How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The cheese Salata made and the kids she reared to send to market were the interest she was still paying on that debt, fixed so that it could never be paid off. And under that ancient contract neither she nor descendants could leave the land until it was. (5.76)
The Emperor likes keeping poor people down. He makes peasants buy their own land at an unaffordable rate and keep paying that debt for years—and years—to come.
Quote #2
How long, Tilja wondered, since those ditches had first been cut and the land made fertile? Centuries, she guessed. Again, just as she had in the little warded room in Ellion's house, she felt the size and weight and age of the empire. All those generations of toilers coming out of their shabby huts morning after morning to spend their days turning the selfsame water hoists, the ropes and buckets wearing out and being replaced, the men and women growing old and dying, never having left these fields, and their children taking up he toil to live the selfsame dismal, empty lives. Standing there, she could feel the Empire around her, above her, below her, before her in time and after, a vast, vague oppression, like a fever dream as huge as the universe. (7.8)
While staring out at the fields, Tilja thinks that most peasants have always had the same menial tasks to do for generations. The debt system of the Empire has kept them virtually enslaved, and there's no possibility of freedom on the horizon for themselves or their families.
Quote #3
"But the Emperors never want it to get about that's how it is, because the only way they can run things is if everybody more or less believes the Emperor's all-powerful, whereas fact is he's only just about in control of it all." (9.84)
The Emperor puts a ton of precautions in place—including outlawing magic if you don't work for him—so that he can control all the magic in the Empire. He wants to appear all-powerful, but that's just a publicity stunt—he doesn't have as much control as he pretends.
Quote #4
As she edged past, Tilja was tempted to lay her hand on the glossy flank and wake the horse into life, just to see what happened. With a shock she realized that she was experiencing something she had never imagined, a sense of absolute power. All these people, even a great lord of the Empire, even the Emperor himself, were under her control. They could move, or not, as she chose. The thought was oddly frightening. If you had that power you wanted to use it. This must be what magicians were like, all the time. This was why some of them had tried to hard to get control of Axtrig. (12.11)
For the first time, Tilja is in a position of ultimate power over those who threaten her family and her own life. She is tempted to manipulate events to her own favor, perhaps just because she can—but she manages to resist this lure, in contrast to the very despots she opposes and tries to fight.
Quote #5
"What would have happened if I'd changed that man's dice throw?? she asked when he rested again.
"Who knows? Nothing. The whole world. Suppose one man loses a bet he would have one. He needs money to pay. He steals and is found out. He is punished and loses promotion. So he does not become the Emperor's favorite, does not get to rule and ruin a province, but another man governs it well—why, then, you have changed the happiness of many hundreds of thousands of people. Or the other way round." (12.29)
Tilja queries Faheel about what might've happened if she'd given into her desire to fix the dice game. Faheel tells her that, ultimately, she might have saved the world—or ruined it. Magician's can never tell how their actions will affect others, so it's best to not wield such absolute power.
Quote #6
So this was the Emperor. In all her life Tilja had never seen anyone looking so bored. He could have anything in the world he pleased, but nothing in the world could please him. Seeing him for that brief moment, she felt a shudder of horror both at him and for him. Then, as the throne vanished behind the next rank, she thought, And he wants to reconquer the Valley. No! (12.62)
When Tilja finally sees the Emperor, she's disgusted—he doesn't look like a ruler who cares about his subjects, but instead like one who is greedy, lazy, and probably unjust. He can have anything he wants, but he thinks he's going to take her Valley. After seeing the heart of the Imperial power, Tilja resolves to never let him get her home.
Quote #7
"While Asarta held the ring, I and others did our best to wrest it from her, and she had to use some of her strength to keep it from us. When my turn came, I decided to do as your two ancestors asked me to, and by doing so to seal all knowledge of the ring away in your Valley. I then sought out everyone who knew of the ring and either took the memory of it from their minds, or if they resisted, destroyed them, all but the one I have told you about." (13.64)
So it turns out that even the Valley's savior, Faheel, isn't 100% good. He bugged Asarta and tried to steal her ring; then once he got it away from her, he bumped off anyone who might know about it and want to steal it. Tilja realizes that even her heroes have base motives. Faheel hasn't always acted morally—he's not as bad as the Emperor, but he's manipulated others in his own favor and hurt people. What's that cheesy saying? Pobody's nerfect.
Quote #8
By now they had seen definite signs of the system's breaking down. At one way station the women who were doling out the free meals for those going the Common Way insisted on being paid. They said they needed the money, because their official allowance hadn't come through. At another somebody caught one of the guards stealing from his baggage, and when he complained to the warden he was laughed at. And next day, where the road crossed a tributary of the Great River, there had been armed men on the bridge demanding a toll from all travelers, but by the time Tilja and the others reached the place enough furious people had gathered to overpower them and throw them into the river. (15.15)
Here we begin to see that the Empire wasn't all good—or all bad. Finally unpaid laborers get their well-deserved wages, and soldiers don't get to extort money from travelers anymore. But there are bits of trouble amidst the collapse of the Empire and the disappearance of order—namely the lack of justice administered when a guard commits a crime. This hints at the further crumbling of society—both good and bad parts—as the Empire collapses without a central authority.
Quote #9
Soon they were moving through an Empire in turmoil. Half the way stations were deserted, and those that functioned demanded triple or quadruple fees. Robber and looters were everywhere.
Not were those the only dangers. Now that the Watchers were gone, magicians who had been practicing in secret began to do so openly, and not all of these were benign. At one way station the story came of a well-armed convoy that had been traveling without a hired magician to protect it. Two great scaly creatures had attacked it and had wantonly slaughtered, but not eaten, man, woman and child, gurgling with pleasure as they did so. (15.39-40)
The evil Empire has fallen, leaving (too much?) freedom in its place. The fall of the central government, headed up by one tyrant, has created a power vacuum that lots of mini-tyrants have filled. The Watchers had an unfair monopoly on magic, but they also kept it in line and stopped rogue magicians from gaining power to harm others. The Emperor kept the roads running smoothly and demanded tribute and bribes, but robbers didn't threaten. Did Tilja and Co. do the world a service or majorly screw things up by toppling the Empire?
Quote #10
It was strange to be back in something like the old Empire. Strange to find it a relief, order instead of chaos, the grip of strong rule instead of the whirling free-for-all of loose magic and lawlessness. Soon, perhaps, they would have found this as oppressive as they had on the journey south, but now it simply meant that they could relax their guard and hurry on. (16.56)
After finding (excessive) law and order oppressive on the way south, the same group finds the very same law and order refreshing on the way north. Sure it's just in comparison to the chaos everywhere else, but having things run smoothly for once is really nice. Makes you almost wistful for the old guard, no?