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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dire Bare" data-source="post: 4644034" data-attributes="member: 18182">The confessor who, well, "confessed" an entire village did not turn to evil.  She abused her power and made a very bad choice that resulted in evil.  In the real world, all evil is probably more of this nature . . . . but in a fantasy realm where evil people all wear black and/or red S&M outfits and desire to crush all freedom and hope everywhere . . . . we are not talking Sith conversion or even close.Anyway, I didn't see the mental domination of an entire village episode as an example of a "magic-user" falling to the dark side but rather of the difficulty of wielding power and making choices that are not only moral but effective.This theme played through the latest episode as well.  None of the confessors was happy or gung-ho over the idea of killing the baby, but most were willing to defer to long-held tradition and fear of the unknown, which is very human.  The mother confessor was also bolstered in her attitude by the very personal experience of her own confessor son turning to evil and the need for her to slay her own grown up child.  Obviously, the point of the episode was to show how one person gave in to fear and made very wrong choices (mom confessor) and how the other women overcame their reliance on tradition and fear of the unknown to make the "right" decision.  But what if baby confessor grows up to be the next Darken Rahl as tradition warns against?!?!It's not always written the best or acted the best in the show, but it's pretty clear that the confessors feel that mentally dominating someone is a last resort and borderline evil even when used for good ends.  But, as a cool groovy magic power, good and "correct" opportunities to use the power crop up just about every episode.</blockquote>

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