Rite of Initiation

The Rite of Initiation assesses leadership candidates through questioning and biometric monitoring, which Thurman describes as a way to contain potential threats.

Story so far

The assessment begins with scripted questions whose answers are already known, then moves to unscripted questions to establish physiological baselines. Sensors in the candidate’s headset provide readings used to judge sincerity, while computers make the interviewer’s voice sound even and authoritative. Examiners manipulate emotion as they monitor the responses.

Paul Thurman completed Rodny’s Rite by redirecting his anger toward a new purpose. The highest-ranking officer awake must conduct the procedure, which required Donald to serve rather than Eren. Lukas’s preparation included imprisonment and compulsory study of The Order’s human-behavior passages. Thurman now calls the Rite a test of a man’s soul intended to contain potential threats.

Role

A leadership assessment and emotional conditioning procedure conducted by the highest-ranking officer on shift.

Relationships

Paul Thurman — Paul Thurman used the Rite to redirect Rodny’s anger and describes it as a means of containing threats.

Lukas — Lukas underwent confinement and compulsory study as part of his Rite.

Donald — Donald had to conduct the Rite because he outranked Eren while awake.

Earlier in this series

Also appears in books you've already read — spoiler-safe to their endings:

ShiftBook 2

Sources — 2 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 15

Lukas’s Rite involved imprisonment and compulsory study of the Order’s human-behavior passages.

Chapter 32

Thurman describes the Rite as a test of a man’s soul intended to contain potential threats.