TV/Book Review: Legend of the Seeker and Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

Legend of the Seeker (2008)

A while back, I had myself a Legend of the Seeker marathon. The show was tastefully cheesy, fantasy fun and I enjoyed it enough to finally read its source material. Consequently, this will be as much a review of The Wizard’s First Rule, as it is a comparison to Legend of the Seeker.

Both book and show begin in much the same way, with a beautiful woman escaping the clutches of nasty soldiers. Woodsman Richard Cipher witnesses this and comes to her rescue, only to learn that she really isn’t a mere damsel in distress. Though he doesn’t know her true nature, when she touches one of her attackers and he turns on his companions, Richard realizes that Kahlan Amnell is no ordinary woman. From there, Richard takes her to see his old friend Zed, whom Richard believes can help Kahlan find the wizard she seeks. Low and behold, Zed has been that wizard all along, and as identities and destinies are partially unravelled, Richard accepts the Sword of Truth and becomes the Seeker, destined to join Kahlan and Zed to stop the evil Darken Rahl from taking over the world.

The TV interpretation of these three main characters is more or less the same, save for Richard, who is a little larger and prone to anger in the book, something the Sword feeds off of. The show didn’t go very deeply into the magic of the Sword of Truth and its connection to Richard, so this became a very interesting topic for me as I read on. The book, unsurprisingly, delves much deeper into the magic of Goodkind’s world, with each form, each type of user, and each use of the particular forms having very specific details.

One thing that I really loved about the show was the romance between Kahlan and Richard. Richard is the perfect gentleman who respects the fact that Kahlan cannot be with him in a full romantic capacity due to the nature of her powers. In the show, I appreciated that they didn’t drag out the reason behind her shying away from him, and when she does confess that she is a Confessor and why she can’t be with him physically, he simply accepts it and lets her know that simply being with her is enough. The bond they form along their journey becomes very real, and, while the final result is super lovey-dovey, gag-me-with-a-spoon, it makes sense.

The show lifted this aspect of their relationship straight from the book, with the only differences being that Goodkind did drag out the secret keeping, with Kahlan not telling Richard about her abilities until somewhere near the end.

When I first mentioned that I wanted to read this series, a fellow book blogger commented on the role women play in Goodkind’s world. Initially, I thought his negative assessment was wrong. Kahlan is a great character and stands as Richard’s equal. She’s more than just a love interest and she’s no damsel in distress, though I appreciate that the show places more emphasis on her fighting ability, showing that she can hold her own as a human being, and not just a person endowed with magic. Kahlan’s significant role in the story and her place as Richard’s apparent equal lulled me into a sense of acceptance over the role of women in general. But toward the end, I realized the error of my ways. When Kahlan goes full Mother Confessor, the evil queen and her spoiled kid are confronted, and the man-hating Mord Sith appear to work their dominatrix goodness over Richard. I realized that the females in Goodkind’s story, while seeming to be empowered, are really just an exercise in misogyny disguised as misandry.

The Confessor’s power can be used on anyone, yet the examples of its use are most often males, with emphasis on how it subjugates them, turning them into mindless slaves to the Confessor’s will. While Kahlan is at least developed as a character beyond her power, the only female whose purpose isn't to dominate males is Rachel, who, with a little encouragement, proves herself to be the bravest and strongest of all of them. But Rachel is only a little girl when we meet her. By the precedent set, she'll grow up to rule over men too. If she's really lucky, she'll be tortured and raped and made into a Mord Sith.

Kahlan’s return to full on Mother Confessor status seemed to be a major turning point in the book, not only in terms of plot, but in terms of where my rating started to fall and my feminist rage started to rise. It's good that I watched the show first because the creators clearly found the better aspects of the book and did a much better job of tempering the far more disgusting ones. The female aspect in particular was handled much better in the show, with Confessors shown to deal with both males and females equally. The Mord Sith still exist and are still a source of man-hating torture, but the show’s decision with the characters of Denna and the introduction of Cara softened the blow and made for much more interesting and justifiable reasons for Richard’s subsequent actions after meeting them. The show did continue on to introduce a group of witches and there were a few other dangerous sorceresses along the way, but at least it did a better job of leveling the playing field and making some of the women a bit more than just angry archetypes.

