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Reading The Wheel of Time: Tuon Listens to her Truthspeaker and Tries New Tactics in The Gathering Storm (Part 13)
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The Wheel of Time
Reading The Wheel of Time: Tuon Listens to her Truthspeaker and Tries New Tactics in The Gathering Storm (Part 13)
A look at the Seanchan concept of bringing order to conquered lands and how it may be affected by the Last Battle’s approach.
By Sylas K Barrett
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Published on January 20, 2026
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Hello friends! Sorry for disappearing on you last week, but we are back now with chapter 19 of The Gathering Storm, in which Tuon makes a foray into leading Ebou Dar from a new strategy, receives the Dragon Reborn’s request for a meeting, and considers an attack on Tar Valon. Also, Tylee arrives to prove that Shadowspawn are real, and Sylas muses on the Seanchan need to have order at all costs. The title of the chapter, “Gambits,” initially feels more appropriate to Tuon’s new husband than to her, but the stoic future Empress has some surprises in store for us. Let’s get to recapping!
Standing on the balcony of the palace audience hall in Ebou Dar, mourning ashes on her cheeks, Tuon considers the orderly nature of the city around her and how it is a small speck in a sea of chaos. Suroth’s betrayal is particularly difficult to metabolize, and Tuon is aware of how very difficult the task of bringing order to this world, and then to the Seanchan she left behind, will be.
Tuon straightened her back. She had not thought to become Empress for many years yet. But she would do her duty.
Inside the audience chamber, members of the Blood and the military are waiting for her, along with da’covale to serve them and a group of sul’dam and damane. Everyone falls into the level of prostration appropriate to their rank and class when they see her. Selucia is there as well, taking her place beside Tuon’s chair, with Tuon’s secretary (and secret Hand) on the other side. Surrounded by her loyal subjects and Deathwatch Guards, Tuon considers that she feels no safer now than she did with Matrim Cauthon, and finds the fact very strange.
Her first move is to name Selucia as her Truthspeaker, a position she knows Selucia does not want but for which she is the perfect choice. Selucia also serves as Tuon’s Voice.
Beslan is shown in, and Tuon considers that he is a fine actor as he shows deference to her, bowing and answering respectfully, even more subserviently than Seanchan custom demands. She informs Beslan that she knows about his attempts to sow rebellion, about all his secret meetings and the words he has whispered to others. She informs him that in times such as these, with Seanchan in upheaval, rebellion cannot be tolerated. However, since his actions began before the news about the civil war in Seanchan was announced, when his mother was still Queen of Altara and, most significantly, while Suroth, revealed a traitor, was leading in Ebou Dar, Beslan’s fate is not yet sealed.
Tuon admits that Suroth’s actions might have contributed to Beslan’s decisions, and admits, too, that she doesn’t know who killed his mother. Shocking the assembled Blood, she even promises that, if it turns out that Suroth or her agents were responsible for Morgase’s murder, Beslan and Altara will have an apology from the Throne itself.
She informs Beslan that he is still alive because his actions were motivated by his love for his people, not a lust for power. She tells him that the people of Altara will be more free, more protected, and more powerful under the Seanchan rules, and offers him documents and reports showing the state of the people of Ebou Dar both before and after the Seanchan Return. She suggests he already knows that he will find their lives improved.
“I offer you a choice, Beslan,” Tuon said. “You may choose execution, if you wish. I will not make you da’covale. I will let you die with honor, and it will be published that you died because you rejected the oaths and chose not to accept the Seanchan. If you wish it, I will allow it. Your people will know that you died in defiance.
The other choice Tuon offers is to raise Beslan to the High Blood, and that she will not interfere in his rule, other than to demand resources and men for her armies. Beslan’s word cannot countermand Tuon’s, but aside from that, his power in Altara will be absolute. She will accept and review a list of noble families Beslan would like to be raised to the Low Blood, and Altara will be the permanent seat of the Empress on this side of the Ocean, making it more powerful than any other of the conquered nations.
She offers him one day to make his decision and gives him permission to withdraw, but after a little hesitation, Beslan drops to his knees and swears fealty to her. One of the Generals moves to admonish him, for not swearing in the Seanchan way, but Tuon cuts the action off, declaring that Beslan’s oath pleases her, and that it is fitting that they accept a few of the ways of these people, as they ask them to accept Seanchan ways.
After she speaks the words to make her offer official, Beslan asks her if she is certain she is not ta’veren. Privately, Tuon is dismissive of such a foolish superstition, but she tells Beslan that she is pleased with him, and that she found his mother to also be a wise ruler. Beslan is informed that it is his right to stay and listen to the rest of Tuon’s meetings.
