare the life of a newborn male confessor. Then the season finale shows us a full-grown male confessor, and despite his parents' best efforts, he's just as bad as they'd feared.
** [[spoiler:Also, after luring Cara into a trap with a threat to her (and his) son, Darken Rahl reveals that he had been killed at birth, just as she originally thought.]]
* OffstageVillainy: Cara's misdeeds [[spoiler:killing Dennee and participating in the slaughter of the other Confessors]] happened entirely offscreen. Accepting her HeelFaceTurn would've been ''much'' more difficult if we'd seen the act.
* OhCrap: When Kahlan goes through the Con Dar (aka Blood Rage) for the first time, everyone has this look on their faces. Even Richard is scared.
* OmnicidalManiac: The Keeper and eventually [[spoiler:Nicci]]
* [[OncePerEpisode Once per Season]]: Like the books, it seems each season will feature a new Wizard's Rule. The pilot had Zedd briefly quoting the Wizard's First Rule[[labelnote:+ ]]People will believe a lie if they want it to be true, or if they're afraid it might be true[[/labelnote]], and the second season opener has him quoting the second[[labelnote:+ ]]Sometimes you do the most harm by trying to do the most good[[/labelnote]].
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Craig Horner (Richard) and Tabrett Bethell (Cara) occasionally let their {{Australian Accent}}s slip. Many New Zealander actors don't even bother to hide it.
* OutOfClothesExperience: People who die consistently wake up naked in the underworld.
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage
** An odd non-marriage variant. Annabelle was afraid that Flynn would stop liking her after she lost her confessor powers, but he ended up liking her anyway. It probably helps that he seemed interested in the first place.
** A first season episode featured one with an actual marriage.
* ThePowerOfLove
** [[spoiler:In the season 2 finale it manages to keep Richard from being confessed by Kahlan, make Kahlan snap out of the Con Dar, and[[SwissArmyTears makes a completely new stone of tears.]] The first bit is a nod to the end of [[SwordOfTruth the first book]], and was in fact foreshadowed by Richard himself in "Eternity".]]
** [[spoiler:And in the episode featuring Kieran, Viviene and Amfortas (a previous Seeker, Confessor and Wizard), Kieran's rage can simply be explained as the result of grief at her death being magnified by the Sword of Truth, his own love protecting him from Viviene. Unfortunately, he just wasn't able to focus in battle like Richard can.]]
* PragmaticAdaptation: In the book series, the Sword of Truth [[AbsurdlySharpBlade instantly slices through anything]] its wielder wants it to, including other swords. But sword fights are cooler on TV, so this ability isn't brought up.
* PsychoLesbian
** Dahlia
** The Mord-Sith generally; also DepravedBisexuals.
* PunchClockVillain
** A surprising amount of D'Haran soldiers fall into this. At least one has raised a loving family in the Midlands. They ''are'' conscripts, after all...
** Also, two D'Haran officers plan to kill Rahl, but were unintentionally [[NiceJobBreakingItHero foiled by Richard and Kahlan]].
* RaceLift: Chase is Maori and General Trimack is black in the adaptation. Interesting in that the latter is nearly ''always'' described in the books (as in, every time he shows up) as having fiery red hair. Commander-General Trimack doesn't get much of a physical description, but the most prominent D'Haran redhead would have been General Reibisch, the military governor of Aydindril and Richard and Kahlan's right-hand-man for most of the series until the first major battle with the Imperial Order. [[FridgeLogic Which is in itself interesting]], as in the books Darken Rahl had a hard-on for only allowing pureblooded D'Harans into his elite PraetorianGuard and in positions of high rank. D'Haran purebloods are almost universally blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan phenotypes, which would have made Reibisch (and Trimack, if true) very much exceptions to the rule. Reibisch, at least, was explicitly noted as being ''half''-D'Haran in his first appearance, which is why Richard had to win him and his troops over. The First file is explicitly stated to be all pure D'Haran, Trimack at least has the blue eyes, we can assume the hair as well.
* RapeAsBackstory: Nicci reveals this, and getting revenge for it, as the reason she became a Sister of the Dark.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath
** Poor [[spoiler:Michael]]
** Also [[spoiler:Panis Rahl]].
* RedShirt
** The Sisters of the Dark. Every time they show up, Richard and company end up slaying at least a half dozen of them, and that they actually wear red dresses makes it even worse. This is particularly {{Egregious}} considering that in the books, the Sisters of the Dark were some of the most powerful, intelligent, and dangerous of the Keeper's servants, and even one was considered to be a critical threat.
** D'Haran soldiers.
** Anyone who Kahlan confesses has a 90% chance of being dead by the end of the episode.
* RegalRinglets: Princess Violet sports this hairstyle.
* ResetButton: Zedd tries an in-universe version in the form of the Spell of Undoing after [[spoiler:Cara is brainwashed into turning against them]]. Naturally, it all goes wrong...until he tries it again at the beginning of the next episode.
* RefugeInAudacity: How Cara wins over the Margrave in "Princess". Also a lighter shade of EvilIsSexy.
* RhymesOnADime: All women are expected to do this in the presence of the Margrave. Cara has trouble with it at first, then spontaneously composes a whole poem [[CrossesTheLineTwice about torturing and killing a slave]]. The Margrave's sister impressively manages one while sobbing at the top of her lungs.
* RuleOfCool: Much like the other New Zealand-based fantasies of that time period, armour is apparently not required for main characters for go head first into mobs of enemies every week.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: "The Seeker will deliver the Stone of Tears into the hands of the Keeper." Well, yeah, but only because just about everyone opposed to the Keeper interfered with Richard's quest.
* SelectivelyLethalWeapon: The Dakras wielded by the Sisters of the Light and of the Dark. Their lethality is directly proportional to whom they hit: If it hits a Sister of the Dark, she's dead before she hits the ground. If it hits a main character, the thrower will have to release its magic to make the kill. In the latter case, the Dakra can be removed without any ill effects, even if it was previously embedded in the character's ribs.
* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight / SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Manages to be both at the same time. The first part of the Season Two finale takes place in what is, by all appearances, a much, ''much'' better world than the "real" one. As a result of the Spell of Undoing, Cara was never a Mord-Sith (and thus lived the peaceful life of a schoolteacher with two small children), and thus didn't arrive in time to interrupt Richard when he put together the boxes of Orden. As a result, the veil of the underworld was never torn, Orden and Confession tempered each other, Richard was marrying Kahlan, and Darken Rahl was now his trusted friend, brother, and advisor. Zedd, having RippleEffectProofMemory, is the only one who remembers how things were "supposed" to be... but comes to accept, at first, that this might be better. It's only once the Keeper, who also has RippleEffectProofMemory, throws things out of whack that he decides to hit the ResetButton again.
* ShirtlessScene: Richard ends up shirtless with almost alarming frequency in the first season.
* ShootTheMessenger: A monk trying to deliver a message to Kahlan meets Nicci at the wrong time and hears something he really shouldn't. Being Nicci, she decides not to take the risk of him telling anyone else.
* ShootTheShaggyDog
** In the first season, Richard saves a male Confessor baby (it is believed that all the male Confessors are AlwaysChaoticEvil, and as such they are killed at birth), hoping that the baby can grow into a decent person. But we never learn whether his belief is right: in the second season the child is killed off-screen along with all the other Confessors.
** The son of Darken Rahl and Kahlan in the alternate reality of the season one finale indicates the belief was right.
* ShutUpHannibal: Darken Rahl, while bathing, refuses to tell Nicci where Richard is taking the Stone of Tears, and then attempts to seduce her. Nicci responds by superheating his bath water, nearly boiling him alive, and forces him to tell her where Richard is taking the stone. He plans to do the same later in revenge.
* SquishyWizard: Zedd
* TheStarscream: Both Darken Rahl and Nicci (independently), during season two.
* {{Synchronization}}: The Maternity spell Nicci uses to hold Kahlan hostage.
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking the Lightning Bolt]]: [[spoiler:Leo, for Kahlan.]]
* TeleporterAccident: One [[spoiler:Made two Kahlans]] in "Torn".
* TellMeAboutMyFather: Reversed and gender flipped in "Bloodline," where [[spoiler: Richard laments he never got the chance to talk to his mother, and the episode ends with Zedd]] saying, "Then let me tell you about her."
* TemporaryBlindness: Nicci blinds Richard with shards of broken glass in the Season 2 finale, which doesn't stop him from fighting the Sisters of the Dark and blocking their dagger throws with his sword. Fortunately, [[AWizardDidIt Zedd is there to help]].