In the book, the Mord Sith and then a dragon and finally, the attempted rape of Kahlan were jarring additions to what had otherwise been a pretty good story. But these elements were kind of crammed into the end in a manner that made them feel like they were last minute decisions in order to get the characters to their final conflict through literal torture and pain.

Thankfully, Kahlan’s assault is not needed in the show for the purpose it serves in the book, and the show could take the time and liberty to make the introduction of other elements, such as the Mord Sith, much more organic and much less...ugh.

I’m not sure how much more story Goodkind tells of Kahlan and Richard in the Sword of Truth series, but I went from wanting to know more, to quickly shelving the rest. I’ll stick to my much more enjoyable TV memories.

Wizard's First Rule

Legend of the Seeker

Werewolves on SPACE: Part II

Back in May, I posted about my tentative excitement for SPACE channel's upcoming supernatural drama, Bitten. Now that two episodes have aired, it's time to review!

Before Bitten aired, SyFy and SPACE began their promotions and I have to admit, they didn’t make it look or sound very appealing. The only female werewolf, surrounded by a bunch of hot male werewolves, torn between her two loves. Someone on G+ raged about this entire concept, assuming that this would just be another vagina show with Elena woefully swooning over all the men trying to bed her.

As this is based on one of my favourite books, I felt the immediate need to jump to its defence and point out important things like the fact that wolves are monogamous, dammit! They don’t share! But I refrained. In fact, I didn’t even blog about it at the time. Instead, I’ve just let the show speak for itself. The haters might still be hatin’, but so far, I’m quite pleased. And no, I’m mostly not saying that because of all the Clay and Logan body works that have been going on over the last two episodes. Mostly.

There are actually some legitimate reasons for my approval thus far. First of all, Elena. She remains the strong female character that Kelley Armstrong created. Her past is slowly being teased out, but it’s clear that there has been quite a lot of trauma that she’s managed to deal with on her own. While she loves her Stonehaven family and the new family she’s working her way into, Elena is still a fiercely independent woman and the men in her life have to work hard to get her to bend if they need her. What she does, is on her own terms.

With Elena being the only female werewolf and knowing what I did about the first book, I was pleased to see a reasonable emphasis and subsequent passing of the Bechdel Test in episode one, with Elena finding a firm friend in her fiancé’s sister. Okay yes, they talked about the fiancé a bit, but there was other stuff too. Sort of.

Speaking of the fiancé, Philip, there’s been a bit of a change to his appearance and demeanour, if I recall correctly. He was a bit more mousey before and there was a sense that he absolutely could not hold a candle to Clay. There was also more of a sense that he was a cover for Elena. Now, her relationship feels more genuine and implies much more of an inner struggle for Elena.

As far as holding to the source material goes, they are mostly doing well and I am holding on to my original desire to give the show the benefit of the doubt. Jeremy’s appearance is still questionable. I am not happy that they chose to pass over his Asian heritage. I don’t bind myself to appearance any more than Armstrong herself has, assuming an actor understands the character and can truly bring him to life. I am trying to give the benefit of the doubt, but thus far, I’m largely unimpressed with Greg Bryk, though I admit that it could very well be my bias speaking. Bryk has Jeremy’s subdued manner and the Pack responds to him accordingly as their Alpha, but… he’s still not quite Jeremy. And he needs to get rid of those godawful vests.

The character I do absolutely love is Stonehaven. In early production videos, I was very pleased to see so much love and attention going into the Pack’s home and am pleased now to see it expressed not only in its appearance, but in how the Pack interacts with the building. I also adore the Pack life, which we got loads of in the most recent episode. As much as Elena has struggled with the concept of family and is trying to avoid Stonehaven for reasons, the family vibe is wonderfully portrayed, which is an extension of the entire Pack mentality. Naked Logan and Clay aside, what really sold me on the show was Elena waking up to Nick hanging out in her bed like it ain’t no thang, and then breakfast. Breakfast was just perfect.

