OMFG. The writers of this series:

1. Took the book the Terry Goodkind wrote.
2. Tore all the pages out.
3. Took a shit all over the book.
4. Wipes their asses with the remaining pages.
5. Burned everything.
6. Pissed on the ashes.
7. Took the ashes and mixed it into a soup.
8. Force-fed the soup to orphans.
9. Killed the orphans.
10. Use the orphans' blood to write the script.

Seriously - if you've read the book or watched the series, DON'T read/watch the other one.

Dominus wrote:

OMFG. The writers of this series: 1. Took the book the Terry Goodkind wrote. 2. Tore all the pages out. 3. Took a shit all over the book. 4. Wipes their asses with the remaining pages. 5. Burned everything. 6. Pissed on the ashes. 7. Took the ashes and mixed it into a soup. 8. Force-fed the soup to orphans. 9. Killed the orphans. 10. Use the orphans' blood to write the script. Seriously - if you've read the book or watched the series, DON'T read/watch the other one.

In the TV series' defense.....I actually think that the majority of the book series is nothing but a ripoff of the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan in a lot of ways, and Terry Goodkind spends too damn much time trying to ram his philosophical viewpoints down peoples' throats rather than writing a god damn story (i.e. have you read the 7th book OMG?..ok i understand communism is bad..thx but i already read Atlas Shrugged, and that was a beating).....the TV series actually makes the storyline enjoyable without a bunch of stupid ass non-fantasy crap added in! My opinion.

Plus...Cara is hot. Lets make a mordsith class! :P

Book 7 (or was it book 6?) is what made me give up on reading the Sword of Truth books - I couldn't stand 3/4s of a FANTASY NOVEL explaining why communism is bad. It was torturous even getting that far and that was the icing on the cake... I want a fantasy novel, goddamnit!

I went along with the TV series because, even though it didn't stick with the novel, it was still enjoyable.

Cause of Mild-Rage
In the book, Richard memorized the Book of Counted Shadows. It was extremely important that he be the one to know the contents of the book after it was destroyed. In the TV series, Richard destroys the book without ever reading it... OK, that's a break from the plotline, but Richard could still lie about knowing the contents of the book, so it might still be OK.

Cause of This Post
Richard gets all three boxes of Orden and uses them.

Ok, seriously, WTF.

* First, you need to open a box to use their power.
* Second, you need to open the correct box, and you need to know the Book of Counted Shadows to know which box to open. Richard just had to put them together.
* Third, removing the requirement for opening the boxes invalidates the basic foundation of the ritual surrounding these magic items in the books:
** One you get the first box of Orden, you must open one of the boxes within a year or you will die.
** Getting the first box puts the magic of Orden into play, which causes the snake vine to grow across the world. This is why Richard is bitten in the very beginning of the book. In one of the later books I never read, Richard sees the snake vine growing and knows someone has put the boxes into play. I'd call that a major plot point.
** The negative consequences for opening the wrong box, like getting sucked into the Underworld.
** ...and some other crap about not using the power of Orden for evil and using the Sword of Truth somehow. That's probably in a book I didn't read, so I only know the gist of it.

But really, what bothers me most: in the books, it was ONLY Richard who could defeat Darken Rahl because Rahl needed his knowledge of the Book of Counted Shadows. Richard lying about which box to open is something only Richard could have done.

Now, Richard isn't as important. The only thing saying he can kill Rahl is some lame prophecy - something countless other authors have done. Richard is now just as likely as some boorish foot soldier to poke his sword through Darken Rahl.

I'm not done with the 1st season, and it might turn around... but this is pretty lame!

Oh, yeah - a mordsith class would be awesome