Legend of the Seeker: Eternity

I’m currently on leave for two weeks, so let’s get this DONE.

We’re three episodes out from the season’s final episode (which ended up being the final episode of the show in its entirety) and there are a lot of moving parts on the board: a resurrected Darken Rahl, the Sisters of the Dark running around, and our heroes – now with an understanding of what they need to do with the Stone of Tears – using the compass to finally get where they want to go. No more detours, it’s go-time.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, this is a Cara-centric episode. It brings her season-long arc full circle, what with her being recaptured by her former friends/allies, subjected to Mord Sith “training” (that is, torture and brainwashing) and withstanding the mental and physical pain long enough to secure her own escape. The writers, and actress Tabrett Bethell, have put in the work to make this storyline satisfying, the character having convincingly won the trust of Richard, Kahlan and Zed over the course of the season, and worked through the multitude of Capital-I Issues when it comes to the psychological turmoil she’s undergone since childhood.

In many ways, this episode is the culmination of her journey.

Except that... actually, we’re going for a third act twist when it’s revealed she has succumbed to the torture inflicted upon her, and now the entire fate of the world hangs by a thread once she runs off with the Stone of Tears.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The gang is hiding in the forest as a solitary Mord Sith we’ve never seen before strides through the trees. They ambush her, and Cara recognizes her as “Dahlia,” a woman she not only served with for many years, but who she knew before they became Mord Siths, having both grown up in the same village together.

Dahlia is here to drop a bombshell: she needs Cara’s help to save Lord Rahl – not Darken, not Richard, but Cara’s son, fathered by Rahl and taken from her at birth. No one has much time to process this information, but Dahlia tells them that after Darken Rahl’s death the boy was being raised and trained by the Mord Sith... at least until their temple was attacked by the Sisters of the Dark, who kidnapped Cara’s son for their own ends.

Dahlia was the only survivor. She’s tracked the Sisters to “a retreat in the hills of Aritran,” but knows she’ll need help if she’s to rescue the boy. And so, she’s sought out Cara.

Completely unsurprisingly, Cara isn’t interested. Richard’s mission to save the world itself clearly takes priority, and she insists the boy means nothing to her. Just as unsurprisingly, Richard and Kahlan insist that she go to the assistance of her child, which absolutely nobody knew about until this very moment. Zed at least can offer a strategic motive to allow Cara to go with Dahlia (as she clearly wants to do): that this boy could be dangerous if he’s left in the hands of the Sisters of the Dark.

And so, there’s another team split-up. Zed and Cara will travel with Dahlia, and Richard and Kahlan will continue on to the Stone of Tears. The direction of their departure is handled very nicely, as we’re given a shot of Zed and Cara heading in one direction, Richard and Kahlan in the other... and then a fade-in to two completely new characters, facing each other.

Just to save time, their names are eventually revealed as Elodie and Alistair, and they’re having what is clearly a lovers’ tryst, sans any physical contact. They reach out to touch, but their hands simply pass through each other, giving us a clear look at the distinctive-looking rings on both their hands.

Someone calls out for Elodie, and on removing her ring, Alistair vanishes from sight, just as a second man – Asa – appears. Like Elodie, he’s dressed in Roman-style robes, and the plot thickens when he tells her that the Seeker approaches.

Put a pin in this; we’ll get back to it.

Richard and Kahlan are bushwhacking through the forest when they reach the bottom of a high cliff. The compass is pointing straight through it, so they take hands and step forward, though a magical barrier and into the cave system beyond.

After some time, they stop for the night, and we get another scene that demonstrates why Richard is the Best Guy Around. He not only comments that it’s nice for the two of them to have some alone time together, but when the subject of Rahl and Cara’s offspring is breached, he answers Kahlan’s question of “who could stop [that child]?” with the perfect answer: “our child.”

The two of them enjoy fantasizing about what this hypothetical daughter of theirs might actually be like, and it’s just so sweet and lovely. As ever, their close proximity can’t lead to any intimacy (which in hindsight, feels like a deliberate contrast to what Cara and Dahlia get up to as soon as they’re alone) but the two of them manage to restrain themselves.

