Just got done rereading (relistening) to book 9 of the wheel of time series when I had this thought;
Brandon Sanderson when I catch you. WHen I get you brandon sanderson. When I fucking fget you brandon sanderson. When I get ou.
I don't know if it was even his fault or if Robert Jordan was the one to blame here wrt his notes, but the simple fact that the Seanchan Empire never faces the crisis of the a'dam makes me livid. Beyond fucking livid. Plot hole that definitely needed to be addressed and never was.
MAYBE. maybe robert jordan intended to cover it in the Outrigger sequel series with Matt and Tuon in Seanchan. sure, sure. sure sure sure. Mayhbe. BUT. the fact that Brandon never bothered weaving it in, or even having an epilogue being like "Yeah, Seanchan figured it out and a Spartacus Damane rose up and fucking blew up Seanchan and also Mat cheats on Tuon with a plump busty bimbo commoner woman and Tuon stabs him in the kidneys for it nad leeaves him in a ditch" fine yeah I guess it would've been crass to end the ending trilogy with that sure. okay. buit I would've been happier.
here's my logic and understanding of it. literally. Every single time we get a suldam forced to wear an a'dam they fucking lose their goddamn minds. they throw all loyalty to the Seanchan Empire to the fucking wind. All that talk about morath'damane being collared for their own good? GONE! GONE! Bethamin finds Seta and Renna chained up in Falma and all three correctly understand that should the secret that Suldam can be collared just like morath'damane (because they are morath'damane) would mean the existential collapse of the entire empire based on slavery and they HIDE it. They hide this fact and are terrified of it. Seta and Renna absolutely broken by the fact that they're channellers. Renna chooses death over remaining collared. Seta and Bethamin realize they'll spend their lives as Damane, a fate worse than death in the minds of all Suldam that ever get collared. Literally there isn't a single Suldam who ever gets collared and goes "Well I best make myself available at the nearest kennel to be treated justly and simply accept my fate as I would have (and have) asked of all my damane charges." NO. They run. They run straight to the Aei Sedai every single fucking time. they spend a few months in denial like with the suldam rand dropped off with nynaeve and elayne and the kin but eventually they all end up in novice white or dead.
they inflict this kind of treatment on girls as young as 14 according to alivia (the powerful seanchan who hangs out with Cadsuane and might even be the Spartacus I'm hoping for) who was four centuries old as of current events. fuck.
can you imagine that? alivia is described as childish sometimes, because she basically is. you know how pets like cats and dogs are basically babies at all times, even when they get old? they still act like puppies and kittens to you even when they've got maybe a generation or two under them? yeah. alivia has been treated like a pet for four centuries. I break out into fucking tears every time I t hink about her.
four centuries treated like a dog. begging for treats. hoping to be treated well. every year or so a new handler. some are like gentle parents, others are strict, plenty are outright abusive and you have no way to advocate for yourself. Seanchan are ones for propiety right? but realistically where and when exactly is a Damane supposed to issue a formal complaint against her Suldam? Ha! yeah right exactly. she'd have to hope the other Suldam witness the abuse and do something about it, which they're not likely to since they've got their own damane to handle.
four centuries without self advocacy. without wearing anything but a grey dress and maybe a cloak if it's wet or cold out. you brush your hair because you have nothing else to do. you exercise because getting fat or thin is a mark against your suldam, and she'll punish you by beating you up with the one power, or forcing you to carry your a'dam across the room and not moving it back until you puke from the pain of it. you don't even exercise yourself, you're walked like a dog in a circle. your wondrous, magical gifts used solely to slaughter dissidents, rebels and revolutionaries or amuse tyrannical nobles. four hundred years and all she knows is how to kill. how alivia drinks up literally everything she sees nynaeve and cadsuane do and all the other aei sedai tricks and teachings because the simple fact of not being made for murder anymore opens her up for new possibilities. she has maybe another four hundred years in the tank since she doesn't ever swear on the oath rod like the aei sedai or the kin.
I hope she spent every single fucking year of those four hundred years having sex and learning how to do wonderful things to reality with her boundless power and tearing seanchan apart like wet tissue paper and freeing her sisters and fucking them senseless once they have agency and advocacy and I hope she dressed in every fucking colour there ever was and could be except grey, I hope she spent every single day of those extra four hundred years in the aftermath of the last battle dressed so brightly she gave everyone around her fucking cataracts. I hope she shone like the sun.
i need you to picture me gripping the table with my teeth and yanking on it like that chimpanzee on the bars in his enclosure.
I hope she built an army of seanchan, altaran, domani, taraboners and amadecian men and women and all the people of almoth plain who refused to be property or let their children become property and burnt the Seanchan out of the Westlands. I hope she met with Rand again after it all. She's one of the only people in the world who know he's alive aside from Cadsuane and his three wives. Fuck. Not even Nynaeve or Moraine know he's alive. Fuck!
Sorry. What? Oh right. the a'dam and suldam issue never comes to light. Tuon never has to deal with suddenly losing her Suldam to a panic dissertion, she never has to deal with a break away faction that knows she's a morath'damane or could potentially be an Empress who is also a Channeller because the fact that a suldam could eventually teach herself how to embrace the source by using it through a damane long enough to become a der'sul'dam and therefore a channeller themselves and this means that any Sul'dam is suspect if not under guard but WHO Hcould GUARD them???? IF NOT ANOTHER SUL'DAM?? exactly. there's even a seeker who's going around after suroth because she's a darkfriend but I forget how that plot point ended. okay re-read wiki. enslaved for trying to murder tuon by proxy. kk. I can't even find info on the Seeker in question because he never gets a name but I can't even remember if he bothers showing up again. All I can tell is that the Seeker never reveals that Sul'dam = Channellers because that would be big news in the aftermath of the last battle.
maybe he was meant to show up again in Outriggers idk. fuck. when I get you brandon sanderson. much to answer for.
hold on post semi-cancelled. apparently there's one sul'dam that upon learning she can channel demands to be collared as a damane called Kaisea but there's no more info after that. She causes problems for the kin with the one power and is basically begging for the a'dam as punishment for intentionally causing accidents. okay. one. and it might be a kink thing idk? and it was never followed up on so I imagine the Kin eventually put a stop to that behaviour. but alright. There you go, a single sul'dam out of what, seven (including her) that we know of that learnt about this secret and chose to keep that secret for fear of being collared.