Legend of the Seeker Season 1 Finale: Reckoning

[sakuraberries]

1.22: Reckoning
This is probably my favorite episode.  It and Season 2's Princess vie for the top spot.  What I want to talk about briefly, though, is the portrayal of Kahlan and Darken Rahl's relationship.

Comments

[brontefanatic]

This was interesting. I came to this essay via your link posted at People's Palace I don't know if you've clicked on any of the "Reckoning" side bar tags at PP. We've had exhaustive discussions about this episode, and a lot of people including myself, have very strong thoughts about it. A lot of PP members have written discussion posts and fanfics based on the episode

[brontefanatic]

My comment was as long as your essay!! I'm sorry I blathered on so much!

[sakuraberries]

That's a very interesting point you make about Kahlan; I never thought of it that way! I agree completely. I think we all just assumed that Kahlan's daughter, having been brought up by her mother, would instinctively want to sacrifice herself for the good of the world. And I don't think Kahlan's reasoning was necessarily "so Richard and I can be together again" but more so that "Rahl doesn't end up ruling the world." But she's also counting on the fact that this child will grow up with resentment towards her father, which is unlikely, given the loving way he treated Nikolas.

I'm currently writing a fic about the episode as well. :) I'm new to peoplespalace so I haven't really had time to go through the 'Reckoning' tag, but I'm sure I will do so in the near future.

Also, I'm curious, what parts of their relationship would you have liked to see most on-screen? What parts would you like to be explained?

Thank you for this comment; it was super interesting and really got me thinking (and also inspired a part in my fic-in-progress! :D)

[brontefanatic]

There must be something in the water - everybody is writing "Reckoning" fics right now! Riona and I both have long ones that we've been posting for several months, and you are about the 4th person in the past week who has mentioned they are working on one. I'm anxious to see what everyone comes up with

[sakuraberries]

You might be on to something there, about Kahlan having gone just a little bit mad, but I'm not sure. I don't think she ever gave much thought to the implications of what she was doing, that she would be essentially wiping out her children and grandchildren from existence. I think that she didn't see the moral depravity of what she was doing because she was focusing on the concept of the greater good, which Kahlan has always done - sacrificing few people for a world without Rahl. So like you said, she wasn't being totally honest with herself about why she was doing what she was.

And how bad would the world really be without Richard in the present?That's certainly food for thought! The whole concept of the show is that Richard must stop Rahl because a world that Rahl rules would not be a desirable one. But - and the book emphasizes this point more than the show - Richard and Darken Rahl each think they are on a righteous quest, and the reality is that everything is quite subjective. We never really saw how Rahl ruled with Kahlan

[brontefanatic]

Without knowing more I'm not sure which chapters you are referring to. The Jonathon piece is just a one-shot that I wrote in the same AU, it's not really part of the fic. Although it could certainly fit in there as a "missing scene

[sakuraberries]

To be honest I'm not sure which chapters I'm referring to either. >.> I just sort of went through a bunch of them quite quickly, so my memory is just grasping at random things.

God, book!Rahl is ridiculous. The whole written series is, quite frankly, a bit ridiculous, and I much prefer the show, and the show's characters.

I'll probably be posting the fic up next weekend (hopefully :D).

Thanks for the welcome! :D

[dorothydeath]

If I say now that I've been thinking about the Reckoning AU fic - feel free to kill me!

[hrhrionastar]

A Reckoning discussion! I should be working, but I must jump in!

Kahlan's daughter, having been brought up by her mother, would instinctively want to sacrifice herself for the good of the world. The problem with this theory is that there is no guarantee that erasing the Reckoning timeline will put the world as a whole in a better position - assuming Kahlan has a daughter instead of a son who brings about the apocalypse. Certainly it would be hard to imagine a worse situation than Nicholas's total dominion, where the people are doubtless starving and the sky itself glowers down at Our Heroes.

But - and this issue is one 16beckyb and I are both exploring - in 58 years, the chances are good that Darken Rahl will be dead, barring some sort of unlikely powerful magic, of course - that is, Kahlan's child would presumably inherit the throne, the line of Confessors would continue, all would be peace, if Nicholas/Nicole wasn't evil, and the enemy Kahlan worked so hard to defeat would no longer exist...which he already doesn't, in a way. Richard is

[sakuraberries]

I guess what I'm getting at is that a daughter willing to sacrifice her own existence for the good of the world would hardly be someone so corrupt that her rule would merit such extreme measures.

