Marianna

Marianna
Characteristics
Species	Human Sorceress
Gender	Female
Hair Color	Brown
Eye Color	Blue
Personal Information
Death	Around 20 ACB, Pillars of Creation
Chronological and Political Status
Affiliation	Sisters of the Dark Keeper of the Underworld
Debuts
TV Debut	"Vengeance"
Portrayal
Actor	Elizabeth Blackmore

“My Sisters and I will leave no survivors.”

―Sister Marianna

Biography

There are no existing statements about Sister Marianna's history except that she was a Sister of the Dark and had served the Keeper for a long time, under the Palace of the Prophet's time-slowing spell.

In Legend of the Seeker

Sister Marianna was a Sister of the Dark that was introduced in the television show Legend of the Seeker in the episode Vengeance. She was first seen in a forest camp site, alongside her sleeping Sisters of the Dark. Darken Rahl appeared before her, and commanded her to go the Winding Wall of Valdaire, and lay in wait for the Seeker to retrieve a scroll that will teach him to use the Stone of Tears. Rahl also commanded Sister Marianna to kill the aged scholar that is traveling with the seeker and his friends. The aged scholar was revealed to be Panis Rahl, Richard Rahl and Darken Rahl's father.(In the books, Panis Rahl was Richard's grandfather and Darken's father.)

When Richard got the scroll, Marianna and her Sisters attacked the Seeker and his retinue. During the fight, Marianna was able to get the scroll and fled. She then summoned Darken Rahl's spirit, in the episode Walter and he instructed her to take the scroll to a Mord-Sith temple so that she could use her magic to retrieve his soul and put it into another man's body, Walter. When she was at the temple the man in which she was supposed to summon Darken Rahl's soul into escaped with the help of a servant girl.

Later in the episode, Sister Tyra (A Sister of the Dark that was confessed by Kahlan) revives Darken Rahl and throws her Dacra into him. She then escorted Darken Rahl to the temple where Sister Marianna awaited to give him the scroll.

In the next episode Extinction, Marianna and her Sisters were commanded by the Keeper of the Underworld to kill his former servant Darken Rahl, who has betrayed him. When she failed to do so, the Keeper commanded her to free a prisoner who can preform the task for him. In the end however, the man failed to kill Darken Rahl, and he escaped.

Afterwards, in Eternity, Cara is captured by Darken Rahl and he reforges his alliance with the Keeper. He plots to break Cara, but she defies him even when Darken Rahl's Mord-Sith torture her. Creating an alliance with the Sisters of the Dark, Darken Rahl had Sister Marianna and her Sisters enchant Cara's Agiel with the pain of all the people Cara had tortured and killed. He then proceeded to say that 'its touch will be more painful than all the fires in the Underworld'.

Marianna is not seen again until the next episode (Unbroken) where she is thrown off a cliff and into the Underworld. And then when Zeddicus uses the Spell of Undoing on Cara and sends them back in time, the Keeper enlists the help of Marianna again. In this episode Marianna and her Sisters drain Richard's sister, Jennsen, of her blood, and drink it, making them pristinely ungifted. With that, they are able to pass through the magical shields surrounding the People's Palace and steal the Boxes of Orden. At that time, Richard was able to use the Boxes' power, but when Marianna and her Sisters separated the Boxes, he lost control of the power of Orden, and was soon at the mercy of Darken Rahl. Later in the episode, Marianna is slashed along with her sisters by Darken Rahl with his sword after he places the Boxes together and gives himself limitless power.

In the next episode Tears, When Zeddicus preformed the same spell on a Mord-Sith named Dahlia, they are sent back to their own time. Here the Keeper takes the body of a small child and directs Marianna to kill Kahlan Amnell.

Marianna and her Sisters waited for Kahlan at the Pillars of Creation, and almost succeeded in killing Kahlan, had it not been for Richard thrusting his sword into her chest.

Novel Counterpart

It seemed that Marianna was the TV series' own version of Sister Liliana. She was cruel and very powerful, and led the Sisters of the Dark, which was primarily led by Nicci and after her eviction, was then led by Sister Merissa, who was killed by the former.

She, like her book counterpart, was killed by Richard, though for different reasons. In the books, Lilliana was killed because she was about to drain Richard of his Han. In the series, he killed her to save Kahlan's life.

Personality and Traits

Marianna has dark brown hair and blue eyes. She is portrayed as being quite beautiful, and resembles a bit of Kahlan. Being a Sister of the Dark, however, displayed that she was very cruel and has no ounce of respect for human life, even for her fellow Sisters. In the episode Tears, the season two finale episode, Sister Marianna was seen slitting a Sister of the Dark's throat with her Dacra in order for them to contact the Keeper.

Powers and Abilites

Sister Marianna was very skilled in the use of the Dacra and was one of Richard Rahl's most formidable enemies in Legend of the Seeker. Like her Sisters, she can also teleport from time to time. Yet, she showed no other signs of magic except for when she used magic to unlock chains, to give a man great power by the command of the Keeper in the episode Extinction, and when she caused a man to be thrown backwards in a later episode. Like many other Sisters of the Dark she most likely had the ability to summon the spirit of a dead person into another's body. She was also able to summon Darken Rahl's spirit but some argue that was not magic.

Trivia

• She is the only known character in Legend of the Seeker to come back from the dead without the Breath of Life.
• She died three times:
• First when she was thrown into the rift of the Underworld by Darken Rahl.
• Second when Darken Rahl slashed her face with the Sword of Truth.
• Finally when she was stabbed from behind by Richard.
• She came back to life twice indirectly by Zedd due to performing the Spell of Undoing.

Portrayed By

Marianna was played by the Actress Elizabeth Blackmore, and was in the episodes Vengeance, Walter, Extinction, Eternity, Unbroken, and Tears.