* TemptingFate: Happens in "Torn". Actually, it happens a lot. [[WhatAnIdiot Especially]] [[TooDumbToLive since]] so many of them can instantly recognize the Seeker, the Mother Confessor, the Wizard of the First Order, and [[spoiler:a Mord-Sith]].
-->'''Richard:''' Let them go!\\
'''Mook:''' Or what?\\
''(Richard knocks him out in a single punch)''
* ThereIsAnother
** A meta-version, and a semi-straight version. In the books, Kahlan is the last of the Confessors; here, there's still a handful left. Semi-straight version in that [[spoiler:we see Dennee apparently get killed in the pilot, only for it to turn out she's still alive half way through the first season.]]
** The handful of surviving Confessors apparently get killed off screen over the course of the next season, leaving Kahlan to indeed be the last of her kind...[[spoiler: At least until Denee comes BackFromTheDead. She's a hard woman to keep down, Denee.]]
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: The Sword of Truth gets used as a projectile quite often. Knives are thrown with perfect accuracy at least once an episode.
* TitleDrop: In "Brennidon".
* TokenEvilTeammate: Cara in Season 2; the "evil" bit is eroded away, though, over the course of the series.
* TooDumbToLive: Many, but one of the most notable is in "Cursed", at the battle in the throne room after the D'Haran invasion. Sounds of fighting can be heard from the throne room for a good 15 seconds before the D'Haran soldiers arrive yet the two guards at the door are standing ''with their backs to the door'' and ''with their weapons not drawn.'' Unsurprisingly, they are cut down within seconds.
* TheTrainsRunOnTime: After Darken Rahl is defeated at the end of the first season, his empire and armies start falling apart. A couple characters point out that while Rahl was a tyrant, at least he kept things orderly.
* TranquilFury: Richard in "Bloodline" after Denna kills his mother and Richard gets the power of Orden.
* TheTrickster: When he's not blasting things with fireballs, Zedd displays quite a bit of cunning; see "Puppeteer" for him at his best.
* {{Tsundere}}: Cara, whose tsun side generally involves threatening to torture people to death, and whose dere side involves threatening to torture people to death less vocally. [[DefrostingIceQueen Defrosting]] as of season 2. Hell, near the end of season 2, she has a 10-minute-long walk where she talks to a wisp (that we can't hear, conveniently) and pretty much goes through every Tsundere dialogue trope around. Well, that's just VERY rapid character development. This trope shows more through Mord'Sith's different methods of torture (i.e. pain vs. pleasure), which isn't limited to Cara alone.
* UnstoppableRage
** Kahlan's Con Dar (the blood rage), accidentally activated by an evil wizard. Kahlan gets a mini one in "Extinction" where after a group of D'Haran soldiers ruthlessly burned down the Night Wisps' forest there are several long pans over her going wild on them with an uncharacteristic brutality.
** Also, Richard and the Minders after Zedd removes their binding spell.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Cara, as well as Nicholas Rahl. Nicci also claims to Richard that this is true of her as well.
* VerySpecialEpisode: Defied in "Elixir"... ultimately. But it still comes off as Narm to some.
* VillainousBreakdown: Rahl goes through a few of them, when he realizes Zedd tricked him so thoroughly, and when he finds out that [[spoiler:Richard has all three boxes and the means to use them]]. It's generally not a good idea to be in the immediate area when he gets bad news.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Rare is the episode that doesn't feature a shirtless Craig Horner at some point.
* WalkingTheEarth: One of the last of its kind after the great Reality TV invasions of the aughts.
* WeirdMoon: The episode "Home" features an enchantment that can only be cast when a constellation of three stars is encircled by the moon's crescent. It gets even worse, though -- the spell ends when all three stars are eclipsed by the crescent portion of the moon. Not ''quite'' as bad as it seems, though: until pretty recently, the term "star" meant "any celestial object not the Sun or the Moon." "Planet" and "comet" are from old terms for "wandering star" and "hairy star" after all.
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim
** Cara is usually the one to ask this, and almost gleefully volunteers to pull the trigger, so to speak. She's usually talked out of it by Richard, though. Kahlan also advocates this as a solution occasionally, and again, Richard usually comes up with something that'll work without killing.
** Averted in "Resurrection". [[spoiler:Someone has their soul put into Richard's body while his soul is in the Underworld. They need to bring Richard's body back to town to revert the spell and the simplest solution would be to kill "Richard" and carry his body back. So Kahlan stabs him.]]
* WomanInBlack: Nicci in the season 2 finale.
* WomanInWhite: Kahlan.
* WorkplaceAcquiredAbilities: Richard's experience as a woodsman comes in handy on a number of occasions, such as being able to track which horse Annabelle and Fynn took because the tracks were deeper. Exploited in one episode where this is used against him, when [[spoiler:a murderer framed a man by planting on him seeds from a particular area, knowing Richard would recognize them and implicate the man with them.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Cara the Mord'Sith...and well probably all Mord'Sith for that matter, by their conditioning.
* WriteBackToTheFuture: [[spoiler:Kahlan's failed plan to get a message to Richard in the future in the first season finale]].
* YouCantFightFate: Much as Richard goes on about not believing in Prophecy, every single one of them comes true. [[ProphecyTwist Well, for a given value of true...]]
** Here is the list of the prophecies that came true: Richard killed Rahl; Richard delivered the Stone of Tears to the Keeper; Kahlan's heart never stopped beating, so the Keeper lost; Leo was named Seeker; Darken Rahl became a tyrant.
** One prophecy did not come true, however. Shota stated that Richard would fail in his quest. He didn't. Well, there seems to be a difference between the prophecies that the Sisters get from the Creator, and the ones Shota gets. We don't always see what Shota sees, so we mainly have her interpretation of things to go by.
*** Richard's quest is to stop Rahl. And ''Richard'' doesn't stop Rahl. Did Richard succeed in his quest? [[spoiler:By the technicality, Rahl stopped himself.]]
*** Shota also prophesised that Kahlan would betray Richard. The closest we get to a fulfillment of that one is Kahlan's tentative, and never confirmed, guess that her leaving Richard for an episode (which she did to keep the prophesy from coming true) was the "betrayal" in question.
*** It was proven a couple of times that, although the prophecies that the Creator gives to the Sisters of the Light can't be averted, Shota's visions can. Hell, the first episode we're introduced to Shota is all about her trying to avert her own vision (and it does end up being averted completely).
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Averted, surprisingly enough, in the first season. While Rahl gets one or more of the boxes despite the heroes' best efforts in the beginning of the plot, they eventually ''succeed'' in stealing all three boxes and use them before Rahl can. After that, things go downhill for Rahl -- though he certainly puts up one hell of a fight right up to the bitter end.
* YouHaveFailedMe
** Rahl has a bad habit of executing and/or torturing those in his employ who screw up. Even people who do help Rahl are also double crossed, presumably so that they don't have to pay them a bounty.
** The Keeper also does this, even [[spoiler:to Darken Rahl himself!]]
* ZettaiRyouiki: Kahlan's "other" outfit includes this, with thigh high boots under a coat with side cut-outs.
----
'''''Legend of the Seeker''''' is a LiveActionTV adaptation of the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series of books. Executive produced by Creator/SamRaimi (who also served as an executive producer for ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''), Robert Tapert, Joshua Donen, Ned Nalle and Kenneth Biller.
The first season roughly follows the plot of ''Wizard's First Rule'': There's an [[BigBad evil wizard]] named [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Darken Rahl]], [[EvilOverlord who wants to use the Boxes of Orden to take over]] [[EvilIsSexy the world]], and opposing him are Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, [[TheSmartGuy wise and sarcastic wizard of the First Order]]; Kahlan Amnell, [[LadyofWar a powerful, determined and idealistic]] Action Girl belonging to the mighty order of the Confessors; and Richard Cypher, [[TheMessiah a kind woodsman full of compassion]] [[BigDamnHero who is also an extremely capable fighter]] [[ChosenOne prophesized]] to become the True Seeker, using the mighty Sword of Truth to kill Rahl and save the world.
While the characters, setting, and central conflict are the same as the book, other aspects of the story were changed in adaptation. The series was cancelled after its second season, but a [[http://www.saveourseeker.com fan campaign]] is going strong to [[SendingStuffToSaveTheShow try and bring it back]].
