Woman of the Month: Kahlan Amnell

Woman of the Month: Kahlan Amnell from The Legend of the Seeker

There are three types of female characters: those you relate to, those you enjoy watching, and those you admire. Kahlan falls into that last category, as she’s very much characterized by her restraint, her moral compass, and her commitment to the cause.

Kahlan belongs to an order of women known as Confessors, all imbued with the terrifying power to remove an individual’s free will, rendering them her devoted, life-long servants. The more you think about this, the more appalling its implications become. Just recall Killgrave from Jessica Jones or King Randa from the Graceling books as examples of how the misuse of an ability like Kahlan’s can be utterly catastrophic.

As a result, Kahlan must hold herself to almost excruciatingly high standards, not just for other people's safety but her own as well, knowing that the respect she commands as a Confessor could very easily curdle into hatred and fear.

There’s another drawback to her power: because it is so linked to her emotions, she’s unable to enjoy any physical intimacy with a partner lest they become confessed (naturally, this turns out to be the main source of tension between herself and Richard). We’re left with a character of unspeakable power whose most important, maintained characteristic is her self-control. At no point is she able to indulge in her emotions or act without consideration. And casual sex is way out.

Yes, a lot of this is inherently silly, in the way only a fantasy about mind-control and magical powers and an author’s obvious sexual hang-ups can be silly – but in performing such a role, it takes a careful balancing act to treat Kahlan's condition seriously without getting too po-faced about it.

With that in mind, there’s no understating how much Bridget Regan brings to the table, pouring no end of nuance and conflict into a role that could have easily made Kahlan an uptight scold or a self-righteous moral guardian. Instead she parses through the character’s strengths and vulnerabilities, her inner poise and self-doubt, lingering traumas and gentle sense of humour, making sure it all stems from the same source: a woman who is acutely aware of her own terrifying, overwhelming power.

What she manages to do in the season one finale in particular is just extraordinary: in just a handful of scenes she sells us on the passage of several years, her growing despair as the walls close in around her, a strong rapport with a young serving girl, her despondent love for a man she’ll never see again, and a steady resolve to do what has to be done – whether it’s marrying her worst enemy or killing her own son. She not only pulls it off, she makes it look effortless.

And this woman has an aesthetic like no other. I don’t care how impractical it is, watching her swirling into battle with her hair loose and her long white sleeves flying is a thing of beauty. It’s ironic that I was originally planning to make Éowyn January’s Woman of the Month, another Defrosting Ice Queen in an iconic white gown, whose character follows the same trajectory of being cold and shut off from the world, only to gradually lower her defenses and open herself up to love and hope (in her case, I decided to hold off until I’ve re-read the books).

I’m currently making my way through season two of The Legend of the Seeker, and we’re in the midst of Kahlan coming to terms with the fact a Mord Sith – the natural foil and enemy to the Confessors – is slowly but surely becoming her friend. It’s a fantastic arc for her and Cara to take, and the writers have even been so kind as to remove Richard to an entirely different plot so the women can hash things out between them.

The burden Kahlan carries is one she takes seriously, for she knows better than anyone the horrific toll that the abuse of her power might inflict. From a traumatic childhood in which her hands were bound by her father to protect himself, to an alternative timeline in which her abilities resulted in a genocidal monster of a son, she's aware that strict discipline over herself is the only way to keep her loved ones safe.

And so watching the slow-but-steady incursion of hope into her life is one of the great joys of the show in its entirety. It’s one of the things I love most about the Richard/Kahlan relationship: that in many ways, Richard is the one that takes the “feminine” role of providing emotional nurture and care to the more constrained Kahlan, who ever-so-gradually begins to dismantle her defenses not just against him, but the entire world.