Next, General Galgan presents Tuon with the banner of the Dragon Reborn, who is still asking for a meeting. Tuon tells the assembled of an omen she saw that morning which indicates that a difficult choice must be made and boldness will be needed. She also assures everyone that this man is the true Dragon Reborn, not an imposter, and that she knows that the Seanchan were meant to come back to his land when they did and that they are needed here.
Lieutenant-General Yulan is brought forth to bring Tuon up to date on the state of her army and the current conquest. He also presents Tuon with a bold plan to strike against the White Tower using raken and to’raken. The existence of so many marath’damane in one place is tempting to the Seanchan; they are also concerned about the weapon used in the north of Ebou Dar and eager to learn how these marath’damane use the One Power to travel great distances.
Tuon realizes that a successful strike against the White Tower would be a blow to the strength of the Dragon Reborn, who is connected to it in some way, though no one in Seanchan has been able to determine exactly how and whether they serve him or vice versa. It is a bold plan, not without risk, but one both Yuan and Galgan deem worth the attempt.
Tuon is ready to set the plan in motion, but she finds herself hesitating, without knowing why. Suddenly a messenger comes in to announce that Lieutenant-General Tylee Khirgan is requesting an audience. Galgan is surprised to learn that she has returned, and advises Tuon to receive Khirgan, who is one of his best officers.
Tylee and a few other soldiers are shown into the room, having clearly only just returned to Ebou Dar. They look exhausted and dirty. Tylee presents Tuon with the severed head of several Trollocs. She explains how she and her company were attacked only ten leagues from Ebou Dar, and took heavy casualties. She believes that the Trollocs are on their way to Ebou Dar.
There is much consternation among the Blood and officers present, while the sul’dam are eager to examine the Trolloc heads. Tuon and Selucia communicate about how Mat was right after all, and Tuon expresses a desire to have him back, surprising herself with the admission. Then she orders everyone to silence.
“This news changes little,” Selucia Voiced. “We were already aware that the Last Battle approaches. We appreciate Lieutenant-General Tylee’s revelations. She is to be commended. But this only makes it more urgent that we subdue the Dragon Reborn.”
But Tuon is in for yet another surprise, as Tylee asks for permission to speak. She is certain that the Highest Daughter, in her wisdom, sees more than Tylee can, but she herself believes that their conquests in this land so far have been easy, and will not always be so. She suggests that “the Dragon Reborn and those associated with him may make better allies than enemies.”
Tuon is shocked to hear someone of the Low Blood, and only recently raised, speak so frankly, and in a way that goes against Tuon’s published will. But Selucia, her Truthspeaker now, suddenly suggests that a difficult decision, in this case, might be one that is correct, but that also accepts an implication of fault.
Tuon knows she needs to bring the Dragon Reborn to heel, and to do that she must control the circumstances, and meet him from a position of power. And yet she is aware of the chaos in Seanchan and the tenuousness of her own position on this side of the ocean, and considers that perhaps some time to think and shore up her strength might be in order. She decides to postpone the attack on the White Tower, and gives orders to accept the Dragon’s request for a meeting.
Order must be brought to the world. If she had to do that by lowering her eyes slightly and meeting with the Dragon Reborn, then so be it.
She finds herself wishing Mat were with her. His knowledge of the Dragon Reborn would be useful. She hopes that, wherever he is, he is staying safe, and behaving as the Prince of Ravens should.
I really had assumed that Falendre was going to wait a long time to deliver the message from Rand, and that this was going to cause some important problems, plot-wise. This assumption was mostly based on a single line from her at the end of her section in chapter 27 of Knife of Dreams, in which she muses that she could wait to deliver the message until it could be turned to some advantage, and the fact that we then saw the Seanchan ignoring Rand for a while. But when I think about it now, the assumption that Falendre could have covered up the disappearance of Anath and the death of some of the damane, including her own, was perhaps a bit silly of me.
The fact that the Seanchan might be ignoring Rand because they did not believe that he was who he claims and also to make sure that they had the proper tactical advantage before they met with him is a much simpler, and more importantly because the Daughter of the Nine Moons was missing this whole time. So, good job Sylas, getting lost down a false trail on that one.
I suppose I am used to hunting for clues in the smallest of places, when it comes to this story.