As for Cara, her journey with Dahlia soon turns spicy... while Zed is asleep right there on the ground next to them. Ladies, please. Also, how long would it have taken them to get all that leather gear off themselves? I feel claustrophobic just looking at it.

In any case, we get a sense of their shared history together, and more pertinently, Dahlia is somewhat bemused that Zed trusts Cara enough to fall asleep while the two of them are still awake. She continues to play the caring, hopeful “I’m glad you’re here (with me)” angle, even though Cara insists she’s only there because Richard ordered it.

Either way, it ends in a somewhat awkward make-out session. Hey, it was 2009. They’re trying.

But as with Richard and Kahlan, there are obstacles between the would-be lovers. If Richard and Kahlan are emotionally open with each other, but are unable to get physically intimate, then Cara and Dahlia are the precise opposite. Postcoital softness (for a Mord Sith) soon turns to bewilderment at what they’re each doing with their lives, with both trying to no avail to get the other on-side.

It actually makes for a really neat contrast. What’s most interesting is that neither woman is coming from a place of honesty, whereas Richard and Kahlan are always completely truthful with each other. When Dahlia tells Cara they could raise the latter’s son together, she already knows that the boy was killed long ago. And when Cara insists that Richard is the rightful Lord Rahl, she’s arguing semantics instead of the fact that their friendship is the reason for her loyalty.

This will not end well.

Richard and Kahlan emerge from the cave network into a beautiful valley that’s been put through some sort of colour-filter (the light is yellow somehow), where a temple awaits them before a picturesque waterfall. There are people waiting inside, including Asa and Elodie, all wearing the same Roman-style togas as a visual clue of just how old they are. They’re welcoming, and all seems very calm and peaceful... so clearly there has to be a catch.

On the altar behind them is a small blue stone and... okay, I have to admit laughing a little. I knew it was called the “Stone of Tears” but I didn’t expect it to literally look like a tear. Honestly, I don’t know what I expected it to look like, but it’s just so tiny! And so tear-shaped!

As Richard reverently takes the Stone, the compass loses its glow and falls quiet, its purpose fulfilled. The music is trying really hard to sell this as a big deal. Asa steps forward to deliver some exposition and the catch we’re all anticipating: essentially, the people gathered there are thousands of years old, having been appointed guardians of the Stone by the Creator herself. They’ve been kept young and vital through the power of the Stone for generations, awaiting the arrival of the Seeker and the Mother Confessor.

Now they expect Richard and Kahlan to stay with them in their hidden valley, to wait out the destruction of the world at the hands of the Keeper, and then venture forth to repopulate the earth. This is apparently the will of the Creator.

Richard obviously has other plans. He wants to follow the instructions on the scroll and take the Stone of Tears to the Pillars of Creation in order to close the Rift. He’s going to save the world, not hide from it. But Asa is bewildered at the mention of a scroll and the pillars, telling them that the compass was designed to lead them here. According to him, one of their number, a man called Ulric (nice continuity!) gave up his immortality and went into the world in order to prepare for the Seeker to find the Stone of Tears when the end was nigh.

As Richard says, all this matches up with the fact they found the compass in Ulric’s tomb, guarded by the Order of Ulric. But Asa is insistent that the world be left to the (non-existent) mercy of the Keeper, and that Richard and Kahlan are part of an Adam and Eve Plot to repopulate the earth after all its evil has been destroyed. (Really? They’re going do that all by themselves? Just the two of them? These guys don't have a firm grasp of genetics).

To be frank, I’ve totally forgotten the context of the compass and Ulric’s tomb and the scroll and the purpose of the Stone itself, but the premise of all this really interests me: that two groups of people who are ostensibly on the same side and attempting to fulfil the designs of the same deity, are completely at odds regarding what they’re meant to be doing.

It’s like two branches of Chinese Whispers being played out over thousands of years, inevitably culminating in two very different messages. At some point, how did the instructions on the Scroll of Valdair, advising the Seeker to take the Stone to the Pillars, diverge from the prerogative of these guardians, who believe they’re meant to stay hidden away until the world has ended? Who is right? The compass or the scroll, the immortals or the Seeker? What does the Creator actually want?

