Changeling: A Look At The Seelie & Unseelie Codes

http://web.archive.org/web/20040309065114/http://historyrepeatsitself.it...

A look at the Seelie and Unseelie Codes

By Ian Cunningham
[Webmistress note: These two articles were posted on Ian Cunningham's Live Journal, and I thought that they were quite informative, and a good way to begin to explode the myth that Seelie=Good and Unseelie=Evil. Both sides are equally capable of both. While this is certainly not the only way to look at these codes, it is one of the better ones I've seen so far.]

Changeling: A Look At The Seelie Code

In Changeling, the Seelie are often portrayed as goodie-goodies, the Paladins and superheroes of the Fae. However, this fails to account for the fact that while Changelings have mortal halves, they also have very strong, very powerful inhuman faerie souls. The mortal portions may allow deviance from the code - but the stronger one's fae nature, the less likely this should be... and a code devised by inhuman creatures matches with human morality only by chance. Many of the examples below may only apply to a pure Fae, or the most Seelie of Changelings - but none of them are truly out of character...

Death Before Dishonor

The Seelie hold honor a virtue above all others - above love, above beauty, above debts. A Seelie who has given his word to do something will not, in many cases can not go back on that word. A Seelie who has sworn an oath to hunt down and kill all Redcaps who enter his domain, even given evidence that a particular Redcap is good and noble, will struggle with this dilemma in a way that is unfathomable to mortals. But for the Seelie, breaking an oath, dishonoring their word, strikes at the very heart of what they are. They may mourn the Redcap's passing in their heart, but not nearly as much as they would the shattering of their honor that comes from letting it live. They hold others to the standards of chivalry and honor, too. If a Seelie noble finds out that one of their vassals has betrayed them, he will not hesitate to strike that vassal down to cleanse both of their honors. In fact, should a Seelie noble find one of her servants is planning to betray her, she may decide to simply kill the servant before he can stain his honor - in her mind, it is better he die before he breaks his oaths of fealty and stains his honor. A more humanist Seelie may send their servant on what amount to suicide missions - this helps preserve the Seelie's honor by keeping the letter of their Oath of Escheat, while still removing the servant in question. In fact, it can further be justified by reminding the potential traitor of their own loyalties through their striving to please their Liege. To a Seelie, killing someone is less a sin than breaking an Oath.

Love conquers all

Further commentary suggests that anything is permitted in the name of love. One may kidnap a mortal without a thought. One may bar a lover in a tower inaccessible to any but oneself, simply to keep her from rivals. Stealing? As long as it is a bauble for one's love. Lies? As long as one isn't violating one's Oaths and besmirching your honor (remember, honor is the highest virtue...). Even murder could be justified if one were deep enough in the throes of passion. Love conquers all, after all. And when one grows tired of love? Unfortunately for one's lessers, there are no provisions for what happens after love in the Seelie Code.

Beauty is Life
And by extension, Ugliness is Death? A Seelie will throw all his time and energy into preserving a single rare rose bush. She may spend thousands of dollars to restore an ancient stained glass window. But, a starving, shivering sluagh sitting in the gutter? It's ugly. Better to let it die and make more room for beauty. At it's most extreme, this part of the code can be the most monstrous. Filthy peasants can be devoured by gem-scaled dragons, fields can stolen from commoners to make room for a, yes, a beautiful, but otherwise pointless flower garden, and Sidhe are by definition superior to any mere commoner.

Never Forget A Debt

1 of 3

7/21/2012 7:14 PM

Changeling: A Look At The Seelie & Unseelie Codes

http://web.archive.org/web/20040309065114/http://historyrepeatsitself.it...

This is one of the more worrisome aspects of the code for mortals. Sidhe are immortal. One of your ancestors may have tricked a Fae Noble in the 11th Century - God help you if he dishonored the Sidhe. Well, the Sidhe remembers this. And he will repay the debt in full. On you. Much of Fae capriciousness may come from this fact. They may discover that your seventeen times great grandfather stole a golden goose from them, and go from your best friend to a shrieking harridan demanding you repay that debt. And repayment of a debt owed may be just as dangerous. Saving the life of a sidhe may result in your being gifted a painting of such exquisite beauty that any mortal laying eyes upon it is entranced. You may find yourself possessing a wondrous treasure that while not deadly in and of itself, belonged to another faerie, and was stolen from them to please the debtor's lover of three centuries past. Don't think declining the honor of a reward will save you. Seelie are forbidden from forgetting a debt. If you're not... blessed... with a reward, you're simply damning your ancestors to dealing with the problem. Asking for a much smaller, "can't fail" tiny reward? Honor will not allow a debt to be repaid except in kind - and we remember how much the Seelie value honor, right?