Tuon doesn’t directly think to herself that she is factoring Mat’s knowledge of the Dragon Reborn into her decision to accept the meeting. I can’t help but wonder if it is affecting her decision. She is clearly not always aware of, or quite ready to be honest with herself, about her feelings for Mat, if her accidental admission to Selucia is anything to go by. Not to mention her own confusion about her feelings regarding him. And yet we can see his influence on her.
It is interesting to consider, now that we see Tuon in her element, how strange of a pair they really are. Mat: ta’veren, agent of change and altered chance. Tuon: soon-to-be Empress of Seanchan, an Empire that runs on hierarchy and order, that values stability over all else. They are an inherent contradiction, and for much more deep reasons than either of them yet realizes.
Throughout chapter 19, Tuon’s constant refrain is the need to establish order over the chaos of the world, both the one she has arrived into and, eventually, the now civil war-torn Seanchan she has left behind. Even the proof of the existence of Shadowspawn is received into the same refrain, like a mantra: The world is chaos, order must be restored at any cost.
There is much to be said for the efficacy of the Seanchan system. Several characters, Tuon included, have observed the fact that the poverty and deprivation experienced by the lowest class of people in many countries would never be allowed to exist in Seanchan. Many of the governors of the lands on this side of the Aryth Ocean do believe that their responsibility as the ruling class is to protect, guide, and secure the lives of their people, with Elayne and Morgase perhaps the most notable example of such rulers; however, the systems to hold leaders to account in this responsibility are not always in place. The attitudes towards the lower class also vary wildly between nations (compare Tear to Andor, for example), and even among the nobility within a single nation; Elenia clearly wouldn’t have ruled with the concerns of peasants and farmers ever entering her mind.
For the Seanchan, however, allowing any member of the Empire to languish in poverty or squalor, or to be subject to crimes committed by those in poverty, is anathema. Even if one doesn’t care about such things on the level of personal morality, it would lower their eyes, as the Seanchan say, if a member of the Blood allowed such conditions to exist anywhere they control. Both social pressure and the harsh penalties imposed on those who fail in their duties keep people’s personal moralities in check and keep them dedicated to the order of Seanchan society.
Security is the reward for participating in the Seanchan system, both in the sense of being safe from crimes and abuses as well as being safe from extreme deprivation. The Seanchan system demands that those in power provide this security for those below them, and holds its leaders and nobility to account on this, in contrast to the nobles and rulers of the lands they have come to conquer. However, we also see how the “security” of the Seanchan culture comes with its own cost. Slavery is built into the system, and the price of not adhering to the system—be it by choice or by an unavoidable failure—is often extreme. Torture, rape, and enslavement are all codified into the system as acceptable and expected punishments for failing one’s duty to the greater good. People are classed by what they are, not who they are, and one is expected to find joy and pleasure in being nothing more than an object to serve the Empire (see: the damane, but also other classes of people who are considered “property,” especially those who are defined by the expectation that they exist to fight and die, such as the Imperial Guard or the Bloodknives.)
Order vs. chaos is the only thing the Seanchan care about. It isn’t so much that they care more about order than they do about morality as that their very concept of morality is order and structure. Reward and punishment revolve around an individual’s ability or failure to uphold and protect that structure, even to the point of being raised to nobility or sold into slavery. Actions many might consider immoral are not deemed as such unless and until they upset the status quo—hence the reason that assassination is somewhat common among the Blood and expected among the royal family, but the idea of someone reaching outside of one’s own social class to do such a thing is almost inconceivable.
Tuon, who will be the Empress as soon as the mourning period for her mother is over, is both the literal and figurative representative of this status quo, this sacred system of structure and stability. However, she has not yet realized that she does not live in the world her mother lived in, and that the coming of the Last Battle means that the old systems will no longer function as they once did. The breaking of all ties may very well include the ones that hold the Seanchan Empire together. (Though of course, this bit of Prophecy isn’t in the Seanchan version of the Karaethon Cycle.)
She is, however, learning something.
She credits Mistress Anan for this lesson. Mistress Anan’s careful conversations, conducted with respect and out of a desire for mutual understanding, rather than the dominance of one perspective over another, have helped deprogram Tuon a little. Mistress Anan has shown Tuon that her steadfast belief in the Seanchan way of life does not necessarily mean that there is no value to be found in the ways of others, and that making one culture part of your own does not necessarily mean you have to erase every bit of the culture you are absorbing.
But Tuon has also learned a lesson from Mat, one that is equally if not more important to her development as a person and as a leader. Tuon doesn’t credit him as a teacher, exactly, but her thoughts on the matter clearly show us how much Mat’s example has shaped her opinions.