It makes me powerfully curious to know who wrote the scroll, and whether they knew they were essentially defying God by doing so (if we assume that Asa and his followers have the right of it). According to Asa, if Richard takes the Stone out of the valley and fails to stops the Keeper, the world will end – without any Seeker or Confessor to repopulate the earth. Life will end and the Keeper will win.

This is the scenario they’re genuinely facing by the end of the episode. But of course, it’s also a chance Richard is willing to take in order to save everyone else – he’ll always chose to preserve life where he can, declaring that he doesn’t believe the Creator wants the entire world to perish. This feels like the “right” answer, given what we know about Richard's hero status and a presumably benevolent deity.

I know none of this actually gets explained, but I do like the setup of it all. There’s a nice ambiguity here and genuinely high stakes that are still rooted in our investment of individual characters (Richard and Kahlan staying in the valley means the end of Cara, Zed, Ren, Denee, Jennsen, and all their other friends and allies).

Thankfully Asa never reverts into a murderous fanatic, as he ultimately lets Richard leave without any opposition. Furthermore, Elodie speaks up for them when Richard points out there are people in the outside world who are worth saving. Of course she’d believe that – she knows one of them!

Richard and Kahlan take the opportunity to escape, but find that because the compass no longer glows, it will not grant them passage through the magical barrier around the cliffs. Long story short, they attempt to scale the cliff by hand, an absolutely insane course of action, only for Kahlan to fall off in dramatic slow-motion and end up back where she started, uninjured but no better off than she was before.

Such a miracle suggests divine providence, and the pair end up talking about what it might mean for them if they can’t get out of the valley. For starters, they could actually have that child they were daydreaming about earlier...

It’s at this point Elodie arrives to bring them some food, and they strike up a conversation. She tries to convince them it’s a good place to live, a world without “Darken Rahl or Banelings,” and Richard’s ears prick up. How does Elodie know about Rahl and Banelings, two relatively recent threats, if she’s never left the valley in her prolonged lifetime? She prevaricates, but the threat of confession from Kahlan makes her spill the beans.

When Ulric left the valley, it was with one of a matching pair of rings in his possession, which allowed him to stay in contact with Asa while each one was worn on their hands. Elodie would use the ring secretly to communicate with Ulric, whom she loved, and took it for herself after Asa cast it away on the event of Ulric’s death. The ring in the outside world has since passed through many hands, until finally reaching Alistair, with whom Elodie has fallen in love with, for the first time since Ulric died.

So, now they have a way of contacting the outside world.

We immediately cut to Richard explaining the situation to Alistair, asking him to find Zed and pass the ring onto him so they can communicate. And see, this is what I love most about this show. So many of the victories that the good guys achieve are contingent on decent, ordinary people going the extra mile for others.

Granted, Alistair has a slight ulterior motive in the form of Elodie, who he’ll hopefully be able to meet in person if he can help Richard get out of the valley – but hey, he’s still driven by love! (And clearly, he would have done all this anyway).

***

Meanwhile, the trap has sprung for Cara. She and Zed are diligently following Dahlia when she turns on them, knocking Zed out cold and then attacking Cara as a fleet of more Mord Sith appear. Cara holds them off for as long as she can (and yes, agiel fights still look very silly) before she’s overpowered. It’s Dahlia who gets in the last hit, cementing her betrayal.

Now it’s torture time at one of Darken Rahl’s strongholds. Just as we once saw with Denna, Cara has been stripped down and dangles from her wrists by chains hanging from the ceiling. Rahl gets in some of his trademark mocking, telling her that he knew all about her “special friendship” with Dahlia, and that her son was killed the very day he was born (sorry, but there’s no way that’s true. I smell a plot bunny they were planning to explore in season three).

Cara is too upset to even feel the pain Rahl starts inflicting on her with an agiel.

When she first awoke, Cara asked where Zed was, and in a nice echo, Zed asks after her when he wakes up in the dungeon – nice because he was the last of our main trio to be won over. Dahlia ignores his question, but interrupts Rahl just as he’s in the middle of telling Cara that Richard won’t be rescuing her since: “you’re not that important.” That old tactic.

