There can never be too many "Reckoning" discussions! :D
I agree that the key is Kahlan and her emotions and conflict. Like you, I understand why she grabs at the chance to get Richard back when Shota reveals his location in the dungeon. Kahlan is desperate, that's the only hope she has and she clutches onto it like a drowning woman. I don't blame her.
What irks me is how she acts later. We see Kahlan right before she gives birth and Darken is telling her, seemingly very sincerely - and rather pathetically -, that she's made him happier than he's ever been. Minutes later Kahlan is telling Alice that Darken will kill her as soon as he has a Confessor child. Why? If for no other reason, wouldn't it have occurred to her that Darken might want more children?
Then after she gives birth Kahlan berates Darken for not wanting to kill their son - calling him a fool to his face. Yet he still reacts quite mildly, telling her that she will be involved with the boy's upbrining. From everything we see later, Kahlan IS very involved. It's only on the eve of Darken sending Nicholas away that the crisis occurs.
As you know, I also have all sorts of problems with what Kahlan expects of her child, which is why I love to consider what might have happened had their child been a girl.
IMO, no sane human being, no matter how much they love their parent, would sacrifice themselves, as well as their own children, for an abstract idea pushed upon them by their mother. The instinct for self-preservation is too strong, the the stakes are too nebulous.
Not to mention that the child would probably have some tender feelings for her father - whose life she would also be destroying.
It's Kahlan's rock-hard determination to hate Darken through the years without adjusting her course or without concern for her child or grandchildren that bugs me.
There's no question that Kahlan begins her married life with Darken in a very real sort of Hell. However, after being provided with so much evidence of her importance to him, she refuses to bend or to consider other alternative. She destroys her own chance for any sort of happiness or contentment.
Maybe - Richard's destiny lies in the future. Maybe that's were he was intended to be in order to fulfil prophecy. Yet Kahlan never questions the very odd set of circumstances that sent Richard 58 years away.
To go the route that Kahlan goes in the episode is to go the route of insanity. That's what I did in StaST because I wanted to focus on her child, and for that plot I needed Kahlan to remain inflexible.
To go another route is to examine how Kahlan might change, agonize over growing feelings for her husband and child, and adjust - which is fascinating to me.
That's why I love reading your Kahlans, and why I'm exploring a somewhat softer, gentler, more conflicted Kahlan in my little Nicholas one-shots.
Whoa! Right back at you with a long "Reckoning" comment.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 07:42 pm (UTC)I agree that the key is Kahlan and her emotions and conflict. Like you, I understand why she grabs at the chance to get Richard back when Shota reveals his location in the dungeon. Kahlan is desperate, that's the only hope she has and she clutches onto it like a drowning woman. I don't blame her.
What irks me is how she acts later. We see Kahlan right before she gives birth and Darken is telling her, seemingly very sincerely - and rather pathetically -, that she's made him happier than he's ever been. Minutes later Kahlan is telling Alice that Darken will kill her as soon as he has a Confessor child. Why? If for no other reason, wouldn't it have occurred to her that Darken might want more children?
Then after she gives birth Kahlan berates Darken for not wanting to kill their son - calling him a fool to his face. Yet he still reacts quite mildly, telling her that she will be involved with the boy's upbrining. From everything we see later, Kahlan IS very involved. It's only on the eve of Darken sending Nicholas away that the crisis occurs.
As you know, I also have all sorts of problems with what Kahlan expects of her child, which is why I love to consider what might have happened had their child been a girl.
IMO, no sane human being, no matter how much they love their parent, would sacrifice themselves, as well as their own children, for an abstract idea pushed upon them by their mother. The instinct for self-preservation is too strong, the the stakes are too nebulous.
Not to mention that the child would probably have some tender feelings for her father - whose life she would also be destroying.
It's Kahlan's rock-hard determination to hate Darken through the years without adjusting her course or without concern for her child or grandchildren that bugs me.
There's no question that Kahlan begins her married life with Darken in a very real sort of Hell. However, after being provided with so much evidence of her importance to him, she refuses to bend or to consider other alternative. She destroys her own chance for any sort of happiness or contentment.
Maybe - Richard's destiny lies in the future. Maybe that's were he was intended to be in order to fulfil prophecy. Yet Kahlan never questions the very odd set of circumstances that sent Richard 58 years away.
To go the route that Kahlan goes in the episode is to go the route of insanity. That's what I did in StaST because I wanted to focus on her child, and for that plot I needed Kahlan to remain inflexible.
To go another route is to examine how Kahlan might change, agonize over growing feelings for her husband and child, and adjust - which is fascinating to me.
That's why I love reading your Kahlans, and why I'm exploring a somewhat softer, gentler, more conflicted Kahlan in my little Nicholas one-shots.
Whoa! Right back at you with a long "Reckoning" comment.