YMMV / The Shannara Chronicles

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: Prince Arion had few fans, what with his Jerkass tendencies and uncanny ability to be wrong about everything, but after he willingly undertakes what he acknowledges to be a suicide mission in the hope of saving his people, you still have to feel sorry for him when he dies in it without even getting to accomplish his objective. And then he's revealed to not have died after all but to have become the helpless slave of the Big Bad, and ends up dying for real at the hands of his brother who he has to beg to kill him while he's still himself.
• Complete Monster:
  • Season 1: The Dagda Mor was originally a dark druid who empowered himself with dark magic to wreck genocide on the Four Lands, becoming a demon master before being sealed away. As the Elcryss begins to die, the Dagda Mor awakens and begins to spread his demonic servants across the Four Lands, slaughtering entire villages and anyone else who gets in their way while hunting the heroes. Using his servant, the Changeling, the Dagda Mor orchestrates the murder of all but one of the Chosen, as well as the King. The Dagda Mor frames the druid Allanon for deception to turn the royal family against him, and steals the soul of his apprentice Brandon, trapping him in a pit of torture; when Brandon is freed, the Dagda Mor successfully influences him into going down a dark path. Luring Princes Ander and Arion into a trap, he gloatingly reveals how he manipulated them, before killing Arion, and resurrected him as an possessed and enslaved soldier in his army. The Dagda Mor would then led his army to the Elcryss, intending on creating a world full of death.
  • Season 2: The Warlock Lord was a heartless druid who attempted conquest on the Four Lands before being killed by Wil's father, Shea. It's revealed that the Warlock Lord made a bargain with Queen Tamlin to kill her husband and give her the throne, in exchange for getting access to Heaven's Well. Upon his resurrection, the Warlock Lord dispatches numerous soldiers of the Crimson, before ripping off General Riga's head. At Bandon's request, the Warlock Lord resurrects his girlfriend Catania, only to brainwash and seduce her in front of Bandon before having him kill her, and kills Bandon for turning against him. The Warlock Lord's plans for Heaven's Well is to use his blood to taint the Silver River, having his dark magic consume the land. When the key to Heaven's Well is passed down to Lyria, the Warlock Lord uses Eretria's demonic heritage to brainwash her and track Lyria down. Finding them at the Enclave, the Warlock Lord personally slaughters dozens who stand in his way, including a young boy, before killing Allanon. During the final fight, he fatally wounds Wil as the two impale each other.
  • "Pykon": Dontes "Remo" Remikin was the head of the titular prison camp during the War of the Races, wherein numerous prisoners of war were tortured and murdered. When Pykon was decommissioned, Remo stayed in the Fort and developed a habit of kidnapping and killing passing travelers, keeping his daughter Mag isolated from the world. When the heroes arrive at the camp for shelter, Remo treats them as guests before drugging them, and after he watches Amberle and Eretria take a bath. He picks out Amberle, whom he intends to turn into a lobotomized Sex Slave, as he did with Mag's mother. Before Wil overpowers him, Remo threatens to cut out one of his eyes so he'd watch as he rapes Amberle, and in his final attempt to kill the heroes, mortally wounds Mag with no remorse.
• Critical Dissonance: Critics are split pretty even among those that find the show divisive, with the show having a 50% score on Rotten Tomatoes, fans are a lot more forgiving though.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Bandon, for some. Just look at some of the tropes he's mentioned in below! It helps that his actor is very pretty.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Eretria/Amberle has the majority of fanfics.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Bandon is this to some fans as of the second season. As just about everyone tries to explain to him, trying to resurrect the Warlock Lord is a really awful idea that will just cause him even more misery, but given how much crap he's been through both before the series and during it, you can understand why he's so bitter and desperate for any kind of solution, however flawed.
  • Other fans, however, point out that he had creepy yandere tendencies towards Catania in the first season, then his calmly and gorily murdering the child in season two just to prove a point to Flick pretty much eliminated any good will they had for him.
• Moral Event Horizon: Bandon takes a flying leap across this in "Dweller", where he brutally murders a young boy in front of his parents and a horrified Flick because the boy's parents had been unknowingly badmouthing him.
• Narm Charm: The show runs on this. It's a blend of high fantasy and high school soap opera, with the dialogue shifting between epic prophecy-speak and modern teenage slang. It's like Game of Thrones had a baby with Degrassi. But it's because of this that the show is so likeable, and stands out among other cookie-cutter fantasy series. (Unless, of course, you're one of the people who finds it unwatchable for these exact reasons.)
• Special Effects Failure: Pay close attention to the gnome healer who comes to speak with Wil in "Druid" - after he blinks a few times you can clearly see that his contact lenses have unfortunately slipped out of place (making him appear to be looking in two directions at once). Also, his voice is noticeably muffled by the prosthetics he's wearing, and you can see his mouth and chin beneath them. It's especially jarring because the show usually has Visual Effects of Awesome.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The King of the Silver River, who never appears in show despite being present in Elfstones and the Silver River plot thread in Season Two that was lifted from Wishsong.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Season Two's Leah plotline could have been used to tie back to the Third War of the Races with Menion and Shirl Ravenlock from Sword of Shannara showing up to further explore Shea's quest. Instead they created new characters who have nothing to do with the Leah family of the books.
  • Fans who were hoping for a proper adaptation of Wishsong of Shannara were disappointed that the most we got were random elements like the Mord Wraiths, Heaven's Well, Garet Jax, and Allanon's death crammed into season two's Warlock Lord narrative.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Holy. Shit. The visual effects in this show are incredible and easily on par with contemporary movies. The demons in particular are very detailed and impressive.
• The Woobie: Even among a cast of characters who all have their own woes, Wil takes the cake. He grew up as the son of a drunken, half-crazed father and was mercilessly bullied by the other children for being a half-Elf. His mother practically died in his arms in spite of him using his every effort and all his medical knowledge to save her. He got conned, drugged and robbed by a Rover woman, then woken up by a cheerless Druid who berated him for being conned, drugged and robbed before dragging him off on a quest that is not just demoralisingly likely to fail, but will likely make him end up like his father even if it succeeds. He developed feelings for a lovely Elf Princess, only to have her start giving him the cold shoulder because she's been told that she may have to kill him to save the world. He got conned and robbed again by the same Rover woman (okay, so he brings some of his Woobie-ness on himself...) who seduced him in the bargain this time. She then bragged about the seduction to the Elf princess, so that her shoulder got even colder. All that is in the first four episodes. At a certain point you have no choice but to conclude that the world just really freaking hates Wil Ohmsford.

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