Dahlia takes over Cara’s torture, but tries a gentler tact, lowering her to the ground and telling her everything she’s doing is for her own good, that the likes of Richard and Kahlan can’t love her like she can, and that she’s protecting her from her own weaknesses, just as they did as children. That’s another old tactic, but Cara isn’t buying it. One headbutt later and the torture begins again.

Dang, these people are messed up.

Knowing what we do about Rahl and Dahlia, it’s extremely likely that everything in this scene – from Dahlia stating that the scouts can’t see anyone following them, to reminiscing about her shared childhood with Cara – is just more manipulation to break her (and as we know from the end of the episode, it works).

When we return to her, Rahl has taken over the torture again, and once again Dahlia interrupts to say that the Sisters of the Dark are approaching. It leads to a pretty cool stand-off between the two groups in which Rahl once again gets to demonstrate what a Manipulative Bastard he is. Marianna accuses him of betraying the Keeper, but he insists that he only returned to the land of the living in order to gain possession of the Stone of Tears – something the Keeper has been unable to achieve since time began.

Proposing an alliance and getting the Sisters onboard with his plan is easy enough – then he calls in a favour to help him get the Stone... the Sisters of the Dark perform a spell on Cara’s agiel, imbuing it with all the pain she has inflicted on others across the years, which results in an agiel crawling with dark runes and letting off a creepy green vapour. Rahl takes his time selling it to everyone in the room, and Cara takes the opportunity to spit in his face, but once he touches it to her bare skin, she lets out the scream she’s been holding in all this time.

For everyone that’s been paying attention, we know how a Mord Sith’s training ends – she’s forced to kill her own father. And in lieu of Cara’s father, Zed will do. As the scenario is set up, we’re again left anticipating a catch here somewhere. Has Cara really been broken?

It would seem not, as she attacks Dahlia and then Rahl... and then a bunch of Mord Sith storming into the room. Hmm, maybe this was meant to be a clue that none of this is what it seems, especially since Cara has been beaten to a near-pulp. She yanks the key to Zed’s Rada-Han off Rahl’s belt, but Zed stops her from killing him outright, reminding her that if he dies he’ll be able to tell the Keeper where Richard is supposed to take the Stone. Then they get outta there, ASAP.

***

It's at this point that the two subplots realign. Our strapping young wannabe hero Alistair is not doing particularly well, having run into a couple of dodgy-looking bandits and asking them if they’ve seen an old man pass by. Realizing they’re just going to rob him blind, he tries to defend himself and is saved by Zed just in the nick of time.

We cut to Zed and Richard talking to each other via the rings, and in a nice bit of direction, we initially see this conversation on both sides of the cliff-face. Zed can see Richard on his side of the cliff, just as Richard can see Zed in the valley. However, it's also clear that Kahlan and Elodie are watching Richard talk to thin air, just as Alistair and Cara are seeing Zed do the same. It’s only Richard and Zed who can see each other.

Zed tells him the magic of the barrier is too strong for him to break, and he can’t use the “spell of taking” (have we come across that before?) to get Richard and Kahlan out of the valley. Richard suggests he use it on the Stone of Tears, even though last time Zed had Shota’s help to strengthen his own magic (okay, I have absolutely no memory of this). Richard’s plan is that the Stone’s removal from the valley might get the compass working again, which will allow them to pass through the cave network – and even if it doesn’t, Zed and Cara can take the Stone to the Pillars of Creation in their stead.

Zed performs the spell, the stone disappears from Richard’s hand and reappears in Zed’s, the compass starts glowing again – but then Zed keels over in pain. Richard can’t see what’s causing it, but the next scene makes it clear: Cara has struck Zed with her agiel and taken the stone from him.

Alistair makes himself useful by tackling her, and Zed uses his magic to whisk them both away before she can strike again. Cara runs off, the Stone in her possession. Big oopsie. This is exactly what Asa was afraid would happen. Well, not this exactly, but the gist of it is that the Stone of Tears is now in the hands of their enemies, and the Keeper has the advantage.

