The Seanchan and the Sea Folk

[Jsbrads2]

The Seanchan fight the sea folk whenever try encounter them, but shouldn’t the Seanchan be non-confrontational with the Sea Folk? The Sea Folk haven’t conquered any land of Randland. 

[Harldin]

7 hours ago, Jsbrads2 said:

The Seanchan fight the sea folk whenever try encounter them, but shouldn’t the Seanchan be non-confrontational with the Sea Folk? The Sea Folk haven’t conquered any land of Randland. 

The Seanchan attack the Sea Folk to capture and Collar their Windfinders who can Channel, and the Sea Folk try to fight back. 
personally i have no sympathy for the Sea Folk, find them far to arrogant, even worse then the Aes Sedai.

[Sabio]

Also sounds like the Seanchan attack any ship that comes near their land.  I feel bad for the Sea Folk, yes they are arrogant but they are one group who aren't out looking for a fight or trying to expand their empire.  They mostly just want to be left alone so they can trade.

[Harldin]

2 hours ago, Sabio said:

Also sounds like the Seanchan attack any ship that comes near their land.  I feel bad for the Sea Folk, yes they are arrogant but they are one group who aren't out looking for a fight or trying to expand their empire.  They mostly just want to be left alone so they can trade.

I think attack might be too strong a word, they will look to board Ships and may use a Damane to fire a shot across the bow to force a ship to stop, if they don’t then the Damane may be used to attack the ship directly. If they have stopped willingly then they would board, check for any Channelers, make sure the Crew is not up to anything illegal, once satisfied they would let them go. There is a description in TGH of Bayle Domon being forced to stop, be searched and swear allegiance, then allowed to proceed. 
Its one of the few Bugbears i have with the WOT, Jordan made the Sea Folk too unlikeable in my opinion, too arrogant, too much of we do everything our way, bargains weighed to heavily in their favour.

 Their situation by the start of the 4th Age is dire, they can no longer dominate the seas around the “Westlands” like they once did, i think they will eventually follow the Aiel and Aes Sedai into extinction at the hands of the Raven Empire. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Harldin

[Jsbrads2]

Two things occurred to me since.

One, the Seanchan could have detected a Sea Folk channeler. That terminates any civilized discussion at that point. The entire Sea Folk society has hidden the Windfinders for almost 3000 yrs, they aren’t going to surrender them now.

Two, the Seanchan are just wrong, they think the Sea Folk were somehow part of Hawking’s empire and need to return into the current Imperial control. The demand for oaths here is wrong by Seanchan moral code. But unlike Mat and Domon with their flexible moral compasses, the Sea Folk don’t intend to submit to oaths, even if those oaths didn’t require any action on their part.

Fairly unrelated, Domon’s Cuellidar Prison Seal was stolen with no compensation. Nothing about the Seanchan explains that.