Legend of the Weeker: Sanctuary

Editor's Note: I misheard the librarian's name when I first posted this. Her name is Livia not Olivia and she is played by the lovely Michelle Langstone. Sorry about the confusion.

Synopsis: The episode opens with a woman transcribing some books. A guy walks by and gives her a picture of her son. She starts worrying about her son and runs off letting an old man read what she has read. The old man tells Darken Rahl about that she has been searching for the Book of Counted Shadows. Darken Rahl heads off for the library and Richard, Kahlan, and Zedd are there.

They don't find a librarian but introduce themselves to the gatekeeper. He tells him that the librarian, Livia, went in search of her son. Her son is begging on the street and is harassed by some local gangster. The kid steals the guy's wallet after being extorted and he hides in the painter's studio. Zedd, Richard and Kahlan show up at Livia's place.

The gangsters threaten the artist but he hides the kid. Livia tells the gang that she would help the Seeker but won't do it without her son. Richard offers to find the son. Right as Livia offers to help Zedd and Kahlan she is transported to a field with her son. Thanks to a magic picture:

Richard still runs off to the town to search for the son. The artist, James, teleports himself to the field as well. Apparently he can create worlds inside his painting. The D'harans arrive at the library and force the gatekeeper to go to find Olivia. He is saved by Zedd and Kahlan while Richard finds out that the boy went to James's studio. As the Seeker arrives he paints the library into his painting world causing it to be transported to the magic world.

He tells them that magic will not work in the painting world. Zedd, Livia, and her son are captured. The artist can only paint people out from inside the painting. He agrees to paint Richard into it. Kahlan and Richard talk about how nice a world without magic would be. He goes into the painting and kills a D'haran quad and then storms the library. Zedd knocks out the commander of the D'harans.

Darken Rahl gets information from that gangster who directs the D'harans to the studio. Rahl promptly kills him. With Richard's help Livia finds the second Book of Counted Shadows. James goes to his magic world with Kahlan and intends to stay there with everyone. Rahl captures the gatekeeper while everyone tries to convince James to let them leave.

Kahlan figures out that James is in love with Livia. Rahl lights the painting on fire lighting James's magic world on fire. James quickly paints the library back into the real world sacrificing himself in the process. The gang quickly escapes. from the D'harans. Livia gives the Book of Counted Shadows to the Seeker and goes to find the resistance with her son. Kahlan and Richard talk about how cool visiting the world without magic would be. Richard learns from the book that he must reassemble the Boxes of Orden.

Commentary: Overall a pretty good episode with a lot of exciting action sequences. The only thing about this episode was that the magic painting, which was a central tenet of the plot, seemed ridiculously powerful. Couldn't the guy just paint Darken Rahl and then light the painting on fire? Also I loved how you didn't even have to have any magic background; all you had to do is be a painter.

We got to see more three dimensional development in Darken Rahl. He had both the opportunity to seize the power of the Book of Counted Shadows versus killing the Seeker and his friends. Of course with Rahl being pretty evil he decides to try to kill the Seeker by burning the painting. It ended up being the right decision in this case but he was definitely conflicted. He also showed his badass side by killing the gangster who was trying to sell information about the Seeker. Which kind of begs the question if you are just going to kill all the informants won't they stop coming eventually?

So Richard got the Book of Counted Shadows back through a plot loophole. Now he can use it to defeat Darken Rahl. It is pretty interesting that someone decided to create a copy of the book and then hide it in a public library using some sort of library scavenger hunt. Good thing that one of Darken Rahl's more scholarly soldiers didn't stumble across it.

It's great how Kahlan and Richard keep running into people that have metaphorical connections to themselves. Well in this case the people were a direct comparison to them. James and Livia had their magical world in which they could escape the troubles of the Midlands. This world was perfect for Richard and Kahlan to escape to. This has been happening over the length of the series such as when they met that one guy liked the girl with the flower.

Richard and Kahlan Romance Index: 6 out of 10.

Their feelings are now out in the open. Apparently it's bad enough that even random strangers that they have just met can now pick up on their feelings. Talk about sexual tension so thick you can cut it with a knife... or a sword. I also loved how they are clearly talking about using the magical painting world for hooking up. Awesome.

Zedd's Creepiness Factor: 3 out of 10.

He didn't do anything overtly creepy. He was pretty useful with all the library stuff. I give him a couple of points for his overall demeanor and his deep voiced yelling.

Notable Quotes:

Zedd: "Far be it for us to question the instincts of the Seeker."

Kahlan: "Magic has its uses but sometimes it... keeps people apart."

Zedd: "What we value most is often closer than we think."

Livia: "In his heart, James was a good person. Try to make sure his sacrifice wasn't for nothing."

Richard: "It says there's only one way to defeat Rahl. To vanquish the master of all the Seeker must wield the Boxes of Orden."

Editor's Note: Have your own favorite quote from the episode? Did we forget to mention your favorite moment and now you're angry? Leave it in the comments and we'll update with the best of. Like the blog? Sign up to receive our Feed through Feedburner.