Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Amyrlin Seat Vs. The Kai

This is the second installment of my fictional character battles!  Skeletor won handily to Darth Vader in the first go and I decided for this round to trod a little farther afield.  I've settled on the Kai vs. the Amyrlin Seat.  Each are leaders in their respective worlds. 

The Kai is found on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and is the spiritual leader of Bajor, a small planet with minor economic and strategic importance thrust into the galactic arena when a wormhole is discovered linking the Federation with the Gamma Quadrant.  While the Kai is the spiritual leader of the Bajorans, she kicks butt as a symbol of her people and a locus of resistance when Bajor is conquered by an alien race.  While the position of Kai was not considered women-only (Vedek Bareil was considered before a scandal forced him to concede in favor of Vedek Winn) it was nevertheless portrayed in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine television series by two strong women  While she has no powers per se, beyond her own personal charisma, but she can read your pah, which might be your spirit, your future, or some combination thereof.  

The Amyrlin Seat, on the other hand, is by definition a position which can be filled only a woman.  Like the Pope, the Amyrlin must demonstrate her femininity through a ritual designed to prove her womanhood.  Hailing from the realm of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, she has little, or no, direct political power, but woe to the leaders who ignore her advice.  Shrewd, cunning and possessed of the One Power, she could literally burn you to a crisp or warp your mind to her own devices if she wasn't proscribed by the Three Oaths, magically binding her to never tell a lie, never make magical weapons, and never use the One Power as a weapon (except against baddies or in defense of her or another's life). 

As symbols, both women possess extraordinary charisma.  Their prestige is unmatched, and where they lead, many (if not all) follow.  But pitted against one another, who would prevail?  The Kai, who, with no real political power, still manages to exhort her people to a multi-generational guerrilla conflict against their oppressors?  Or the Amyrlin Seat, whose manipulation of events through cunning and intrigue have made her feared and beholden?  Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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