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Thanks for the perspective of outsiders and the behavior of a Darkfriend. THAT's good info! Cannoli Send a noteboard - 24/02/2010 01:26:39 PM
number of "secret police" organizations in our own world. They keep the population in a state of fear here's a nice quote that highlights the Seekers power as well as the entitlement of the Nobility...

WH
Questions of Treason

"How . . . ? How can I renew our friendship?" It had never been friendship anyway, merely acquaintance, but it was too late to say that now. "You tell me she's been raised to the Blood. Any overture must come from her." Fear emboldened her. And panicked her as it had at Falme. "Why do you need me to be your Listener? You can take her for questioning any time you decide to." She bit the inside of her cheek to still her tongue. Light, she wanted nothing less than she wanted him to do that. Seekers were the secret hand of the Empress, might she live forever; in the Empress's name, he could put even Suroth to the question, or Tuon herself. True, he would die horribly if it turned out he had been in error, but the risk was small with Egeanin. She was only of the low Blood. If he put Egeanin to the question. . . .

Note that Bethamin can't even speak to Egeanin unless Egeanin initiates the conversation, also note that the Seeker doesn't need anything more than suspicion to put Egeanin (or even Tuon!) to the question, sure if he's wrong he'll probably die, but that doesn't change what happened to the person put to the questions. And from other areas in the book we know that it's unlikely a Seeker (or any Questioner) would be so clumsy as to not get a confession out of their subject!
Egeanin and Tuon are high-ranking people. Should they be immune to the law because of their rank? This just shows that their justice is even-handed. A little pain for suspicious behavior is the price you pay for power in Seanchan. You seem to be assuming that they start slicing off fingers and breaking joints right away, rather than starting off with asking questions.

As for Bethamin's fears... certainly she terrified of becoming damane ... the biggest abuse of power of the Empire
Wah wah wah. More weeping for the people who made the Empire and its Seekers look like a pleasant alternative. 8}

WH
Questions of Treason

He ordered her to pour him a cup anyway, and she obeyed hurriedly. She wanted to keep him talking, anything to delay the inevitable. She knew for a fact that Egeanin had not been killing sul'dam, yet her proof would condemn her to share Renna and Seta's sour fate. If she was lucky. If this Seeker saw his duty to the Empire as Suroth had. He peered into the pewter cup, swirling the dark apple brandy while she took her seat again.

But if you were reading the damn books, you'd note that she still has some hope that she would be covered up just like Renna and Seta.
She doesn't realize the solid facts of the matter, namely that channeling can be taught, and the sul'dam are those who could have learned. She thinks she is some weird borderline case, and there are no set rules for her. It is not that justice depends on a whim, it is just that she is in an area of the law that is open to interpretation - you note that the Seanchan DO err on the side of mercy and are NOT collaring women who apparently should be collared.

Egeanin has even more to say...
Yes, the fears of a guilty fugitive are SO informative of a justice system! 8}

WH
A Matter of Property

"Seekers do no need proof," she said, mocking his accent. "Seekers do find proof, and the finding do be painful."

Or there's Mat's assessment

WH
Pink Ribbons

They had people called Seekers, too, and from the little he had heard—even people who spoke freely about the Deathwatch Guard locked their teeth when it came to the Seekers—from the little he had heard, Seekers made Whitecloak Questioners look like boys tormenting flies, nasty but hardly anything to worry a man.

Go re-read the chapters I've quoted ... it's pretty clear.
Yes, it's clear that Mat knows only rumors. He has no firm information, and is an enemy of the Seanchan to boot. What on earth kind of reliable source is he?

Here's another quote on the Entitlement issue:

WH
An Unexpected Encounter

"You don't understand, Mat," Beslan said fiercely. "Mother still sits on the throne, and Suroth says she will rule all of Altara, not just what we hold around Ebou Dar, and maybe more besides, but mother had to lie down on her face and swear fealty to some woman on the other side of the Aryth Ocean. Suroth says I should marry one of their Blood and shave the sides of my head, and mother is listening to her. Suroth might pretend they are equals, but she has to listen when Suroth speaks. No matter what Suroth says, Ebou Dar isn't really ours anymore, and the rest won't be either. Maybe we can't push them out by force of arms, but we can make the country too hot to hold them. The Whitecloaks found out. Ask them what they mean by 'the Altaran Noon.' "

or how's this for abuse of power?
And Beslan is full of it. We later see that they are misunderstanding their position, as Tuon clarifies it to him in tGS. We even see from her own perspective that Suroth does not believe she has the power to force anything on Beslan, when his servants are disrespectful. The Seanchan really and truly see the Mitsobars are the rulers of Altara. The fact that an air-headed party-boy experiencing his first glimmers of political awareness doesn't graps this is hardly a condemnation of the Seanchan system.