It is notable for (despite insane amounts of [[MrFanservice Fanservice for]] [[MsFanservice both genders]], sometimes quickly developed and impulsive plotlines and a lot of slowed down sequences) treating the matters of free will, extremism and responsibility very extensively. It is one of the rare works which has an undisputed place on the most equal level of the [[SlidingScaleofGenderInEquality Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality]].
Now has [[Characters/LegendOfTheSeeker a character sheet.]]
----
!!''Legend of the Seeker'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* ActingForTwo
** Bridget Regan when she is [[LiteralSplitPersonality split]] in "Torn".
** Craig Parker plays both Darken Rahl and his [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals lookalike]] in "Walter".
** Bridget Regan and Craig Horner play themselves and disguised hapless thieves in "Mirror".
** Also Zedd for a few hilarious scenes
* ActionGirl: Many, many. Most notably Kahlan, Cara, Nicci, all the Mord-Sith and Sisters of the Dark
* AdaptationDyeJob
** Darken Rahl and Nicci [[spoiler:Well Nicci-ish... now she's blond again in her new body]], among others.
** Panis Rahl and Walter's white hair is possibly a nod to the original hair color of Darken Rahl in the novels.
** In the books, Kahlan's eyes are green. However, Bridget Regan's eyes are such a stunning shade of blue, they decided to make use of them.
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: In the [[SwordOfTruth first book]], the title of ''The Book of Counted Shadows''[[note]]an in-universe book that serves as the instruction manual for the Boxes of Orden[[/note]] refers to how the boxes each cast a different number of shadows when they're in direct sunlight. In the series, the boxes display no such quality, but the book keeps its title.
* AdamAndEvePlot
** [[spoiler:Defied by Richard and Kahlan in "Eternity".]]
** [[spoiler: Also turns out to be Nicci's plot in "Tears".]]
* AgonyBeam: The Agiel. Though it leaves some ''nasty'' welts.
* 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.]]
* AlternateRealityEpisode
** The result of MagicMisfire, when Zedd uses a spell to undo Cara's conditioning. Just as he warns, it has unpredictable consequences, meaning Cara never became a Mord-Sith, resulting in her never stopping Richard from using the Boxes of Orden to force Rahl's obedience. Zedd, being the caster, has RippleEffectProofMemory and is dumbfounded when he realizes he is the best man at Richard and Kahlan's wedding... with Rahl marrying them, since Richard controls him with the power of Orden. Zedd then hits the ResetButton by using the same spell on another Mord-Sith.
** Also in the last episode in the first season, in which [[spoiler: Richard and Cara are sent into a future where Rahl won, and his and Kahlan's son, a male confessor, took over the world by confessing ''everyone'', the sort of thing the other Confessors had warned Richard about earlier in the series.]]
* AlwaysChaoticEvil
** In-universe, it is believed that all the male Confessors become monstrously evil. Richard defies this belief... but we never learn whether he is right or wrong, as the male Confessor in question gets killed offscreen before he can grow up to show it either way. However, played straight in the alternate universe son of Darken Rahl and Kahlen.
** The Keeper of the Underworld
** The Boxes of Orden would always corrupt the user unless the power is tempered by a Confessor.
* AntiMagic
** Jenssen
** The Mord-Sith can deflect wizard magic, making Zedd virtually helpless when confronted by them.
* ArmorIsUseless: Richard and Kahlan wear no armor whatsoever yet suffer hardly a scratch while fighting dozens of enemies. The D'harans, on the other hand, almost always show up in chainmail or plate armor and [[RedShirtArmy get mowed down by the dozens]]. D'harans dying to Kahlan's knives are particularly egregious since chainmail is designed specifically to withstand edged weapons.
* AutobotsRockOut: The second season's battle theme has much more electric guitar to it than the first season's.
* BackFromTheDead: The Mord-Sith can do this by using the [[KissofLife Breath of Life]]. It seems to heal the fatal wounds suffered, but it won't save you if your windpipe was severed, or if your body was too badly damaged, and it has to be used within a short amount of time after the death.
** [[spoiler: Zedd tries to bring a woman back in the episode "Wizard" and appears to succeed. However, it is revealed that it was the Keeper who brought her back as a baneling. Apparently, even wizards of the First Order are not strong enough to defeat death.]]
** Combined with an unwilling GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Dennee.]]
** And again in "Princess", combined with a ''willing'' GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler: Nicci.]]
** [[spoiler:Not to mention Richard himself in "Resurrection".]]
** [[spoiler:And both Cara and Thaddicus in "Hunger".]] Really, Legend of the Seeker seems to ''love'' this trope.
** [[spoiler:And then again in "Walter", this time, Darken Rahl.]]
** [[spoiler:Darken Rahl reveals to Richard that he has been a baneling for decades, slaughtering thousands to appease his master, the Keeper]]. By now it's pretty safe to say DeathIsCheap in this show.
** Once more for the finale: [[spoiler: Cara, Dahlia, Leo, Nicci, and Richard!]]
** Potentially justified by the fact that the second season revolves around the barrier between the world of life and the underworld breaking down, so it fits with the overall theme.
* BackToBackBadasses: Happens a lot. One notable example is Richard and Darken Rahl in "Extinction".
* {{Badass}}
** Chase, Kahlan, and Richard all qualify.
** And Cara, definitely Cara.
** [[spoiler:Nicci too, particularly when she took on three Han-powered up Sisters of the Dark by herself, killed two of them and absorbed their Han, then decapitated Merissa and took hers.]]
* BadassGrandpa: Zedd
* BadFuture: The first season Finale shows one where Rahl won, and the future is ruled over by his [[spoiler: and Kahlen's]] son.
* BattleCouple: Richard and Kahlan, even if they can't consummate their relationship. [[spoiler: Until the series finale, that is and earlier in "Torn", when she was split apart.]]
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. Kahlan and Richard are both suitably dirtied after most battles, and Jensen gets one ''hell'' of a black eye after she's attacked in "Fever". Cara also looks suitably beaten and dirty [[spoiler:after the other Mord Sith turn on her.]] Finally, Nicci gets some real injuries and bruises in "Bound".\\
However, despite being on a long-ranging quest through the woods almost constantly, everyone always has fantastic hair. Well, they're in pretty wet climates -- after all, most fantasy worlds take place in forests, and this one seems to have a decent amount of rain. So they can probably wash every few days. Not to mention that magic probably helps a bit...
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe
** The Mord-Sith's slave Mika rescues Walter in his eponymous episode because, when he was posing as Lord Rahl, he ordered the Mord-Sith to be gentle with her.
** Cara in the latter episodes of season 2 for Richard, Kahlan, and Zedd.
* BiTheWay: Cara, who in all fairness comes from an order with a reputation for being [[DepravedBiSexual Depraved Bisexuals]] even in the source material.
* BlackShirt: Marianna, who was "waiting all her life" to help the Keeper tear the veil.
* BlessedWithSuck: The king in "Cursed" who was given, by Shota, the power to defend his kingdom forever [[spoiler: which involves [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting transforming into a monster by night]].]]
* BlondesAreEvil: [[spoiler:Nicci is blonde after coming BackFromTheDead.]]
* BlondGuysAreEvil: Panis Rahl... sort of. Panis Rahl is nowhere near as evil or sadistic as his son, Darken. Panis may have been corrupt, but not to an extent that is unusual of a stereotypical king. Also, he seems to be genuinly looking for redemption when he finds Richard. [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsDeath He gets it]]]].
* BloodMagic
** The Journeybooks need to use blood as ink to work. Rahl apparently likes to use the blood of people [[YouHaveFailedMe who've failed him]].
** The Keeper also uses it to create banelings, who stay alive only if they kill someone every day.
* {{Bowdlerization}}: Some of the darker things from the books have been toned down, mostly stuff that just wouldn't make it onto TV.
** Most notably, there's considerably less nudity (though still some for {{Fanservice}}), the [[UnfortunateImplications potentially offensive]] Mud People are nowhere to be seen, and while [[RapeAsDrama rape]] was a common tool of pretty much every villain in the books, it's only been alluded to a few times.
** In a Season One episode, Darken Rahl claimed that his father raped Richard's and Jennsen's mother. However, this was a part of an attempt to deceive Jennsen, so it is unknown if this is true. General Trimack later offers a slightly different story, that Panis had seduced their mother in disguise. This could possibly still be considered rape, since she consented to sleeping with a young shepherd, not an old man in the form of one.
* BulletTime: The series ''loves'' this one. It shows up about 30 seconds into the pilot, and is present in nearly every fight scene, of which there are a lot.
