cthia wrote:The Protector's Champion should, at the very least, have been chosen from a pool of Tester's people. Honor should never have been made Protector's Champion.
tlb wrote:Lord Burdette failed his test when, in his arrogance of power, he ordered the death of innocents.
cthia wrote:Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. Centuries will surely tell. From my vantage point the Protector also failed his.
Orchestrating murder is a gross failure of his Test.
Honor as People's Champion failing to divulge her secret of being able to detect the crease is murder.
Pair that with, paraphrasing, "Benjamin, what do you wish done to this man?"
"I want his head."
The Protector had only two choices: either to allow Honor to fight Burdette or to drop the charges against Burdette. In what way was the Protector countenancing murder by allowing the fight, when he had no expectation that Honor would win? Wouldn't he be countenancing murder, if he let Burdette walk away?
She could not divulge that secret, because she had no surety that she would recognize that crease; as I believe the text makes clear. From Flag in Exile, chapter 29:
She never knew, then or later, what William Fitzclarence's "crease" was. She simply knew she'd recognized it. That something deep inside her saw the moment he committed himself, the instant his arms tightened to bring his blade slashing down.
The instant in which he was entirely focused on the attack, and not on defense.
I have included the earlier quote, because you seem to be under the mistaken impression that Honor was the Champion solely through the Protector's choice. That is wrong, she may have been nominated by the the Protector; but that had to be ratified by a vote of the Chamber, the same as the creation of her Steading.
From The Honor of the Queen, chapter 35:
the Chamber has, at my request, authorized the Grant in Organization of a new steading on our southernmost continent. With your permission, we intend to call it the Steading of Harrington, and I ask you to assume the office of its Steadholder for yourself and your heirs.
Her objection was whether it was legal under Manticore law for her to accept the honors of being made a being made a Steadholder and accepting the Star of Grayson, for heroism in the service of their world. She did not know that she had become the Champion, although the Steadholders that voted her the award should have.
PS. The Kentucky Clerk, who refused to be a party to gay marriages because of religious convictions, should have quit in protest; rather than breaking her oath of office to faithfully execute the laws of the state. Her actions ended up costing the state about a quarter million dollars in damages.