The Halls of the Damned

Legend of the Five Rings card from Path of Hope

Card Type

Stronghold

Province Strength

8

Gold Production

4

Starting Family Honor

-19

Clan

Shadowlands

Card Text

You do not gain or lose Honor; this is not negation.
You may not take Political actions or actions that cause other players unconditional Honor losses.
Your Samurai have +2 Force while opposed.
Battle: Bow your target performing Shadowlands Human Personality to take control of a target an enemy Personality with lower Chi. After the turn ends, return control of him to the player from whom this action took him.

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rulings

• Bonus is gained by Samurai you own. [ML, web, 7 January 2006) Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 146

Rules Q&A

• Q: My opponent is playing the Halls of the Damned stronghold, and he is attacking my two remaining provinces: - at province A I have a 1C personality - at province B he has a 2C shadowlands human personality (both are alone and unopposed)
  We start by province B's battle. He wants to use his stronghold's ability on my personality at province A, arguing that the change of controller will make that personality part of his army at province B, thus respecting the Rule of Location. I answer that in the rule below, "the battlefield" must be interpreted as "the same battlefield" and not "the current battlefield" (so his stronghold could only be used at a battlefield where both the performer and the target are present). Who is correct?
  http://rules.l5r.com/EE_Physically_marked_card_states#Card_control: When a non-attachment card changes control, it goes to its new controller’s home, or to its new controller’s side of the battlefield if it was at a battlefield before changing control. This is not considered movement.
  Halls of the Damned Battle: Bow your performing Shadowlands Human Personality and target an enemy Personality with lower Chi: Take control of him. After the turn ends, return control of him to the player from whom this action took him.
  A: You may not target a Personality at a different battlefield with Halls of the Damned's ability.
  As you point out, in the text you quote, "the battlefield" refers to the battlefield the Personality is currently at, not the current battlefield. Alex Jones, "Halls of the Damned", 15 Jun 2012