Why did the parshendi accept responsibility for Gavilar's death

[StormWrath]

So my question is why did they accept responsibility for killing gavilar,yeah I know they killed him but why couldn't they just not say anything and not accept responsibility for his death so that it might have looked like it was someone entirely different that killed gavilar,even gavilar himself was surprised when szeth told him he was sent by the parshendi,he seemed to think it might have been sadeas. This just seems like a stupid thing to do,if the parshendi got lucky and no one suspected them of killing gavilar they might have prevented the war against them.

[TwelfthOfSnackTime]

The parshendi are of Honor. They had him (and all assassins when they did that kinda stuff to each other) wear white 'so that they could see him coming.'

[Weltall]

Ninja'd as I was typing. Anyways, yeah, Parshendi culture apparently dictates that assassins should be highly visible and the target should have a chance to see them coming, so accepting responsibility for killing Gavilar is likely a part of it.

 

It's hard to be sure since we don't know exactly what he was doing that made them want to kill him right after signing a treaty, aside from the vague idea that he was bringing back the Parshendi gods for... reasons. Maybe they thought it was possible to stop what he was doing and taking responsibility was part of it too, though if that was the case you'd think they might have been clearer about their reasons.

[Oversleep]

Maybe they wanted to signal the rest of "bring-back-Voidbringers" folks that they have a Surgebinding assassin and they are not afraid to use him? On the other hand, why didn't they keep Szeth? Why did they throw his Oathstone away?

[Zea mays]

How did they get Szeth's Oathstone in the first place, and from whom?

Anhh, so many questions!

I agree about the Honor thing. Maybe Parshendi cilture also dictates owning up to assassination? I half recal either Navani or Jasnah commenting sadly that they never really understood the Parshendi as much as they thought they did.

[StormWrath]

Maybe they wanted to signal the rest of "bring-back-Voidbringers" folks that they have a Surgebinding assassin and they are not afraid to use him? On the other hand, why didn't they keep Szeth? Why did they throw his Oathstone away?

Double post

Edited February 9, 2016 by StormWrath

[StormWrath]

Maybe they wanted to signal the rest of "bring-back-Voidbringers" folks that they have a Surgebinding assassin and they are not afraid to use him? On the other hand, why didn't they keep Szeth? Why did they throw his Oathstone away?

I think they wanted the alethi to capture and subsequently execute szeth after he has finished his mission,for retribution,just like how they left three of their leaders behind in kholinar after their escape,still I think they should have kept szeth,he was a valuable assassin,they could've assassinated any of the alethi they liked at anytime,imagine the chaos alehkar will find itself if he had killed all of their highprinces during the war.

[Yata]

Maybe they took the responsibility to avoid that something discovered what Gavilar wanted to do (about their old gods and the will of the king to contact them).

They became a target for the hatred of the country and the Alethi didn't investigate on Gavilar's death too much. They have already the killer and the principals.

[+hwiles]

I think Eshonai commented to herself at one point that the parshendi had assumed that the Alethi would eventually get tired of war against them and give up.

 

Based on how the parshendi handled the assassination and the war that followed, I think it's safe to assume that they didn't want to just get away with the crime.  That is, they wanted Gavilar dead, but they also felt compelled to accept retribution for killing him.  At the same time however, they certainly had no intention of letting themselves be massacred, hence the siege on the shattered plains.