He tells them as much when he and the rest of his followers block the passage that Richard and Kahlan try to take to escape the valley, they all having felt the removal of the Stone. It’s refreshing that the immortals don’t go fanatically evil on them, as they don’t stop Richard and his allies from leaving – they’re not mad, just disappointed and everyone knows that’s worse. Asa only tells them he hopes for the sake of the world that the Keeper can be defeated, since his plan for them, which he honestly thought was the Creator’s design, is in ruins.

They pass through the caves, and Elodie and Alistair meet for the first time in person, tentatively reaching out and then embracing each other. Richard and Kahlan do their level best not to roll their eyes when Alistair states: “you can’t imagine what it’s been like, to be able to see each other but never touch.” Honestly, I wouldn’t have blamed either one of them for whacking him in that moment.

They leave the united lovers behind and turn to Zed, already plotting out their next move. Cara was broken and has betrayed them. She’ll be taking the Stone of Tears to Darken Rahl. What do they do now?

***

Having returned to Darken Rahl’s stronghold, Cara triumphantly kisses Dahlia and hands over the Stone of Tears (which really does look like it was bought at the local crystal store for eight dollars) over to Rahl, who welcomes her back into the “bosom of her family.” Dun, dun, DUUUUN!

Eek! As the third-to-last, penultimate-penultimate episode goes, that was pretty good! Our heroes are in dire straits, we seem to have lost Cara, and their ultimate plan – to simply take the Stone of Tears to the Pillars of Creation – has gone completely haywire.

All is not completely lost, as the Stone is now in the possession of Darken Rahl, who explicitly doesn’t want the world to end. He enjoys its physical pleasures far too much for that. But the Sisters of the Dark are in close proximity to him, and will no doubt uncover its whereabouts soon.

Miscellaneous Observations:

This episode went big with the hand-touching motif, though it's interesting to consider who wears gloves, and who doesn't, in these scenes:

The lingering question left behind by this episode is: what really happened to Cara’s son? It was a bit of a bombshell to introduce something like that so late in the game, and knowing what I do about how manipulative Darken Rahl can be, I don’t believe for a second that he had the child killed, if not simply because that would have been a juicy plot to explore further in season three.

But it’s difficult to parse through the veracity of what they’ve told Cara. An early red flag in Dahlia’s story was something that Cara herself brought up: that the Sisters of the Dark shouldn’t have been able to overcome the Mord Sith resistance to magic. Dahlia handwaves it by saying: “they’ve grown stronger,” but this could have easily been a lie.

Also, wasn’t there talk at the beginning of this season about how the Mord Sith’s powers are channelled through the blood of the House of Rahl? Why would they think the new Lord Rahl is Richard if they all knew a son of Darken was running around? That there were obvious holes in this story was clearly done on purpose, but it still had to be convincing enough for everyone to fall for it.

What worked better was Kahlan being unable to tell if Dahlia being honest, as that’s an ability (or lack thereof) that has been established pretty early on. It was also a good reminder of her skill at reading “normal” people, as it’s later utilized to confirm that Asa was telling the truth about not being responsible for keeping them in the valley, and that Elodie was lying about what she knew.

The rings were a nice concept as well. It links the valley to Ulric, whose tomb we visited way back at the start of this season, and it makes sense there’d be a line of communication between him and his people. Furthermore, the scene in which they’re introduced on the fingers of Elodie and Alistair made for an intriguing mystery that only made sense once we got the proper context. 

Another intriguing aspect was the idea of the second ring being handed down from person to person over the centuries, allowing Elodie to stay “up to date” with what was happening in the outside world. And of course, it proved to be the key to Richard and Kahlan’s escape. This show has always been very good at utilizing its magical artefacts and the rules that surround them.

There’s a poignant moment between Kahlan and Cara when the former briefly touches the latter’s arm before they part ways; a small gesture of solidarity. In many ways Dahlia was presented as Kahlan’s foil, even though the two of them barely interact: honesty versus deception, friendship versus sexual chemistry, that little touch versus the physical pain that Dahlia inflicts.

