2007-11-09 Richard is Maximus?

I'm Worried. By the end of this book all I could think about was the film "Gladiator" with Russell Crowe. I do hope this is not what Terry Goodkind is aiming for. What is Richard meant to do now? Win over the common soldiers of the empire with his impressive fighting skills? Become an uber-gladiator?? Is there going to be an equivalent to the 'thumb up/thumb down' scene? Are Richard and Jagang going to face-off in a gladiatorial arena? with tigers? Ok Ok I know I'm getting carried away here but can you imagine such an ending? It will be so NAFF!

I think after what we the fans of this series have been put through over the years with dragging plotlines and off-tangent storytelling, we, at the very least, deserve an original ending. I mean come on!