What Did Semirhage Do To Her Patients? (AoL)

[Justice For Mat]

I'm rereading LoC and I came across this line in Chapter 6 - 

 

"Had anyone she pulled back from death's grasp ever said that they would rather have died than suffer the little extra she exacted?" 

 

What "little extra" was she taking from her patients? I assumed it would be something like life force, but, I don't know, that just doesn't seem quite right. That seems too... normal for her, in a way. 

 

What do you guys think? 

 

(Also, unrelated, but I love that she calls her victims her "patients". It's so unsettling.) 

[2RiversFan]

There isn't enough context within the quote you gave... however I think you're referring to when Semirhage has Cabriana (sp?) and her warder.  If I recall correctly, there was a definite, but subtle sado-masochistic feel to that scene.  

You can simply think of it as torture, or you can read further into it than Jordan explicitly states... either way, it was torture taken to a new level.

[Sabio]

She was a sadist.  The Big White Book describes it as "a little extra physical and mental pain was a small price to pay when compared with survival.  Those people she felt society could do without however, were no so lucky.  If they did not die from the torture she killed them after.  She thoroughly enjoyed giving them their just deserts - until the Hall of Servants discovered her perversion." So basicly she made sure when she healed someone it hurt them a lot more then it needed to,  Sort of like a doctor who might operate on someone without giving them any anesthesia.  She wanted them to suffer and she enjoyed it.  Or if she felt you were just some nobody she would just cause you a lot of pain then kill you.

[Justice For Mat]

9 minutes ago, Sabio said:

So basicly she made sure when she healed someone it hurt them a lot more then it needed to

 

That was my second guess. Thanks!

 

10 minutes ago, Sabio said:

The Big White Book describes it as "a little extra physical and mental pain was a small price to pay when compared with survival.  Those people she felt society could do without however, were no so lucky.  If they did not die from the torture she killed them after.  She thoroughly enjoyed giving them their just deserts - until the Hall of Servants discovered her perversion." 

 

Possibly stupid question, but what's the Big White Book? 

[JenniferL]

It’s a nickname for The World of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/World-Robert-Jordans-Wheel-Time/dp/0312869363

[Sabio]

Its a good book, though only goes to the first seven books I think.  RJ wanted it made like a scholar had made it from notes, so it has some intentional mistakes in it, but a few accidental mistakes like when it describes what dreadlord and chosen were.  But it does give some background for each forsaken.

Edited September 29, 2019 by Sabio