Changeling: A Look At The Unseelie Code

Many people, well... everyone who commented on the Seelie post (in all three places it ended up...) wanted to see an Unseelie post, and seemed to think that I was going to turn the idea that the Unseelie Court is the evil one on its head. Sadly, the Unseelie Court is the evil one. This is not the fault of the Unseelie Code. The Unseelie code is no more evil than the Seelie code is good - BUT it is amoral in a way that those Fae born of darkness and nightmares are drawn to it. In this post, I'll look at the code itself in "pure" terms, and then explain why such kith as Redcaps and Ogres thrill so much to the Winter Court.

Change is Good
Just as honor is important to the Seelie, change makes it to the number spot for the Unseelie. And not change for the better, or even change for the worse. Change for the sake of change. Imagine the most trendoid fashion-whore you can imagine. Now, imagine that guy who doesn't own any CDs because by the time he's made 20 bucks to buy something by his favorite band, he's bored with them and listening to the next new thing. Now, imagine the other guy who always is upgrading his computer and buying the newest high tech gadget because it's "cutting edge". And then imagine the person who closes their eyes in the voting booth and randomly selects who they vote for, because "they're all essentially the same anyway". Now, roll all these people into one. That is the purest embodiment of the Unseelie. The Unseelie have a well-earned reputation for unreliability because changing your plans is good. Changing your mind is good. An Unseelie redcap may (as unlikely as this is because of their own kithain nature) get bored in the middle of torturing you and take you out for ice cream. He changed his mind. Unseelie courts barely resemble courts because every noble involved has changed the rules of courtly behavior to suit their own mood. This love of change for the sake of change attracts those dark Fae souls who thrive on chaos. It doesn't take much of a push for whimsy to turn into a nightmare. Read an unabridged Alice in Wonderland some time...

Glamour is Free
This precept has done much to give the Unseelie their bad rap, because of the highly visible Ravagings some of the more impatient or cruel Unseelie perpetrate. One can easily see why a precept that essentially says, "Take what you want, it's free." can attract unsavory elements. But what this also means is that an Unseelie is going to be giving glamour away like it's going out of style. Glamour is free you shouldn't hoard it! That childling in the gutter needs some glamour to power his Moon Balloon? Hell, give him enough to make two! Glamour is free, man! No one can own glamour! A noble who holds strictly to the Unseelie Code will be one of the most staunch supporters of the Right of Safe Haven. And since art is one of the surest well-springs of Glamour, look for many unseelie to be guerrilla artists. While a Seelie will be in a gallery, making traditionally "beautiful" paintings, the Unseelie is out on the streets creating grafitti art, decorating

2 of 3

7/21/2012 7:14 PM

Changeling: A Look At The Seelie & Unseelie Codes

http://web.archive.org/web/20040309065114/http://historyrepeatsitself.it...

trees in the park, making sidewalk chalk mosaics. They will be getting the art out there. Charging someone for your art, and thus the glamour it makes, is as unthinkable to the Unseelie as not repaying a debt owed is for the Seelie - perhaps moreso...

Honor is a Lie
This is the other precept that attracts the most "evil". If you will not be held by Oaths, by traditional codes of behavior, by your word - you're free to do whatever you want. Claim undying friendship to your enemy to get close enough to stab him in the back. He was the idiot for believing your word of honor. But, when not taken to this extreme, "Honor is a Lie" is not so terribly far off from modern 20th century situational ethics. Honor binds you to a course of action, honor removes the need for thought, honor can easily be used to justify injustice because of tradition. One should base their morality on a case by case basis. One should understand that mercy is oddly important to the mortals. Bear in mind that in the ancient times when the Codes were, ah, codified, this was a horrifying thought. Situational ethics flew in the face of everything the Church taught, everything taught by the pagan philosophers, everything people knew of war. Why did the Faerie forgive this person but punish this person. It was the height of capriciousness and unpredictability bringing us back to Change is Good. Just because we approve of it today, doesn't mean the Unseelie are better "people" for it.

Passion Before Duty

If you have an Unseelie noble over you, you'd best hope he gets his thrills from paperwork, or that he has a Seelie vizier because otherwise, the day to day running of a fief isn't going to get done. A Seelie in love will do unthinkable things to please their lover, but at least he's honor bound to fulfill his responsibilities first. The Unseelie will do these unthinkable things, and then do them again rather than doing his duty. Because Passion is more important. This aspect of the Unseelie can make them fun to be around, can make one's Unseelie nature a great release valve of emotion and desire. But, the Unseelie are the Winter Court. In the Winter, if one doesn't chop wood for the fire, one freezes. If one doesn't make sure you have all the sheep in the fold, starving wolves will eat them. Duty is important in the winter. Passion leads to people dying. Again, in these modern times, people are less likely to die from winter carelessness, but bearing in mind the times when fairy stories were made helps explain why the Unseelie got the reputation as the "evil" court. And when your passion is scaring people or eating them - well, one might see why a darker soul wouldn't be put out by a court that places those desires above mowing the lawn or herding unicorns. Articles Copyright Ian Cunningham, 2003. Ian's Live Journal Can be found Here

3 of 3

7/21/2012 7:14 PM