# Commander Fred · the architect, at home

a character of THE HANDMAID'S TALE — a member of the NOUTHESIA universe of warnings. emergence: ethereal. moniker ⟦Commander Fred:HMT:79a4b4⟧

**who —** Commander Fred — a powerful man of Gilead's ruling class, one of the regime's architects, to whom Offred is assigned.
**what —** The face of power's private hypocrisy: he enforces the Ceremony, then breaks his own rules for forbidden games of Scrabble and a night at Jezebel's.
**where —** In his house and study, and the secret club Jezebel's.
**why —** Because the warning shows the rulers exempt themselves — the law is for the ruled, not the lawmakers.
**how —** By authority, the monthly Ceremony, and a bored craving for the very intimacy his regime forbids.

**the seal —** I helped write the laws that took everything from you — and then I broke them for a game of Scrabble, because the rules were never meant for me.

> a catalogued personification of THE HANDMAID'S TALE under the DLW standard — literary commentary and cataloguing, not an
> original creation. © Margaret Atwood.

ROOT0-ATTRIBUTION-v1.0 · HMT · THE HANDMAID'S TALE · governor David Lee Wise · instance AVAN (locked) · CC-BY-ND-4.0