OOC:Because it is. Terry Goodkind is a poor man's Ayn Rand, who in turn is a poor man's Friedrich Nietzsche. The "philosophy" is awful and the writing isn't much better, and the violence is often just played for shock value. The worst thing about the series though is the way Goodkind gallivants about in interviews pretending to be a writer of serious fiction. It demeans fantasy writers who actually tackle serious themes. He even claims not to be a writer of fantasy. Dude there's smurfing dragons and wizards in your books, it's fantasy okay?