* BusCrash: We learn from Cara that [[spoiler:Dennee and her son were killed by order of Darken Rahl.]] Technically, [[spoiler:Dennee killed her own son so that Rahl does not get him, and then Cara killed Dennee, leading to a HeroicBSOD from Kahlen, Dennee's sister.]]
* ButIWouldReallyEnjoyIt: Richard and Kahlan would love to sleep together, but [[spoiler:if they do, Richard will essentially become a mindless slave, and would be unable to save the world.]] They manage to find a few ways around it (i.e. the anti-Confessor potion, the painter-world where magic doesn't work) but it always gets snatched away before they can take advantage of it. Kahlan does get the chance to do this when [[spoiler:Richard is confessed by Annabelle]], but she realizes that he is not doing this out of love for her and stops him. But then [[spoiler:they sort of do, when an amulet splits Kahlan into two beings -- one that embodies her sense of duty along with her Confessor power, and one that does not have the Confessor power or reasoning abilities]]. The interesting thing is, all throughout Season 2 they seem to be in a relationship anyway, hugging, kissing, holding hands, etc. at every opportunity. They just can't have sex.
* CanNotSpitItOut
** Cara refuses to admit her feelings for Leo [[spoiler:until after he dies]], believing love to be a weakness.
** Also Kahlan from the beginning of the series until either "Identity" or "Denna".
* CanonDiscontinuity: [[spoiler:Darken Rahl]] claims he was the first baneling. However, in the AlternateRealityEpisode, he has somehow survived without killing for nearly a year. The most likely possibility is that he simply lied. Supported by the earlier statement that banelings cannot use magic. Alternatively, as the First Baneling, and as a direct conspirator with the Keeper, it could be that his deal works differently from the usual "kill one person a day or you die" Banelings. Also, it's not stated that banelings can't use magic; just that [[spoiler:Cara]] couldn't use the Breath of Life specifically, which ''would'' kind of conflict with that "kill to live" deal.
* TheCasanova: Richard has to impersonate one in "Princess". Zedd notes "[[BiggusDickus his reputation]] isn't the only thing that precedes him into the room."
* CatFight: Between Cara and Triana. The fact it takes place at a bath house (while Cara is bathing, no less) increases the {{Fanervice}} by a couple orders of magnitude.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Oh, ''very'' subverted.
** First, there's Princess Violet, who's just as much of a royal bitch as she was in the books, at about 10 years old.
** In the first season finale, we meet [[spoiler:Nicholas Rahl]], who Confesses a playmate and forces him to cut off his own finger because the boy didn't want to play the same games as him. Later Nicholas kills his own mother and then confesses Darken Rahl's trusted general and has him kill his father.
** Then in the second season, we meet a young boy whose mother became a Baneling in order to stay around and take care of him. After she dies (again), the boy is taken in by a monk. The kid then reveals himself as a Baneling, kills the monk, and cheerfully walks to the settlement he was just told has lots of other kids his age...
** The Listener from Season 1 plays with this. He can Read thoughts and is sold to different people, he even sees himself as an aversion until the PowerOfFriendship from Richard causes a HeelFaceTurn.
* TheChooserOfTheOne: Zedd
* ChosenOne
* CliffHanger: Unless the show gets renewed, we can only wonder what [[spoiler:Rahl will do to Nicci.]] He made it clear she was going to get a ''very'' hot bath at minimum.
* ClipShow: Once per season: "Home" and "Creator".
* ClingyJealousGirl: [[spoiler: Heart!Kahlan]] in "Torn".
* ColorCodedCharacters: In several cases. D'Haran soldiers wear dark red & black, and the Sisters of the Dark wear brighter red. (Of course, Sisters of the Light do too, as Sisters of the Dark are rogues). Additionally, Kahlan wears white up until Denna appears in white, then she switches colors to a dark scheme.
* ContinuityNod
** General Egramort's questions in "Walter" to determine if the lookalike is the real Darken Rahl are both references to Season One episodes.
** In Season 2 "Broken", Zedd uses the magical mirror he gained in Season 1 "Mirror" to disguise himself.
** In one episode, Richard is forced to fight a D'Haran captain whom he had befriended; one who had his family in a nearby village and is generally shown to be a sympathetic character. At one point, the Sword of Truth is shown to be glowing white, which in the books occurred when Richard fought someone whom he forgave despite being his enemy. Scenes which immediately followed made it unclear whether the glowing white was genuine or a trick of the sunlight.
** As a point of fact, in the books the sword glowed white when he used it toward someone he ''loved'', not someone he ''forgave''.
* CoolSword: Guess.
* CourtroomEpisode
** Two of them. One where Cara is put on trial for her crimes as a Mord-Sith, and one where Richard is put on trial by a woman claiming to be the [[{{God}} Creator]] herself.
** Also in the episode Torn, where Head!Kahlen takes over Aydindril and dispenses "justice".
* CurseCutShort / SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: Cara, who'd been forced to speak in rhyming couplets while posing as a Princess, delivers this gem to the Margrave in "Princess":
-->''Dear Margrave the sight of your face makes me sick.\\
You decadent, pompous, self-satisfied--''(socks the Margrave)''''
** Partially subverted -- if you listen "very" carefully, you can hear her say "dick" as she punches.
* DarkActionGirl
** Nicci
** The Mord-Sith.
* DarkAndTroubledPast
** Nicci; Cara; Kahlan; Denee...
** And Zedd has that "I fixed Panis' penis" guilt. Really, everyone in the show except Richard.
* DarkMagicalGirl: Cara, for the entire series, but especially [[spoiler: after she's "rebroken" by Darken Rahl and arguably before she follows Richard]]. She even comes to full blows with [[MagicalGirl Kahlan]]
* DealWithTheDevil: Rahl has long ago made a deal with the Keeper. After his death, he offers deals to recently deceased in Keeper's name. Those who accept (most do) become banelings, having to kill someone every day to stay alive.
* DeadpanSnarker: Zedd and Cara get in on it at times. And Denna. And Sister Verna. And Nicci, particularly in ''Bound.''
* DeathIsCheap: Just about every main character has died at least once in the series.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Cara
* DemotedToExtra: Adie is a prominent character in the books, who at varying points is even a love interest for Zedd. So far, she's shown up only in the pilot, and is probably trapped in Westland beyond the boundary.
* DesignatedGirlFight: Completely averted. The characters regularly fight enemies of both genders, with no indication that they try to focus on their own. Helps that there's no shortage of [[DarkActionGirl women who are]] just as dangerous as any man. And when there ''is'' a girl on girl fight, it's no less brutal than any other.
* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:Cara manages to keep fighting despite having her throat cut. Sure, she dies a few moments later, but she still holds on a lot longer than you'd expect. ''And'' she then comes back from the dead to keep fighting.]]
* DeusExMachina: In the final episode [[spoiler:all seems lost, Richard was tricked into giving the [[MacGuffin Stone of Tears]] to the Keeper, and Kahlen kills him while under the control of Nicci. However, her tears turn into another Stone of Tears for some reason and they are able to seal the rift after Cara revives Richard with the breath of life. Apparently it was the PowerOfLove that made the Stone of Tears, that was pretty out of the blue to say the least]]. Justified somewhat, by a prophecy saying that as long as the Mother Confessor lives, the keeper will fail.
* DevilButNoGod: Unlike in the book series, the Creator ''does'' show up.... Maybe. And like in ''TheSalvationWar'', ''everyone'' who dies goes to FireAndBrimstoneHell. However, Darken Rahl implies at one point that it's only because the veil has been torn that everyone who dies goes there -- in the normal course of things, only bad people go there, while good people go to some unspecified but presumably much nicer place.
* DistractedByTheSexy
** At the beginning of "Elixir", Richard sees Kahlan bathing by a river and fails to notice his horses getting stolen less than 10 feet away from him.
-->'''Richard:''' I was... distracted.\\
'''Zedd:''' What on the Prophet's good earth could have distracted you?!\\
''(sees Kahlan walking up in a state of undress, hair still wet)''
** In "Mirror", Richard again gets distracted by "Kahlan" (a thief disguised by a magical mirror which gave her the appearance of Kahlan) when "Kahlan" [[DressHitsFloor takes her clothes off]] and swims in a lake with Richard.