Because. Bacon.

I would like to see more of the wolves in action, though. Prior to reading Bitten, werewolves were the big, violent, lone monsters. Armstrong changed that view for me by putting so much into the them being an actual pack of wolves. When they Change, they hold on to their human awareness, but they are also very much wolves and act accordingly.

So this leaves only the problem of Clay and Elena’s relationship. I hope they don’t drag things out too long here. Clay’s stalkeriness can only be tolerated for so long, even by fans who know why Elena wants him out of her life.

Yes, I know I’m being very cryptic, because I don’t want to spoil. I imagine that, even as a fan of the book, I’m still going to be surprised (and kinda am hoping things will diverge a bit … for reasons… ). I’m hooked so far and hope those who didn’t read the book or who weren’t too impressed by the superficial advertising will at least give it a try. I’m very curious to see where things will go with future seasons. As Bitten is the first in a series that Armstrong later dubbed “Women of the Otherworld,” I would love to see the other ladies make an appearance, particularly the witches, Paige and Savannah, whom Elena meets in the second book, Stolen…

Werewolves on SPACE

Laura Vandervoort as Elena Michaesl

Bitten was my first real introduction to urban fantasy and supernatural books. I fell in love with Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. Part of my love comes from national pride: both Armstrong and her main character Elena Michaels are Canadian and it's always nice to find the familiar in something you're reading or watching.

The story goes: Elena is the only female to survive a werewolf bite, but she's not too keen on pack life. A product of the more negative aspects of the foster care system, family doesn't quite mean the same thing to her as it does to her pack. Since wolves tend to mate for life, her ex, Clay Danvers, is a little upset by this concept. Circumstances draw Elena back to the pack's home at Stonehaven and murder and mystery ensue.

Greyston Holt as Clay Danvers

Since I learned last year about plans already underway for a TV series, I’ve been patiently excited. After Lost Girl, I’m quite happy to see more Canadian-made supernatural shows getting some attention. This month, SPACE released first looks from the set and fans are, unsurprisingly, already up in arms by what we’re seeing (video). We've been waiting for Clay's blond curls and southern drawl, but we won't be getting either. Elena's casting is acceptable, but personally, I would have liked to see a more Asian Jeremy Danvers. That might just be because I have a thing for quietly powerful, broody darkangels with long black hair.

Still, I’m not upset by what I’ve seen so far. I’m far more interested in actors that understand and can bring to life the internal workings of a character than just having someone who looks (and sounds) the part. There have been enough excellent examples of actors (e.g. 50% of the Game of Thrones cast) doing this that I am willing to be cautiously optimistic. More so because Armstrong seemed to feel the same way when I asked her about it. When I visited Fan Expo last summer and learned about the show, I got to chat briefly with her. I was curious about her involvement. I always worry that great stories will be swept away from their creators, like Ursula K. Leguin’s issues with EarthSea, if the creator isn’t involved enough. Armstrong noted that she had seen the some of the pre-production concepts (and didn’t seem bothered by any of it), but she specifically did not want to be part of the casting because she felt her idea of how her characters should look would cause too much bias. I was glad to hear that she was able to let that go, so hopefully, fandom will find it in our hearts to forgive as well, once we see what the show actually has to offer us.

Ignoring Laura Vandervoort’s references to 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight, the on set video snippets and interviews seem to confirm to me that the creative team and the actors have grasped the essence of the story and characters (and are aware of what the fans will be upset about, with actor Greyston Holt already apologizing for Clay’s lack of a southern drawl), which is far more important to me as a fan of the books. I particularly love that the pack’s home, Stonehaven, has been recognized as a character unto itself and given the love and attention it deserves with details including first and foremost, Jeremy Danver’s paintings on the wall.

For now, Bitten is focusing, it seems, on Armstrong’s first book, but I definitely plan to stick around to see if the world of the werewolves will expand to include the other Women of the Otherworld and the respective supernatural races they belong to.