LEGEND OF THE SEEKER #9: Dark/Season 2/2010

[Truth Seeker]

Dark

The Sisters of the Light teach Richard to use his wizard powers. When one of them discloses a terrible secret, Zedd is forced to name a new Seeker.
​

 

[Felon]

Never give up the ghost, eh Truth-Seeker?

Well, I guess I'll comment that despite not addressing the blatant futility of opposing the Keeper, this is otherwise a very good show that avoids a lot of the cheap and lazy characterizations of heroes, particularly in a sword-and-sorcery genre. Richard doesn't just make some blind-faith listen-to-your-heart decision regarding whom to trust. He actually some deductive reasoning. And there is no clear-cut side to trust. Everyone has their own agenda.

Also nice the way the last few episodes have laid the plot seeds for the episode that followed.

 

[Orius]

Well, I guess I'll comment that despite not addressing the blatant futility of opposing the Keeper, this is otherwise a very good show that avoids a lot of the cheap and lazy characterizations of heroes, particularly in a sword-and-sorcery genre.

Well, these nuns or whatever made some comment about the dead sister being with the Creator or something instead of not having fun in the Underworld, so maybe the show is making the whole cosmology unclear or something? I don't know. Either that or the underworld spilling over into the world of the living is screwing everyone's souls over and that makes it important for Richard to seal the rifts. Maybe it'll be clearer once I get around to reading the books.

I do have to say I was getting some pretty strong WoT rip-off vibes from this episode again, and not sure if it's something in the original books, or something the show is making stronger. But these sisters felt like a copy of the Aes Sedai, right down to copying the White Tower and Black Ajah. In fact, the individual sisters even felt like copies of specific Aes Sedai from the books at times.

Also nice the way the last few episodes have laid the plot seeds for the episode that followed.

Yes, this season seems to using more story arcs than the first season.

 

[Truth Seeker]

Didn't catch that, but, I have been having PC problems, for a while, so...some postings have been running late.

I am in midst of building a new PC, and will be (hopefully) going Fios soon, to end these delays.

As for the show, I do like the change of direction, although, not straight from the book (I believe they have moved away from the storyline of the book(s)).

It will be very interesting to see, how far they can go with this.

Never give up the ghost, eh Truth-Seeker?

Well, I guess I'll comment that despite not addressing the blatant futility of opposing the Keeper, this is otherwise a very good show that avoids a lot of the cheap and lazy characterizations of heroes, particularly in a sword-and-sorcery genre. Richard doesn't just make some blind-faith listen-to-your-heart decision regarding whom to trust. He actually some deductive reasoning. And there is no clear-cut side to trust. Everyone has their own agenda.

Also nice the way the last few episodes have laid the plot seeds for the episode that followed.

 

[Baumi]

I love the show! 8D

I was a bit surprised that the new Seeker is still alive, I thought he will die in the first few minutes, especially since the love-interest build-up with Cara.

But I wonder if Richard gave up his Magic now or if he can still learn it...

 

[Merkuri]

I do have to say I was getting some pretty strong WoT rip-off vibes from this episode again, and not sure if it's something in the original books, or something the show is making stronger.

Oh, that was in the original books. It's what made my sister and I stop reading them. We got sick of reading elements that felt yanked out of WoT. It got so bad we actually checked the copyright dates on the books to see which came first (WoT did come first, by the way).

I'm guessing they're not going this way in the TV show, considering what happened in this episode, but in the books I seem to recall that Richard developed a type of wizard power that hadn't been seen in centuries and was apt to drive him mad. Sound familiar? (EDIT: Oh, and IIRC he also developed the ability to hear and smell people to the point where he could identify individuals in the dark by their smell.)

Also in the books the mord sith (who are really good at controlling magic users, remember) used a leash and collar when they were training Richard. Naw, that doesn't sound like anything from WoT.

They even had a character in the books (albeit a fairly minor one, IIRC) who had a cloak made of patches. Some of the other things I could forgive as being common to fantasy novels or somewhat obvious, but a cloak made of patches? Too much of a coincidence for me.

The TV series has actually changed a lot of the elements from the books that had made it seem kinda awkward, and they've actually taken a lot of the WoT-like elements out or changed them as far as I've seen, which is making me warm up to it more than I did the books.