-->'''Kahlan:''' Someone stole the Sword of Truth? How did that happen?\\
'''Richard:''' I was distracted!\\
'''Kahlan:''' [[DeadpanSnarker By a naked woman you went swimming with..]]\\
'''Richard:''' I thought it was you.\\
''({{beat}})''
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In the sixth episode, "Elixir", the heroes with [[DrugsAreBad potion peddlers]].
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale
** In a season 2 episode, a young Confessor who doesn't have control of her power accidentally confesses a man who saves her life. She then is implied to have had sex with him while he's brainwashed into being her slave [[spoiler:and after the magic is released he rushes tenderly to her side]]. Potentially mitigated by his being clearly interested in her before he was confessed in the first place, but still.
** Pretty much true with every Confessor who takes a mate. They usually do it with a former enemy, and nobody thinks twice about it... except for the confessed after they are released. Kahlan's father, for instance...
* TheDragon: General Egremont to Darken Rahl; Darken Rahl himself to the Keeper in Season 2.
* DualWielding
** See also: KnifeNut.
** Cara has also been seen wielding two Agiels.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Though the seasons have been based roughly on the first and second [[SwordOfTruth books]], they've used characters and plot points from much later in the series.
** Notably, [[AntiMagic Jennsen]] and [[PropheticDreams the Priestess of Casca]].
** Triana is first seen in the season 1 finale -- as a ''skeleton''. Cara identifies her in the BadFuture.
* EmotionsVsStoicism
** [[spoiler: Heart!Kahlan vs Head!Kahlan in "Torn", with both displaying negative extremes.]]
** Cara versus Richard, Kahlan, and Zedd.
* EnemyMine
** Defied. Darken Rahl ''tries'' to talk Richard into one when he [[spoiler:is killed]], but Richard flat out refuses.
** However, Darken Rahl tries this strategy again in "Vengeance" and "Extinction", with quite a bit more success.
* EnfantTerrible
** [[spoiler:Nicholas Rahl]] who, among other things, has a playmate's finger cut off because he didn't want to play the same games as he did.
** And taken to an extreme in the finale, when the little boy Richard is protecting turns out to be [[spoiler:[[{{Satan}} The Keeper]]]].
* EstrogenBrigadeBait: Richard
* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Bad Men Love Their Daddies]]: Throughout "Vengeance", Darken Rahl is trying to get Zedd and his brother to kill Panis Rahl. When [[spoiler:he is killed by a Sister of the Dark and goes to the underworld, Darken...gives him a hug, and asks if he forgives him. We don't get to hear the answer, but Panis is clearly moved.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Rahl and the Mord-Sith are completely caught off guard by just how ''bad'' [[spoiler:Nicholas Rahl]] is. Well, they didn't seem surprised at what he'd do, just the fact that he did it to ''them''.
* EvilGenius: Giller to Darken Rahl, later Nicci and then Marianna to the Keeper.
* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Panis
* EvilSorcerer: Darken Rahl, the BigBad of the first season, who has some magical abilities, not that we see many of those. The one we see several times is his ability to do an OffscreenTeleportation during sword battles to stab the opponent in the back. He also has many sorcerers serving him, including a Wizard of the Second Order named Giller. The BadFuture season finale also features Nicholas Rahl, the son of Darken Rahl and Kahlen Amnell, combining his parents abilities to become an even worse tyrant than his father.
* ExactWords: Used whenever Darken Rahl or a Dharen "give you what's coming to you" in regards to a bounty. Played with in Season 2 at Cara's trial.
-->'''Elders:''' She [Cara] has shown no remorse. It is our will that she also die by Confession.\\
''(later)''\\
'''Kahlen:''' I have looked into this woman's eyes and I see now that she is truly remorseful.
::Of course the rest of the town didn't see things the same way...
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Cara in "Eternity", although she grows out of it.]] The ending was surprising.
* {{Fanservice}}: In the first five minutes of the pilot, we have Dennee's heaving bosom as well as a shirtless Richard chopping wood and hauling logs and planks around. The Fanservice continues throughout the series with sexy backs and {{Shirtless Scene}}s all around.
* FateWorseThanDeath
** Characters in Season 2 that die are shown/implied to enter the underworld, which is described as waking up in "a pit of unimaginable suffering".
** Though it may depend on the person, being a baneling and having to kill others every day to stay alive. As time runs out, a baneling's body begins to rot and feels a gnawing hunger before death. Before dying, a baneling said she found going to the Keeper's domain preferable to continue what she had become.
* FlashStep: [[BigBad Darken]] [[TheStarscream Rahl]] demonstrates this ability at least twice. He disappears and then reappears right behind his enemy (Richard in "Deception", and three Sisters of the Dark in "Unbroken".) He then proceeds to [[CurbStompBattle kick some serious ass]] on both occasions.
* FountainOfYouth: Zedd is turned into a young man by [[spoiler:Shota]] in "Wizard", so that he can do her bidding. Doesn't work out as intended, when it all goes to his head. Both Zedd and [[spoiler:Shota]] can make anyone, including themselves, young, which means that they can live forever if they wished.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Arguable on funny, but in "Mirror", as a Mord-Sith goes to inspect a fake "Zedd" tied to a tree in the foreground, the real Zedd looses a blast of Wizard's Fire that throws nearby D'Haran soldiers dozens of feet away.
* GambitPileup: The season 2 finale has just about every named villain's plans colliding, with nearly disastrous results.
* GenreSavvy:
-->'''Cara:''' I cannot believe we have gone a whole twelve days without the Seeker stopping to rescue children from rampant barn animals.\\
'''Zedd:''' Perhaps it is a sign that we are nearing our goal.
** Also, Darken Rahl in the second season finale. He seems to have caught onto the fact that Richard is the hero, so he's content to just sit back and wait for him to save the world.
* AGodAmI
** In Season 2, a woman shows up and claims to be the Creator reborn in [[PhysicalGod a mortal body]]. Later in the episode, [[spoiler:it is revealed that she got her powers from ''all'' of the Sisters of the Light transferring their Han to her. She disappears at the end of the episode, and it is intentionally left ambiguous as to if she has any sort of connection to the actual Creator, though she knows things which are inexplicable otherwise.]]
** In the Season 2 finale, the [[TheDevil Keeper]] enters the mortal realm in the body of a boy.
* GoodCostumeSwitch: Borderline example with Cara. She still wears the Mord-Sith's trademark red leather, but early in Season 2 she modifies the outfit, removing the chestpiece and showing some cleavage. Though this may be a "practical" GoodCostumeSwitch -- Cara isn't really allowed to torture people, and her secondary weapon is seduction, so it does make life easier when she shows off a bit. (Not to mention that red leather is not the most comfortable of outfits.) The other Mord-Sith also cut off her braid, so from then on she sports short hair. Also Discussed -- during the aforementioned chestpiece removal her sister offers a more normal dress. "I think this suits me better" is her response.
* GrandTheftMe
** In "Resurrection", [[spoiler:Dennee is brought back and possesses the body of a recently deceased woman]], and then later in the same episode, [[spoiler:the same thing happens with Richard and a D'Haran commander.]]
** In "Princess", [[spoiler: Nicci possesses the body of another Sister of the Dark.]]
** Then, in "Walter", [[spoiler: Darken Rahl steals the body of the title character, while Walter survives in the body of a D'haran warrior.]] Interestingly enough, each is also an example of BackFromTheDead.
* HannibalLecture: [[spoiler:Cara, while tied up, tells Richard that they both know he doesn't have the stomach to actually kill her.]]
* HairpinLockpick: Used by Lily in "Bounty". On a D'haran dungeon door no less.
* HeelFaceTurn: Cara -- HeelFaceRevolvingDoor untill a settle on Good.
* HeroicSacrifice
** [[spoiler:Leo diving in front of Nicci's lightning to save Kahlan.]]
** Also an example of a ''villainous'' sacrifice in "Princess". Sister Portia, a Sister of the Dark, willingly gives her own life in a ritual in order to bring Nicci BackFromTheDead. For the rest of the show, [[GrandTheftMe Nicci is using Portia's body as her own, and the appearance now matches hers in the book.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Zedd in the first season finale, when he tries to use wizard's fire against a Mord-Sith, who simply deflects it back at him, [[spoiler:killing the old man.]]
* IAmSpartacus: In the episode "Brennidon".
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: After drinking a potion that renders him immune to Kahlan's confessor touch, Rahl takes advantage to admire her beauty and strokes her hair and brings up how she and Richard can never have intimacy, all in front of Richard. Then there's the alternate future where [[spoiler:he marries Kahlan to have a confessor son.]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All of the episode titles are one word.
* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Though not used directly, it's somewhat lampshaded by Lily in "Bounty".
-->'''Lily:''' The D'harans don't need to send an army. All they need is a few tears and an ample bosom.
* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Richard at one point uses the Sword of Truth to parry arrows out of the air. In fairness, it ''is'' a super magic sword. It gets even worse when he gets a case of TemporaryBlindness in the last episode. He still fights as well as he does normally, killing enemies and parrying thrown daggers. [[HandWave Magic of the sword, apparently...]] Possibly a CallBack to a season 1 episode in which Richard learns to fight things he can't see.
* ImprovisedWeapon: When the Sisters of the Dark blow Zedd and Richard's cover in "Princess", a fight naturally breaks out. Richard grabs a knife from the table, while Zedd starts hurling plates at the Sisters.
* InNameOnly: The series has little in common with the book aside from the characters, setting, and central conflict. This was made clear by WordOfGod(s) before the show premiered, as the writer and the director believe that they could not completely adapt the novels to the screen. A few episodes adapt the plots of later books, without the [[AuthorTract politics behind them]], such as "Fury", which has a lot of parallels with ''Naked Empire'', but excises the mind-boggling bits.
* InfantImmortality: Played straight with [[spoiler:Dennee's son, at least until he's killed offscreen]], but averted in "Deception," which opens with several children finding a mysterious device. The next we see of them is their dead bodies having fallen around that device, along with everyone else in the village.
* InfiniteSupplies: No matter how many Sisters of the Dark are killed, there are always more that show up out-of-nowhere. It must be why they always wear [[RedShirt red]].
* KickTheDog
** After he finds out that [[spoiler:Richard has all three boxes of Orden]], Rahl responds to this bad news by killing a kitten with his bare hands.
** Actually, Rahl and his men do it several times an episode.
* KillItWithFire
** Zedd ''loves'' torching things with Wizard's Fire, though he does have other tricks. Especially starting in season 2.
** Also, this is the only way to truly kill a baneling, torching its body so it can't rise from the dead yet again. You could also freeze it and then [[LiterallyShatteredLives break it]] {which is how he killed another undead creature).
* KnifeNut
** Kahlan uses two for double the fun.
** Richard tends to use a knife whenever the Sword is unavailable for whatever reason, especially in Season 2.
* KnightTemplar
** [[spoiler:Richard ''quickly'' goes down this route when he first uses the magic of Orden, but snaps out of it.]]
** Also note: Darken Rahl, a little more so than he was in the books, and [[spoiler: the cold-hearted Kahlan created by the amulet.]]
* LadyOfWar: Kahlan all the way.
* LandmineGoesClick: One unfortunate Sister of the Dark finds this out in "Bound" and has just about enough time to [[OhCrap realize it]] before she goes boom. Richard explains a moment later that these types of mines only go off when you step off them, which is what saves [[spoiler:Nicci]] from the same fate. This also holds for many RealLife land mines.
* LaResistance: There's an ongoing underground resistance in the Midlands, though a few are shown to go a little overboard in their fight against Rahl.
* LastOfHisKind
** Kahlan, eventually. At least, until [[spoiler:Dennee is brought back from the dead]].
** Zedd is the last wizard of the First Order alive. Kahlan killed Rahl's wizard in a fit of "blood rage", and Rahl killed another one years ago.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Touched upon. [[spoiler:When Cara died, Darken Rahl said that time could not be built up to live week to week. The clock reset with every kill.]]
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to the book, which got pretty damn dark.
* LightIsNotGood
** In Season 2 Denna changes her leathers and Agiel from the usual Mord Sith red to white. But she's still evil.
** Nicci tries to invoke this against the Sisters of the Light, in order to trick Richard into giving up his powers to her.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: How the Screeling is killed in "Marked".
* LiteralSplitPersonality: Kahlan in "Torn" gets split into two bodies, representing her "heart" (i.e., [[LoveMakesYouCrazy love for Richard]]) and her "head" (i.e., [[LawfulStupid her powers]] and [[KnightTemplar duty as a confessor]]).
* LotusEaterMachine: The episode "Home"
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Kieran, a previous Seeker, went mad with grief and started killing innocent people after his Wizard ordered his Confessor to kill herself, forcing his wizard to kill him with his own sword and trap his spirit in his remains. Worse, he possessed Richard's body and got his Confessor's spirit to possess Kahlan's, obviously not caring what either of them thought.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:According to Rahl, Richard is his brother, but it's unclear if he was telling the truth.]] And before that revelation, Richard learns, [[spoiler:Zedd is his grandfather]]. Confirmed at the start of season 2 by a former servant of Panis Rahl and Darken Rahl's ghost. [[spoiler:Also confirmed by the fact that Cara's Mord'Sith powers fail when Richard dies and return when he is resurrected (Mord-Sith only have their powers as long as a Rahl is alive).]]
* MacGuffin: The Stone of Tears drives the entire plot of Season 2.
* MagicKnight
** Zedd becomes this after becoming young again and naming himself the Seeker in "Wizard".
** Darken Rahl may also qualify, as he possesses magical powers and is an experienced sword fighter. He used both to defeat Richard during their first encounter.
** Also Nicci, who is a capable combatant [[spoiler: as well as the most powerful sorceress in the series.]]
** The Mord-Sith, who are elite women warriors, have magical powers, including the ability to ressurect recently dead people.
* MagicMap: One episode had a mapmaker selling maps to bounty hunters that revealed Richard's location as a glowing point of light.
* MarshmallowHell: Richard gets this from the Margrave's (rather large) sister in "Princess".
* TheMedic: Bizarrely enough, [[TokenEvilTeammate Cara]], the [[ColdBloodedTorture Mord]]-[[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique Sith]], whose [[KissOfLife Breath of Life]] has saved at least one plot-important extra from death.
* MegaManning: Nicci, to great effect. So far, she has stolen [[spoiler:Richard's Han, Sister Ulicia's Han, Sister Merissa's Han, Kahlan's Confession powers, and the Han of well over a hundred other magic users, due to killing and stealing the powers of several Han-buffed Sisters of the Dark.]]
* MoralDissonance: One season 1 episode has a secondary character who steals Richard's identity and leaves Richard behind to take his place, despite knowing that he can't use the Sword of Truth, he can't read the Book of Shadows, he isn't the Seeker and therefore, by prophecy, cannot save the world and is therefore dooming it. And then he tries to sleep with Kahlan wearing the identity of the man she loves. And we're supposed to root for him and his implied romance with the actually heroic secondary heroine of the episode.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Over the course of Season 2, a couple characters express regret that they ''hadn't'' killed Darken Rahl, or allowed him to be killed, when he was a child. One of these people happens to be Zedd, who in the books has a brief inner monologue on the subject, before realizing he couldn't have wished for the death of a child, even one who would grow up to be Darken Rahl. Much the same feelings are expressed in the show.
* MutualKill
** In the season 2 finale, Kahlen goes into Con Dar and instantly confesses four Mord-Sith. She then orders them to kill each other. They do so by touching each other's heart with the agiel simultaneously.
** Also happens in Richard's nightmare in the Fields of Perdition with Kahlan and Cara. And earlier in the first season when he uses the power of Orden.
* MySensorsIndicateYouWantToTapThat: In "Listener", a young mind-reader rescued by Richard and Kahlan informs them both that yes, their to-date undiscussed feelings for each other are mutual, which opens an important can of worms.
* MythologyGag
** The first time you see Jennsen is her tending to her goat, and previews of the second season show Richard developing a beard, like he wore during the second book.
** In the first part of the season 2 finale, Sister Marianna is naked when she hears the voice of the Keeper in her dreams and rises to serve him. In the books, the Sisters of the Dark were always naked when they sat in the circle to speak with the Keeper in their dreams.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Like in the book, Zedd is introduced stark naked.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Darken Rahl is a baddy? No shit.
* NeverSplitTheParty: Meta version, by way of PragmaticAdaptation: In the books, while Richard and Kahlan were nearly inseparable after the second book, they often went two or three books without seeing Zedd, who was off doing other plot-important things elsewhere, and it was rare to have all the main protagonists in one place for an extended period of time. In the TV series, though, they're never separated for more than a two-parter episode at a time.
* NewSuperPower
** When entering Con Dar (the blood rage), Kahlan gains the ability to confess anyone she wants without even touching them. When applied to Mord-Sith, they no longer die within minutes but remain loyal slaves.