WH
An Unexpected Encounter

Suroth was living there, and the cooks had been outdoing themselves since she had had the lot of them flogged after her first meal.
Well, we don't know the particulars, but in light of Suroth's own views on the matter, it was probably another suggestion from her that Tylin took as a command. We see in WH that the Seanchan always ask permission of the Altaran soldiers to enter the palace, treating them as the legitimate authority. With all this evidence, Mat's lack of perspective is a better and more likely explanation of that incident. And too, we see that in the wetlanders, servants in palaces have ways of expressing their disapproval of guests with bad service. Suroth and the Seanchan seem to lean towards the more reasonable point of view that the person paying the salaries gets to decide what is appropriate, not the commoners with no education who have been given extraordinary presitigous and well-compensated jobs. Now the flogging might have been extreme, but we are talking about a Darkfriend, and someone whose slightest suggestions are taken for orders by the infamously craven Altaran nobility. For all we know, she was making a joke that Tylin was too afraid to laugh at.

There are dozens of little quotes throughout the series showing the casual brutality of the Seanchan Nobles.


Those are simply different ways. They are not the slightest bit more savage or brutal than the Aiel, but the PoV-Trap-ensnared readers on this site have no problem bashing Rand for not being more mindful of their sensibilities and calling kidnapping "kidnapping" rather than dressing it up as "protective custody" for the sake of these so-senistive desert thugs.
Cannoli
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
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Will Rand bow to the Crystal Throne? - 16/02/2010 07:03:12 PM 2044 Views
Re: Will Rand bow to the Crystal Throne? - 16/02/2010 07:07:51 PM 1080 Views
Like I said below.... - 16/02/2010 07:33:59 PM 879 Views
I lean towards somethng like this as a result of the end of tGS. - 16/02/2010 08:24:20 PM 1047 Views
Yeah, Rand doesn't have many options left - 16/02/2010 09:13:26 PM 776 Views
Ignore this ... double post.... - 16/02/2010 09:13:35 PM 717 Views
So you think him submitting to the Seanchan is a good thing? - 17/02/2010 07:25:13 PM 957 Views
It's WoT. You win by surrendering. Metaphysical judo, if you will. - 17/02/2010 11:03:22 PM 843 Views
Re: It's WoT. You win by surrendering. Metaphysical judo, if you will. - 17/02/2010 11:41:11 PM 793 Views
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Re: It's WoT. You win by surrendering. Metaphysical judo, if you will. - 18/02/2010 03:38:04 AM 826 Views
Perhaps if they reform, other rulers will accept them. - 18/02/2010 05:59:16 AM 810 Views
Re: I lean towards somethng like this as a result of the end of tGS. - 18/02/2010 07:18:44 AM 782 Views
Why everyone's loving Seanchan? - 18/02/2010 02:41:07 PM 767 Views
Re: Why everyone's loving Seanchan? - 19/02/2010 07:48:07 AM 804 Views
I've been saying since wotmania that they are no worse than anyone else. - 19/02/2010 03:23:22 PM 796 Views
the entire system of Seekers isn't an abuse of power? Bethamin winds up fleeing due to her fear of - 20/02/2010 12:13:52 AM 831 Views
Agree - 20/02/2010 01:04:26 AM 863 Views
Re: Agree - 20/02/2010 03:46:03 PM 767 Views
No, they're the only group that seems to pay more than lip service to the concept of responsibility - 20/02/2010 03:37:58 PM 734 Views
You asked for an example of abuse of power. The Seekers are a clear abuse no better than any - 20/02/2010 04:42:06 PM 1090 Views
Thanks for the perspective of outsiders and the behavior of a Darkfriend. THAT's good info! - 24/02/2010 01:26:39 PM 1007 Views
Re: Why everyone's loving Seanchan? - 19/02/2010 04:27:13 PM 681 Views
Re: Why everyone's loving Seanchan? - 19/02/2010 05:41:08 PM 712 Views
Re: Why everyone's loving Seanchan? - 19/02/2010 05:41:53 PM 853 Views
Re: Will Rand bow to the Crystal Throne? - 16/02/2010 09:51:36 PM 909 Views
I think it's a false prophecy - 17/02/2010 12:39:23 AM 869 Views
"Bow, or be bowed." *NM* - 18/02/2010 03:39:04 PM 490 Views
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