Commanders are an elite class of men in Gilead who occupy national leadership roles or political positions.
Commanders Quotes in The Testaments
The The Testaments quotes below are all either spoken by Commanders or refer to Commanders. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6
Quotes
I’ve become swollen with power, true, but also nebulous with it—formless, shape-shifting. I am everywhere and nowhere: even in the minds of the Commanders I cast an unsettling shadow. How can I regain myself? How to shrink back to my normal size, the size of an ordinary woman?
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Chapter 46
Quotes
The Angel’s real crime was not [smuggling] the lemons, however: he’d been accused of taking bribes from Mayday and aiding several Handmaids in their successful flight across our various borders. But the Commanders did not want this fact publicized: it would give people ideas. The official line is that there were no corrupt Angels and certainly no fleeing Handmaids; for why would one renounce God’s kingdom to plunge into the flaming pit?
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Commanders Term Timeline in The Testaments
The timeline below shows where the term Commanders appears in The Testaments. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Transcript of Witness Testimony 369A
...belong to the special class of girls from wealthy families, “pre-chosen” to some day marry Commanders or Sons of Jacob. Although Agnes does not think she is pretty, she feels especially...
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Chapter 3
...is six or seven years old. She lives with her mother, Tabitha, and her father, Commander Kyle, though she rarely interacts with her father. She has a dollhouse that roughly mirrors...
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Chapter 5
...school, though the other girls look down on her since her father is not a Commander, but only a highly regarded dentist. Aunt Vidala discourages close relationships, however, arguing that such...
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Chapter 25: Transcript of Witness Testimony 369A
...clipboard. The Aunts announce that they will find three candidates for husbands from among the Commander families and will expect a “donation” from Paula. Paula smiles at Agnes and tells her...
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Chapter 27
...high-ranking wife. Shunammite and Becka are there as well, both having received marriage offers from Commander families. Shunammite is eager sex and all the material benefits of marriage, but Becka is...
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Chapter 30: Transcript of Witness Testimony 369B
...wasn’t true. Elijah and Ada continue to explain that although Nicole’s biological father isn’t a Commander, her legal father is, according to Gilead, so they have a legal claim to her...
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Chapter 51
...Opening it, she discovers that it contains evidence and case notes about the death of Commander Saunders, Paula’s former husband. The Commander was not murdered by his Handmaid, but by Paula,...
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