** Nicci also gains a host of new powers after absorbing Richard's Han.
** Subverted in that neither needed to learn how to use these.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero
** After realizing what his oldest son would become, Panis made sure to fulfill his part in the prophecy to stop him. Problem is, after doing so, he gloated to Darken about everything. Darken responded by killing him. This also led to the deaths cited in the next entry.
** Not to mention when Darken Rhal [[spoiler: destroys the Boxes of Orden in an attempt to stop Richard from using them and inadvertently tears the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHerod / GenocideBackfire: As soon as he learns of the prophecy, Rahl orders every first-born son in the town where the Seeker is to be born killed. Turns out he missed one...
* NoPronunciationGuide: The series clears up the pronunciation of Kahlan's name (previously believed to be "KAH-lan" or "ka-LAN") to be "KAY-lin".
* NotSoDifferent: Quite a few episodes illustrate that the Resistance against Rahl can be a little extreme.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Kahlan. Mord-Sith. A fair number of female characters. Mocked by Zedd during his brief magical disguise as a woman in "Mirror".
-->'''Zedd:''' How anyone gets around with these... things on is entirely beyond me.
* OffingTheOffspring
** As in the books, the Confessors kill male confessors at birth out of fear of them growing to abuse their powers. In the first season, Richard successfully convinces the Confessors to spare the life of a newborn male confessor. Then the season finale shows us a full-grown male confessor, and despite his parents' best efforts, he's just as bad as they'd feared.
** [[spoiler:Also, after luring Cara into a trap with a threat to her (and his) son, Darken Rahl reveals that he had been killed at birth, just as she originally thought.]]
* OffstageVillainy: Cara's misdeeds [[spoiler:killing Dennee and participating in the slaughter of the other Confessors]] happened entirely offscreen. Accepting her HeelFaceTurn would've been ''much'' more difficult if we'd seen the act.
* OhCrap: When Kahlan goes through the Con Dar (aka Blood Rage) for the first time, everyone has this look on their faces. Even Richard is scared.
* OmnicidalManiac: The Keeper and eventually [[spoiler:Nicci]]
* [[OncePerEpisode Once per Season]]: Like the books, it seems each season will feature a new Wizard's Rule. The pilot had Zedd briefly quoting the Wizard's First Rule[[labelnote:+ ]]People will believe a lie if they want it to be true, or if they're afraid it might be true[[/labelnote]], and the second season opener has him quoting the second[[labelnote:+ ]]Sometimes you do the most harm by trying to do the most good[[/labelnote]].
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Craig Horner (Richard) and Tabrett Bethell (Cara) occasionally let their {{Australian Accent}}s slip. Many New Zealander actors don't even bother to hide it.
* OutOfClothesExperience: People who die consistently wake up naked in the underworld.
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage
** An odd non-marriage variant. Annabelle was afraid that Flynn would stop liking her after she lost her confessor powers, but he ended up liking her anyway. It probably helps that he seemed interested in the first place.
** A first season episode featured one with an actual marriage.
* ThePowerOfLove
** [[spoiler:In the season 2 finale it manages to keep Richard from being confessed by Kahlan, make Kahlan snap out of the Con Dar, and[[SwissArmyTears makes a completely new stone of tears.]] The first bit is a nod to the end of [[SwordOfTruth the first book]], and was in fact foreshadowed by Richard himself in "Eternity".]]
** [[spoiler:And in the episode featuring Kieran, Viviene and Amfortas (a previous Seeker, Confessor and Wizard), Kieran's rage can simply be explained as the result of grief at her death being magnified by the Sword of Truth, his own love protecting him from Viviene. Unfortunately, he just wasn't able to focus in battle like Richard can.]]
* PragmaticAdaptation: In the book series, the Sword of Truth [[AbsurdlySharpBlade instantly slices through anything]] its wielder wants it to, including other swords. But sword fights are cooler on TV, so this ability isn't brought up.
* PsychoLesbian
** Dahlia
** The Mord-Sith generally; also DepravedBisexuals.
* PunchClockVillain
** A surprising amount of D'Haran soldiers fall into this. At least one has raised a loving family in the Midlands. They ''are'' conscripts, after all...
** Also, two D'Haran officers plan to kill Rahl, but were unintentionally [[NiceJobBreakingItHero foiled by Richard and Kahlan]].
* RaceLift: Chase is Maori and General Trimack is black in the adaptation. Interesting in that the latter is nearly ''always'' described in the books (as in, every time he shows up) as having fiery red hair. Commander-General Trimack doesn't get much of a physical description, but the most prominent D'Haran redhead would have been General Reibisch, the military governor of Aydindril and Richard and Kahlan's right-hand-man for most of the series until the first major battle with the Imperial Order. [[FridgeLogic Which is in itself interesting]], as in the books Darken Rahl had a hard-on for only allowing pureblooded D'Harans into his elite PraetorianGuard and in positions of high rank. D'Haran purebloods are almost universally blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan phenotypes, which would have made Reibisch (and Trimack, if true) very much exceptions to the rule. Reibisch, at least, was explicitly noted as being ''half''-D'Haran in his first appearance, which is why Richard had to win him and his troops over. The First file is explicitly stated to be all pure D'Haran, Trimack at least has the blue eyes, we can assume the hair as well.
* RapeAsBackstory: Nicci reveals this, and getting revenge for it, as the reason she became a Sister of the Dark.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath
** Poor [[spoiler:Michael]]
** Also [[spoiler:Panis Rahl]].
* RedShirt
** The Sisters of the Dark. Every time they show up, Richard and company end up slaying at least a half dozen of them, and that they actually wear red dresses makes it even worse. This is particularly {{Egregious}} considering that in the books, the Sisters of the Dark were some of the most powerful, intelligent, and dangerous of the Keeper's servants, and even one was considered to be a critical threat.
** D'Haran soldiers.
** Anyone who Kahlan confesses has a 90% chance of being dead by the end of the episode.
* RegalRinglets: Princess Violet sports this hairstyle.
* ResetButton: Zedd tries an in-universe version in the form of the Spell of Undoing after [[spoiler:Cara is brainwashed into turning against them]]. Naturally, it all goes wrong...until he tries it again at the beginning of the next episode.
* RefugeInAudacity: How Cara wins over the Margrave in "Princess". Also a lighter shade of EvilIsSexy.
* RhymesOnADime: All women are expected to do this in the presence of the Margrave. Cara has trouble with it at first, then spontaneously composes a whole poem [[CrossesTheLineTwice about torturing and killing a slave]]. The Margrave's sister impressively manages one while sobbing at the top of her lungs.
* RuleOfCool: Much like the other New Zealand-based fantasies of that time period, armour is apparently not required for main characters for go head first into mobs of enemies every week.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: "The Seeker will deliver the Stone of Tears into the hands of the Keeper." Well, yeah, but only because just about everyone opposed to the Keeper interfered with Richard's quest.
* SelectivelyLethalWeapon: The Dakras wielded by the Sisters of the Light and of the Dark. Their lethality is directly proportional to whom they hit: If it hits a Sister of the Dark, she's dead before she hits the ground. If it hits a main character, the thrower will have to release its magic to make the kill. In the latter case, the Dakra can be removed without any ill effects, even if it was previously embedded in the character's ribs.
* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight / SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Manages to be both at the same time. The first part of the Season Two finale takes place in what is, by all appearances, a much, ''much'' better world than the "real" one. As a result of the Spell of Undoing, Cara was never a Mord-Sith (and thus lived the peaceful life of a schoolteacher with two small children), and thus didn't arrive in time to interrupt Richard when he put together the boxes of Orden. As a result, the veil of the underworld was never torn, Orden and Confession tempered each other, Richard was marrying Kahlan, and Darken Rahl was now his trusted friend, brother, and advisor. Zedd, having RippleEffectProofMemory, is the only one who remembers how things were "supposed" to be... but comes to accept, at first, that this might be better. It's only once the Keeper, who also has RippleEffectProofMemory, throws things out of whack that he decides to hit the ResetButton again.
* ShirtlessScene: Richard ends up shirtless with almost alarming frequency in the first season.
* ShootTheMessenger: A monk trying to deliver a message to Kahlan meets Nicci at the wrong time and hears something he really shouldn't. Being Nicci, she decides not to take the risk of him telling anyone else.
* ShootTheShaggyDog
** In the first season, Richard saves a male Confessor baby (it is believed that all the male Confessors are AlwaysChaoticEvil, and as such they are killed at birth), hoping that the baby can grow into a decent person. But we never learn whether his belief is right: in the second season the child is killed off-screen along with all the other Confessors.