The Seanchan had, perhaps, made a mistake with this people in making them swear Seanchan oaths of obedience. Matrim had sworn those oaths, but ignored them handily when the time came—yet he had been certain to keep his word to her, and his men had assured her he was a man of honor.
Tuon goes on to muse on the strangeness of elevating one oath over another, not seeming to consider that she herself would probably not feel a particular pull to an oath sworn in the wording of a culture not her own. Regardless of this, she is pleased to accept Beslan’s oath on its own terms, and accepts without rancor that its meaning is truer for him than an oath sworn in Seanchan wording under the duress of being invaded.
Mat has shown her that honor exists in places other than Seanchan duty and order.
Beslan has shown her this, as well. Tuon is willing to spare him the fate he would ordinarily have received for his rebellion because, as she puts it, he did not understand the truth of his situation, or the situation of his people. She offers him an explanation, clearer than any he has received so far, as to what his rule and his people’s lives truly look like under the auspices of the Empire, and perhaps even more significantly, she offers him a choice: an honorable execution, or to accept the kingship under the terms she has offered. Thus, not only is Beslan’s love for his people centered in his decision, but he is also given a sense of agency in his and his country’s fate. In choosing to swear his fealty to Tuon, he not only has an opportunity to speak an oath that has personal meaning to him rather than one that comes from the very forces that have conquered his lands, he also moves forward in his new position knowing that it was a choice he made, not quite freely, perhaps, but under much less duress than he felt before.
After all, who would feel loyalty to a promise they made when they felt they had no other choice?
Tuon has accepted that flexibility is needed when dealing with the people of these lands, a people she knows she does not understand. Her time traveling with Mat and the Band has given her a new perspective, new ideas, and I think we will see this state of affairs serving her well, going forward.
Not that I think the meeting between her and Rand is going to go well. Tuon isn’t discarding the idea of forcing Rand to yield and submit to her throne and her control; she is merely considering that she may need to start the process differently. They will be coming to the negotiation table with very different designs, and it will be interesting to see how Tuon’s strong will holds up under such proximity to Rand’s ta’veren power.
She is ultimately outmatched, of course, though not necessarily on a personal level. We know that the Dragon Reborn is an agent (nay, the Lord) of Chaos and that he is prophesied to bring upheaval and disorder wherever he goes, and eventually to Break the World again. Even Tuon and the might of the Seanchan Empire won’t be able to stand against that. Not in the long term, anyway.
The theme of order vs. chaos and whether or not it is the same as good vs. evil is ever present in The Wheel of Time. Although the Seanchan are the most egregious example of those who believe order and good are the same (and therefore that chaos is evil or at least very bad), they are far from the only ones to believe so. The Aes Sedai are also very guilty of this perspective, and for similar reasons. Their organization was founded during a time of great chaos, when the world was especially and incredibly violent and unpredictable. The memory, however distant and vague, of what the Aes Sedai were before the Breaking was almost certainly a guide to help the new world find stability and structure again, and the Aes Sedai were probably very instrumental in helping fledgling nations and rulers find their feet, so to speak, as post-Breaking society began to form.
This guidance and reassurance was not absolute, of course. There was much suspicion towards female channelers because of what the men had done, and we can imagine that the view that the Aes Sedai were manipulators began fairly early on, though I don’t believe we have an exact timeline for that or know when the Three Oaths became part of the life of the Aes Sedai. Still, the power and knowledge of the Aes Sedai has always been a stabilizing force for the world, and we know that the Aes Sedai of this Age had more power in previous generations than they do currently, as the number of initiates has declined and the Dark has worked to destabilize the world and reduce faith in its channelers.
The history of the Seanchan is similar. Luthair Paendrag and his forces arrived in a land torn by war, including war between channelers. Over time they conquered all the nations of that continent and subdued the Aes Sedai there into slavery, establishing order and control over a land that had been disordered and violent. Luthair’s forces were already accustomed to Hawkwing’s version of peace, which included a very harsh justice towards any who broke it, but which also resulted in comfort and security, particularly for the lower class and vulnerable people like children. It’s easy to see how that cultural mindset coupled with the extreme violence and danger of the natives of the continent led to the evolution of the Seanchan culture we see in Rand’s time.
Both the Seanchan and the Aes Sedai’s belief in order and law—specifically their order and their law—makes sense in the historical context, but what both mindsets fail to recognize is the importance of change. Human beings are not meant to be the same; new generations are not meant to copy the lives and roles of those who came before. If those in power cannot recognize the need for culture to evolve and continue to foster human progress (I use the word progress in a general sense, not merely in a capitalistic or technological one), the culture will stagnate. Eventually, even if it takes a very long time, it will fall.