I tend to find the show corny at times (I laugh at some of the "dramatic" fight scenes), but I've just got a soft spot for it. Ever since that first night when I was randomly flipping channels and saw a woman in white standing in front of a supernatural wall and being referred to as a "Confessor" I knew I was going to have to watch this show. Even if it was not my favorite book series as a young adult it was something I had enjoyed at one time and it made me feel good to know it had made it to the screen (though I was a little miffed that it got screen time before WoT ).

 

[Orius]

Oh, that was in the original books. It's what made my sister and I stop reading them. We got sick of reading elements that felt yanked out of WoT. I'm guessing they're not going this way in the TV show, considering what happened in this episode, but in the books I seem to recall that Richard developed a type of wizard power that hadn't been seen in centuries and was apt to drive him mad. Sound familiar? (EDIT: Oh, and IIRC he also developed the ability to hear and smell people to the point where he could identify individuals in the dark by their smell.)

Well, I thought it more than just a little coincidence that the new Seeker in this episode was a blacksmith and seemed to be pretty good at handling horses. Maybe I'm stretching it a tad, since blacksmiths often do know a bit about horses what with shoeing them and all, but with Richard's whole plot absolutely dripping with resemblances to White Tower intrigues, it did seem more than just a bit coincidental to me.

Also in the books the mord sith (who are really good at controlling magic users, remember) used a leash and collar when they were training Richard. Naw, that doesn't sound like anything from WoT.

Must be some obscure minor part that appeared somewhere in The Path of Daggers or Crossroads of Twilight that I overlooked. Maybe I'll have to check those books.

Maybe it's just some bondage type theme going on with the Mord-Sith, but
I can see how anyone could see the resemblance. But I've seen this comparison before. From what I've heard, the early books are a massive WoT ripoff with more violence, bondage and sex, the middle books are a warmed over fantasy version of Ayn Rand, and the last three books are actually readable. I'm still going to at least try to read the first book, because the show isn't too bad. I'm on my local library's waiting list for it, I put a hold on it almost two months ago and there were 10 people ahead of me. I suspect it's because of the show, the books can't be that popular.

Even if it was not my favorite book series as a young adult it was something I had enjoyed at one time and it made me feel good to know it had made it to the screen (though I was a little miffed that it got screen time before WoT ).

WoT is something that'll be damn hard to adapt to the screen. The story's not even finished yet. Movies are out of the question because it's just too damn long. That leaves TV in some capacity, so either SyFy which would end up being low budget and possibly disastrous as a result, or HBO/Showtime which might do it justice, but irritate the hell out of me because it's premium cable. I hope that network TV would never ever consider touching it in a million years, because they would screw it up so badly as to be irredeemable.

 

[Merkuri]

WoT is something that'll be damn hard to adapt to the screen.

I realized that as I was watching this show, and I also realized that if WoT got to the screen I'd like it to be done better than Legend of the Seeker. But when I realized what this show was about my first reaction was, "Oh my god, they made one of the fantasy novel series I read in high school days into a TV show!" and my second reaction was, "This wannabe series got a TV show before WoT?!? Blasphemy!"

 

[Lazybones]

I think that if SoIaF does well in its incarnation on HBO, there will be more interest in doing something with WoT. As for this show, I have come to enjoy it in the lines of a Hercules or Xena, light fantasy fare that is fun if you don't think about it too much. Not surprising since Sam Raimi was involved in all of them.

I remember enjoying the Sword of Truth when it first came out, but I started to lose interest around the third book. I stuck with it through book six and mostly regret it; the plots seemed to grow more far-fetched and silly with each successive book. I've forgotten most of the details of the books, which is actually better in terms of enjoying this show, I think.

 

[Felon]

I'm guessing they're not going this way in the TV show, considering what happened in this episode, but in the books I seem to recall that Richard developed a type of wizard power that hadn't been seen in centuries and was apt to drive him mad. Sound familiar?

In fantasy fiction aimed at young adults, good-hearted adolescents seem to have a knack for being the one-in-a-million soul desitned to wield awesome power that they never asked for.

The fantasy genre doesn't see that much innovation. People are always running around playing capture-the-flag with some powerful artifact. And that artificat is a relic of some bygone age of high sorcery and vast empires. It fixes something or kills something or seals something or frees something.

Fantasy just doesn't have a high bar set for itself in this area. Watch LotS and you'll see some scenes of guys fighting with swords and magic powers isntead of guns, and that seems to be the chief thing people look to the genre for.