Too true. I guess, torn with grief over her loss of Richard, Kahlan came up with a plan rashly and was determined to follow through with it no matter what. She would allow for no alternatives. I'm fully convinced now, after all this discussion, that Kahlan indeed wasn't thinking clearly.

Without the doom of the Seeker coming to kill him, might he mellow a bit? But, well, don't forget, wasn't Richard intent on killing Rahl because Rahl was intent on possessing the boxes of Orden and having ultimate control over everyone and everything, regardless of whether the Seeker was alive or not? And if it couldn't be Orden it was the power of Confession he desired. Not exactly the sort of ruler you'd want, one who can magically take a way your free will. Of course, in the Reckoning storyline, with Orden destroyed, that wasn't going to happen, but

[hrhrionastar]

I'm fully convinced now, after all this discussion, that Kahlan indeed wasn't thinking clearly. And, in all fairness, how could she be? Everyone she cares about is dead, and it isn't even as simple as that because there's a chance, if she plays her cards right, that all this will never have happened. She can't mourn for Richard, because she might still get him back. She can't move on with her life, or commit suicide (which she might easily do in the beginning of Reckoning, if she thought Richard was dead...) It's not a good situation, certainly.

Of course, in the Reckoning storyline, with Orden destroyed, that wasn't going to happen, but I don't think we should be in a hurry to paint Darken Rahl in too good a light. You're right, of course - that bit's probably a combination of devil's advocate and loving Darken Rahl...;D

Of course, these difficulties are why some of us really love that episode - there's all these possibilities, and the conflict...I know on peoplespalace, we've talked about how it should be extended over more than one episode -

[dorothydeath]

But, well, don't forget, wasn't Richard intent on killing Rahl because Rahl was intent on possessing the boxes of Orden...

But, well, don't forget that Richard was brainwashed by Zedd and Kahlan and was intent on killing Darken before he even met the guy. Darken on the other hand didn't care much for the Boxes until Richard had showed up. Because if he did care Queen Milena would be dead long before the beginning of the 1st season.

In Reckoning Darken is never showed to commit any atrocities. And the lands are at peace. The apocalypse begins only after Darken's death.

but I don't think we should be in a hurry to paint Darken Rahl in too good a light.
Darken is no good guy by any stretch of imagination but he is a good ruler. IMHO

[sakuraberries]

Hmm. I think that point is a bit vague; whether Rahl wanted the boxes all along or just when he learned the Seeker was alive. I think the problem is that the show is adapted from the books, where Darken Rahl is irredeemably, impossibly evil (seriously. he's a total archetype) and therefore must be destroyed. In the show, he's not really evil, but they of course had to follow through with the plot of the book, so things wound up being slightly messy and inconsistent.

Darken is no good guy by any stretch of imagination but he is a good ruler. IMHO

But he doesn't really care about his people the way a good ruler should. No doubt he's a powerful ruler, a capable ruler, but not necessarily a "great" ruler.

[dorothydeath]

Show!Darken and book!Darken are indeed VERY different. That's why we shouldn't make any assumptions about show!Darken based upon what book!Darken did.

But he doesn't really care about his people the way a good ruler should.
And what give you that idea? o_O
Remember there was peace and prosperity when Darken ruled. Hospitals, orphanages, amnesty - all these things. Re-watch 1x15 when Darken says "I don't want to crush them, Egremont".
Yes, he can be cruel. But he's also very smart. And he knows that a ruler will live longer if his people are happy.

I would suggest you read "Fulcrum" by vorquellyn.
It will illustrate my point much better than I possibly can.

[sakuraberries]

And what give you that idea? o_O

The plague in 1x21? The whisperers? He wants his people appeased, not happy, so that he can rule complacently on his throne. Then again, I can see your point. A good ruler must know when it is necessary to sacrifice a few for the greater good. A weak, soft-hearted ruler would not be a good ruler. Interestingly, Kahlan makes similar decisions in Book 2 of the series, when she decides she must kill sixty-seven men on the suspicion that they will turn against her army (she was right, but she might not have been).

Thanks for the fic; I'll check it out!