And yet it was interesting that Dahlia often took the very un-Sith like tactic of appealing to emotion: the latent feelings that Cara had for her son, and those she once (and still) shares with Dahlia herself. That Cara feels the need to declare she feels nothing for her own child is terribly sad, since she’s not so good a liar that everyone can’t tell the exact opposite is true, and you could see the pain when Rahl indifferently throws out that her son is long dead.

It was also deliberately dehumanizing that Cara’s son never even got a name – at least, not one that we ever hear. But surely Rahl wouldn’t have killed off an important asset like that (we know that he kept his son Nicolas around in the alt-future with Kahlan) and surely there are many such bastards running around the place. Oh season three, I mourn thee.

Whenever the Mord Sith go stomping through the forest, it’s a point of contention for me that they never seem to be carrying any supplies. Just a woman by herself, taking a forced march in skintight leather:

As we saw with Richard back in “Denna,” Cara tries to withstand torture by dividing her mind and delving into memories of her friends. This type of thing is always pretty touching (it reminds me of how Harry cast Voldemort out of his mind at the end of The Order of the Phoenix by doing something similar) and it’s especially moving in this case since she looks on Richard not as a love interest but a friend. Just as Dahlia was a contrast to Kahlan, so too is Rahl one to Richard, based on how each one commands loyalty.

As Cara says to Darken: “if you were half the Lord Rahl he is... you wouldn’t have to break someone to get her to do what you want.” Rahl is the stick, and Richard is the carrot. Cara knows which one she prefers.

So, did you recognized the guy who played Alistair? It was Jay Ryan! The guy who plays the adult version of Ben Hanscom in It: Chapter Two. Hahahaha! I love it when shows like this end up being a showcase for actors well before they make it big in Hollywood.

As stated, I did enjoy the either/or choice that the episode presented to Richard and Kahlan, and that what they should have done remains ambiguous. Was the Creator’s intention for them to stay in the valley and repopulate the earth, or to save a very flawed world? There’s no question that the latter is what Richard was always going to choose, but given the situation they’re in by the time the credits roll, Asa certainly had a point.

If anything, the theme of this episode was temptation, especially given that the valley gave Richard and Kahlan an opportunity to attain what they’ve always wanted: a chance to finally be together. Asa was trying to sell a Noah’s Ark type situation, and the valley was almost presented as a Garden of Eden, what with the peace and the serenity, not to mention the Adam and Eve Plot that Asa had planned for them. Surely there was an apple somewhere in that basket of food Elodie offered them. 

Naturally Richard and Kahlan were sorely tempted by what was on offer: a chance to forget their troubles, be together, and start to raise children. But instead, they chose to take their chance trying to save the fallen world – and if they fail, that’s the end of life itself. Quite a gamble, and I wish they'd had a bit more time to consider the implications of their decision.

(Likewise, Cara can certainly be described as having gone through a corruption and a fall, though it’s fair to say that even though Dahlia tempted her in a number of ways, her current state of mind wasn’t one she chose for herself).

So, what exactly DID the Creator want? For Richard to follow the instructions on the scroll or to stay in the valley? She’s been an ambiguous figure in this story, and even if you dismiss her appearance in “Creator” as a hoax, there’s still the question of how or why things changed from what Asa believes to be true, to what the scroll instructs the Seeker to do. As stated, I’m intrigued by the premise of two groups that are otherwise in accord, but crucially divided on what they essentially think is the will of God.

One wants the Stone of Tears to stay where it is (as guided by the compass) while the other (as stated in the scroll) wants it to be used to save the world. Which is the right choice? Ulric or Valdair? 

By the end it would seem that Asa’s risk-free but deeply sacrificial decision was the right choice, but of course, Richard will never leave people to suffer if he can possibly help it. And it was interesting that he flat-out says he doesn’t believe mass destruction is the Creator’s plan.

Basically, I like parsing through all these possibilities and their implications, even if I know the writers never intent to give us a definitive answer. It’s an interesting conundrum, and it makes me want to go back and watch this season from the start, to see if I can spot some extra little details regarding Ulric’s tomb or the Scroll of Valdair.

Finally, at one point Dahlia offers to call back the Mord Sith scouts in order to torture Zed, but Rahl points out he’s got a Rada-Han around his neck. Why can’t they just hook Kahlan up with one of these?