The Dragon is an element of change. As the ultimate ta’veren, he brings change wherever he goes, whether by affecting the pattern, or conquering a nation, or demanding that the structures and habits of those around him be altered in other ways. He has demanded subservience from Aes Sedai, taken the Aiel from the Three-Fold land and made them a policing power as well as a conquering force. He has made himself king of several lands, and decided who will rule in others.
The Dragon’s very existence brings chaos and change, and it is easy, for those living through it, to see only the bad side of that chaos. Rand himself struggles to see this: He believes that the ill fates he brings erases the good, while Min, the fledgling philosopher, argues the opposite. The world in general, however, sees Rand closer to how he sees himself: It sees the stagnant, maladaptive order that it has managed to maintain as preferential to the change that follows the disruption of that order. And one can understand this, of course. If you are a ruler who loses power, if you are someone who is faced with the terror of the Last Battle occurring during your lifetime, or someone who dies mysteriously just because the Dragon Reborn passed through your village, the thought that all this chaos may eventually result in something new and better than what came before would be no comfort.
However, from a broad point of view, the change Rand brings is good—or at least, it has the potential to be. After all, despite the taint that has only recently been cleansed from saidin, the Dragon is not an agent of the Dark One. He is an agent of the Pattern, and the change he brings is that of the Wheel’s design. In that sense, one might term it Good. In the same sense, one might call the effect Rand brings Order. It only looks chaotic to those viewing it from inside the Pattern.
Tuon craves order in her world, and in the Empire she governs, but she is becoming Empress in the days leading up to the Last Battle, a time when chaos is unavoidable. Necessary. Prophesied. Even her might will not be able to stop it.
It will be fascinating to see what her encounter with Rand looks like when it comes.
It also occurs to me, while considering all of this, that the Seanchan reliance on omens does recognize the order of the Pattern in a way that the rest of the nations do not. Because our main heroes, and those we have known the longest, are not Seanchan, and because the Seanchan are quick to dismiss truths we the readers are familiar with, such as the existence of Shadowspawn and ta’veren, it was easy for me to dismiss the Seanchan use of omens to interpret the Pattern’s will for them as being the actual “silly superstition”—but this may have been a premature assumption. Given how everything is part of the Pattern, from the greatest leader of the world to the smallest insect or blade of grass, perhaps there is something to be said for seeing omens in the movement of certain animals and weather patterns. Maybe the Seanchan take things a bit too far, assuming that the Pattern would be sending them specific messages all the time, but interpreting signs in how the Pattern is woven doesn’t sound any more outlandish than the idea of experiencing Foretelling. It isn’t, in fact, all that different from what Min does. Her version is more metaphysical, but ultimately she sees signs around people and interprets them, just as the Seanchan interpret the movement of hawks and hooting of owls. It’s almost as if Min’s power is halfway between the Seanchan way and the way of channelers who experience Foretellings (or tell fortunes, in the case of the damane.)
Similarly, the Seanchan prophecies regarding the Dragon Reborn might not be all nonsense the way I originally assumed them to be. Of course the idea that Rand will be made subservient to the Throne and that the Empress will be the ultimate leader in the Last Battle is nonsense, but just because the Seanchan interpretation of the prophecy that the Dragon kneels before the Crystal Throne is incorrect doesn’t mean that there might be a version of events that fits this prediction. If Tuon and Rand are able to come to some kind of agreement, Rand might kneel briefly as a sign of respect to an ally. It will be difficult for him to win the support of the Seanchan no matter what, but if Rand approaches these meetings with his usual arrogance and short temper, he won’t stand a chance.
Both Tuon and Rand will have to modify their approaches and adjust what it means to be proud, and what it means to be in control, if they are going to come to any kind of agreement. However, Tuon seems to realize, as Rand does, that the Last Battle is coming and that all other considerations, including custom and even pride, come second to the goal of leading the unified world against the forces of Darkness. The only question is, can either relinquish enough control to bring about that unification?
Next week we’ll be covering chapters 20 and 21, first following Mat and watching him spiral about being married, then visiting Perrin, who is undergoing yet another crisis of identity. So that’s fun. In the meantime, my apologies to Lieutenant-General Tylee Khirgan, as I completely forgot about the Trolloc attack and whether she survived it. But I am glad she did.See you next week![end-mark]
The post Reading The Wheel of Time: Tuon Listens to her Truthspeaker and Tries New Tactics in <i>The Gathering Storm</i> (Part 13) appeared first on Reactor.
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