For
fandomverse, we had to do something about our favorite characters. In any show. How on earch could I pick just one character?!?!?! After much debate, I went with Cara.
1. Cara's chemistry
There are many reasons I love Cara. One of the primary ones is that she has chemistry with absolutely everyone she has contact with. Obviously the main ones are Dahlia, Leo, Kahlan, Darken Rahl, Richard, other mord'sith, random guys in bars, etc. So, anyway, here is my picspam glorifying Cara's chemistry with everyone.
Alternate TinyPic link in case ImageShack fails again 2. Cara is kick-ass
Cara is adept with her agiels and a bow. She also is capable of turning magic back against the user. I love that she is capable of not only taking care of herself, but also of protecting others. She is not the one that (usually) needs rescuing; instead, she often is the one doing the rescuing. So, here are some random images of Cara being competent/kicking ass.
Alternate TinyPic link in case ImageShack fails again And this is an old gif, but I've never officially shared it, I don't think, so I figured I'd stick it in here too. (I don't need it for the points, but it helps exemplify my point well.)
Alternate link in case ImageShack fails again 3. Cara's attitude
Cara's attitude amuses me. I love the dry humor and the snark. This is best exemplified by some quotes....
Flynn: (holds out his hand) Seems this is worth quite a bit to you. At least as much as the treasure. You want me to go with you to this Pamorah? It'll cost you.
Richard: You're not getting the treasure.
Flynn: Well, then, I guess I'm not going anywhere. And this hand goes where I go.
Cara: Not if I cut it off.
Flynn: When do we leave?
and
Leo: Do you like animals?
Cara: Ones that taste good.
and
Zedd: You must unlearn everything you know and believe. To begin with, you must never look any man in the palace directly in the eye. You must never speak your mind on any subject but always defer to the opinion of your masculine betters.
Cara (rolls eyes): There's no such thing.
and
Richard: This is the longest the compass has ever pointed in one direction.
Cara: Who would have ever dreamed that the Seeker could go twelve days without stopping to save helpless children or distressed farm animals.
As seen by the third example, Cara's snark is often accompanied by eye rolls. Or smirks, questioning looks, or other facial expressions that help to get her point across. (I mean, she even gave a grin to irritate her captors when being tortured, and was demanding when in the Underworld, for crying out loud.) So, I made a picspam of those.
Alternate TinyPic link in case ImageShack fails again 4. Cara is not perfect
This seems odd, but it is one of the reasons I really like her. So often a hero or heroine is shown to be perfect, constantly showing up the other characters or just being annoying with his/her perfection. Cara has several faults. Her snark and attitude can often be carried too far, leading her to be uncaring at times. One example is from the episode "Vengeance" when Richard and Kahlan are helpful and caring, while Cara is quite decidedly not...
Alternate TinyPic link in case ImageShack fails again Cara is also impulsive and overconfident. Sure, she is kick-ass, but she showed moments of weakness with that, including getting herself killed because of charging ahead and not being careful enough....
(Apparently ImageShack refuses to host the death gif, so hopefully TinyPic will keep it up. Sigh...)
5. Cara's evolution WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS through the second season
While Cara still has a lot of the same personality traits that she demonstrated when she was introduced, she did not remain a stagnant character. Obviously, the first evolution occurred in the first season finale when she showed that she was willing to side with Richard against Darken Rahl. However, her loyalty still lay with her sister Mord'Sith. In "Marked", she evolved more, but that was again due to outside influences (Triana staging a coup) rather than anything she did, and the change was not much more than superficial.
"Broken" was an obvious turning point for her character, when she was willing to accept some responsibility for her past actions. However, again, this did not touch her core personality much, as in the next episode she said, "I've learned it's more useful to be feared than liked." And in a later episode she says, "Mord-Sith believe your emotions must be governed. Sadness, remorse, love- these feelings make you weak. But anger, loyalty, pride- these feelings make you powerful. I can teach you how to control your emotions, if you like." This attitude is the one that most changes in the next episodes.
Cara is still impulsive, and snarky, and brash; however, she learns that she is stronger as a team than by herself and she demonstrates that she feels sadness, love, and other "non-useful" emotions that she would have disparaged at the start of the second season. It is not just that she is willing to sacrifice herself for Richard and Kahlan, but rather that she was more willing to accept comfort. She was more willing to let people in and care about them. She even cared about the nightwhisp in "Extinction". This was very much shown in the way she dealt with Kahlan in "Tears". She considered the options and was not willing to risk Kahlan. By the end, Cara is much more complex and nuanced and emotional, and it makes her a richer, more compelling character.
So, yeah, I love Cara bunches and bunches, and those are the TL;DR pictoral reasons why.