** The son of Darken Rahl and Kahlan in the alternate reality of the season one finale indicates the belief was right.
* ShutUpHannibal: Darken Rahl, while bathing, refuses to tell Nicci where Richard is taking the Stone of Tears, and then attempts to seduce her. Nicci responds by superheating his bath water, nearly boiling him alive, and forces him to tell her where Richard is taking the stone. He plans to do the same later in revenge.
* SquishyWizard: Zedd
* TheStarscream: Both Darken Rahl and Nicci (independently), during season two.
* {{Synchronization}}: The Maternity spell Nicci uses to hold Kahlan hostage.
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking the Lightning Bolt]]: [[spoiler:Leo, for Kahlan.]]
* TeleporterAccident: One [[spoiler:Made two Kahlans]] in "Torn".
* TellMeAboutMyFather: Reversed and gender flipped in "Bloodline," where [[spoiler: Richard laments he never got the chance to talk to his mother, and the episode ends with Zedd]] saying, "Then let me tell you about her."
* TemporaryBlindness: Nicci blinds Richard with shards of broken glass in the Season 2 finale, which doesn't stop him from fighting the Sisters of the Dark and blocking their dagger throws with his sword. Fortunately, [[AWizardDidIt Zedd is there to help]].
* TemptingFate: Happens in "Torn". Actually, it happens a lot. [[WhatAnIdiot Especially]] [[TooDumbToLive since]] so many of them can instantly recognize the Seeker, the Mother Confessor, the Wizard of the First Order, and [[spoiler:a Mord-Sith]].
-->'''Richard:''' Let them go!\\
'''Mook:''' Or what?\\
''(Richard knocks him out in a single punch)''
* ThereIsAnother
** A meta-version, and a semi-straight version. In the books, Kahlan is the last of the Confessors; here, there's still a handful left. Semi-straight version in that [[spoiler:we see Dennee apparently get killed in the pilot, only for it to turn out she's still alive half way through the first season.]]
** The handful of surviving Confessors apparently get killed off screen over the course of the next season, leaving Kahlan to indeed be the last of her kind...[[spoiler: At least until Denee comes BackFromTheDead. She's a hard woman to keep down, Denee.]]
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: The Sword of Truth gets used as a projectile quite often. Knives are thrown with perfect accuracy at least once an episode.
* TitleDrop: In "Brennidon".
* TokenEvilTeammate: Cara in Season 2; the "evil" bit is eroded away, though, over the course of the series.
* TooDumbToLive: Many, but one of the most notable is in "Cursed", at the battle in the throne room after the D'Haran invasion. Sounds of fighting can be heard from the throne room for a good 15 seconds before the D'Haran soldiers arrive yet the two guards at the door are standing ''with their backs to the door'' and ''with their weapons not drawn.'' Unsurprisingly, they are cut down within seconds.
* TheTrainsRunOnTime: After Darken Rahl is defeated at the end of the first season, his empire and armies start falling apart. A couple characters point out that while Rahl was a tyrant, at least he kept things orderly.
* TranquilFury: Richard in "Bloodline" after Denna kills his mother and Richard gets the power of Orden.
* TheTrickster: When he's not blasting things with fireballs, Zedd displays quite a bit of cunning; see "Puppeteer" for him at his best.
* {{Tsundere}}: Cara, whose tsun side generally involves threatening to torture people to death, and whose dere side involves threatening to torture people to death less vocally. [[DefrostingIceQueen Defrosting]] as of season 2. Hell, near the end of season 2, she has a 10-minute-long walk where she talks to a wisp (that we can't hear, conveniently) and pretty much goes through every Tsundere dialogue trope around. Well, that's just VERY rapid character development. This trope shows more through Mord'Sith's different methods of torture (i.e. pain vs. pleasure), which isn't limited to Cara alone.
* UnstoppableRage
** Kahlan's Con Dar (the blood rage), accidentally activated by an evil wizard. Kahlan gets a mini one in "Extinction" where after a group of D'Haran soldiers ruthlessly burned down the Night Wisps' forest there are several long pans over her going wild on them with an uncharacteristic brutality.
** Also, Richard and the Minders after Zedd removes their binding spell.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Cara, as well as Nicholas Rahl. Nicci also claims to Richard that this is true of her as well.
* VerySpecialEpisode: Defied in "Elixir"... ultimately. But it still comes off as Narm to some.
* VillainousBreakdown: Rahl goes through a few of them, when he realizes Zedd tricked him so thoroughly, and when he finds out that [[spoiler:Richard has all three boxes and the means to use them]]. It's generally not a good idea to be in the immediate area when he gets bad news.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Rare is the episode that doesn't feature a shirtless Craig Horner at some point.
* WalkingTheEarth: One of the last of its kind after the great Reality TV invasions of the aughts.
* WeirdMoon: The episode "Home" features an enchantment that can only be cast when a constellation of three stars is encircled by the moon's crescent. It gets even worse, though -- the spell ends when all three stars are eclipsed by the crescent portion of the moon. Not ''quite'' as bad as it seems, though: until pretty recently, the term "star" meant "any celestial object not the Sun or the Moon." "Planet" and "comet" are from old terms for "wandering star" and "hairy star" after all.
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim
** Cara is usually the one to ask this, and almost gleefully volunteers to pull the trigger, so to speak. She's usually talked out of it by Richard, though. Kahlan also advocates this as a solution occasionally, and again, Richard usually comes up with something that'll work without killing.
** Averted in "Resurrection". [[spoiler:Someone has their soul put into Richard's body while his soul is in the Underworld. They need to bring Richard's body back to town to revert the spell and the simplest solution would be to kill "Richard" and carry his body back. So Kahlan stabs him.]]
* WomanInBlack: Nicci in the season 2 finale.
* WomanInWhite: Kahlan.
* WorkplaceAcquiredAbilities: Richard's experience as a woodsman comes in handy on a number of occasions, such as being able to track which horse Annabelle and Fynn took because the tracks were deeper. Exploited in one episode where this is used against him, when [[spoiler:a murderer framed a man by planting on him seeds from a particular area, knowing Richard would recognize them and implicate the man with them.]]
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Cara the Mord'Sith...and well probably all Mord'Sith for that matter, by their conditioning.
* WriteBackToTheFuture: [[spoiler:Kahlan's failed plan to get a message to Richard in the future in the first season finale]].
* YouCantFightFate: Much as Richard goes on about not believing in Prophecy, every single one of them comes true. [[ProphecyTwist Well, for a given value of true...]]
** Here is the list of the prophecies that came true: Richard killed Rahl; Richard delivered the Stone of Tears to the Keeper; Kahlan's heart never stopped beating, so the Keeper lost; Leo was named Seeker; Darken Rahl became a tyrant.
** One prophecy did not come true, however. Shota stated that Richard would fail in his quest. He didn't. Well, there seems to be a difference between the prophecies that the Sisters get from the Creator, and the ones Shota gets. We don't always see what Shota sees, so we mainly have her interpretation of things to go by.
*** Richard's quest is to stop Rahl. And ''Richard'' doesn't stop Rahl. Did Richard succeed in his quest? [[spoiler:By the technicality, Rahl stopped himself.]]
*** Shota also prophesised that Kahlan would betray Richard. The closest we get to a fulfillment of that one is Kahlan's tentative, and never confirmed, guess that her leaving Richard for an episode (which she did to keep the prophesy from coming true) was the "betrayal" in question.
*** It was proven a couple of times that, although the prophecies that the Creator gives to the Sisters of the Light can't be averted, Shota's visions can. Hell, the first episode we're introduced to Shota is all about her trying to avert her own vision (and it does end up being averted completely).
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Averted, surprisingly enough, in the first season. While Rahl gets one or more of the boxes despite the heroes' best efforts in the beginning of the plot, they eventually ''succeed'' in stealing all three boxes and use them before Rahl can. After that, things go downhill for Rahl -- though he certainly puts up one hell of a fight right up to the bitter end.
* YouHaveFailedMe
** Rahl has a bad habit of executing and/or torturing those in his employ who screw up. Even people who do help Rahl are also double crossed, presumably so that they don't have to pay them a bounty.
** The Keeper also does this, even [[spoiler:to Darken Rahl himself!]]
* ZettaiRyouiki: Kahlan's "other" outfit includes this, with thigh high boots under a coat with side cut-outs.
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